Great Weather

Another great day at sea, as we continue to head towards Nuku Hiva.  The weather has been fantastic;  blue skies, a few puffy clouds, and calm seas with temperatures in the 70s.

Judy started today with her Tai Chi class while I signed up for Texas Hold ’em at 9 o’clock and went on to Coffee with Hamish in the Explorers lounge.  Judy is enjoying the Tai Chi class.  There are still one or two new people in each class.  The instructor is teaching at an easygoing pace and they are able to catch up.

Coffee Chat

Fred Moore was the guest at the Coffee Chat this morning.  He provided some interesting insight about how he got started in the magic business as well as what it’s like to be a performer on cruise ships. The coffee chats are well attended and if you want a close seat you have to get there at least 15 minutes early.  But even arriving at the last minute, seats are available in the back where you can still hear clearly and pretty much see what’s going on.

Knitting

At 10 o’clock Knitting in the Crow’s Nest, I am continuing my knitting career.  I’m at about 14 rows now.  I have a pretty good feel for the basics of the knit stitch, but I have a difficult time evaluating my own work in determining whether or not I have made a mistake.  Fortunately, Judy is always close at hand to provide expert instruction.  I stayed longer than normal today because the Texas Hold ’em game at 10:30 filled up before I could sign up so I wasn’t scheduled to play Texas Hold’em until 1:30 PM.

Lunch

After knitting Judy and I headed back to the Lido Market for lunch.  I discovered that the Ramen bar that I enjoy is located on the other side of the Lido from where we normally go.  It always pays to scope out both sides of the Lido Market as often times there are different food offerings on either side.

Judy enjoys getting a Panini sandwich made to order.  The turkey and swiss panini is becoming her go to lunch.  They also have premade sandwiches which are quite good and if you’re in a hurry it’s convenient to grab one.  The food in all the restaurants continues to be outstanding.

Ukulele class

After lunch, Judy headed up to her Ukulele class where the instructor, Kane, is doing wonderful job. The class has thinned out some so you can easily find a seat at either session.

Casino

While waiting for the Texas Hold ’em game to start, I donated $20 to the casino for the Slot Tournament.  I know this isn’t a very good bet but I always seem to get caught up in it when they have one.  They have yet to have a blackjack tournament and I’ll be looking forward to the first one of those.

No luck for me today at Texas Hold ’em.  I played two games and I didn’t finish in the money in either one.

Drawing Class

Judy remains busy as she went directly to Drawing Class after her Ukulele Class.  The Drawing Class is well attended but not so crowded you can’t find a seat if you come right at the start time.  The class is also structured in a way that if you join after the classes have already started you won’t be completely lost and you’ll be able to catch up and still learn.  Today Judy learned to sketched movement and gesture from images projected on the screen.

Pub Trivia

Our dinner table mates met us at Pub Trivia at 5 PM in the piano bar.  The piano bar is crowded for people playing trivia with 6-8 teams already formed.  Our team was able to find an open spot in the corner next to the bar.  The assistant cruise director is the master ceremonies and she did a wonderful job.  After all the questions have been read we exchange answer sheets with a nearby team for scoring.  There is no prize for first place other than bragging rights and every participant receives a certificate with a notional value of $.10.  You can see a copy of one of certificates on the blog under 2018 world cruise reference.  At some point towards the end of the cruise you will exchange your pile of gifts certificates towards real Amazon gift certificates valued at five dollars increments so if you played the trivia every day for a hundred days you would get an Amazon Gift Certificate for $10.

There was a little controversy at the conclusion of the game regarding the final question and answer.  The question was to name five countries in Africa that bordered on the Mediterranean Sea.  One person in one of the groups wrote down Israel, which was not one of the countries that was listed as a correct answer.  Afterwards I overheard some discussion between the person and the assistant cruise director as to whether or not this was actually an acceptable answer.  He went on and on debating the point even though the outcome of the game had no significance towards anything as everyone gets a $.10 gift certificate regardless of who finishes first or last.  I didn’t stay around to observe how this ended.  Our group had a score of 12 which is probably in the top third of everyone present but we had a great time and will probably do it again throughout the cruise.

Dinner

We were joined for dinner tonight by Fred Moore, the magician and comedian who we saw perform a few days ago.  He grew up in Northeast Ohio not too far from Cleveland where I am from.  As soon as he could, he headed south to Florida, near Orlando, due to the better weather and the better prospects for getting work in his field.  After a few years he was able to earn his full-time living in his chosen profession.  He will perform once more before we arrive in Tahiti and we are looking forward to the show.

Queens Lounge

Tonight in the Queens lounge was a violinist from Budapest named Tom Suha.  The show opened with his rendition of one of my favorite songs from Phantom of the Opera; Music of the Night.  He put on an excellent show playing many popular genres from Rock to Classical to Gypsy to Broadway shows.  The entertainment on this Grand World Voyage continues to excel and we always enjoy the opportunity to see performances that would not come near our home.

Towel Animal

Hair Dryers and More

There have been some questions about the hair dryers and make-up mirrors in our state room.  I’ll let Judy answer those questions:

Hi, Judy here.  Let me start by saying that last Spring, Pete bought me one of the expensive new Dyson hair dryers.  I love it a lot, but it’s too big and heavy to take on our travels.  There is a hair dryer in each cabin that is a 1600 watt dryer.  It plugs into the outlet at the desk.  I’m not a fan of drying my hair in the ‘living area’ of our cabin – who needs my stray hairs flying around the sofa, chair and table.  I use the dryer installed on the wall in the bathroom.  The motor/fan isn’t that strong and it takes a little longer to get my hair dry.  AND, the area where you hold it becomes so hot that I wrap it in a wash cloth to make it more comfortable to hold.  I have a small travel hair dryer I could pack, but it takes up ‘valuable’ room in my suitcase.

The mirror provided has one side at normal magnification and the other side is 5x.  There is also the mirror that is attached to the desk.  It has the normal and 5x magnification sides and has light ring around both sides to give extra illumination.  I pack my normal / 10x magnification hand mirror and use it exclusively, but that’s just my preference.