Day 8 – At Sea enroute to Nuku Hiva

Day 8 – At Sea enroute to Nuku Hiva

Today was very busy as there is so much going on, all very interesting. You really have to plan ahead to make sure you don’t miss anything.

Good Morning Amsterdam featured Phillip Huber as the guest. He was the Marionette performer from the night before. We learned he was from Northern Illinois and he has been building and performing with puppets since he was a small boy. Tomorrow he will present a lecture “Behind the Strings” for additional insight to his amazing performance and career. The Wajang Theater was standing room only for this show. I wonder if this is normal or if Phillip Huber attracted a larger than normal audience.

At 10 am in the Queens Lounge we were introduced to the Polynesian entertainment team. They will be providing Dance and Ukulele lessons as well as host some craft events. This is the same team we were with on the Veendam on our 17 day circle Hawaii cruise last year and they were all very good. We are looking forward to improving our Ukulele skills as well as enjoying the craft classes.

Next up was the standard behind the scenes galley tour. While we have been on many of these before, we also seem to learn something new and it is fun to meet some of the behind the scenes people you may never see otherwise. The tour started in the dining room on deck 4 and ended up in the Pinnacle Grill (By the way, I tried to make a reservation for the pinnacle grill at 6pm and was told they only accept reservations between 9am and 4pm – odd, but whatever)

We learned that one of the dishwashers sits on top of a few of the cabins on deck 3 and this machine has a big sign that restricts its use after 11pm to avoid disturbing the people in the cabins below.

In the last section of the kitchen, nearest the Pinnacle Grill, was a display of the various steaks they have for sale. Of particular interest was the 36 ounce steak with a $59 surcharge instead of $29. The Pinnacle staff said they sell quite a few and people generally get one for the table and share – and many times mix with a fish order for variety. I asked if they offered the deal you see in some Texas restaurants where if you eat one in less than an hour the steak is free – that would be an interesting promotion, but not sure if it fits into the HAL GWV ambience.

After the tour, we stopped by the Culinary Arts Center for a cooking competition called “Crew Chopped” – The Ship’s controller and the Marketing Manager faced off in an Iron Chef (lite) type competition. They both made a stir fried chicken dish that was judged by Debby Bacon of the Piano Bar and one of the ships’ photographer. The atmosphere was light and humorous and was a pleasant diversion.

Trivia was next on our agenda in the Ocean Bar on 5. We didn’t join a team but decided to give it a go by ourselves. We got 5 right – not very good, but it was still a good time and some of the teams are very, very good. Gene, the Cruise Director, told me afterwards that he prepares the questions himself by referring to a website that has a database of trivia questions in the public domain. Using Jeopardy questions or those from the game Trivial Pursuit is not permitted. On this long cruise he will never repeat the same question.

The sandwich maker is in business on the Lido and we had him make us a sandwich to order which we took back to our cabin and enjoyed on our deck. The weather was pleasant, the winds light. A nice day to get a little sun on the balcony.

Our afternoon started with crafts where we made Note cards by gluing on a floral motif so it had the appearance of an applique.

After crafts we wandered up to the Crow’s nest to enjoy the afternoon tea. Very nicely done. We shared a table with a very interesting fellow who shared some remarkable stories about living around the world.

If you are a big Bingo player, the world cruise is not for you. We decided to play Bingo today and learned that they had yet to play a game due to low turnout. They need at least 20 people. The hostess told me that last year they didn’t get enough people until after Sydney. We did get enough people today – and Judy won the very first Bingo game! But she had to split the $52 jackpot with another passenger. The final game jackpot was $140.

Before dinner we went to the Piano Bar to see Debby Bacon play 60’s music. As others have noted, she is quite good and we will be stopping by on a regular basis.

Twenty two entertainers joined the ship in Panama and we will be seeing them over the next several weeks. One of the joys of this Grand World Voyage is the variety of the entertainment. I have been told that we will not see any show twice.

The show tonight was comedian Kermet Apio who was very funny. We enjoyed his act very much. He will be on Good Morning Amsterdam tomorrow which is always interesting as you can learn more about their background.

Clocks go back 1 hour tonight.

• Kermet Apio