before land

LUNAR NEW YEAR

There was a party up by the pool with a champagne water (?) fall. The only new year décor were Chinese lanterns strung across the deck from the jogging track, and Oscar dressed again in his Chinese robe with sparkly slippers, pink parasol and coolie hat. The band is a very good one we see around the ship and they are quite good. Many of the staff, especially the dancers, were dressed in Hawaiian type dress (we were supposed to have been in Honolulu before now). A fair representation of passengers of all ages appeared and we smiled broadly when Willie was dancing with the girls who were around. The pool sloshed a little and so seats were limited in the middle.

We visited again with our table mates from No Cal. We got lucky with them. Just so much fun and so many perspectives in common. He is a Cal grad but we don’t hold it against him. Ha.

We got our “crossing the equator” certificates and I have my Kiss the Fish photo for you doubting Thomases.

Entertainer: John Bressler again. Please take a minute to look him up as his story is quite interesting. He is a marvelous pianist with a voice worse than Rod Stewart but it adds character to his singing. I have so enjoyed him. We especially liked that he gives the story behind songs and tells you about the composers, lyricists, and singers.

We missed the navigation engineers talk yesterday so we are listening to it on the TV in the cabin right now.

Weather: it was raining and overcast when we awoke this am but is it now sunny and lovely with brisk wind. The rocking of the ship has been modest for several days now so you see more people moving about.

The weather around the pool last night around 10 pm so was balmy and nice. Absolutely perfect weather.

We are moving along to Bora Bora at more than 18 knots which is a good clip but the seas are forgiving as well.

ED: he now has what I got several days ago. I’m encouraging him to go to medical center early so it can be cut shorter hopefully. I am still have unpredictable coughing jags and taking my cherrytussin far more regularly than I’d like. IF we had to have these, I’m glad it was early. So many people have had it and in this population, it can be very serious. We already had Flu type A and had our shots but there is no guarantee that we would not contract another strain.

Some other time I’ll share many of the activities on board. It’s your fault if you are bored. We have spent more time resting these days because of our various weaknesses and so we’ll be ready for the touring and hiking. Can’t recall using the elevator more than once and then I had a drink in my hand.

WATER ON BOARD: they make it on board and use the heat from the engine to create it. Real cogeneration! 320 tons per day produced. It is all potable. All water if potable. When it becomes less than that, there is a bacterial and other methods to purify it.

FRUITS are delivered to our cabin regularly so we are both eating more fruits than usual. You can tell what is reaching its “use by” date as we get more of them. Right now it is bananas.

PAJAMA BUFFET: I have a few pics of crazily dressed staff and the beautiful ice and food carvings ships are known for. I plan to upload them to photostream when we reach “civilization” as the photog said to me.

He also introduced me to AirDrop. What made it so funny (in addition to the fact neither of us knew about this great feature) is that I said to him: it’s just like the old Palm Pilot. There was this incredible blaank look and he said: I don’t know what you’re talking about. Generation gap for sure.

Trivia has been very difficult and we’ve been close but no banana. We are often 5 but they are a fun group so we keep enjoying it. The prizes are really not things we crave very much.

Dinner is usually but not predictably, just the 4 of us. The waiter is very funny in a dry sort of way. I usually order a fruit plate for dessert and he makes a face. He told  us tonight that tomorrow in Bora Bora the staff are going out on a boat. Even he saw the irony in that.

We did not go to the entertainment tonight. It was the young lady from the other night and none of us wants to sit through that intensity again. She would be great for a small Vegas venue with a committed following.

BOOK CLUB: I went to the discussion of the book “the Nest” this afternoon. Most don’t recommend it so I’m not bothering to try to find it on my sources when I am back in civilization.

The Hula class had a show today and it was cute. The lady (Maori by origin) is quite good and explains a lot.

You’d think we’d be chomping at the bit to get off on land tomorrow in Bora Bora, but I have thoroughly enjoyed the time on the sea and we have gotten more rest than we would at home which is probably good for both of us.

Ed went to the medical clinic today with the same thing I have had. He got expectorant and some other goodies so hopefully his will be better than mine. I still have unexpected coughing jags but it is a loose cough and the MD told Ed that I probably have about 2 more weeks of this before it’s gone. So I’ll be ready for Sydney.