Around the World in 128 Days - A Day Closer to Hawaii with a Less Than Stellar Meal

  Travel Day 31 - February 2, 2024 - 22,685 Steps

Possibly a reader or two might have noticed the quantum leap in the number of steps today vs yesterday. It seems that my eating habits, multiple desserts being the least of my bad eating habits, cause me to rethink my daily routine. It make a long story short, I really am capable of doing that, really, I have begun walking the 5th, 6th and 7th decks 3 circuits each 3 times a day for a total of  27 laps each day. I estimate that to be a little over 6 miles total for the day. It will be interesting to see how long I can keep it up.

It isn't just the sunrises on the Pacific that can cause you to exclaim, wow! After the sun has risen above the horizon and begun it arc across the sky it can produce moments which can best be describe with a simple wow!

I've posted similar photos in other blog posts during the cruise, but have you ever noticed the propellers are shown, but never any rudders. The answer is because the propellers are part of the Azipod propulsion system. Also if you look closely at the drawing of the stern of the ship, the propellers are facing the front of the ship, meaning they are pulling the ship forward, not pushing it. It reason way for all these things makes for interesting reading. Search the internet for Azipod to learn more.

Current time and time of arrival at our next port.

Ships heading and wind direction.

And finally, it's along, long way down to the seabed out here. Note a seamount we recently sailed over.

Husband and wife team were subjects of todays interview. They were actually even funnier that the comedian was yesterday. Several videos posted below. An interesting tidbit was that when Covid grounded all cruise ships during the pandemic, they returned to their home and by nothing more than word of mouth she was soon baking and selling more than 500 cakes a day. She is the hostess in the Main Dining Room and makes the energizer bunny look like a corpse in comparison.

A quick clip with nearly constant laughter.

When asked, "What is the secret sauce in your marriage?", this was their answers.

Linda spotted this ship off in the distance. It is the only one we have seen to date during are Pacific crossing to Hawaii.

What the seas were like during the day.

Look at me cut back on my excessive food consumption at lunch. Squash salad, which was very good, and Brazilian  chicken croquettes with seared green beans. I could have easily eaten three times as much of each, it was that good.

We ate dinner in the Main Dining Room for a change and while the four of had a great time, the food itself, at least in my case left something to be desired. This was supposed to be duck pâté, but while it was pâté, but somewhere between looking up the recipe and being placed before me, the duck went missing.

Leg of lamb and Basmati rice. There were also black beans and all three were quite delicious. 

But this photo shows the problem. Somewhere between a fourth and a third of the lam was fat. I expect there to be fat with lamb, but this was over the top for me.

The best thing about the meal, the cherry pavlova. We are eating in the Main Dining Room again on Sunday for what is called a Brunch Sampler. I'll report on hot it compares to tonight's meal.

No white caps today, but there were rolling waves causing the ship to be in constant small motion on all three axis, sometimes all at once, or so it seemed

How much the ship was rocking.

This the same singer I didn't think much of the other night. Tonight he's supposed to be singing songs by Paul Anka, Bobby Darin and Dion among others. 

Turned to be not bad, but not great. I'll give him a C grade. His next show has him performing with a female singer and is purported to be Carole King night. That will be interesting comparing the two of them. People who have done a great deal more cruising may have a better handle to cruise ship entertainers, but so far on this cruise it has been all over the map as to quality The only consistent thing has been that the ship's singers and dancers have been uniformly terrible from show to show. I'm beginning think the only qualification for the job was to have be rejected every time they auditioned for a role with the exception of this gig. We probably should throw the sound person into the mix as the only thing they seem to do coverup the terrible singing is to increase the sound to ear shattering levels. I know what I like and they ain't it. Bob the Critic, who's putting his creative writing class lessons to good use. See, sea days don't have to be boring. Note the use of alliteration in that sentence. Good Bob.