For the second of our three days at sea, we took advantage of gaining an hour overnight (while we travel east to west) to sleep in. Each evening, after dinner, we receive a Princess Navigator, which outlines the calendar of events for the following day. Today’s itinerary did not have many highlights, so there was definitely not a rush to get moving in the morning. At the start of our cruise, I had purchased an internet package, and I used some time this morning to catch up on news from the outside world. Without a newspaper or streaming sports network (i.e., ESPN), it has been difficult to follow Yankees Spring Training and Boston College sports news. Generally, I have been impressed at the internet speeds, and the Wi-Fi signal is very strong in our room, which enables us to use my laptop to connect, rather than the internet café. It has been really nice to be able to stay in touch with friends and family over email, and I have loved sharing our photographs on Facebook. When I get away from it all, I definitely like to stay connected.
After lunch, we sat and chatted with some friends from our Moorea tour. It has really been amazing how many people we have met on the ship, and it is almost impossible for us to walk around without running into someone that we know. With Baby Shaw on the way, I suspect that it will be awhile before our next cruise, but it would be nice to keep in touch with some of the couples that we have met. My parents have actually gone on multiple cruises with the same couples, and I wonder if anything similar is in our future – at least a few decades from now. After another trip to the gym, Ann Taylor and I enjoyed our second pub lunch in the steakhouse. Throughout our vacation, I have endeavored to try different beers – especially local ones – and, for lunch, I ordered a beer that I had not heard of before. Well, it turns out that the beer was non-alcoholic and quite gross. Thankfully, the battered fish, French fries, and mushy peas were all very tasty.
We continued to relax in the room in the early afternoon, and then made our way back up to the Tahitian Lounge for our first trivia session in a few days. Although we achieved our highest score yet – 14 of 20! – it was for naught, as we were one point shy of the highest group score. It has been interesting to continue to see how competitive some teams get, especially toward the end of the cruise. The Princess lanyards are hardly a prize worth arguing over, but these senior citizens can get rather feisty! After trivia, we changed our clothes for the third and final formal night of the cruise. The Canadian couple that sits at our table elected to order dinner in their stateroom tonight, so Ann Taylor and I had a quieter meal after a quieter day. The dinner options have definitely picked up a bit over the past few nights, as I enjoyed lobster tail with king prawns, and Ann Taylor had braised beef short ribs. She again asked for the sorbet for dessert, while I tried the “floating islands”, which consisted of small dollops of meringue in a vanilla sauce. Definitely another recipe that I am planning to look up and add to our queue!
After dinner, the Casino Lounge hosted the final karaoke session of the cruise. Having got up twice before, I chose not to sing this time, but Ann Taylor and I did our best to support tonight’s performers. There are some really talented singers on board, although the song choices are – by and large – really lousy. “Over The Rainbow”, even when sung well, is simply not a song that is going to energize the karaoke crowd. Oh well. I have already learned that some of our Brooklyn friends will be hosting a karaoke birthday party in a few weeks, and I look forward to seeing how that atmosphere compares. Tonight was also the final performance from the Ocean Princess singers and dancers, who presented a show with “Motor City” musical hits. I was glad to recognize many more of the songs than I had during the 50’s music trivia or the Dolly Parton performance from a few nights back. The Cabaret Lounge setup, which is a horseshoe around the stage, offers much closer seating than the traditional stage on the Disney ships. Definitely another perk of the small ship experience.
The last activity of the evening was a Newlyweds Game-style show, with three couples attempting to guess the responses that their spouses had provided to a series of – let’s say whimsical – questions. Unfortunately, Ann Taylor and I were not chosen to participate, which was probably for the best, as the contestants were plied with champagne and their answers grew more ridiculous with each round. Back in the room, we only have one more full day on the ship before we arrive in Sydney on Saturday morning. I had expected that we would turn the clocks back overnight tonight, but we will be gaining an hour over the final night instead. We are looking forward to making the most of our 24 hours in Sydney, and of our last 24 hours on the Ocean Princess. I expect that we will make it to at least one more trivia tomorrow, and the crew talent show in the afternoon should be a lot of fun. With our vacation starting to wind down, we are sad that it has to end, but both looking forward to getting back to our regular routines. As nice as it has been not to cook and clean for more than two weeks, I think that we are still a bit too young to get used to these early bird dinners every night.
