Active day at sea

This morning I took a look at our near term schedule. Tomorrow is Auckland. Were there from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. so a full day! I'm meeting a group at 8:15 a.m. to go buy hop-on/hop-off tickets together to obtain a group discount. Then we'll likely all do our own thing. I'm hoping to see the sights but also get some good Indian food. The ship does a great job with American fare but is not so great with ethnic food.

Tomorrow we will have been on the ship 29 days. This is the longest I have ever been on a cruise ship. I must admit when I looked at the near term schedule and saw 4 days at sea after Auckland I was a bit dismayed. But somehow this galvanized me to do more on my sea days as otherwise I would go out of my mind. So here is what I did today.

I attended the talk by Estelle Harris who played someone's mother on Seinfeld. She was very funny. I especially liked it when she protested that the chairs in the Cabaret lounge were not very comfortable when they asked her to sit in one while they played the episode she was talking about. This drew loud applause and cheers from the crowd. Many have commented on how uncomfortable the chairs are in this lounge.

Just before lunch I attended the trivia session. The questions were determined by a passenger and were quite good. I liked that some were relevant to our cruise and where we are. Apparently we are in the Hawaiian time zone.

In the afternoon I attended the Whales of the South Pacific lecture. I found it interesting. The lecturer mentioned that some had seen a whale off the side of the ship. Unfortunately I did not get to see this. Apparently they are out of season in this area, so we are not likely to see any more.

Afterward I virtuously bypassed the ice cream sundae bar and did my water exercises. The weather has started to turn cooler. Which still means nice, just not as hot as before. However, it won't be too long before I won't be able to use the pool.

There are two passenger participation activities that will result in performances for us. One is those training in dance steps for a Broadway type show and the other is a singing group. I don't know if they will have a separate show or if they will be part of the passenger talent show. Both should be fun to attend.

I gave some thought today to being on a ship this size for this period of time. Every now and then I hear others discussing the same thing. Some seem to be in favor of the size due to not having to walk far or seeing more people they know. I would prefer a larger ship with a larger variety of activities to choose from, more amenities, more dining venues and greater stability. Not to say I'm not enjoying this cruise, I am. We have a great captain and a wonderful staff. The staff can make or break a cruise.