World Cruise - Day 39 - Feb 20 - At Sea

Sunrise photos this morning weren’t as notable, partly because we got up late due to the late night movie last night, partly because no Zumba this morning.  This was the best of the bunch:

Seas are still pretty calm today, although not as glassy as they were yesterday.  We’re back to the rolling small waves and swells.

They made an announcement yesterday morning while I was playing ping pong that there were whales off the port side of the ship.  We watched them for awhile, but then we all ended up going back to ping pong.  All you could see was the whales temporarily surfacing to breath (and the spouting), then go under again.  I think dolphins are way more fun to watch.  I guess perhaps we’re all getting a little jaded with the whale sightings at this point?

Sonia, thanks for looking up the info on the oil paintings.  Krissie will probably stop doing oil paintings at least three weeks before the end of the cruise.  I stand corrected on the gelato, waffles and coffee, although it seems like a strange combination?  Sorry, I can’t drink my coffee or put syrup on my waffle because my gelato is melting?  Or do you just combine them all in a blender and drink like a smoothie?  Krissie was looking for a coffee milkshake in Auckland, maybe that would have done it?

Not sure what’s up with Zumba, but this is the fourth sea day without.  I talked to Collette after the first two misses and she said she had a pinched nerve in her neck, but it was getting better and we would be picking up again after Auckland.  That hasn’t happened, so perhaps her pinched nerve is more serious than she had thought?

Two days in a row with a stairwell picture.  I thought it was interesting that they have to polish the brass of both the handrails and the front of each step on the ship:

The name of the young man doing the work is Rockson (or “Rock” for short) and he is from India.

Here is a pic of Glenn, our Cabin Steward:

Glenn is from Cabu, Philippines.  He is married and has two children, a girl, 13 and a boy, 8.

The weather today continued to be quite warm, high in the mid 70s.  However, tomorrow is supposed to get quite chilly as we enter Fjordland, with a high in the mid 50s.  I learned that the fjords here are more like the fjords of Chile or Norway, rather than Alaska.  We are very much looking forward to it

We tied in trivia this morning at 15 out of 20 and lost the tie breaker (our history with tiebreakers isn’t very good): How long is the Nile River?  It is over 4,100 miles long, we put 1,800 (not even close).  Other notable questions: Who was Dick Tracy’s girlfriend?  Tess Trueheart.  What continent was the largest gold nugget discovered?  Australia.  The Gospel of Judith was discovered in which country?  Egypt (we put Turkey).  What Olympic sport prohibits the wearing of a beard?  Boxing (we put wrestling).  Audrey Hepburn was born in what country?  Belgium.  What is the young of a partridge called?  A cheeper (we put chick).

The evening entertainment was Peter Paki, “New Zealand’s most popular variety entertainer.”

I should be taking notes on repeat songs by different performers.  I know we’ve heard Proud Mary by at least two (maybe three?) different performers.  Tonight’s performance was the second time we heard Tom Jones’ Delilah and both performers got the audience to sing.  And an Elvis imitation.  Pretty standard cruise ship stuff.

We went to listen to David Crathorne singing piano after Peter Paki.  David definitely has his followers (affectionately known as “David’s Groupies”) who come to listen to him each evening.  We like listening to David, although we’re not groupies.

Tomorrow is Fjordland scenic cruising or sea day #3 of 5 on our way to Burnie, Tasmania.