World Cruise - Day 64 - Mar 16 - At Sea

It was stormy this morning, so no sunrise photo.  I was thinking that it’s been awhile since I had a decent sunrise photo, but then I looked back in the blog and I had a good one a couple days ago in Hiroshima.  I guess it’s been awhile since I’ve had a good sunrise photo while at sea.

Sonia, most NA beers do contain a trace of alcohol (they typically list it as “less than .5%”—which would be the equivalent of 1/10 the normal alcohol of a regular beer), but the ones in Japan actually say 0.00% alcohol.  The Asahi Zero says as its tagline (in English): “It is a non-alcohol beverage so you can enjoy it without worrying about the next working day.”  I think you’re right about the Buddhist prayer wheels—we saw some people spinning each wheel as they walked up the steps.  We do have a person onboard the ship whom I believe lives onboard 365 days a year.  When you do the math, it’s roughly the same cost as a nursing home for a year.  Not that you would get around the clock nursing care onboard, but you do get all of your meals prepared for you and your room cleaned twice a day.  Not a bad option for someone who perhaps needs an assisted living situation and would also like to travel?

We have a new captain onboard (Andrea Poggi), we lost Captain John Foster yesterday when he got off in Busan and our new captain joined us.  John Foster is an unusual captain in that he is fluent in English (he is from Liverpool, most captains are from Scandinavian countries and speak only limited English) and he has a personality and sense of humor (most captains are pretty by-the-book and not very engaging).  So John Foster will be missed.  We decided last night that everything that goes wrong on the cruise from this point forward will be blamed on the new captain.  So, for example, this morning the weather is quite cloudy and rainy, which is obviously the captain’s fault, since he chose to steer our course into this rain (and Captain John Foster would have chosen the sunny course, of course).  And it spills over into other more minor things as well.  Coffee is too strong for you?  New captain’s fault, he must like his coffee strong.  Coffee is too weak for you?  New captain’s fault, he must like his coffee weak.  You get the idea.

Here is our current location in the Yellow Sea between South Korea and China:

Susie, I’m trying to find more interesting detail pics around the ship.  This one is halfway up the staircase in the Grand Foyer (which is only two stories vs. 3-6+ on some other ships):

Every morning when I go to get our coffee in the Club Bar on deck 5, there are usually several “regulars” that are there at the bar drinking their morning cup of joe:

Ken, one of our tablemates, is at the right.  Millie Cavanaugh is at the left end and is the other person that is typically there with Ken in the morning.  Michele Castiglioni, the Hotel General Manager, is to the right of Millie.  Someone mentioned that the new captain, Andrea Poggi, normally comes down for coffee in the morning as well, but wasn’t there this morning.  I have to talk to him about the weather and the weak coffee…

On a more serious note, it is interesting how the captain does end up getting involved in making decisions on rather trivial items.  For example, during the first segment, there was a disagreement about which way to go around the track on deck 10.  Captain had to make the call about going “anticlockwise” (counterclockwise) and (believe it or not) had to post security guards for a few days to make sure the disagreements (which were coming close to being outright fistfights) over the track directional came to an end.  Yikes.  I just want the captain to keep us off the reefs.  But in a way, he’s like the mayor of our little town.  Or perhaps the dictator of our little country?  Either way, what the captain says, goes.

I went to a lecture this morning given by Ambassador Douglas Hartwick:

Ambassador Hartwick was formerly U.S. Ambassador to Laos and has expertise in both Asia and Africa.  Today he gave a presentation on China.  He will be giving future presentations on SE Asia as we get near that region.  I’ve never met an Ambassador today.  Nice guy, very informative.

Trivia was interesting only in that most of the questions were a repeat from a prior session, although back on Segment 1, so over a month ago.  So it was essentially a memory test.  We got 18 out of 21, the winning team got 19.  We got all of the repeat questions right except for one: Who played Dr. Edward Fitzgerald on the show Fitz?  Answer is Robbie Coltrane (we put George Clooney, although we knew it wasn’t right).  We missed two other questions: Which of the seven wonders of the world is in Ephesus?  Temple of Artemis (we put Temple of Diana).  In the ballet Swan Lake, Princess Odet is turned into a bird by which magician?  Von Rothbart (we put Merlin, again knowing it wasn’t right, just didn’t have a clue).  Other interesting questions: The House of Normandy ruled England in which two centuries?  11^th and 12^th.  Cassis is a syrup made from which fruit?  Black currant (we got this wrong the last time, remembered it this time).

We had our Segment 3 Cruise Critic luncheon today in the Club Restaurant.  Chef Antonio made a special fried rice appetizer for our group:

We had about 60 people in attendance.  Thanks to Sara for organizing the luncheon!

I watched The Adventures of Tintin on our stateroom television today.  It was an interesting movie, not sure exactly how they do the animation, but it’s very real looking.  Decent story line as well, even left it open in the end for a sequel.  We usually have a movie being shown in the staterooms each afternoon and a different one in the evening.  Then there is a different movie being shown on the screen in the Cabaret Lounge in the afternoon and sometimes a fourth movie being shown as Movies Under the Stars in the evening.  So it’s a way to get caught up on movies I haven’t yet had a chance to see.

Tomorrow is Shanghai.  We have a large number of people (I heard an estimate of about 100 of our 680 passengers) getting off the ship tomorrow for overland excursions in China.  Most people are going to Beijing and The Great Wall of China, then rejoining in Hong Kong on Tuesday or Wednesday (we overnight there on Tuesday night).  Ken and Sara (tablemates) and Dennis and Roberta will be doing a Shanghai 3-day excursion and rejoining with the ship in Hong Kong on Tuesday.  We are staying onboard, since we have never been to either Shanghai or Hong Kong and want to make the most of both cities.