Sea Day 3

The swell overnight increased to a short while, then eased, so we slept incredibly well, not waking until 8.45am.   The movement of the ship was still too much for me to stand even using the walker, as my balance is not at all good, so I had to shower seated again - no problem.    In fact on the Diamond Princess I showered seated the whole time as we were higher up - Deck 10.

We made it to breakfast in the Buffet with about ½ an hour to spare!    I am enjoying the low fat granola (we call muesli) the wonderful abundance of berries (I am have at least double what I would dare have at home) and natural yoghurt.   Pete is enjoying the cooked breakfasts.

Today we are going to be very lazy.  Pete wants to read his book - he is over half way through, so I am once again blogging.   Of course along with a coffee in Cova.  Just we arrive; we bumped into Hunter who had arrived for a coffee also.     We hadn’t been seated long before Eddie and Christy called by and stopped to have a coffee with us.   We haven’t seen them since Melbourne so we had a bit of catch up, before they headed for Immigration.

For once the Blog is actually up to date.   So far I have written over 14 pages!

 Crossing the Tasman Sea - relatively calm (although Pete reckons there is more of a rock and roll than last year!)

Pete downloaded all the photos he has taken so far onto the laptop, to clear enough room on the camera for The Sounds.

At 1.15pm I went to a ‘Diamond Cut Seminar” in Boutique C.    It was sort of interesting but they were talking more about the Chocolate and Black Diamonds mined at the Argyle Mine in Australia as they are very rare and small.   More of sales pitch of course.  Most of the rings were large and over the top and certainly did not suit my hands.    While I was there Pete stayed on Cova to read his book.   I was there a good ¾ an hour.

As we were up so late we finally decided we needed lunch, as it was now 2.30pm, we didn’t have a full choice so opted for a gourmet sandwich, and we sat at the very front of the Buffet to enjoy the view.     Colin passed us on his way out onto the Sunset Deck, I called him but he didn’t hear, but one of the waiters did, so he went after him for us - that is they wonderful type of service we are getting on board.   Turned out Colin was actually looking for us!  Patty was having a ‘Nana Nap’.  He joined us for a while.

The battery on the lap top was now way down, so we took it back to the cabin to charge and I grabbed a magazine to read instead.    We relaxed at Cova for quite a while; again Colin joined us for a coffee.   We agreed to met at the Rendezvous Lounge between 6 -6.30 for a drink before the 7pm Show in the Celebrity Theatre.

Back in the cabin I put my feet up on the bed and watched TV while Pete read.   We ordered a Cheese Platter via the on screen Room Service, and after an hour of waiting we changed and left for the Lounge.   We saw Martino on the way and let him know, if it turned up to send it back!!!   We may have not ordered properly perhaps.  (never did find out if it turned up)

Tonight’s Show was “Liverpool Knights” based on the songs and bands of the 60’s.  It was excellent, very well done and the Theatre was near capacity.   As with past nights we went straight to dinner from the show - Patty and Colin are on late dining so we cannot eat with them.

The Grand Dining Room had no queue tonight so we went straight in and had a table for two with Jimmy and Alvin - they are such nice guys.  Jimmy often refers to him as ’His Angel’!   We had seen Alvin a couple of times in the Buffet and he always stops to chat.   Each night he gives ‘Jimmy’s recommendations’ which can be quite different to the Chefs recommendations.   Tonight we both had Appetizers, Soups and Entrée (Now that is a word I don’t get - the Americans call a Main Course and Entrée - who knows why???) I caught Jimmy out as he had removed our soup spoons after our first course, so when he served the soup I had to call him back - he had a good laugh.    When it came to dessert Jimmy recommended the standard menu desserts rather than the nights specials. 

The evenings seem to have a big gap in the entertainment from 9 - 10pm for some reason (apart from the second run of the Show) so we thought we should check out the Hemisphere Bar forward on Deck 12.   They were playing “The Best of the Eagles” but the place was all but deserted.   Pete wanted to check out the layout for the next morning going into Milford.    At one stage Pete spotted some whales but by the time I go near that part of the lounge they had disappeared.   We stayed there until about 10pm, and it was still quite light as sunset was way after 9pm - quite weird.  

The swell had reduced quite a bit from earlier in the day.   So the crossing was as smooth as with the Diamond Princess but being a smaller ship we felt the rolling more.

Tonight we will sleep with the curtains open, so we wake with the first light, so we can be on deck before we enter Milford.