Day 42

at Sea

Today is Valentines day and the ship is in full Valentine mode with costumes for the employees and special drinks and snacks.

Gym of course and then lunch. Terri has watercolor class today and I decided to attend the lecture on Guam and the Mariana Islands and skip team trivia. The speaker lived on Saipan and spoke about things to see on the islands. Something called Latte. He did make a Starbuck’s joke but the latte’s are stone structures. Stone post with another post on top. Another one of earth’s mysteries. How were these built?

The Mariana Islands are important to the United States because of the strategic location. Spain lost Guam after the Spanish American War.

The Mariana trench is located in this area. Deepest part of the earth’s crust. The deepest part is more than a mile further from sea level than the peak of Mt. Everest is.

Dinner was formal attire. Not many tux’s anymore but Kimberly did make a lunch time announcement about proper dress at dinner. We noticed a few that consistently wear jeans to dinner absent tonight.

We moved into a storm rather quickly. The skies were very dark shortly after this photo was taken. Rough water, white caps, lightning, wind. Luckily there are things to hang onto as we traversed the ship.

I did ask Oscar about Paczki’s. “No Paczki’s? Maybe tomorrow”, he said. When I asked him if he knew what a Pazcki was he said no. I told him it was a jelly filled donut that has become part of Fat Tuesday. He laughed. He has no idea what I am talking about.

The evening entertainment was Judy Carmichael. We first saw her in 2019. She is a very accomplished pianist that plays jazz in the stride bass style. Many Fats Waller tunes. Her show was just like the one she presented five years ago in that she used the stage band drummer to accompany her and Justin did just that. A good musical show but her attempt at comedy was only fair. She said that this is the first cruise she has done in 5 years. It’s good news that the cruise industry entertainment is started to come back to the way it was before the pandemic. Her musical performance is a 10. Give up the attempt at comedy.

There was a Valentine Day party in the Crow’s Nest after the show. DJ, drinks and special treats.