The weather for the last few days has hovered around the 28/32 degree mark with occasional showers, so quite steamy at times. Up to now, the sea has been very, very calm, so much so that it has often been difficult to know whether or not the ship was even moving. With running ahead of typhoon Nepartak, there is every chance that it might not be as smooth for the next day or three.
Men’s Shed, after a cooked breakfast, elicited some surprisingly sensible and informed discussion about the politics of the EU and Australia.
Morning trivia was our first with DJ Anthony and another good presenter, making this one of the best entertainment crews we have had so far. A bit of humour was appreciated although there are those in the room who just cannot grasp that it is indeed, trivia. The winners now seem to be spread around the room and it is no longer the same teams winning each day, which is great for everyone. The turnout is most impressive, morning and afternoon. Even though we rarely win, it does add to the knowledge base and we do enjoy it. We scored 19 points, but before you genuflect with admiration (again), I should point out that 3 questions had more than one point…
A spell of blog writing and yet another failed attempt to upload, preceded ukulele class. Paula is getting to grips with it very well, but still struggles with the ‘G7’ chord. There were no new ukulele acquisitions in Hong Kong, so we weren’t the only ones to come back empty handed.
A high protein late lunch with pork vindaloo, escalope of turkey, oatmeal crumbed chicken, BBQ pork rib plus raw vegetables. I the past, we have often reported back that a daily curry would be appreciated and at least that seems to have been taken on board for the lunch buffet.
On the way back, we just happened to be seduced by the offerings in the ice cream section. Paula had her usual hokey-pokey and I had mango and passionfruit frozen yoghurt. As it is using up our stock of coffee cards and we also have a fair bit of on board credit to use up, the fact that it is decent ice cream (or sorbet or yoghurt) with several flavour options, rather than the rather dubious (according to some) free soft serve, maybe a positive move after all. Certainly, what I have had so far, I have really enjoyed. A generous single scoop is more than enough too.
We won’t mention the afternoon quiz score, but let us just say that we don’t have an extra lanyard or sheep station.
The 6:15pm show was a first for our ukulele teacher and atrium pianist, Salomon Parra from Chile. This 28 year old is a real talent. You had to concentrate on shutting out the sound of the air-conditioning system and concentrate on listening to his unamplified piano, whilst watching the screens that had an overhead shot of the keyboard, which was much appreciated. He is quite a cheeky sort of chap but as far as we can establish, he isn’t the product of a formal music education, which makes his playing even more remarkable, given the classical pieces he played so well. Chopin, Beethoven, Argentinian and Italian composers’ pieces we’d never heard of, which looked extremely difficult to play, all without written music. Talking to Mark Turner later on, it appears that he can also score for the orchestra. A great ovation and again, led by the supportive production cast.
A Thai theme for dinner, but no Thai chicken curry – so I thought I’d try the speciality hamburger after the chicken satay and noodle and prawn dish. Burger was good, but the chips needed to be a bit fresher.
Back to the theatre for a new to Princess, female vocalist, Annie Francis. Australian born of a Philipino mother and Irish father and ignoring the badly placed drummer (centre stage again) and less than perfect sound mix (yet again), as best we could, this was still a very good show. What made it a better than usual performance, was the repertoire, covering an Irish air from the days when they were shipped to Australia for petty crimes, to a Doris Day number (in Spanish), Judith Durham and a Vera Lynn medley. This really hit the mark with the audience as most are of an age when they could remember those songs. The ship was moving around a little by this time, but combined with a slightly nervous introduction to a Princess audience, a very well received show indeed. A minimum of 8.5 out of 10, which I may revise after a second show.
Afterwards, quite a long, productive chat with cruise director Mark. I have always been impressed with his sincerity and willingness to listen and in return, he seems to appreciate our feedback on the entertainers – including my spreadsheet of their performance across all cruises! He also appreciates the positive feedback on his team. We all know that they can get 50 compliments, but it is the occasional barbed criticism that really hurts. Having told Paula that Federer was through to the next round of Wimbledon, she was happy enough and we headed for the cabin to watch, but it was Murray’s match that was being televised at the time – but then the signal dropped out anyway.
Garry’s birthday tomorrow…
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