Paula was OK after another light breakfast, so all is looking good at the moment. At our Shed meet, we bid farewell to three stalwarts, Mike, Chuck and Ray. They didn’t bring any farewell doughnuts.
There was no morning trivia as the Vista was the venue for the church service. We were back in the cabin when we heard a PA announcement in the corridor. I should mention here that for non-cruisers, the only messages that come through to the state rooms are important announcements from the Captain or occasionally, the Purser (better known as the Customer Services Director these days).
Opening the door, we caught the gist of the message, calling the experienced and middle ukulele groups together for a practice, before the 2pm concert. All a little disorganised as we were still debating what tunes to play at this late stage. We knew that the beginners would be playing a couple of long running favourites and we needed to confirm what we were playing. We also needed an encore number!
Once settled and a quick run through, we realised that the advanced group’s ‘Delilah’, was beyond us…
Just time afterwards, for a quick bite and a change into the Hawaiian shirts, then back to the Vista, where the ballroom class were doing the rumba.
As before, a full house audience. We all played the beginner’s tunes, then they moved to the back and we played our two, then the advanced played theirs – with us chiming in where we could cope! Of course we had an encore – ‘Doh, Ray, Me’. We didn’t sign any autographs or have CDs for sale, but all in all, a successful concert. Mike (from Mexico – not!) resented Salomon with a card we’d all signed, just to say thank you for his patience and good humour. The very fact that when we started this cruise, about 8 people had their own instruments and that number rose to about 16, says it all really.
Later, afternoon trivia and blog catch up time.
The early show was mentalist, Wayne Hoffman. Once again we’d seen him on a previous cruise, so I can only assume it was back in 2011 before I started my list. Like most mentalists, a combination of trickery, body language and presentation.
“Good evening, this is your Captain speaking”… Here we go again… This time, it was just a farewell message from the very popular Captain Lorentzen as he hands over command in SF - and an advisory that we’d be about 30 minutes late into San Francisco. The doomsayers were also forecasting a late departure, due to the electrical maintenance work probably not being completed on time. No worries, as we had a message in the cabin to say that our power would be out between 1pm and 3pm tomorrow – and they left us a torch. As we have a balcony cabin anyway, no bathroom light at a time when we’d probably be ashore anyway is fair enough. So, a bonus.
Late dinner was good with prawns or a delicious, thick, pork rack. Or both… Paula managed 2 prawns with some rice and veg, so some progress, there. It also meant that I had plenty as I opted for both..
The theatre once again had the cast’s new show, ‘Bravo’. Musically excellent and the sound quality was also good. Worth a second look and a good turnout by passengers with an almost full theatre for the 9:45pm show. Salomon had to concentrate on the keyboard as there was no mucking about, slotting in the ‘Chicken Dance’, ‘Waltzing Matilda’ or ‘You Are My Sunshine’.
Tomorrow, with US immigration again, plus a delayed arrival, we don’t really expect to get off the ship before about midday, even though our deck is supposed to be processed first. We have our allocated time, but there is rarely any check to see whether or not people are queuing too early. Two days in SF we are happy with, though cancelling San Diego is a disappointment. Par for the course on any long cruise and anyone who expects every single day to go exactly as per schedule, is going to be very, very disappointed.
We also heard that the passenger left at Victoria, might well have been a 91 year old. If that is the case, rather sad that no-one was keeping an eye on him, especially as we believe he was part of a tour and may not have fully understood the rendezvous instructions. It may well also be that one or two elderly passengers have been dropped off at the cruise terminal, in Sydney, by their families, hoping that Princess would babysit them for 75 days! Julie, if you are reading this, just be warned that we will know what you are up to, if you are the one initiating our future cruises.
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