The usual sort of morning with Shed followed by a losing trivia – though not by much.
The ukulele class was the advanced group, with Salomon this time, concentrating on the introduction to the Beatles song, ‘Let It Be’. With 4 different chords on 4 beats, a bit too tough for us to master – especially me! Some chord changes just aren’t possible, as I still don’t have enough active fingers.
Lunch in the buffet was a Mexican theme, but for some strange reason, they never seem to advertise the various themed lunches as they used to. Our perceptions of this cruise are that some things are better than before and some things are not and that seems to be the opinion of most people.
Our afternoon trivia score was a pathetic 8/20, but, had we put down all our alternative suggestions that were discarded or overruled, we would have had 15/20! Not enough to win, but a lot more respectable.
The early theatre show was billed as music/comedy. Forget the comedy, it was just light hearted patter, but the music was David Pengelly on ukulele. A tremendous performance including ‘Duelling Banjo’s’ – but playing both parts. No mean feat. We thoroughly enjoyed this show and it was a shame that one or two of the ukulele class missed it. Sadly, he isn’t getting a second show, which is a real shame.
For dinner, a fair sized group from Cruise Critic (Pacific Circlers) invaded the new, Curtis Stone, ‘Share’ restaurant. The idea is simple enough. You can opt for the fixed price $39 per head meal, which includes 2 from the ‘Charcuterie and Cheese’ menu (9 options); 1 from the ‘From the Garden’ menu (3 choices), 1 from ‘The Oven’ menu (7 choices) and one dessert (3 choices).
Or, you can go a la carte, with the above lists at $4.50, $5 – $7:50, $7.50 - $15, $3.50 - $4.50 respectively.
We had a table of 10 and asked the staff to just bring a selection of dishes as appropriate and we’d just divide the bill – which worked out well enough, at $24 a head. Bearing in mind you are being fed normally anyway, this is quite a hefty surcharge. Macaroni cheese for 2 (supposedly) at an extra $7.50, even though it was nice enough, or potato gratin at $9, seems a bit over the top, but most nights, there aren’t many people dining and no one that we have spoken to, has been more than once, plus tonight. The food was nice though and very little was left uneaten, and we certainly had plenty of variety – though no the crab leg at $15, deemed only enough for one anyway, so not really a ‘share’ dish.
Free bubbles though, courtesy of the Hotel manager, was a nice touch, but my Rekordalik strawberry/lime cider was a hefty $9.50.
Up on deck at 9:30pm, we had the ‘70’s deck party, with the Love Boat theme. For those unaware, the ‘Love Boat’ TV series was in fact filmed on Princess ships and the original cast still do some promo work for Princess. The dance music wasn’t really our cup of tea, so after a couple of laps of the deck, to settle the meal, we retired.
Clocks back another hour tonight, so another 25 hour day. Passengers don’t seem to be affected by this, whereas moving the clocks forward certainly did.
Day 57 – Where did that cat come from?
For our last day at sea before hitting the Hawaiian Islands, we very nearly scored a win in trivia – again, but managed just 19/20. It was a Mark Turner (Cruise Director) quiz and our Western Australian and South Australian friends, will know exactly what I mean when I say ‘Bandi Bandi’ returned. Had we got the correct century for the gunpowder plot, we would have tied for first place. One digit wrong again.
Our final class with Salomon had a chord test! He gave us 8 chords to fill in on the question paper and we managed a respectable 5/8. That was the 1pm class, which then rolled into a Champagne farewell at 2pm, as Salomon gets off in Hilo. We also managed competency certificates for the intermediate class. (We would have got those even if we got 0/8…) Sad to see Salomon go as he really has been an inspiration to so many people, especially if judged not so much on the numbers attending, but on the number who acquired ukuleles whilst travelling.
A very late lunch (and lamb curry…) followed by a NZ Natural ice cream.
For dinner, I opted yet again for the Curtis Stone belly pork, only because I didn’t fancy beef yet again.
About dessert time, we had one of those laughs of the cruise. Assistant waiter Roy, went to his cupboard for the tea pot and knocked over a small metal dish, which crashed to the tiled floor. His immediate response was a loud ‘meow’, as if the cat had disturbed it… Very funny, but it gave me an idea…
We also celebrated Bev’s birthday.
We didn’t fancy the violinist’s second show, so we went to The Wheelhouse bar, but the party band’s music was just a bit too loud, so we retired early.
I seem to be a little behind with this blog, but hope to catch up soon.
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