Thankfully, we actually were able to sleep in a little more today, even though we had another time change last night. A little more as in being able to sleep in until 6:00 AM on the new time. We are now only 1 hour away from Hawaii time. We awoke to mostly sunny skies, although there were enough clouds around to diminish the beauty of the sunrise, at least from a photo perspective. I did get up early enough to try to take some sunrise photos, only to see the distant rain storms blocking the sunrise on the horizon.
When Stephanie got up, we went for a few laps of walking around the ship on the Promenade deck, then we went to the buffet again for breakfast. Then it was back for showers and getting ready for the 10:00 AM appointment with the Maître d’ to find out more information on the Chef’s Dinner. We found out that we will be with a group of 12 passengers, and the night for our special dinner will be on November 2. The dinner starts out with a tour of the kitchen, followed by hors d’ouvres and then the special dinner. Several of the other passengers we met at the gathering today have attended the Chef’s Dinner before, and they said it was a great experience, and were glad to be able to do it again. Unfortunately, the Chef’s Dinner orientation was at the same time as the Ukulele class, so I missed out on that.
Since this was a sunny morning, and it was much warmer than yesterday, we applied sunscreen and headed up to the pool deck to get a little sun time. The wind was blowing in the same direction that the ship was heading, so there was virtually no relative wind on the decks. It actually got to be pretty hot, which was unusual after a couple of days of cool weather. We ended up just eating lunch out in the lounge chairs, Stephanie had pizza, and I had a hamburger, with some blue cheese added for a little extra kick. we met a couple from California that were sitting in the chairs next to us, they were both realtors, and had their own realty business. They had been on the Hawaii cruise several times before, and were filling us in on some of the things to do and see on the various islands.
Around 2:00 PM we headed over to the the art auction. Of course, we were looking forward to enjoying the free champagne. These auctions are actually interesting, we get to learn about some of the artists, and get a feeling for the price of the artwork. After the auction, we headed back to the room to sit out on the balcony and read, while enjoying the peacefulness of the passing ocean. We had a couple of refreshments before getting ready for dinner.
Tonight, we went to a different dining room, the Santa Fe, and had a much more enjoyable dining experience. Our waiter, Georgiana was from Mexico, and was very attentive and provided us with excellent service. This restaurant had a Southwestern theme, and they actually did have some specialty items to serve that were not on the normal menu, which was different than we had previously thought. One of the menu items here was fajitas, and Stephanie ordered them for dinner. Both of our meals were very good, and we will be trying to reserve a table with Georgiana for tomorrow night. It is always nice to find a wait staff that seems to fit in with our personalities, sometimes it takes us a few nights to find someone that we like. At least we have that option with the personal choice dining, we don’t have to worry about having someone we don’t like for the entire cruise, and also don’t have to worry about having table mates we may not like for the cruise duration either. I think the wait staff likes to serve people they get along with, they also enjoy the positive interaction, and the possibility of getting a few extra dollars in tips, which its what they strive for, to increase their income, but to also enjoy serving the passengers.
After dinner, we went to a game show in the Explorers Lounge called “Yes and No”. The contestants get asked questions by the entertainment staff, and you can’t say the words “yes” or “no” in the answers. The time limit to win is 3 minutes, and of about 20 contestants, no one was able to go for the full duration, it was actually amazing and funny seeing how the well trained staff could get passengers to fail.
When the show was over, we tried to find somewhere on the decks where we could see the stars, but unfortunately, there is so much lighting on the decks that it ruins your night vision. We found one area on the stern that was dimly lit, and were able to see some stars, but not nearly as many as I would have thought. I guess they need the extra lighting on deck for security and safety, but it would be nice to have one deck up high that was less lighted for stargazing.
We did not take many pictures today, it was too cloudy for the sunrise, and it also ended up being cloudy for the sunset. Really nothing to photo today except a lot of really blue water.