Sunday, November 24, 2019; At Sea Aqaba to Abu Dhabi Day 6

Sunday, November 24, 2019; At Sea Aqaba to Abu Dhabi Day 6

It’s hard to believe this is our 6th day at sea since Aqaba because by the 5th sea day on our Hawaii cruise out of Los Angeles, it seemed like we were ready to see land again. But to be fair, even though we didn’t get off the ship, we did spend 5 hours in Jeddah on the dock and made a near shore call in Egypt for the medical evacuations.  There are signs of our duration at sea, including the disappearance of iceberg and romaine lettuces from the buffet and the ripening of the honeydew melons, which until now have been to hard to eat.  The cantaloupe ought to be edible by the time we hit Dubai.  The ship’s staff say we won’t get resupplied with fruit and vegetables until we get to Singapore.  

We had an average performance at our morning trivia, missing a win by 

2 points.  We held our own in the progressive trivia and gained that contested point so we finished in a 4 way tie for second place.  

The pop choir and drum circle/ukulele classes had their recitals in the Princess Theaters so we went and watched Jackie in her drum circle and Mary in the choir.  They got a standing ovation, of course.  

Our performance in the afternoon trivia was 2 pts off the win.  What does a praying mantis have only one of that most other insects have two or more?  And what childhood disease is frequently referred to as 64 roses because its young sufferers can’t pronounce the real name?  Anyone know which finger Jerry Garcia is missing, or which rock star was in Wayne’s World and Prince of Darkness?  

We got into our formal wear for the first time this cruise, just as the ship was heading into the Strait of Hormuz, within 20 miles of the shores of Iran.  Being closer to land, we have been seeing brown boobies diving at fish near the ship’s wake and have seen a few flying fish for the first time.  

We were treated to lobster for dinner, and it was a very good New England broiled lobster, and our waiter had no issues with bringing us an extra lobster and drawn butter.  Surprisingly, there was no Chocolate Journey dessert, but they did have baked Alaska.  This baked Alaska actually had crunchy bits of crystallized sugar on the top of the meringue, which was a new twist for us.  

After dinner, we rendezvoused with our trivia team for what might end up being our last game with Linda and Paul, who will be disembarking in Dubai the day after tomorrow.  It was for Broadway Musicals Trivia, and we were able to walk away with another win.  It was nice to end our trivia with Linda and Paul with a win.  We shared the champagne while watching A.J. Clarke do a tribute to the Rat Pack in the same venue, and toasted to having had a great trivia team. 

Tomorrow we arrive in Abu Dhabi, and as of 11PM, we have successfully transited the strait of Hormuz without being intercepted by Iranian Revolutionary Guards, so we are breathing a sigh of relief.  We have two excursions booked for morning and afternoon, so we will be off the ship until dinner time.