Day 22: 20231014 Saturday, October 14, 2023- At Sea Pago Pago to Auckland
The skies are clear and the temperature is moderating as we head south. The seas have also been calm, so walking around the promenade deck is pleasant.
Janet’s still trying to get over her cold, and had a rough night coughing. She thought one of her hearing aids wasn’t working, but apparently it’s her eustation tube that’s actually malfunctioning. We brought a supply of Dextromethorphan/Guiafenesein and pseudoephedrine in case we got colds and are close to being all out. We’ll have our kids bring out more when they fly out to Sydney in December for the New Zealand circumnavigation cruise.
This morning’s trivia did have some harder new questions (what is Quinsy) and the tie breaker was how far will a standard HB pencil draw a line (35 miles). Our progressive team has dropped into 3rd place but with the poor questions (factually wrong answers) being asked by this particular cruise director’s staff (Laura), it’s hard to get too excited about the progressive scores anymore. She also likes to have multipoint questions (10 pts for poker hands, 11pts for the main actors in 2001’s Ocean’s 11- her answers didn’t include the top billed actors and included uncredited actors).
Dinner was at the Crown Grill, using our AAA specialty dining benefit. You can get a lobster tail, but if you wanted a surf and turf, they would still charge another $10 over the $39 cover charge, so we actually did better in the main dining room. Janet had the filet mignon, which was tender and medium well, despite being ordered medium rare, but it was good with the applewood smoked salt.
Ben ordered the lamb chops which were tender and flavorful with a more generous portion that what the main dining room had served for their rack of lamb earlier in the cruise. The sides were ok but not particularly memorable, as were the desserts. The desserts looked fancy but the flavors were uninspiring. They did have a small loaf of garlic bread that was unique to the Crown Grill, and that was one of the better baked goods we have found on the ship. In general, the baked goods have been below par for other Princess ships we have been on in the past. They just seemed less fresh.
The Covergirls did a second performance with a lot of Motown and 60’s music. They put on a good show backed by the live band- nice costumes, choreography and singing. Of all the vocalists and instrumentalists they have had on this cruise from Vancouver, the Cover Girls have the best performance.
We finished the night with a Motown music trivia hosted by Claire, the young Scottish cruise staffer. Her choice of Motown music included only 10 classic Motown songs from the 60’s, with the balance being obscure artists and songs from the late 70’s through the late 90’s that we had never heard before, so that was an educational experience.
Tonight, we drop through a temporal warp in the space time fabric where Sunday October 15, 2023 disappears down a wormhole and we emerge on Monday October 16, 2023. Crossing the International dateline can be a disorienting experience. Religious people are going to be upset that they don’t get to have any Sunday religious services, and if your birthday is on October 15, tough luck. We do have another sea day before arriving in Auckland.
