Day 39: 20231101: Wednesday, November 1, 2023- At Sea crossing the Arafura Sea
The Arafura sea is the large body of water south of Papua and Papua/New Guinea and west of Cape York. Since rounding the tip of the York Peninsula, the northern coastline of Australia has dropped below the horizon and is no longer visible. The seas have been calm and it is hot and muggy on the decks with the temperature and humidity both in the mid 80’s. There is scattered cloud cover and mostly blue sky. We are quite pleased that our stateroom has remained a comfortable 69˚F with 34% humidity even with the shades pulled open when the sun isn’t on the balcony. The ship is moving at a seemingly leisurely pace of 14-15kts, perhaps to save fuel while still on schedule to arrive in Darwin on Friday.
We have come to enjoy our sea days because we don’t have to rush off on excursions in the morning and can generally relax. Our morning trivia proved to be quite challenging because we only managed 10/20 questions. Even the winning teams only managed 11/20. Janet attended an art auction, hoping to get lucky on a drawing for a prize, but walked away empty handed. Ben hit the fitness center for the first time instead of walking the promenade deck because of the heat and humidity. At 11am, the fitness center is remarkably empty. There were only 4 or 5 people in there, while the pool deck was plenty crowded. The Aussies really like roasting in the sun.
In the afternoon, our progressive trivia team managed to hold onto our lead, and won today’s session. We actually tied one other team, but the host was running a little behind schedule so he gave both teams 2023 World Cruise luggage tags. When the scores went up in the evening, we were leading by 2-3/4 points.
There wasn’t anything particularly special about dinner but we both enjoyed a flavorful and tender Guiness lamb stew.
The Princess Theater had its premier of “I’ve Got The Music In Me” for this ship’s cast. Interestingly enough, on the Grand Princess we ended up sitting next to the choreographer, and after we took our seats for this evening’s production, we were surprised when the same gal came down the aisle and sat next to us again. This was this cast’s first performance of this show, and it looked like the same cast that did the last production show. The lead singers aren’t quite up to the standard of the cast on the Grand Princess, although one of the female leads, who looks like she might have some Polynesian in her, consistently does clear and in tune vocals that make her performance stand out. As usual, the production cast did put on an energetic and entertaining show, and the choreographer said that although she could see some stage jitters, she was pleased with the premier as well.
We stayed up late to do the Motown music trivia. Unlike on the Grand Princess, this Motown stuck to classic Motown hits, so there were no Motown from the 80’s and 90’s to contend with. We won with a perfect score and took home a photo album and notebook. We played with John and Linda from our usual trivia team so they got some swag too.
Tomorrow is our last sea day before we arrive in Darwin. Our clocks go back a half hour tonight.
