THE CIRCUS WAS IN TOWN

January 8, 2019

And the animals got loose! Or at least that’s the way the day seemed.

Tuesday started out in a normal fashion – photon torpedoes were loaded, the tractor beam was installed, and the medical staff came on board.  After that we were up for breakfast on the Lido deck, Bonnie went to Crafts at Sea and I came back to rehearse.  Then it was time for the 10 o’clock talk.  And that’s when the circus came to town.

If you have cruised before you have met Park West Galleries.  They “auction” paintings.  Yes, it is in quotation marks because it doesn’t start low and go up, the bidding starts high and goes down to as low as they will sell it.  We were on 7 cruises last year and PWG had the same picture on every ship.  Well, they act like they own the ship.  I know they pay the cruise line to be on board, but they take little notice of anyone else.  Case in point for today’s circus: They had an art auction 2 hours after my talk, and when I walked into the Butterfly Lounge to set up, both sides were filled with easels and paintings, leaving only the center seats for folks to sit.  The center filled up quickly and some people left because their seats were holding paintings.  But those of us who could find a space had a good time.

Lunch on the Lido was Guy Fierrie’s hamburgers.  Then we played Yahtzee and this time I won.  Then it was naptime and back to the theater for the 5:30 talk.  And the circus was back.

This time the sound tech was late and the two ladies from the crew who do some meet and greet and pass out the pins for the folks who attend had to do double duty getting me set up.  Then about 20 minutes into my talk, the battery in my microphone conked out and the grils came quickly to my rescue and we concluded on time.

Now the real circus performance took place when we went to the Normandie Restaurant for our evening meal during anytime dining.  There are some 2600 guests on board and 2500 of them were there trying to get in at 6:45.  So we took a pager and waited 30 minutes for a table.  Bless the waiters who serve in anytime.  They go non-stop from 5:15 until 9 p.m.  Mom’s menu was screwy – part of it was for an upcoming day, and she was disappointed when what she ordered was not yet available.  It did not make her happy.  But we both had short ribs, which were tasty.  My appetizer was snails (I wanted escargot, but they were out).  And I had melting chocolate cake for dessert.  I was within my 23 points up until the cake.

Great show tonight by an entertainer we’ve heard before several times, and now we are back to the room blogging and rehearsing (timing is tight in the Butterfly tomorrow, so I’m going to edit my astronomy talk to fit the guidelines).

And with that I will turn the keyboard over to my cruise buddy.

TTFN

We were up just before 7 and off to the lido for breakfast. Today was cereal with banana and cantelope, plus a cup of hot chocolate. David’s app said the temperature was to be 44 outside so I had my jacket on in anticipation of walking outside. They had deck 3 promenade closed again so I started to walk around deck three then decided to try and go up to the jogging track. So I found an elevator and rode to deck 10. I didn’t go on up to the jogging track because deck 10 provided a great deck to walk around. And the weather was wonderful. It was not 44. There was a great breeze blowing so off came the jacket and off I went. I walked over 2 miles.

Then, I headed to the Captains club on deck 2 aft for the creativity at sea. But they had that room closed for a “private event” so they held it out in the bar area. It was luggage tags. I got one and then headed to David’s talk. Oh my gosh, the room was terrible. I wound up standing in the back because there was  literally no place for me to sit. People did come in and take a look around and left. The afternoon talk was no better when we arrived at 5:15 for the 5:30 talk there were signs outside saying private event and they had stuff still set up for the event that had been in there earlier. Tables, coffee pots, donuts, water, etc. There were dirty cups and stuff sitting everywhere. Not very inviting for the talk. Somehow in the 15 minutes before the talk started they had most of the stuff picked up.

Before we went to lunch we went to the shore excursion desk and purchased an excursion for each of 4 of the islands we are going to. We splurged. Because we usually only get one or two at the most. It shall be fun.  The guy said you know all the excursions you got are for historical stuff, meaning there was no beach excursions. We told him that was fine. Most people want the beach but we didn’t. We will go to the beach when we get to St Martten.

After his 5:30 talk it was 6:45 before we got to the dining room and it was slammed. We got a pager and had a wait of about 30 minutes. Considering the crowd that wasn’t bad. Supper was just fair. I really did not want beef for supper but there wasn’t much that was interesting. I ate a little of it. The sugar free panna cottee I had was good. I have had  it before and I knew it would be good.

The show was at 9:30 and we got to the theater at 8:30 and got our seats and waited. Good show. Marcus Anthony is a soul/motown/rock and rock/ country singer and quite good. Really works to have the audience participate. We have seen him several times before and always enjoy his show. He did a full hour which is unusual for a performer.

Well, we are back in our room and having a drink and then off to bed to start all over tomorrow. The day after tomorrow is our first port. Yeah, Land ho!  I have gotten quite a bit of crocheting down so I haven’t minded the sea days.

Love you all. Mom Granny Bonnie