Sea Day, Post Turkey with photos

 Friday, November 24, 2023

Progress!  I was able to climb into the shower without help or incident! "Every day, in every way,..."

I hate this picture of me;; but she's so darn cute I can't leave it out!

But I can crop this one!!

It's another sea day with another trivia contest.  The fourth lady never came back, so I guess I'll be playing again, although trivia is not my strong suit! But I'm all caught up with the blog except for adding some more photos to The Vatican and the Coliseum! I suppose we'll try yesterday's schedule again and hope that "Six" will play tonight.  So far the seas don't feel too bad; but a lot in happen in twelve hours!

After a leisurely morning we go down to O'Sheehans for breakfast.  I have the Loaded Breakfast Potatoes with one egg over medium, with corned beef, bacon, grilled onions, scallions, and cheddar cheese. It's very tasty and not too large.  And we each get our own pot of tea, so that's nice.  The yellow tag Lipton's black tea is much more pleasant than the ordinary stuff!  And it hasn't been keeping me awake at night, so that's good! Our waiter is so cute and personable that I ask to take a picture of his badge and he says,"Why not my face?  I'm cuter!"  And he is!  We'll mention him in the post-cruise survey and hope he gets bonus points.

On the way out I stop to take an artsy-artsy photo and the assistant maitre d says that will be ten bucks!  We giggle and then she says we should take a selfie!  Too cute!  We stop at the service desks.  I want to thank the people at Guest Services for the fruit basket and Nick wants to straighten out the snafu with our "Six" reservations and also our dinner reservations at Cagney's and Le Bistro.

We stop by the room and then go in search of the crossword puzzle in the mini library.  Puzzle in hand we go back to the Spiegel Tent for some quiet time.  Nick joins us presently but finds that he can't read in the dim light.  I finish the crossword and work on photos, while Ginger reads the blog.

Nick is gone and we decide that at one o'clock (or maybe it will be two?  It's hard to keep track of the time zones) we'll go watch the trivia competition.  If we're wrong about the time we'll be just in time to go to lunch!

You never know what you're going to see!

Cute little library!

We go down to the Atrium and don't see Nick and Christine;  but we run into Linda, our other wounded compatriot.  We exchange names and I take her photo.  And she wants a selfie with me for Facebook.  She got a fruit basket, too, and was assured that the ship would be taking care of everything!  I still plan to check my account every day;  but I'm feeling much better about the bill!

Nick and the team are upstairs and still missing their fourth member.  The category is History and that's not my favorite but I do know some of the answers and we wind up getting 15 out of 20! Then it's off to lunch at the only place that's open at two - O'Sheehans.  The service is quite spotty and things arrive in courses, even if you only ordered the chicken salad sandwich!  But we finally get someone to bring us Bloody Caesars, and Christine has joined us for a Virgin Caesar, so we can chat and not be too upset about the service.  The wait staff works terrible hours and is mostly working double shifts so we try not to make a fuss.  Except for Nick who admits that he is feeling grumpy. 

After lunch we stroll toward the Speigel Tent because we had thought to take the Paint by U class, painting the Northern Lights. When we get there the class is still in progress and we decide that maybe we're not so interested after seeing the model!  We go looking for a quiet place to sit and read/write, even looking outside, although I'm a little gun-shy in the wind! But we find a lobby area of the Manhattan Room.  Eventually Nick leaves and we agree to meet back in the room around six-ish.

After a bit we think perhaps we should visit Bar 21.  Ginger has a Rusty Nail and I have the drink of the day, a Mai Tai, which reminds me of Hawaii.  That's were I had my first and only one until today. We try to message Nick but it doesn't go through, so we head back to the cabin.  We had agreed that dinner around 7:30 or 8:00 would be fine since we ate lunch so late and have nothing scheduled for the evening.

Nick goes down to see if he can get us a beeper for Shanghai which we had enjoyed so much the first time. He comes back saying it will be about an hour but they surprise us by beeping in just half an hour.  We are shown to our places at the high table and fill in our order forms.  A pair of sisters sit next to me at the long table and we make interesting small talk until the food arrives. Nick teaches them how to adjust their smart watches for each new time zone. Mmmm, just as good as the first time, but this time I've learned that one order of appetizers isn't enough.  I do find it necessary to give away the last spring roll, though!  And NO dessert!!  Instead, Ginger and I have saki and Nick goes up to deck 15 to find something up there for his sweet tooth.

I never tire of the color-changing chandelier.

There's a little money-eating machine at every place at the bar.

                                                                   It's adjacent to the casino.

There's a box next to every choice and you fill in the quantity you want.
The lady next to me ordered two appetizers and two entrees.

There was no designated meeting place so we go to the Breakaway Theatre to see if, perhaps, we could get standby seats for "Six" tonight.  If it's great we can see it twice!  Sure enough there are plenty of seats and Ginger messages Nick.  He says he's coming down so I have to ask the lovely Brits next to us if they would move down one seat. They are charming about it;  but, truth to tell, she could have told me to go lump it in that accent and it would have been okay!

At least I can show you the stage before the show!

The house lights go down and the curtains part just enough for the six girls to come on stage through a heavy blast of smoke and light! Cool start! Too bad there's no photography so you could at least see the costumes, even if you couldn't hear those powerful voices!

It's primarily a singing show, although the choreography is rapid fire and adds greatly to the staging.  The six divas are all amazing and no of them ever leave the stage throughout the seventy-five minute show. At the end the audience is on its feet clapping along with the finale. What a high-energy production! And the four-piece, all girl band is just as amazing during this show as the last.  It would be nice to see it again, although I have to admit that I'd rather see an encore of "Burn the Floor".

It's now officially bed time and we set back our clocks so as to be on ship time in the morning.

Sea Day, Turkey Day, with photos

 Thursday, November 23, 2023

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

The sea and wind have been really loud and it's cold.  I finally give up and close the balcony door, hoping I don't wake anyone.  I've nearly got all the photos added to the blog! ... Ginger is playing something on her phone and I think I'll pack this up and see if she wants to get some tea or something.  I know she won't be hungry yet!

We're supposed to see "Six" tonight and plan the day around that.  We think having a lighter breakfast for our tummies and lunch around two should let us go to the 7:30 show and then w can have a leisurely dinner.  We're hoping there will still be some turkey left by them!  Accordingly we go to O'Sheeehans because they stay open a little later for breakfast on sea days.  I order the bagel with cream cheese and smoked salmon.  There is a ton of salmon but only a dab of cream cheese and the bottom of a bagel!  Still, it's very good.  

After breakfast we go looking for a quiet place, since it appears that everyone is staying inside today - just like us!  First we find the library.  It's not very large at all and it's pretty populated, so we continue the hunt. Ginger finds the Spiegel Tent which is actually a large venue with very few people.  It's got lots of tables and golden chairs and the curved wall is lined with booths. It's perfect. Ginger had gotten a deck of cards from Guest Services and we can't figure out why they don't have the NCL logo on them. But we never quite get around to playing with them.  Nick is doing a crossword that he picked up at the library and he brought back a couple of Sudokus, too, and I'm reading on my phone and I think Ginger is doing her DuoLingo. 

There are fun-house mirrors outside the Spiegel Tent!
Meet the three-headed monster!

Soon Nick said he has to go to the restroom but he doesn't come back?!  Then one of his trivia teammates comes to fetch me!  The category is science and he thinks I can help. She has to help me get to the venue (I'm still not walking very well) and they're on question six when I get there. We don't do all that well and we're contesting one of the answers - the first mammal in space.  We all agree that it's the Russian space dog;  I think her name was Luka.  The cruise director says monkey.  We'll see.  Ginger actually gives us the answer to "What is a keloid?".

Now it's time for lunch. Back to O'Sheehans since our schedule doesn't work with the regular dining rooms!  I get a blue cheese burger with a spicy sweet tomato chutney, lettuce, tomato, and red onion on a sesame seed bun.  It reads like a mcDonald's jingle!  It comes with French fries and an (invisible) pickle spear. It's okay, if a little dry.

Nick's cough is very impressive and we all decide that a little nap is in order before the show.  Nick gets to the room first while Ginger and I debate staying for the fruit carving demonstration.  But there aren't any more chairs and standing isn't an option.

When we get back upstairs, Nick says a lady called Selena or Serena called to check on me and wants me to call her back.  I try a couple of times but the line is always busy. We all crash for a couple of hours and then get ready for "Six" hoping that it will really go on tonight.  I try the Guest Services line again and get through to someone who asks how I'm doing.

The seas have been so rocky all day that it seems unlikely that they can stage "Six" tonight. We also check the TV for messages and there still aren't any medical charges on my account.  YAY! 

This screen shows all the cast, gives a synopsis of the play and
shows video clips of the production.  Boy, I really want to see it now!!

Sure enough when we get down to the theater we find that the show tonight will be the Levity Comedy Show, with a PG13 version at 7:30 and the adult show at 10:00.

We stay in line and it's really easy to get our favorite seats.  There are two comics.  The first one, Travis Nelson, is mildly entertaining, although watching someone who is six foot nine is fun.  Flip Schultz, the second act is much better;  in fact his media name is "Flip is Fun"!  We have some good giggles and go to dinner.

There is a Roasted Holiday Turkey chef's special.  Good thing I'm wearing my turkey pin!  A couple of people have counted on it during the day. There are two really appealing appetizers, the coconut shrimp with orange marmalade and the baked brie in puffed pastry with baby greens toasted almonds, apple, and honey drizzle. Can't choose? Get both!

The entree comes with apple chestnut stuffing, honey butter yams, green bean casserole, and giblet gravy. Nothing like our Oleson Bird Day feasts, but it honors the day.  Nick and Ginger have the traditional pecan pie for dessert, although it's really a little pecan tartlet with butterscotch sauce and caramel ice cream.  The thought of that makes my tummy explode, so I choose the Warm Blackberries and Dark Cherries with powdered sugar and grand marnier sabayon. Not quite what I was expecting when it arrived but it was really delicious and much lighter, if not less calorie-laden.

It's about 9:30 and we decide to give the comics another shot.  The adult show is funnier, at least Flip's set is.  Several really good laugh-out-loud bits.  We make it back up to Deck 12, find our suite, and make a discovery!

The audience is sparse but responsive.

Quelle surprise!!

Guest Services has left us a large fruit basket with bananas, strawberries, grapes, an orange, and some other things!  We don't know if everyone in our category got one, or if it's their way of saying "Sorry our ship bit you!". We'll go down in the morning and say thank you!

I'm down for the count while Nick and Ginger are still going strong.  It's pretty tiring hobbling around;  but after I took some Ibuprofen I wa able to get around much better and I think I'll be able to see Bermuda.  Thank goodness for these sea days.  Once again, timing is everything!!