Crossing the Tasman Sea

The rough waters continued as we crossed the Tasman Sea.  No, I did not suffer in the least; no sea sickness.  I was just fine, rolling with it.  But, I found I was walking like a tipsy party-goer.  Having the challenge of  keeping my balance as the ship rocked really cracked me up.

Just to answer a question: yes, I did buy a couple of bracelets.  The shopping on these two days at sea was pretty exciting.  Pearls and opals were available (fun to look at, but didn't seem like a hot deal to me), as well as scarves, gloves, purses, pins, necklaces, and watches.  Lots of watches.  Yes, I bought a Citizen watch (Eco Drive) which doesn't require any batteries.  Love that feature!  

The Casino... I walked through...but no gambling for me.

The morning also included a talk from Naglii, The Maori Kiwi.  He gave fascinating lecture about his tribe and also about his journey to becoming a spokesman/ambassador for his people.  Later, I attended a presentation on Opals.

After lunch, our tour group of about 30 people were invited by the Captain for a tour of The Bridge.  This is where the Captain and his team of navigators (Assistant Captains) steer the ship and take care of all the logistics necessary for safe passage over the seas and in to ports.  The Captain himself welcomed each one of us individually on to "the bridge" and then introduced one of his Assistant Captains, Costas.  Costas was Greek...OK maybe a Greek God! LOL.  Anyway, Costas showed our group the navigational and steering instruments and the general area where all the information they need is received and transmitted.  I did not realize that every time this ship enters a port, a pilot from the port is brought out to the ship, and he boards and pilots the ship in to the dock.  By law, this must take place at every port, even if our own Captain has been to this port numerous times. 

From "the Bridge," looking forward to the bow of the ship. 

Here we are on "the Bridge." Those looking out the windows to the left are looking toward the bow.

From "the Bridge" one could also look back and see the side of the ship, the lifeboats, the stern.

Before we left "the bridge" the Captain allowed us to take a picture with him if we so desired.  I did not do this.  I was thinking...I'd like my picture with Costas!  But I kept that to myself.  Later that night at dinner, another of the gals at our table, Enid, and I compared notes for the day and both mentioned that we missed a great opportunity to get a picture with the Captain...Costas!  We got rather silly and ribbed each other about it throughout dinner.

Marilyn, our head waiter Ryan, and Enid.

Janet, our waiter NaPaul, and Greg

Dinner that night was another of our formal nights (we had 3 formal nights).  Everyone looked so nice! Again, the entree choices were phenomenal and all tasted exceptionally delicious. After dinner, we went to a show titled "Pulse" in the big theater. The performers were the Solstice Stars; they had awesome singing and dancing.  It was another rough night at sea.  We later found out that there have been times when the sea was so rough, they had to cancel dance or acrobatic performances for safety reasons; it was at those times, they hoped they had a comic or magician on board, and they could reschedule the performances.

More to come...