A full day at sea...

(I'm back...and ready to finish up my blogging on the ports in New Zealand.  For Christmas, I had the fortunate opportunity to go to New York City, so I will blog about that next.  Can't believe I've done so much traveling in the past couple months!  This is completely out of the norm ... but I'm so thankful I could go!)

We had one last full day at sea, as we were headed for Tauranga along the northeastern coast of New Zealand.  The big event on the ship for this day was a magnificent brunch.  The food and ice sculptures filled the middle section of the dining room.   What a sight!  The variety of food and the fancy presentations...unbelievable!  And DELICIOUS!

Ice sculptures of kangaroos and koala bear

Chocolate fountain, anyone?

Loved these Native American Chief sculptures.

I sat down to eat at a table with 3 gals from Canada and 3 gals from Russia.  The Canadians were so kind and so fun to visit with.  The Russian women spoke very little English, but showed us some pictures on their iPad and communicated a bit about their travels and families with us.  This whole adventure on the ship was so international. 

Later, in the afternoon, I attended a lecture given by the ship's Captain, and he explained all the coordination involved in planning and executing a cruise. Next, I went to another lecture in the theater given by Milo, and he talked about the night sky.  The program that followed that was an interview with the Solstice performers: they talked about auditioning for the job, rehearsing, performing, etc.  It is all hard work, very demanding both mentally and physically.

I went out by the pool to listened to the last 20 minutes of a show by Sol Provider, one of my favorite groups that entertained on the ship.

Sol Provider

This was our last formal night, so we were dressed in some of our finest.  For dinner, I ordered Smoky Tomato Soup, Lobster Tail, and Baked Alaska.  Oh my goodness, it was all so delicious!  At the end of dinner, a special presentation was made by the entertainment director, recognizing all the head people involved with food service, as well as all the waiters.  The music was pumping, and everyone waved their napkins over their heads as the waiters snaked their way through the crowd.  The crowd cheered wildly, and everyone gave a special shout-out when their waiters were recognized.  We loved them.

Greg, me, and Janet dressed for our last formal night.

The theatrical entertainment that evening was the Solstice - The Show.  It was the Solstice Performers' version of a Cirque du Soleil production.  It was 1st Class!  They had all the rigging to fly the entertainers.  They had unbelievable acrobatics, and the costuming was from a world of fantasy.  Awesome!  The performance was so good, we decided to see the late show too.