More Fun at Sea

Another day at sea! The event we were looking forward to was Project Funway - where passengers were challenged to craft something to wear using anything but clothing! But first, we went to dinner.

 

At dinner, the diners were invited to dance in the aisles. When we heard the music, we recognized "Lady in Red" - one of our songs, so we danced dreamily to that music.

On the way from the Empire Dining Room to the Versailles Lounge for the fashion show, we passed through the atrium and photographed this tribute to the Finish shipyard that built Spirit.

In the Versailles Lounge, they were still doing karaoke.

When karaoke ended, the gals strutted their stuff! Peggy went first and hammed it up big time! Her outfit consisted on bingo cards, plastic bags from the Spirit gift shop, and a "bra" made from soap dishes from the staterooms. Peggy's entry was clearly the most fun and imaginative.

Judy was second with a very Roman looking dress made mainly from shower curtains and flower leis. Judy's background as a wedding dress designer and seamstress showed through - clearly the most elegant entry.

Unfortunately, neither Peggy nor Judy won the competition - one of the contestants had "packed the house" with friends and made much more noise to score the win.

Tomorrow, Tahiti - the capitol and largest island of French Polynesia and our first port call on the voyage!

We Tour the Galley

A Tour of the Galley

How do you feed 3,000 people three times a day? 

You have a commercial kitchen second to none!

The Empire Dining Room is at the same time beautiful an  elegant, yet very efficient

We listened to Dessi, our Head Maitre De describe the operation of the galley. There are five dining rooms on board, including three for the crew, staff, officers and Captain. Waiters begin their training in these dining rooms for a minimum of three months. Then they do three months in Room Service (all cabins receive free room service 24X7 at no extra charge). After that, they are placed in the dining room as assistant waiters. As they progress, they may fill in as head waiters on their way to becoming a head waiter themselves.

The galley is divided by course. Here the plates for appetizers are laid out. Note that above each station is a photograph of the dish so fewer mistakes are made due to language problems.

Photos of dishes not offered at that particular meal are stored on a bulletin board.

How do you cook dishes for hundreds at a time? Use really big pots!

 

Tomorrow - Project Funway - Making wearing apparel without using any articles of clothing!

Life at sea aboard a cruise ship.

Life at Sea - Aboard a Cruise Ship!!

Try not to weep for us as you read this - it is indeed a pitiful tale!

Cruise ships are floating hotels with a staff dedicated to help make sure you don't get bored!

Above the bridge "wings" are observation platforms that offer a great photo op! The wings "stick out" maybe 25 feet to allow the Officer of the Deck and pilot to see the dock as they bring the ship along side. With the thrusters, we almost never need the assistance of a tug, although they always have one just in case something goes wrong.

On the forecastle (pronounced "focsle" by us "old Tars") they have a spare anchor and four spare screw blades! I imagine they have the equipment to replace a screw blade or anchor unassisted! The screw blade is holed for being bolted in place.

Later in the day, the Captain hosted a party for VIFP (Very Important Fun Passengers) where the appetizers and drinks were complimentary and the wait staff was in "costume"

At the fun gathering later, Peggy & Judy went up on stage along with dozens of others with the promise that everyone would receive a gift. At the end, the Asst Cruise Director revealed the "gift" was unlimited pizza and ice cream (which is already available on the Lido deck!)!

Later, Bob attempted to chip a whiffle ball into a box about 20' away. Only problem there was so much wind, the ball would blow away before you could hit it! We eventually worked out a deal where one golfer would old the ball with a straw (much like a football player holds for a place kicker).

But the wind was so strong and swirly that there was no one who even came close to the box

Later in the dining room, Dessi, our Maitre de appeared wearing an afro wig and huge sunglasses! She is really a hoot!

While the wait staff and the diners danced in the aisles!

All through the cruise, Pat had been asking for carrot cake for desert as a running joke. Judy and Peggy went to the bakery up forward and bought slices of carrot cake and brought them to the dining room to surprise Pat at desert!

One of the very few times we saw anyone put anything over on Pat!

We had come to know our Head Waiter Aaron and learned from him that he was married to another crew member, Katiana. At the end of the meal, Aaron introduced us to Katiana!

Tomorrow - A tour of the galley!

 

Crossing the Equator! Oct 3

Crossing the Equator - Bob & Theresa become "Trusty Shellbacks"

On Oct 3, the ship crossed "the line" at 9:45PM. It was arranged to be at that time and we putted along at 10 knots all day so we would be at the equator at the right time. As we crossed, the ship gave three long blasts from the ship's whistle (actually a very deep pitched horn).

They announced that King Neptune would appear to judge us as we crossed the line.

We are at the late seating for dinner so when we arrived on the 9th (Lido) deck, the crowd was heavy. We looked around and saw a large group of Australian teens sitting on the deck right next to the roped off area where the trials would occur. We asked and they "scrunched" together to make room for us. So we ended up with "ring-side" seats.

We could see a large inflatable pool near the stage and some seats on the stage.

Soon, the Captain, Bridge Officers and King Neptune arrived, accompanied by the Queen and her court of mermaids. They also had a prosecutor to judge the "Slimy Pollywogs," Pirates who acted as guards for the pollywogs, and a medical staff of doctors and nurses.

One by one, the pollywogs were brought forward and tried! One by one they were thrown into the "Pool of Despair" and covered with ground up garbage from the days meals (it was all fresh enough to eat but was the consistency and color of pea soup).

I took videos of the ceremony, so have limited number of stills until I get somewhere where I can extract stills from the video.

Bottom line, we did not have to stand trial but still received certificates proclaiming is as "Trusty Shellbacks!"

 

Tomorrow - More life at sea aboard a cruise ship.

At Sea on Spirit - Oct 1-3

Cruise ships are filled with activities, games, demonstrations, contests, and all sorts of stuff to help keep the passengers occupied.

Bob's favorite is cooking demonstrations. Where else can you sit a few feet from a professional chef and watch him or her make a splendid dish?

In today's demonstration, Chef prepared (clockwise fro lower left) a marvelous cream of mushroom soup, a salad, chicken breast, and tiramisu! Of course the best part is the tasting!

More fun later with "Classy Cassie" and trivia. We played trivia, but didn't do very well. A few days later, Bob won Scategories.

Dinner with Bill & Peggy (here) and Pat & Judy

This desert was especially good! Apple filling inside phyllo pastry!

 

After dinner each evening, the dining room staff offers some sort of entertainment. This evening, one of our waiters sang and brought the house down! When he was asked why is he waiting tables and not singing as part of the entertainment staff, he just smiled and said "I enjoy what I am doing!"

The evening was capped by a huge series of song an dance numbers by the Spirit's entertainment staff. They are always good to watch and very accomplished!

Tomorrow - Crossing the Line - the Equator that is!

Deaprture Day - Sept 30

Sunday arrived - The day we embark on our 16 day ocean voyage to Australia!

We took the bus a mile down the road to Holy Family Catholic Church for mass.

After mass, we returned to the hotel, finished packing and boarded the transport bus that Pat & Judy had arranged.

As we approached the harbor, we caught our first glimpse of Spirit. By comparison to the mega ships being put in service, she is relatively small - 84,000 tons, 2,100 passengers, and 900 crew members. She is being repositioned to be home based in Sydney, Australia and will remain there for several years. Carnival Australia is a separate company and future Spirit cruises will not be booked by Carnival US!

The cruise terminal was immense with pretty Hawaiian girls giving leis and a Hawaiian band playing Island Music. But the line was still very, very long.

Bob's knees started to ache from the standing. Theresa noticed some seats and chairs scattered about and suggested Bob move to one of those while she held our place in line. Bill & Peggy and Pat & Judy are Carnival Platinum level guests and they were given head of the line privileges.

When we received our "Sign & Sail" cards, we entered the ship in the main atrium - a wonderful first impression!

We headed straight across the atrium to book shore excursions. Shore excursions fill up fast and we normally book these on line months ahead of time (in fact we had done just that). Then we learned our Carnival booking agent had figured out a way to re-book us, saving us nearly $1,000 in the process! Since we had already paid our final payment, we took the added money as "on-board credit." Unfortunately, the on-board credit can only be used on the ship itself. So Bob canceled the shore excursions and we "rolled the dice" hoping that we could book them as soon as we got on board. It worked and we were able to get every one we wanted! We had also learned that if we bought 100 shares of CCL (Carnival Cruise Lines, Inc) stock , we would receive an additional $250 on-board credit. By booking the excursions on board, we were able to eat that up completely!

We went to our cabin but our luggage was no where to be seen, so we went to the 9th deck to celebrate the sailing. We forgot to throw our leis in the water as we sailed, but since we are scheduled to fly back to Honolulu in November, we figured we already knew they would drift toward the shore!

As we clear the harbor, Honlulu recedes into the distance and Wikiki and Diamond Head come into view.

As we looked back towards Honolulu, a rainbow appeared which we took as a good sign!

After a quick shower (our luggage made it! Yay!) We headed to the Empire Dining Room with Peggy, Bill, Judy and Pat. We met and immediately fell in love with our Maitre De, Dessi. She is Bulgarian,has a Zza Zza Gabor accent, and is very funny and full of energy.

The decoration on Spirit varies throughout the ship and is Roman in the Empire Dining Room. We joked that Peggy had modeled for the the mural immediately above our table. Dinner time would prove to be one of our favorite times on the ship.

Following dinner, we strolled the ship and learned that there is evening music and dancing throughout the ship - here in the Atrium as well as several other venues.

And of course, a cruise wouldn't be the same without the towel animals!

Tomorrow - Life aboard a cruise ship!