We are crossing the Pacific Ocean in two segments--five sea days to Honolulu and six sea days with the crossing of the Equator and the International Dateline to Fiji. The seas have not been friendly. The doors and outside stairways to the open decks (5, 10 and 11) are blocked off with yellow caution tape, and even the Captain has warned us to take care. He said that the conditions were originating near Hawaii so we probably will have a wild ride until we dock on Saturday. We are figuratively and literally bumping into new friends wherever we go out of our room. (Okay, we know anyone reading this has no sympathy for us with the record-breaking snowfalls and low temperatures, and in truth, we would much rather be here than where you are.)
The cruise director's staff plans a full-day of activities for the passengers, starting with the Breakfast WAKE Show with J.J. King, the cruise director, who reviews and comments on the daytime activities in the Princess Patter, the daily guide to life at sea, that we received the night before.
Ken usually gets up at 7 a.m., dresses and goes up to the deck off the Panorama Buffet for a cup of coffee. Then he works out. (Sara has only seen the remodeled gym on the first day onboard because her exercise routine to date has consisted of taking the stairs between decks rather than the elevator.) Sara prefers to rise at 8 a.m. or so, watch the WAKE Show, get ready leisurely and go to the Panorama Buffet for its version of an Egg McMuffin and orange juice. She meets Ken for the first activity of the day, which usually starts at 10 a.m.
Today the must-do activities are the Port Talk on Hawaii at 10 a.m. and the Cruise Critic Luncheon at noon. Sara also will attend the Teachers Get-Together at 11 a.m, the Opera Without Fear on Tchaikovsky with Dr. Jesse Weir at 2 p.m. (No, she is not an opera fan but his lectures are so funny!) and the talk by Ann Graydon, the image consultant, on Accessories for Every Style at 3:30 p.m. (Sara has served as the lecturer's model on coloring and style type because she has Summer and Classic stamped in every one of her cells, even though she sees herself as an Autumn or Winter with a very Dramatic style but who is she kidding? Today she serves as a model dressed totally in black whom the image consultant enhances with the right jewelry.) Sara also joined the Princess Book Club, which read The Time Traveler's Wife during the first segment of the trip and is reading The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency during segment 2. Yesterday afternoon she and Ken watched the movie made from the first book on the TV in their room.
Other possible activities for Ken are the Photography@Sea presentation at 11:30 a.m, the Animal Lovers Get-Together at 3 p.m. for those who miss their pets (We love you, Foxy!), the Maitre D's Wine Club (unfortunately at the same time), and the Twittering, Texting and FaceBook talk at 4 p.m. (Doesn't anyone just "talk" anymore?). If either gets bored, they can play ping pong, bingo, mahjong, scattergories, carpet bowls and trivia. We hear that the trivia games are cutthroat from Amelia, one of our Cruise Critic friends, who actually pulled the muscle in her calf on a previous cruise while racing up with her team's final answer and had to use a wheelchair for the remainder of the trip.
And then there are the evening's activities!
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