Nothing of major importance to report but the weather has been a little erratic. Mainly very warm, but with a fair old breeze at times and even a bit of early morning rain as we head for Antigua, another new port for us.
Although I resolved the immediate internet connection problems, by sitting in the corridor, much to the amusement of staff and passengers, it is still a bit hit and miss on sea days as there are so many people trying to connect during the day time hours. Early sitting dinner time is probably the best time but not always convenient.
We have a new cruise staff member – Jase, although born in the UK, he’s spent the last 23 years working all over the world and now considers himself homeless! First time on a cruise ship but if first impressions are anything to go by, he is going to be a very useful addition to the current team of Mark & Matt; Kim (Matt’s fiancée – getting married next June - her birthday just happens to be the same as grandson Noah too); Alex; Prince; Keiran and Basil.
We didn’t win trivia Thursday, morning or afternoon.
The evening entertainment was a ventriloquist/comedian Michael Zeigfeld (also a puppeteer, but more of that later). I’ll rate him later too.
In the Princess Theatre we had singer Mark Preston. A former member of the singing group the Lettermans – who we had probably forgotten. Very polished and well turned out, though wandering back through the theatre to shake hands with people is fine for half a minute or so, for the front row(s). Wandering back up the theatre out of sight of most of the front portion of the theatre is a bit pointless for half a number. A great voice though and one of the better singers we have seen.
July 25th
Early Friday (middle of the night) Paula hadn’t managed to get to sleep, so an opportune time to open the bottle of port. Problem solved…
Afternoon trivia, we were equal first with two other teams. Had our Geography been better we’d have scored 19/20 and no play off. To our eternal shame (especially mine!) we didn’t win the tie-breaker, as we failed to get the year in which badminton was first accepted as an Olympic sport.
A new production show cast with just 4 female dancers and two males but 4 singers. Not sure about that set up. A little too much straight singing, though their Four Seasons set of three numbers was pretty good for the show entitled “Oh What A Night”. Once again, the age/inadequacy of the Dawn Princess stage probably didn’t do the show justice. Maybe part of the proposed $30m refit next year will address it, along with he introduction of an International Café?
Out of our formal gear then up on deck for the MUTS. (Movie under the stars.) “Now You See It”. Pleasant in the warm air though we’d seen in on TV on the Emerald. With the outside noises and my poor hearing, I couldn’t pick up much of the quieter conversation anyway!
July 26th
A happy birthday to grandson Noah, 4 today and to Kim of course, who is a bit older.
A proposed lighter eating day didn’t last long. The fruit – peaches and pineapple - looked a bit lonely on the plate but much happier when joined by a waffle, maple syrup and whipped cream. A perfect breakfast for our NZ friends, Murray & Jill – but they’d have half each. Jill would eat the fruits, Murray the waffle with cream. I did cut out the coffee though, thus saving several spoonsful of sugar.
Paula opted for Zumba with the birthday girl. A good turnout as usual, though there were only about 4 men taking part. I wasn’t one of them. This was followed by trivia and no, we didn’t win.
It was blowing a real gale when we got up this morning and the rain was hitting our windows, but by the time we’d returned to the cabin, the rain had gone and we had a warm breeze instead.
A very light lunch (back on track) with two nice pieces of cod and a bowl of cauliflower soup. Please note the tremendous willpower exercised here, as I managed without the famous Princess bread rolls.
At 2:45pm we had what was supposed to be a 45 minute workshop on puppetry but it overran by 20 minutes. On his opening show, Michael Zeigfeld had us waiting outside the locked lounge for about 15-20 minutes as he was fluffing around with the stage set up. What Princess is generally very good at, is keeping acts and events to 45 minutes or less as they run very crowded daytime programmes, so if anything is late, it not only affects the following event in that venue, but also mucks up people trying get another event elsewhere on the ship.
Having said that, the puppetry presentation was very enjoyable.
With Bingo then running late, Trivia was also late (see what I mean?) so it was cut back to 15 questions from the usual 20. We didn’t win - but enjoyed ourselves.
Back to the cabin once more and no pre-dinner show for a change, so time to relax (such hard work..) and acute hunger pangs, a full two hours before dinner.
The lamb knuckle was very nice (Marilyn!) and the after dinner show in the vista was two half shows, the first half was Michael Zeigfeld with an ‘old lady gymnast puppet’ ventriloquist show. This was his final show and we thoroughly enjoyed it though the old lady sitting alongside us didn’t even crack a smile. Had he kept to time, I would have probably scored Michael a 9 or even a 9.5, but he loses a mark so it is an 8.5.
Mark Preston finished off with a series of requests from passengers and once again, a very polished performance, so even though I am not a huge fan of straight singers, probably a 9 for most people.
Antigua tomorrow and our first Carribean port - and I have no idea what to expect other than it will probably be very warm.
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