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 Breakfast, the usual for me. Here's Mei-O's. Today would be another day at sea as we sailed around the southern tip and the eastern peninsula of the North Island north towards Tauranga. I brought a copy of today's Event Listing with me. We'll see if we can find things to do. |
 As on most sea days, 9:00 to 10:45 was first 45 minutes of zumba, then 45 minutes of line dancing class (0:22). As usual, Mei-O avoided the crowd on the Piazza and danced with others up on Deck 6. |
 I saw this 10:00 event on today's Event Listings and remembered from previous cruises that touring the ship's galley was pretty interesting. We headed over to the Princess Theater to check it out. After being introduced by Esther, our Cruise Director, Head Chef Fabrizio Fazzini and the Director of Restaurant Operations Silvio Zampieri came out for a cooking demo (1:00). They cooked up several dishes, often extolling the benefits of cooking with olive oil, often turning the demo into a comedy act.😀 When they were done, they brought out a bunch of the kitchen staff. One of them, for some odd reason (maybe just to take up some time), sang "Time to Say Goodbye" (and sang it very well). |
 When the singing was over, we all lined up and headed through the dining room to the kitchen. On tours like this we've been on before, the kitchens were always bustling with activity (this tour was right before lunch, so we expected the kitchen to be really busy), but today we saw very little activity. But it was still interesting to see this and this and all the equipment that was available to prepare our many meals as we made our way through the galley. And as we came around a corner near the end of the tour, we ran into the guys from the demo, Head Chef Fabrizio Fazzini and the Director of Restaurant Operations Silvio Zampieri. |
 It's a sea day, so here's my obligatory at sea video (0:15) taken from our balcony. I loved having this balcony, and with so many sea days, I often sat out on it watching our ship plow its way through the water, ever onward. |
 And then it was time for lunch in the Horizon Bistro. Our two plates looked a lot alike, so it's hard to tell which is mine and which is Mei-O's. I'm pretty sure this one is mine because of the little piece of garlic bread (I often grabbed one) and the mashed potato gravy well (Mei-O doesn't do that). As we went up to the buffet line to get our lunch this afternoon, we saw... |
 ...this. And these! It was a dessert bonanza, and yes, we got our share! (We figured when the cakes that were out there now were all devoured, no new ones would take their place, so we greedily grabbed all sorts of these desserts before they were gone.) Yummm! |
 This afternoon in the Princess Theater, Princess's take on "The Voice", appropriately enough called "The Voice of the Ocean", took place, complete with "celebrities" (ship staff and Ali Harper, a singer who performed last night), rotating chairs, and passengers, including this 15-year-old girl, who have, through auditions since the cruise began, earned the chance to participate in tonight's show and take home the first place Voice of the Ocean trophy - like this woman did. |
 Going on the same time as the Voice of the Ocean finale, this "Giant Connect 4 Challenge" was just finishing up as we walked by. (The players look pretty serious, don't they?) But it was soon time for another event on the Piazza, so they had to wrap it up to make room for... |
 ...the Princess Pop Choir, a singing group made up of passengers who have been rehearsing since the cruise began and were now about to make their debut (0:37). |
 I don't know where Mei-O went, but I found myself alone on the Piazza with our Cruise Director, Esther, and Andrew, another staff member, and they were happy to take a selfie with me. Willingness to take selfies with guests is probably a requirement to be a staff member on a cruise ship. (And you have to have smiles like these two.) |
 Tonight was the second formal night, but we really didn't get dressed up for it. But we did have dinner in the Symphony Dining Room, where we were surprised by a "waiter parade" (0:33). And tonight's formal dinner menu looked really good, if not a little cryptic. It didn't say "lobster", but somehow, Mei-O, because it was formal night, interpreted one of the entrées as lobster. And it was, along with a nice cut of beef tenderloin and some other goodies! And while Steve and I were hoping for escargot sometime during the cruise, one of our favorite cruise ship appetizers, tonight wasn't the night. Tonight we just got this, faux escargot, served like escargot, but just shrimp. And then there was this weird dessert. It was all pretty good, one of the better formal dinners we had. |
 Tonight's show was titled "Colors of the World" and featured the ship's own dancers and singers. Here are some pictures from the performance. |
 This is the last picture I have for today, not the prettiest, but it serves as a placeholder to show that after this evening's show, we went up to the Horizon Bistro for a late night snack. From here, it was off to bed. Tomorrow, we'd be arriving in Tauranga. Next Top |
