October10th

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I slept so soundly. There is something about the gentle motion of the ship that allows me to sleep so soundly. It is wonderful to be back. The day began with a beautiful sunrise,

We went to the Portafino dining room for breakfast. We were seated at a wonderful table for six next to a window. There was a couple from Langley and a gentleman from the Oakridge area of Vancouver. We passed out cards but there was no need to give Canada pins. They were very interesting social people. The one gentleman was a bush pilot and the other was a civil engineer who worked all over. We had a grand time visiting and breakfast was great. Ken had scrambled eggs with asparagus as well as juice and toast and coffee and a danish. I had orange segments, oatmeal with raisins and brown toast and coffee. I am starting slowly but I don’t promise to be that good for the entire cruise.

While we were having our breakfast Captain Tuvo came by the table for a little chat. I must say that was a first. He is really quite handsome and very pleasant. I will have to try to get a picture of him the next time I see him.

After breakfast we went down to the library where I entered the Wake Show contest for the day. On this cruise they have a bottle of champagne as a possible prize. I sure hope we win at least once on this cruise. We won several times last cruise so we have plenty of lanyards and pens.

We changed our mini bar set up for brandy and we got wine glasses to use this evening since this is formal night.

We went to Skywalkers for the cruise critic meet and greet. They had not invited officers and they had not alerted bar tenders. As a result when we arrived at Skywalkers it was very quiet. People were sitting quietly reading and enjoying the view. It was not long before it was very changed with all of the CC people visiting and laughing. There were about 30 people in attendance.

I overheard people discussing their accounts. Princess has refunded each passenger $42.29. Apparently they estimate port charges and Princess refunds any extra that they have charged. I heard them say that other cruise lines just keep the difference.  I checked our account when we returned to our cabin and they were right. We have 84 dollars we did not expect.

It certainly is great to have that extra money to spend. I see a bottle of wine and a few cocktails in our future.:-)

This ship has the Princess at Sea program which is grand. You can check your account and see the schedule and read your e-mail etc. by signing into that app. Only the apps that require internet are charged against your time. All other apps are free which is great. You can check your account every day and not have to go to the machines on deck 5.

For lunch we decided to order room service. We ordered one club sandwich and one piece of chocolate cake and one chocolate chip cookie. We shared the sandwich, I had the cookie and Ken had the cake. We had a good breakfast and because dinner is always extra special we decided to save on calories and have a light lunch. It was only 20 minutes and our order was at the door. It was good and just enough to keep hunger at bay and leave room for canapés and a big formal night dinner.

Much to my surprise they have been wishing all of the 2000 Canadians a Happy Thanksgiving. We have been on board for Canadian Thanksgiving and it has been ignored. Outside of the dining room was a big cake wishing Canadians a happy thanksgiving and even though it was not on the written menu a turkey dinner was a menu choice in honor of the holiday. There was even pumpkin pie for dessert.

We have noticed that the usual fruit bowl has not been delivered to our cabin. This is the first cruise when this has not been the case. Usually we get an order form and then our bowl of fruit is delivered to us. I guess I will have to make up my own order from the selection in Horizon Court.

This afternoon was the Grapevine wine tasting which is a perk for those with a black card. There was a good attendance and the commentary was fun as usual. There were a few rude people who talked when they should have been listening but basically it was pretty good.

Canapes arrived at 4:45 and dinner was at 5:30. It was a very nice meal and everyone was there. We wondered if the people from New York would be there because of dressing up. But they were there, although Elizabeth should not have been there. She is very sick with a bad cold or flu. I sure hope she has not given it to me.

After dinner we went to the Princess theater to see the show. Stardust was the presentation and as usual it was very good. We are always amazed at the energy, and talent displayed by the young people. Tonight was the Captain’s welcome aboard party with the champagne waterfall. We decided to skip it and we went straight to the theater. It was a good thing that we did because the place was packed. There was not a seat to be had at least fifteen minutes before the show began. People were standing all around.

At the end of the show we came back here. Even though it has been three years since I broke my ankle it still swells up and bothers me when I have been too active during a day.

Tomorrow is another sea say.