3 Sea Days

 Because bad weather kept us from going to Darwin we have an extra sea day, three instead of two.

The chat around the ship is saying that missing Darwin is going to mean that there will be fewer food choices during the next week. Our next stop for supplies is in Singapore on March 5th.

Gossip says that The Coral is full of covid and the mask mandate is back. I will let you know if that gets confirmed. There are lots of colds and coughs on board but not much covid.

 The ship has been traveling quite slowly. He does have extra time and  the slower speed reduces the amount of bouncing we feel. and the amount of fuel he uses.It wasn't too bad last night and we both slept well. 

When we went to breakfast the waiter gave us a window facing table. At first I was enjoying it . However the dining room is on deck 5 which is near water level and soon the motion of the ocean began to get to me. The waves are quite deep today and watching them roll motivated me to ask that the curtains be closed . As a precaution I took a gravol tablet.

There was a destination lecture about Komota Island and the dragons and I went there right after breakfast. It was not boring, in fact it was quite interesting. BUT soon the gravol was taking its toll and I kept falling asleep.

As soon as the lecture was done I returned to the cabin and went to sleep. I felt quite normal after a quick nap.

We had lunch at Horizon court and when I returned here I changed the door decorations. I took down the Mardi Gras items

I used the quiet time to put up some St. Patrick's Day decorations. I brought entirely too much with me so there are door trims and indoor trims also.

While doing those changes I decided to put away the Xmas decoration that I have so far collected. I had them pose for a group photo. I already have 19 items. This may turn out to be quite the collection by May 11.

I decided to answer the question for the wake show and I won. The prize was a pen with this written on it " I'm a Wakeshow Winner @ cruisedirectorandi"

Tonight was a production show with the singers and dancers. It was great, perhaps the best yet.

Time to call it a day. I don't think we will sit out on the balcony to enjoy a rum and coke, the sea is still a bit rough.

Interesting Couple of Days

 Sunday February 26th,

There was another interesting day. 

The captain announced that there would be a medical evacuation and all of the top deck had to be cleared. We were told to stay off of our balcony because the evacuation would affect the port side balconies.

We were able to get a picture and all went well with the procedure after the third try. We do not know what the problem was or how the person made out.

We did hide a duck on Saturday and it did get found.

Our Saturday luncheon date got cancelled because Julia is ill with a bad cold.

We will not do church in the  morning because with the time change it will be 3:30 am our time for the service tomorrow . But we did attend the service in the Princess Theatre this morning. It was done by volunteers but it was very well done. The music was lovely and the service was well attended.

The captain announced a few hours ago that we will not be making the stop at Darwin, a very big storm is on its way and the harbour authority at Darwin has advised against trying to dock. So we will be hunkered down tomorrow. I see lots of Gravol in my day tomorrow.

I probably will not try to post tomorrow. I see lots of naps in my day. I have an extra ornament that I can use for Darwin.

Request!

 A friend requested that I tell about the food on this cruise so I will try to do that.

Overall the food has been very good. I expected many menu repeats but that has not been the case. Once in awhile a dish has been repeated but never has an entire menu been recycled.

While we were in New Zealand it seems as if lamb of some kind was always one of the choices.

The portions are great considering that it is a 4 course meal.

Sugar free desserts are the same as usual with little difference from other cruises.

Lobster is a choice on most formal nights but now you can have lobster on other smart casual nights if you pay an extra fee of $19.00 . The same is true of Prime Rib, free only once a cruise but available at a cost every night.

Since that request I have taken my camera around the ship and I have recorded food choices. This first set of photos are from the buffet. All of these were taken within a half hour, so it is the selection available on Feb.24th or 23rd depending on your time zone.

Desserts are featured in a separate section called the AMULETO, it is actually part of Horizon Court.

Soft ice cream is available at Swirls from 11:00am to 8:00pm

The choice is chocolate or vanilla or a mixture. It is on deck 14 midship. You can have it in a cone or a cup. Ken prefers a cup because of his beard.

You can also get milkshakes here but there is an extra charge for them. I think it is a $3.50 charge put on your account.

The Princess Pizzeria is on deck 14. Again no extra charge. It is open from 11 am to 11 pm.

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The grill is located on deck 15 forward. It provides burgers and dogs and fries with all of the trimmings from 11am to 11pm. Again at no extra cost.

As well as these spots to eat there are two dining rooms. These serve regular meals at regular hours. The opening times change depending on whether it is a sea day or a port day. These are the Provence Dining room on deck 6 and the Bordeaux on deck 5. Here you can have an assigned time and an assigned table which is the choice of Ken and I . Also you can have different times on different days. They post a menu outside so you can check it out and then make a decision as to where you would like to eat.

I took a photo of last night's dinner menu. 

Princess favorites are available every night and the rest changes daily. In all there are 4 courses but you can have 5 if you also select a pasta. The portions are probably smaller than you would have at home but you can always have second helpings at no charge.

I imposed on my table mates and asked if I could take pictures of their meals to show you the presentations.

Seafood appetizer

Shrimp cocktail

Cold cherry soup...cold soups are always my choice.

Hot chicken broth

Mahi Mahi

Roast Pork Tenderloin. This was my choice.

Sirloin Steak. This was Ken's choice.

Here is a picture I took of one of the lobster meals

Here is a picture of the special dessert I had on Valentines Day.

Here is another special sugar free dessert.

Here are a few breakfast pictures.

Besides these places to eat there are 2 speciality dining rooms. These have a cover charge of $29.00 per person. They are

 Sabatini's Italian Trattoria on deck seven, midship. They are open for dinner from 5:30 pm till 9:30 

Bayou cafe and Steakhouse on deck seven aft, open at the same hours.

Every now and then there will be an English Pub lunch at the Bayou and sometimes a special pizza lunch at Sabatini's.

This ship does not have an international cafe but specialty coffees and snacks at available at Good Spirits from 6:00 am till 11:00 pm

I think that covers it. You can see by this that there is never a shortage of food on a cruise. Always tasty and always in plentiful supply.

Let me know if you want to see more.

 

Cairns, Day 6, February 23

 Cairns, pronounced CANS,

We are scheduled to arrive at 10:00 which is later than usual. So we get up and have a leisurely breakfast and watch the sail in.

This seems to be a beautiful city. We are docked right along side the Coral Princess and we are right in the city. The Coral arrived first so we get a great view of her as we pull in .

We do not have an excursion here but because the city is right there we will feel quite comfortable walking around. They have directional signs along the walkway. These are quite reassuring as we make our way. They have placed some lovely sculptures along the pathway.

The city is beautiful and clean and friendly. The boulevards are planted with a similar ground cover to the ones they use in Florida. They are easy to walk on and it is good for Ken's hip to get off of the cement.We come to a beautiful path that has wonderful trees overhanging it and creating an archway.

I did find a Xmas tree decoration for Cairns. It is made of resin but is not too heavy.

As we were walking back I heard a strange sound. It was sort of like a combination of a purr and a growl. After searching the underbrush ( with my eyes) I saw this wonderful looking long legged bird. I have no idea what it is or was.

If you look very closely you can see part of what is probably its mother.

When we returned to the ship we were able to get pictures of the 2 ships lined up at the dock.

After dinner we sat out on the balcony and enjoyed the evening views and sounds. 

The next 3 days will be sea days and then will be our last port of Australia.....Darwin