At Sea

April 17^th, 2024

There are quiet sea days and there are busy sea days. This was one of those busy ones, where you seem to go from activity to activity.

The disappointment of the day was that Stephan told us that we would not be able to do a steelpan concert on the last sea day – no room for it on the schedule and no physical space where we could all perform. I though that the Princess Theater would certainly work in terms of space, it has a huge stage, but I can see that it is usually booked for back to back programs so alas we don’t get to show off. Anyway, we had fun during the class perfecting our 3 songs and learning more about steelpan music. I suppose I had always thought of it as just being about Caribbean rhythms, but Stephan played some videos of jazz and classical music by steelpan musicians that were totally amazing. Who knew it was such a versatile instrument.

I traded in my steelpan mallets for a napkin. On a cruise many years ago I learned the bird of paradise napkin fold. This napkin fold has graced every dinner party since then, no matter where we lived or how formal the dinner was. It is easy, I can do it, and it always looks good.

However, it would be nice if I was more versatile with my napkin folding, so time learning new folds would be time well spent.

One thing I have noticed on this ship is that at dinner there is no effort put into making sure the napkins are nicely folded. They just lie flat on the tablecloth. I wondered if this was some kind of post Covid thing, or does Princess just not see the need for an elegantly folded napkin to greet you at dinner each night?

Well my dinner guests will always get an elegant napkin, so I was anxious to learn new folds.

There were no handouts unfortunately, so we had to make do with taking photos of every step that we took with our folding. This was not ideal. Firstly the napkins and table cloths were the same color. This may look classy at dinner, but it makes for problems with the lack of contrast when you take a photo. Secondly, for some folds you have to hold the napkin with 2 hands before you move on to the next stage, and when you let go to get your phone, the whole thing unravels. Oh well, that’s what friends are for – I had to get my table mate to take the photos. Unfortunately she didn’t seem to be aware that you must not have your finger over the lens of the camera if you want to have a decent photo. When I got back to the cabin to practice my skills I realized that there is this big pink blob obscuring the photos. Not to worry, I really didn’t like those folds anyway.

I now have 4 new folds to practice before we have friends over for dinner again.

Usually we forget to go to the wine tasting as it is not in our schedule, but we were in luck today, I remembered, so off we went.

Like on the Sapphire there were 5 glasses set up in front of us – we tasted a bubbly, a chardonnay, a pinot noir, a rioja crianza, and a sweet white dessert wine.

With 4 of us around the table there wasn’t much room for anything other than the glasses, but they did manage to squeeze in a plate of cheese slices, crackers, and fruit.

It had been a while since lunch, and the cheese looked good, so some of us started to nibble away on the cheese. We were admonished for doing so. The cheese was there purely for us to describe what effect food had on the wine. I have never been to such a strict wine tasting before. As it so happened I thought that the cheese made no difference to the wine. The wine still tasted like wine, and the cheese like cheese. Maybe the dried apricots tasted a bit funny, but through it all, my only conclusion was that the effect of various food stuffs on the wine was negligible. However,  I kept quiet about this conclusion.

We had our final formal night and it was fun to get all dressed up. They have a special menu on formal nights, and tonight’s meal was really excellent. I was very impressed that they can make frozen lobster tails so flavorful and not at all rubbery. However, I am used to the waiter sneaking another lobster tail on to your plate. The waiters can’t do that here, if you want another tail that will be an extra $10.

We were intrigued by the name of the production show tonight – Magic to Do. Was it going to be a magic show or a musical? It turned out to be both, and I can honestly say that it was absolutely the best production show we had ever seen on a ship, and ranked up there with the best shows we have seen on land.

Composed by Stephen Schwartz, of Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked fame, the show is an amazing combination of music and illusion. Visually it is stunning, and you never know what is going to happen next. We absolutely loved it, and the performers were excellent. I would love to watch it again!