Day 11: 5th cruise day - Day at Sea

5th cruise day: Day at Sea

We woke up again at 6am but dozed until 7am and then watched CNN and Headline News until 8am when we left for the Panorama Buffet breakfast. There was no line at the omelet station so I had an egg white omelet with extra cheese, bell pepper and tomato. Coupled with chocolate chip muffins and watermelon, it was a good breakfast. Hunter had another egg and bacon and cheese on an english muffin with some other foods. The weather was still a bit cool (55 degrees) but the sun was finally shining! We decided it would be warm enough to lay outside in the afternoon. We did a quick tour around the ship to see if we could spot a good place to sit and type on our netbooks, but most rooms were ready for the activities of the day, so we decided to stay in the cabin and catch up on programming and journal entries until it was time for our first activity at 10:30am – the Ballroom Dance “Rumba” lesson with Ruth and Chris (the head dancers). We hadn't met that crew yet (so far we have the “in” with only Shane, Chantel, and Anna) so we thought it would be great to go and meet new friends :) Back in the room I got a call from Lynne who invited us up to the Elite Lounge (tonight in Sabatini's) to meet the rest of the CruiseCritic.com posters.

The Rumba lesson was a lot of fun and Hunter and I did a pretty good job and did not embarrass ourselves by falling down like another couple did! We then raced to the Casino Lounge for the Martini Mixer demonstration. That was great fun as we got to meet some fun bartenders and got to shake martinis and dance in order to win free drinks. Hunter won a free “Blue Eyes” drink and I got a free Orange martini that I can't remember the name of. Shane was running the session and made sure we each were called on to participate! We were pretty tipsy after that drink and were glad it was time for lunch.

The same food that is served in the main dining room is served up in the buffet so it is more efficient to eat in the buffet. We had chicken wings, lasagna, 6 sausage pizza and spare ribs. Yum! We then went outside on deck 9 to grab a lounge chair by the pool. Princess was handing out free blankets but the sun was out making it quite warm during the day. We grabbed chairs that were right next to the couple from South Carolina and they started talking up a storm to me about cruising, their 401(k) plans and retirement and other stuff. Finally they left to walk around the deck and I realized it was past the 2:15pm start time for our shuffleboard tournament. We hurried up to the 11th deck bow and found the tournament. Two couples were already playing and we challenged the winner of their match but then lost. Oh well – we have to get them next time. We loved Deck 11 and decided to come up there to sunbathe as it was sun everywhere and the shade didn't shift with the sun. We grabbed chairs, took out our netbooks and enjoyed our first stretch of warm(er) weather and midday sun! At 3:30pm we went to the buffet for our daily ice cream sundae, but then later regretted it as it made us so full. Around 4:10pm it became too cold to lay outside anymore and we headed back to the cabin to relax before getting ready to meet Lynne and Tong and the rest of the Cruisecritic.com posters.

We met Lynne in the hallway walking towards the elevators for our get-together. On the ride up in the elevator we met Alan and John, posters from NJ – who are actually living in London but have a house in Montclair, NJ – and then inside Sabatinis we met Heather and Ed. The elite lounge was nothing special at all – it is available to platinum and elite members on select days of the cruise and really just had a small spread of cheese and crackers and breads and veggie crudités. Members still had to pay for drinks. We sat for about an hour at a table talking with everyone.

At 7:10pm we all split up and Hunter and I went back to the cabin where I fell asleep I was so tired. We were more full than ever because we snacked at the lounge, so we decided to skip dinner once again and instead see the musical dance show at 8:15pm and then grab something from the buffet. The show was very good, although they didn't sing the most common Broadway showtunes. The dancing choreography was really good and I felt bad the dance company didn't have more of a stage! It was funny to see the crew staff that we have gotten friendly with these past few days up there in bright sequin encrusted costumes smiling stage smiles, etc. After the nearly 1-hour show, we went up to the buffet and had some dessert as it was only Pizza and dessert night at the buffet. We think they only have the full dinner buffet when we are in port and they think more people would use the buffet. On sea days, it seems like the full buffet is always closed. Hunter ordered a club sandwich from room service and we spent the rest of the night on our netbooks and preparing for our long day in Hong Kong tomorrow!

written by  mohicanfan on December 22, 2009 from Taipei, Taiwan
from the travel blog: Beijing/Shanghai and a Princess Southeast Asia Cruise - Dec 2009
tagged Asia and Cruise
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