As far as travel blogs go, this must rank as the one with the least amount of useful travel info – ever! Unless you are an around the world solo sailor, blogging as a means to stay alert and alive, then this blog is a close second as it now feels as though we are merely living in a floating community rather than travelling. The view from the decks for days now has just been water, sometimes a bit rough but now very calm. Cabin fever, somewhat surprisingly, hasn’t set in and life continues as normal, with ship arranged activities to complement activities and meets arranged privately. This time, we have given indoor bowls a miss, as there was just too much hanging around for relatively little action, so although trivia seems to dominate our lives, it is in fact only about an hour a day. That still leaves a fair bit of the day to fill.
Today, Paula accepted the Salon’s offer of a 75 minute session at a reduced price, but they could only fit her in immediately, so whilst I wandered off for a light breakfast, Paula doubled back for a quick shower then for a bit of indulgence, including a body massage and a frangipani scalp massage.
By the time I got back to the cabin (we didn’t win trivia…) Paula had just returned and was keen for a bite to eat but had to wash all the goo out of her hair first!
This afternoon was the semi-final of “Dancing With the Stripes” and the five contestants now whittled down to three, with deck cadet Alfred the rank outsider. He is the most likely to finish 3rd as the other two contestants have extensive dance experience. Somewhat surprisingly, we stayed on for the dance class for Rock n’ Roll part 2 – and enjoyed it. A fair few more people for this session too.
After trivia, it was a change to our usual timing as we were dining at the Sterling Steakhouse at 6:30pm, rather than our usual 7:45pm.
On the Dawn, this is the only restaurant that has a surcharge and as mentioned before, this is $20. So what do you actually get for your $20? Basically, the choice of several cuts of (Australian) grilled steak, and frankly, very little else that is in any way better than the dining room.
To be fair, the choice of filet mignon at 8oz or 10oz, plus the other options right up to a 22oz whopper, certainly produces exquisitely cooked meat. But bearing in mind these are just straight grilled (to perfection), but have not been seasoned or marinated, they rely totally on a spooned over sauce (béarnaise, mushroom or peppercorn) at the table, this is a meal aimed squarely and simply at those who just crave a decent steak. The filet mignon comes as an eye filet, but shouldn’t a mignon be wrapped in bacon?
Anyway, we enjoyed the meal and we all were full, with one or two unable leave a totally clean plate. Other than steak the options for mains are limited to one fish dish and a half chicken. Pic shows Paula’s prawn starter and my main.
On then to the production show – one of our favourites – “Save the last Dance for Me”. The dance cast is normally 4 guys and six girls, but two of the guys were ruled out because of injuries sustained in the gym, so the show had to be re-blocked and the surviving two had to learn the other routines. A brilliant show and if we hadn’t known in advance, we really wouldn’t have guessed, so they deservedly got a standing ovation.
We rolled into the Wheelhouse bar for the Crimson Duo, who also do a great job, for a couple of slightly more pedestrian dances, (only slightly…) before hitting the sack about midnight.
AUGUST 6th
Best night’s sleep for ages! Calm waters. Head cold almost gone. No cough. We didn’t surface until a very leisurely 9:15! Opting to diet/fast (for a couple of hours anyway), we headed straight for 10:30am trivia without as much as an orange juice.
Today was wife swap teams, but we were both on 17, which wasn’t enough to take out a star prize.
Once again, we had arranged our own deviation to routine, joining our table mates in the pizzeria for lunch. My calzone was great – but I forgot to tell them to leave out the anchovies…
Back to the cabin and whilst I caught up with emails and blogs, Paula watched a movie with sub-titles, that others had suggested was well worth watching. It was. “Les Untouchable”. All about a rich guy confined to a wheelchair and the small time villain who was recruited as his caregiver – based on a true story.
We skipped the ship’s trivia and once again took part in a Ros & Jo arranged “Dawn Nomads Cruise Critic Trivia” instead.
The 6:15pm show was once again a mix of two previous performers – Spencer Robson and Kevin Devane. These guys are effectively trapped on the ship until we reach land. This time, with a full house, Kevin Devane’s segment was excellent.
Once again, it was time to dress up Hawaiian style, for the after dinner deck party and the famous fruit dessert buffet. (As if we hadn’t eaten enough at dinner!) Birdie elected to come out of hiding and it was steaming hot on deck. Cruise Director Mark (wearing a grass skirt...) told me it was 40 degrees. With clocks going back yet again, we were stuffed by 11:15 old time, not to mention steaming, so back to the air conditioned luxury of the cabin.
No comments:
Post a Comment