Monday, September 5th, 2011: At Sea
Bob: Glad to have an "At Sea" day to rest a bit, after breakfast we wandered about the ship, taking pictures of the central atrium area and Gatsby's Casino while they were relatively deserted. The casino was larger than we have seen on other ships, and although it was deserted in the morning we saw quite a few folks trying their luck later in the day. Dropping the camera back in the cabin, we decided to stretch our legs by walking on deck for an hour. The Crown Princess, although a fine ship in most respects, did not have a decent stretch of deck for walking. The promenade deck was not a complete loop, not having a section around the bow of the ship. The designated walking track was a 1/16 mile loop around the tiny miniature golf course on the afterdeck, but that loop was so short that it almost made us dizzy to walk it. We finally settled on walking a loop around the bow and the two pool areas on deck 16. Liz and Peter had said they walked that deck in a figure 8 loop, and we found that doing so would allow us to effectively scan both sides for signs of whales (or icebergs, or whatever). |
Monika: After two exhausting days and a rather tumultuous night it was nice to have a peaceful "At Sea" day. We started out by walking on deck. There was no really good place to walk laps. On the promenade deck you had to go up to the next deck at the bow and then down again. The jogging circuit on deck 18 went around the mini-golf course and was so small that it took 16 laps for one mile. Even for me, who likes counting, that was a little too much. So we decided on deck 16, where we could not go all the way to the stern, but at least we could walk past the bow. We also walked past the theater under the stars, so there was also entertainment to be had. I, of course, counted the laps and after an hour of walking, we had managed 15 laps. Since we walk a little over 3 miles an hour, we figured on 5 laps per mile. Ah, a mathematician has to entertain herself even on the high seas. |
Bob: The invitation-only Captain's Circle meeting was in the Princess Theater at 11:30, and we attended hoping they might have the band playing, or serve drinks, or have some other form of entertainment. We were disappointed in that the "meeting" consisted only of a presentation of the ship's officers, some slick promotional TV advertisement from Princess, and a brief address by Captain Nash. The address, however, turned out to be quite entertaining as Captain Nash seemed to have an intuitive knack for humor, so we left the meeting somewhat mollified. |
Monika: After we finished our exercise, we decided to take pictures of the ship. This is always easiest in the morning of an At Sea day, when there are few people around. After that we repaired to our room to catch up our journal. At 11:30 was the by-invitation-only Captain Circle meeting. Usually this is a casual affair with drinks and hors d'ovres together with the usual plug why Princess Cruise Line is the best. This time we had gotten coupons for a free drink and the meeting was in the Princess Theater and it was much more of a sales pitch. In fact, Peter and Liz were so appalled by it that they left. We stuck around and were rewarded by a rather amusing talk by the Captain who has a rather dry sense of humor. It was quite clear that he did not like the new arrangement which was foisted on him by Home Office, and he encouraged us to write about it on our comment cards. |
Bob: After lunch we attended the Pop Choir rehearsal with Val, and the songs were starting to come together with the choreography. We also stayed for the Mambo and Tango lessons right afterward, but that was enough activity and we just rested in our cabin for the rest of the afternoon until it was time for dinner with Peter, Liz, Laurie and Janet. I often learned quite interesting, and occassionally downright weird tidbits, whilst chatting with the others during these meals. Peter informed me that the attempt by Iceland to stiff foreign investors from the default of its banks while paying full restitution to native Icelanders, was still being negotiated, even though the default had occurred in 2008. Janet mentioned that "talking posh", which I took to be a reference to speaking correct upper-class English, was looked down upon and caused ridicule at her secondary school. That type of social pressure to speak the local dialect would go a long way to explaining the persistence of numerous local versions of spoken English such as what we had encountered around the Lake District. I was also tripped up by the different pronounciations for a foreign word such as "geyser" in English ("geezer") and American ("guy-sir"). Coupled with the use of completely different words for the same object ("lift" vs. "elevator", car "boot" vs. "trunk", etc.), communication can be surprisingly difficult. But the same degree of differences, if not more, exist among the German dialects, and cause the same type of communication problems. |
Monika: The afternoon saw us again rehearsing with the Pop Choir. We both are getting to know the songs, but would still dearly love to have notes for them. After that they had a dance class, and we learned the basic steps of Mambo and Tango. Dinner was formal, and we had another picture taken. The photographers on board seemed to be quite good and we think we'll pick up a few of the better ones of us. [We did purchase a number of the portraits, which Bob framed and hung around the house.] |
Bob: We attended the evening show after our meal, and it was a good example of a musical revue featuring four lead singers and twelve or thirteen dancers (they move around a lot, which makes it hard to get an accurate count!). The focal point around which the song and dance routines were loosely organized was the theme of "travel". So the featured venues were Las Vegas, Africa, the Moon, and London, an eclectic mix of sites to be sure! The male singers were good and the male baritone was particularly dramatic in the London night scene, reminding me of some of the grittier scenes and songs from "Les Miserables". The music was diverse, pleasant, and both well-sung and well-choreographed, so we had a very pleasant interlude before retiring to our cabin for the night. |
Monika: This evening was a production show: Destination Everywhere, vignettes of song and dance of different places and eras. As usual in the shows, there was a lot of energy in the dancers and singers and a lot of costume changes. I was happy that the singing was actually quite good and the amplification not too loud. So we enjoyed it. |
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