Day 2 & Day 3 - Out to Sea

Day 2 - Friday April 6, 2012

It’s a new day, and a new chance to make it your own… this is how our daily ship newsletter, Cruise Compass, has told us to start our day.

First off this morning I went to find the scale, which last cruise was located in the fitness room area. They apparently have moved it so will search later in the day….am sure they must have one somewhere in this area. After breakfast, which was served in our room, it was off to morning mass for me while Phil explorer the ship. As I arrived at the Colony Club I saw 2 men talking in the front of the room. I approached the one who has what looked like a white collar and introduced myself to Father Dave and asked if I might be allowed to do one of the morning readings for mass. Much to my surprise, Bobby Brown, our cruise director, who was wearing a jacket with a white collar, introduced me to Father Dave who was standing next to him in a regular shirt & pants. It has stayed a standing joke that when I see the Cruise Director I call him Father Dave. I did make an impression and did do the readings for the Good Friday service.

Philip meanwhile has found his favorite machine in the casino but has a container with a certain amount of coins for the day. At noon they moved our clocks one hour forward.
Lunch for us was in the Windjammer buffet on deck 11. I did find the scales, it was hidden in the changing room of the Women’s Spa. Now that will be my first stop in the morning.

Tonight is our first Formal Dining Night. So late in the afternoon, after a nap, we got ourselves all dressed up with Phil in his Tux and me in a long skirt. Off we went first to find the photo area groups. We had pictures taken in two different areas before heading to the Colony Club for the Captain’s (Sindre Borsheim who is from Norway) Welcome Aboard Reception. We were introduced to him, had our picture taken and then enjoyed a glass of champagne while enjoying music and watching some of the younger guest dancing.

Dinner tonight was very good and it was especially nice to see everyone so dressed up for the formal night. We got some good pictures at the table that I will be sharing at a later date. It was a surprise when at the end of our meal the waiters all came and sang Happy Anniversary and presented us with a small little cake with a Happy Anniversary and a candle on it. Our Cruise Director, Bobby was even dressed up with a Kilt as he is from Scotland.

Off to our cabin to change into my comfortable clothes before going to tonight showtime production called The Piano Man. Very good entertainment with lots of good music and dancing. A lovely end to a great day.

Day 3 – Saturday, April 7,2012

Phil was up by 5:30 – he kept trying to get me up to go for breakfast but gave up and enjoyed his own and return to the cabin with food for me by 6:30 AM. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper as I really wanted to sleep in this morning. Later in the afternoon I tried again to get some sleep but ended up just resting for 3 hours. But I did make good headway on the book that Jane had sent with me.

As our Cruise Compass told us that “Today would be the perfect chance to explore our floating nation”… this we did this morning ending up in the Aurora Theatre for an Enrichment Lecture by Gary Fuller, a Professor at the University in Hawaii, called
Auckland: “The City with the World’s Largest Polynesian Population”.

At noon we again set our clocks again one hour.. finding our way to the Windjammer Café we enjoyed a great lunch off he buffet. We also found time for cards before heading back to our cabin to relax.

Dress for dinner tonight was Smart Casual. So we stayed in our dinner clothes to enjoy the evening show called FABBA, the ultimate Abba tribute show. The singers were spot on with their rendition of all the Abba songs, many from Mama Mia.

By 10:30 we went to the Colony Club for an Easter Vigil Service followed by Easter Midnight Mass led by Father David. Again I helped with the readings, actually we had seven people in all who did readings tonight.

Our dinner friends, Rose & Bill, are also Catholic. Elsie & Will are Episcopalian but all are attending Mass with Father Dave. They did not come tonight as while we have an early morning shore excursion, they plan to take a taxi to St. Patrick’s for early morning Mass in the city of Auckland.

After Mass it was fun walking back through the ship and seeing all the entertainment venues going on with people sitting around, drinking and dancing. We know that they have an Easter Egg Hunt planned for the children tomorrow morning. For us, it’s late
And we are calling it a night.