Day 16 West - 01/17/22 - At Sea - 1

After the early morning drama from yesterday, today was calm.  So much so I slept in missing the 9am Coffee Chat.  After breakfast we did make it to a feature full future cruise presentation.  Neil, FCC, did a nice job of presenting future cruises without just doing a laundry list.  Several were intriguing.

 

I attended a small Cruise Critic meet and greet and also booked an interesting shore excursion for our stop in Panama after the Panama Canal. We skipped the Marconi EXC presentation as we'd seen it before but took in the Lincoln Center 2:00 presentation of Mozart compositions that was delightful.  I also learned that we got upgraded to the video capable internet for the rest of the cruise for only $20 each which was net of our 5 Star $30 discount.  Also we received another $50 each in shipboard credit because of the itinerary changes.  HAL is certainly trying to keep us happy.  I used part of mine to purchase a replacement man purse that I have been looking for for several years.

 

Tonight was Gala Night, but we ended up eating in the Canaletto for the second night in a row which was a first for us in our many years of cruising!  There weren't many patrons, and the staff were super appreciative. After dinner we attended a Russian themed string session at the Lincoln Center Stage.

 

At the Captain's toast, his mic gave him troubles so he joked that he was the entertainment.  Like the previous voyage he praised the crew for getting the ship ready and the passengers for returning to cruising.  The entertainment was an illusionist, Rúben Villegrand, who we've seen before and is really really good.  Kristin Key did a repeat comedy set in BBKing and got the standing room crown really laughing.  She's also really good.

 

We bombed in music trivia with a low score of 4 points.  This genre is not a strong suit for either of us.  We tried staying for the 80's set at billboard onboard, but wasn't feeling the groove.  So we ended the evening with a visit outside on the Lido. We apparently had passed through a storm as the deck was drenched.  Currently we're closely sailing off the north coast of Cuba and overnight we should be passing between Cuba and Haiti.

 

Our evening ended with watching the end of the Monday night wild card game between LA & Arizona.  LA won decisively 34-11.



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