Cruise The World With Us

Sunday – February 16, 2025

While at breakfast today we sat with a couple from Norway. After talking for some time about the cold/flu/whatever it is that is going around the boat, the husband got a Face Time call from his daughter back in Norway. They explained that with the “browsing” Internet service (which we have) you can send and receive Face Time calls (to people with Apple products). We didn’t know that and decided to give it a try with people we knew had iPhones. The title comes from one of the Face Time sessions we had today. I’ll get to that later.

Today’s World Cruise game involved a balloon, a paper cup, a table and a bucket. Each participant was given a balloon. They were to hold it in their teeth, inflate it into a paper cup to “grab” the cup, move balloon and cup across the deck, bend over a table and release the cup only so it fell into a bucket on the other side of the table. All this was to be done with hands clasped behind the back. One issue was if you were not tall enough, you could not reach over the table to drop the cup into the bucket. Jan took several shots of the game. Air came in second in this competition. Close but no cigar.

While Jan was watching/videoing the World Cruise game I was on our first Face Time of the day with a friend (Mike) who lives in Colorado. As he answered the call he was outside his home shoveling snow. I had finished shoveling snow on the cruise ship so was able to converse without having to stop work. The Face Time worked well with only some spots appearing at Mike’s end with the words “Unstable signal”. I never saw those words on our end. I’m going to check with the IT group here to see what Internet service is being used. Mike said he was on a cruise that used the SpaceX Starlink system and that it was steady and uninterrupted. We had a nice conversation across a wide range of topics. Mike said that he has been following on the website so I took his picture and posted it in today media page.

Kelsey joined us during the World Cruise game and when it was over we all went to the buffet for food. Following the food we found a table in the card room where Kelsey began to kick Jan’s butt at Trash and Jan did the reverse with King’s Corner. We went to our cabin for Face Time try number 2. This time we called my sister Joanne and found her with her granddaughter Remy. Jo is watching Remy while her parents are on vacation. We were lucky Jo had an iPhone – she has had Android phones for years but broke hers recently and at the urging of her daughter Hannah got an iPhone. Included in today’s media are photos of Jo and Remy. We finished the call in time to head to dinner in the restaurant on deck 5.

There are a couple photos of dinner selections. Sorry, Sharon – no fish photos tonight – we know how you appreciate them! I’m not a coffee drinker but decided to try the Tiramisu. It was good and didn’t have an overwhelming coffee taste.

We came back to the room for our third and final Face Time of the day with Jan’s brother, Jerry, his wife Kelly and their granddaughter, Ellie. Today was Ellie’s eighth birthday so we were able to wish her a Happy Birthday. We didn’t sing because none of us are singers. We had a nice long conversation with them – lots of catching up from Jerry on how Trump is Making America Great Again. Ellie offered to make Frappuccinos for Kelsey and I. Kelsey chose strawberry and I had lime. When she finished we couldn’t get the straws from the glasses to come through my laptop screen so we’ll have to sample them in person when we get back home. Again it was great to touch base with family when so far away. I put Ellie’s photo as today’s featured photo because, after all, it was her birthday!

We went to the production show this evening that was titled “Bon Voyage”. It was a selection of songs and we were able to place names on most of them. This group of 4 singers and 8 dancers has put on wonderful shows and will be here for the entire cruise. During this show the woman who had hung from her hair did something just as dangerous. She used two sashes that dropped from the ceiling and climbed above the stage while performing acrobatics. Wish I was that limber.

Following the stage show we were in our seats after most of the theatre had emptied. The cruise director walked up the stairs and stopped to talk with us. We told her that one of the best moments from the stage productions was her performance on Valentine’s Day with the captain. She was surprised we picked that one but happy we did. The show director joined her and they began to explain some of the discussions they have had about how to “spice up” the shows. They explained that due to the multiple languages they don’t book comedians because there would be a problem for all the passengers to relate to whatever language was used. I told her I liked all the music but had difficulty with the classical works that were all in non-English languages. She said we should not miss the last week of shows because they lead up to a finale when we reach Genoa. Was great to get to talk with her one-on-one.

You can view the video and photos here.