May 19, 2012 - at sea

May 19, 2012 - at sea

Happy birthday to me. It's Hal's birthday and I started the day with a card for him. The ship decorates the front doors of the cabins with birthdays or anniversary's so all of our neighbors were wishing him a happy birthday.

It was raining when we woke, but by the time we got on deck the sun had come out. I did some time in the gym on a bike and Evelyn walked the track.

For my birthday we are going to the Steakhouse for dinner. Other then that our day will be the normal sea day.

There is no Internet service at this time and I don't know what is the problem. We have finished our bridge lesson for today and are in the Tahitian lounge waiting for trivia.

The Ocean Princess is a small cruise ship, just over 30 thousand tons, most of the ships are 3 times larger. It carries just over 600 passengers and a crew of 350. It is small enough to find your way around, but with enough space to also be alone if you want. There is a salt pool and two fresh water jacuzzis. They have a casino, with blackjack, 3- card poker, and roulette. It seems to be getting a lot of business. You don't even need cash, but can use your cruise card to play. The dinning room is on deck 5 and it has a bar just outside of it. Between the dinning and the show room there are shops and the casino bar. In the evening there is always a group playing in the casino lounge.

Besides the bridge and trivia there are daily dance classes, exercise classes and arts and crafts, ceramic painting and other activities. There is also a series of lectures either on the ports we will visit or on the history of the various areas. There are enough choices that you can always find something to do if you want. Being a long cruise most of the passengers are older, but very active. With only 600 passengers you pretty much meet everyone. There are even people we have met again from other cruises.

We just returned to our cabin from bridge and the wonderful news that our niece Danielle has passed the bar - it was a very nice birthday present for me.

We had drinks at the suite party and dinner in the Steakhouse. The service is great and the food is a step up from the regular dinning room. I paced myself: I ate the appetizer, a very good scallops dish, a third of a very tasty blue onion soup, and about 2/3 of my ribeye. I passed on desert, but a birthday cake and song were delivered to the table. The "Chef's Tables" was going on also, so the head Matra'd came by our table to say hello and check on the food. We were there for about two hours. Evelyn noticed that the desert they served at the Chef's Table was the same one we had on our last Chef's Dinner on this ship last year. She is no longer interested in doing it again. Our guess is that the rest of the menu is probably the same.

By the time we finished it was past our normal going to bed time, but because it was a special occasion we stayed up for the show, which was the ship' s company singing and dancing many of the famous movie songs. They do a great job and are very entertaining.


Sent from my iPad

Hal