Day 5 March 11 – At Sea

Wednesday March 11th is our 5th day aboard The Vista. We had today and tomorrow at sea before reaching Honolulu on Friday. Unfortunately, the forecast calls for rain on Friday (think it is 90% chance), but we will deal with it on Friday.

Today our clocks fell back another hour and we found ourselves awake at 5:30am. We hung around and then went to the Waves Grill for breakfast. We forgot the cameras, but it was a light breakfast with cheese/mushroom omelet for Jackie and I had fruit and dry cereal. After breakfast we went walking on the deck above the pool deck and got almost a mile in before it started to drizzle. Jackie then went to a Digital Learning Class called Twitter Basics and I went check email and smoke a cigar.

We met back up for lunch which was at The Waves Grill. Below is the menu for The Waves Grill. The special grill for today was fish and shrimp kabobs. Jackie had a club sandwich and I ate a burger. I am not sure what the dessert was that she got from the cafeteria, but something lemon. I have had a hot dog and the Philly Cheesesteak here for lunch thus far and both were great.

After lunch we decided to go up to the Spa area in the front of the ship and lay out for a little while. And I mean for a little while as the sun was nice and hot today. Only after about 15-20 minutes we decided to find some shade and we found a nice spot in the corner of deck 14 where Jackie read and I slept for about 30 minutes. Maybe I should go find a book, but I still have 115 days to go….laughing. Here a few photos of the spa area that we can hang out in for the cruise. I will take better photos during the trip. The last photo here is from the area we found out of the sun and very quiet.

We came back to the cabin and found we were given two caps for The World Cruise. Jackie decided to model her new Oceania outfit.

This afternoon we attended the third in a series about Hawaii. The presentation was called A Brief History of Hawaii. Just like the previous presentations in this series, it was outstanding. Tomorrow I told Jackie I am going at 2pm for the 3pm presentation which will cover Hawaii in WWII. I am sure the Vista Lounge will be at full capacity. Jackie went to her second Digital Learning Class this afternoon Photo Editing for Social Media. She said the classes while basic as the titles suggest, she is learning new things and enjoys the classes. We wanted to attend the comedian show at 5:15pm this evening, but when we arrived at 5:00pm there was not a vacant seat in the Vista Lounge. I guess we should have attended the show a couple of nights ago, but our old asses cannot hang at 9:15pm….laughing.

Here are photos of our cabin. I took a video but because of the Wifi problems on board it is impossible to upload videos. We are staying in a Penthouse Suite 11024 which measures 440 square feet. It has good closet and cabinet space which is very much needed with the amount of clothes and other things we brought. View of the cabin when we walk in. Tell Madonna at Jules Cleaners that her calendar is cruising around the world. At the entrance to the cabin on the left wall as you walk in is an electronic panel where you can control the cabin temperature and also can inform the housekeeping staff when you wish to have your cabin cleaned, notify them if you are in the cabin and also there is a selection for Do Not Disturb.

To the right of the entrance are two closets with a dressing mirror in the middle of the closets. The closets are able to hold our hanging clothes along with a hanging bag Jackie put for jewelry, my neckties and our shoes. The cabinets are being used to store our electronics and cameras.

We were able to hang an organizer on the inside of the shower door using magnetic hooks. Also, we brought a folding hamper which works great. In Honolulu we ordered on Amazon a magnetic shelf to hang near the toilet. The bathroom is a nice size. My only suggestion would have been one lavatory instead of two which would have provided more countertop space and one additional drawer under the countertop. The cabinets are a nice size as i the medicine cabinet in the middle.

The bed is very comfortable and the only complaint I have are the pillows. There are two but when I put my big head on the pillows they become a pancake. Opposite of the bed is a countertop and the large screen TV. Counter space is adequate although you have the triage the papers daily and continually throw as they pile up daily.

On the wall next to the bed is our communications wall. The first photo shows the wall which is magnetic, so we use hooks to hang a magnetic calendar, a clock, our cruise map and an envelope holding for now our Moorea excursion. The second photo shows our monthly calendar that we filled out for March indicating if at sea or the port we arrive into, if we have something we want to attend like Jackie going to the IT classes, our dinner reservations and a “T” indicating it is a tender port. The third photo was in our Amazon delivery order to the hotel in San Diego. We wanted a wall clock with LARGE numbers for the time along with the day of the week, date and it provides through a sensor I hung outside the temperature outside the cabin and also provides for the temperature inside the cabin. On the opposite wall is a scratch off map that we will use to scratch off ports that we visit. After this cruise we will then scratch off the other locations we have visited.

This is the photo of the snack cabinet because you know we do not receive enough food on the ship….laughing. Every segment we receive another bottle of wine or Prosecco, so we pick up a bottle in Papeete, Tahiti. Someone better start drinking soon because we don’t have room for any more bottles. The world-famous Elmers Gold Brick Eggs and Heavenly Hash awaiting Easter Sunday are still in the cabinet. Not sure how those three gummy bears survived and made it into the photo.

A dining table in the cabin and in the background is my humidor. To the right are binders we brought for this trip to carry excursion papers, copies of passports and visas, flights and hotel reservations we made during the trip. For some reason the middle drawer does not open, so we are thinking just a fake drawer. We would ask the butler, but he has been AWOL. 🙂

The outside balcony with the LSU flag on the wall held there with magnets. I wanted to bring a larger banner and hang on the balcony railing but figured it would be removed and I was not sure how I could hang it. Now that I see the ceiling I know for the next time I can hang a larger banner on the balcony. The balcony is a good size, but the chairs do not make lounge chairs which is a bummer. The covering will protect us from both sun and rain as it extends out far. The chair cushions are thick and inside the cabin for these photos.

Tonight we ate in The Grand Dining Room

Jackie had chilled shrimp, roasted turkey and Madagascar vanilla charlotte.

Lane had ham fritters, Cajun gumbo, red curry prawns and salted caramel ice cream.