Friday the 13th. We'll see what the day brings.
First, breakfast in the Lido Market, then the COVID self-test in the room. This is provided by HAL. You take the test, wait 10 minutes, then write your name, date of birth, test number, and the time of testing on a piece of paper, along with the test result, and take a photo. The stewards are in the hallways between 9 and 10:30 am to check the results. If everything is fine, you're free to go about your day. Thankfully, both of us tested negative, so we head back to the ship.
With the e-reader in our bag, we head to The Crow's Nest to see if we can snag a nice spot by the window. We succeed, and we sit down to read until it's time to go to the Mainstage, where Jim McParland will be speaking about the Ring of Fire at 11 o'clock. It's a slightly less impressive presentation than yesterday's, but still quite interesting.
It's not until quarter to 12 that we decide to check out if there's anything interesting in the shops. It's a rather upscale affair here, with Louis Vuitton and such, not really our style. They do have a HAL jacket that I quite like, so I'll keep that in mind.
Then the captain makes an announcement, stating that we'll be entering the fjords around 6 o'clock tonight. So, we plan to have an early dinner to enjoy the scenery later.
We take a stroll around the ship on deck 3, which allows you to walk all the way around. Then we head to eat in the Lido Market.
There we meet Marianne, and she genuinely seems delighted to see us, inviting us to join her at her table with a hug. Alfy has other engagements and isn't there. She's sitting at a large table with Susan and John, and we chat away happily.
Around half past 1, we head to the pool party and opt for a glass of bubbles. It's fun here, but we'll have to go back to eating and drinking normally at home. And this is only the third day, well, actually just over two considering we boarded so late. Marianne joins us and goes in search of Alfy, who according to the waitress, should be here. We can't find him either and feel hesitant about leaving her alone, especially after Alfy mentioned that she had a serious car accident 40 years ago, resulting in acquired brain injury. But she insists on searching for him herself. She can't go anywhere else. She won't jump overboard.
We spend some time together observing the scene and listening to the rather loud music when we're invited by the people behind us, of course, Americans again, to join them at their table. Jan gets a beer, and then we chat for a while with Betsy and Tony. He's like the reincarnation of an elderly Tony Curtis in a gangster movie đ.
When the party is over, we give our ears a break in the cabin. We need to fill out a form for customs for when we want to go ashore tomorrow, and we need to transfer the passport scans from the laptop to the phone. The sea is much calmer today. We have a wind force of 3, no white caps, and now it feels like you've just had a little too much to drink. Just a little motion of the ocean, as the captain calls it. It's 12 degrees Celsius and mostly cloudy. We plan to read quietly, but both of us end up dozing off for half an hour.
Tonight we dine in the Dining Room. It's also a large restaurant, but with table service and Ă la carte options. At first, it seems like we'll have to wait a long time for a table, but it's not as bad as we thought. We're seated at a table for two. We opt for the French onion soup, which is quite salty and, probably due to the sourdough bread, a bit tangy. We prefer my own onion soup. Then, the spiced pork belly. The meat is tender, but the crackling hasn't crisped up except for a few very small pieces. Failed the Masterchef test. Also, the spice wasn't as spicy as expected. For dessert, Jan has a chocolate whisky tart, where the whisky seems to have been forgotten, and I have a sundae with chocolate sauce. The ice cream for a sundae, which is soft serve, was too hard, but it was better than yesterday's.
We still make it an enjoyable evening, as although land is visible outside, it's still far away. In the Rolling Stone Lounge, the same band from yesterday (7 members strong) is playing again. We settle in, but this time the genre is less to our taste (R&B), and the sound is quite loud.
Then we head to the Billboard on Board. There are two pianos facing each other opposite the casino, where Meagan Eishen and Gabriel Aronson play 3 sets of 45 minutes of requested songs, and they are amazing. We thoroughly enjoy ourselves and admire what they do. Meagan occasionally looks up something on her tablet, such as a key they can both work with or some background info, and then sends it to Gabe while continuing to play the piano with her right hand and singing. And she sings well. It's very impressive what these two do. They have tomorrow off, but we'll definitely seek them out again.
At half past 10, we head back to the cabin and try to read a bit. Tomorrow, we'll be going ashore for the first time!
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| Meagan and Gabe |
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| The corridor with the staterooms on deck 8 |