First day at sea after Callao (Lima) and it’s 24 degrees and sunny with a 10mph wind from the South. We had a special lunch prepared for us by Master Chef Commendatore Alfredo Marzi in Sabatini’s restaurant. Pasta Florentini and wild mushrooms in a mouth watering wine sauce, followed by the fish Orange Roughy, baby potato spearlets and sautéed vegetables all done in a delicious sauce of unknown origin, followed by an outstanding cream cake with strawberry sauce, icecream and white chocolate dipped strawberries rounded out with a selection of petit fours and coffee (got to watch I don‘t drool on the laptop). The lunch was arranged superbly by two of our ‘cruise critic’ friends, Judy and Sue, for about 30 of us in the cruise critic group and it was undoubtedly the tastiest meal I’ve had since coming on board. I was completely surprised by the level of service provided by Princess, they went all out and gave us a lunch to remember, all complimentary including wine. If our lunch was typical of Sabatini’s standards, it may well be worth the normal premium charged. In the afternoon I listened to part 3 of John Maxtone-Graham’s lecture on North Atlantic Liners, dozing off occasionally as I digested his words and my lunch.
Second day out from Callao and it’s 24 degrees again, overcast and the sea is angry today my friends, like an old man….… well never mind …. we’re about half way to Easter Island. Didn’t do much of anything today, finished reading my book, went to an informative lecture on astronomy, laid in the sun watching the world go by, it’s tiring doing nothing. We’ve met so many nice people and everyone is generally good natured and tolerant except the anti-smoking nazis who are occasionally heard telling a poor innocent smoker that they should not be smoking in a smoking area.
Our room steward, Chonpat (shown left), from Thailand has been teaching me some Thai phrases. He has 2 children, 8 and 11, he came on board the same day as us in Fort Lauderdale and will see his family briefly when we dock in Bangkok, March 27th, then not for about another 6 months when his contract ends. Must be hard for him when I think how much I miss my little Spammy, hope he’s eating well (Spammy not the room steward). Tonight is Superbowl and it’s on in the main lounge, they’ve got it all decorated in team colors and it looks like it will be well attended as long as the satellite connection holds out. We had a late night tonight after losing everything in the casino we took in a late night trivia quiz, placing second equal of a total of three teams, but we laughed from start to finish, who knew that Edith Piaffs nickname was Little Sparrow.
