Day-26: A Day At Sea

Day-26: Thursday, February 27, 2014

Beginning Location: East China Sea En-route to Kobe, Japan
Final Location: East China Sea En-route to Kobe, Japan

This would be another day at sea in what has become a welcome respite from the daily touring routine. 

After 20 days or so maybe we have this figured out. Seems the most comfortable routine has been short excursions in the 4-5 hour range when in port and then taking in a few shipboard events when underway. Naturally some days it is necessary for longer excursions but limiting the frequency of long tours seems to be a relaxing yet informative process.

With breakfast done by nine, Sheila headed off to another bridge lesson while I honed my brain in preparation for the nine-thirty Trivia challenge. Today’s result yielded third place so another ship redemption point was won by the team.

Following trivia Sheila and I joined up for the final enrichment lecture focused on Japan. One of the two guest lecturers spent an hour detailing the post-WWII history of Japan and the cultural aspects of life in the country. Basically his comment was that for those of us on a first visit, our encounter would be like none we have experienced to date; maybe, but perhaps a little over-stated.

Following the lecture we hung around for the second cooking demonstration of the cruise. Today the senior chef and one of his assistants would prepare the following:

• Watermelon & Duck Confit Salad
• Seared Duck Foie Gras with Watermelon, Roasted Pecan & Hoisin Sauce
• Pomelo Banh Trang Rolls
• Chilean Sea Bass in Miso Plum Sauce

Again the team of chefs and assistants produced a masterful meal in 45 minutes. No way one of us could repeat the performance even if we could get all the proper ingredients.

 

As with other days at sea, we have taken life easy with lunch in the Grand Dining Room where we were joined by some of Sheila’s “peeps” from Massachusetts; I must remember if I can’t say anything nice, not to say anything.

My next scheduled event would be Martini tasting in, where else, Martinis, the bar. I was joined by a couple of fellows to my right that gave evidence of being experienced Martini drinkers.

The Martini tasting was to consist of five selections beginning first with the traditional Martini. This was followed by four distinctly different concoctions, none of which I would have labeled as a Martini as they weren’t made with Gin. 

So the five offerings were:

• Classic Martini – Gin & Dry Vermouth with Olive

• El Mexicano – Tequila Gold, Cointreau & Lemon Juice with Cherry

• Lemon Drop – Absolut Citron, Triple Sec & Lemon Juice with Lemon Rind & a Sugared Rim

• Cosmopolitan – Grey Goose Vodka, Cointreau, Cranberry & Lime Juice with Lemon Rind

• Nutty Martini – Baileys’ Amaretto, Frangelico, Heavy Cream & Caramel Syrup

The "Martinis" were all good in their own way, but with the exception of the "classic" they were hardly what I think of as Martinis. By the way, they were all “shaken not stirred”.

We received our passports from the ship’s office, as we will need them for the immigration and entry process at Kobe and throughout our stay in Japan.

Sunset was observed.

Our travel agent with GoNext had the USNA alums together for a photo and then “treated" us to dinner and wine. We appreciated the thought though dinner would have been free anyway and we all have more wine than we’ll likely drink before the cruise ends.

After dinner, the older alums hung up the spurs for the night, or so they said. We headed to the entertainment venue and with fresh G&T’s and Kir Royales we watched “Platinum Award Winning Singer & Pianist” John Christie. John is the stereotypical “lounge singer”. I guess a lounge lizard is the customer but in this case the entertainer would likely qualify and for sure was about as cheesy as they come. We stayed for about half of the show before retiring. 

As a final note for the day, Sheila’s count of "Kirs" for the afternoon and evening was impressive; perhaps a factor in her evaluation of the sea state as she commented frequently about the ship's rocking and rolling en-route back to our room.

Onward to Kobe.