October 14 - At Sea

We wake and we are being lazy so easy to do.  Every morning we wake and watch the Morning Wake Show.  Today is a sea day and there is no rush to get going.

Today is the Outlet Sale on board in one of the dining rooms.  Now every cruise we have ever been on has this outlet sale.  It takes place in the dining room, tables are covered with sale items, and you name it they have it.  Since the ship was in Alaska for the summer and this is the first sailing since then there is lots of items from Alaska.  You name it, it is here - good time to buy your souvenirs from Alaska.  There are watches, scarves, rings, purses, t-shirts, magnets and everything else.  Normally there may be one or two things that I may buy but the lines for the checkout are so long, I almost always just put the stuff down and leave.  However one cruise the staff had a table that all you had to do was give your card number and they packaged it and did up the bill and we pick it all up later in one of the stores.

For lunch we head to the Horizon Court and they have set up a Fisherman's Deck BBQ which I went to and enjoyed some nice fish, unfortunately just as the buffet was being set up the skies opened and the rain came pouring down.  But this is very common in Central Amercia and is a nice break to the humidity.

This afternoon Dr. Ryan is holding a lecture on the Panama Canal, now we have pretty much had enough of Dr. Ryan and his political views being expressed in every other sentence so we decide to skip the lecture but catch it on the Stateroom TV channel. 

Tonight is formal night but we are opting out of formal wear, but decide to attend the Captain Circle Party.  We are also going to the Bayou Cafe for dinner with Craig and Barb right afterwards.  We arrive in the Vista lounge just before 7 pm and are enjoying some free watered down drinks but are having a good time seeing friends.



Donna and Shaune from Edmonton



Barb and Craig with Jasper

us with Jasper

Emilio Mazzi the Hotel General Manager with Jasper

Brett Sibourne with Jasper

We had a good time at the Captain Circle Party - didn't win anything and we are very very far from being the most travelled passenger but we are still young and lots of cruises to go.  We make our way over to the Bayou Cafe, neither couple has eaten there before, it is sort of like a steakhouse but with a Louisiana twist.  The decor is very nice, dark woods, leather chairs, Carnival beads on the tables.  Prior to sailing Craig and I talked about eating together here and sharing some good wine.  Bernie and I brought a bottle of wine from British Columbia and Craig and Barb brought a bottle from California.  A $15 corkage fee per bottle is charged when you bring your own wine to the restaurant or any of the dining rooms.

here are the two bottles of wine

Lobster bisque

lobster and t-bone

I ordered this meal above!  It was huge, I could only eat about a quarter of the steak but damn that lobster tail was good.  Our waiter Hector (below) is a real character and very efficient.  And apparently he can sing.

After dinner the Newlywed, Not So Newlywed game is happening in the Explorer's Lounge.  We arrive a little late but see that Rob and Shelley have been chosen to participate.  We will never look at their dining table the same way!!

Laurie, Shelley and I all fell in love with the Shwartzky bracelet that was for sale in the boutiques on board.  We all bought one and now we all have the same souvenir from this voyage.

Ashyaa one of our favorite bar waiters from Argentina

Kim, also from Vancouver is the Assistant Cruise Director.

After the Newlywed Game we head back to the cabin laughing at very very full.  Tomorrow is Fuerto Amador / Pamana City.