Today I have managed to get the little point & shoot camera working, so I will be including more daily pictures from around the ship. The full frame 5D is great for taking photos, but with a power drive and separate flash, it is just too heavy to carry everywhere around the ship.

Enjoy a few new photos.

Temperature: 27C/81F

Wind/Weather:  NW’ly winds 35-45, gusting to 60-70 kts. Moderate NW swell.

Sunrise/Sunset:  05:50/18:39

Clox:  No change (Z-11)

Navigation

We maintained WSW’ly courses towards Tonga, while catching the outer edges of a Pacific Cyclone. We have only managed to maintain about 15.7 kts, so our arrival Tonga is delayed to Noon.

Weather

Passing through the outer edges of a Pacific Cyclone, it has been a bumpy ride these past few days. Winds are consistent 35 to 45 kts with occasional gusts up to 60 to 70 kts. Short steep NW’ly swell has caused continuous rolling and pitching, and shuddering through the ship’s structure. The wind eased and backed to W’ly in the evening.

Meals

Today’s special meals:

• Aquavit Terrace (18:00 to 21:00) – Grilled T-Bone Steaks

Crab Cake for lunch

Since we were definitely not missing the T-Bone special, we decided to go light on lunch. No appy or desserts. I had the crab cake, which was delicious.

Very few options tempt us away from the MDR/Specialty Restaurant for dinner, BUT a tender and juicy T-Bone steak will always win. Therefore, with a T-Bone special tonight, we headed up to Deck 7 for dinner.

Surf & Turf and Veg for colour

OMG!!! it has been many years since I finished a 20 ozs T-Bone, so tonight, I took one for the team. The steak was over 1″ thick, cooked to perfection and was so tender you could cut it with a fork. Added the prawns for surf & turf and a couple of veg for colour. Amazing dinner.

Activities

We experienced a lively night, with considerable rockin’ and a rollin’ throughout the night and most of the day. In addition, we had lots of shaking from slamming into the waves and the ship’s structure working in the seaway. If we felt it in our cabin, it must have been much worse in the suites and higher deck cabins.

Looked out the window at 06:00 and it was raining heavily, so with wet decks and a lively ship, I decided it wasn’t overly safe to be out walking this morning. Since I wasn’t going for a hike, I turned on the laptop to check the football score – brilliant day Liverpool 2 Man United 0. With Rangers winning on Friday night, it’s been a grand weekend.

Another type of football upstaged the regular activities in the Theatre, with 2 games broadcast live. Since we have zero interest, we spent the morning in the Living Room, then after lunch I headed to the spa for a few hours and Judi got a massage.

Surge pool & hot tub

With the ship still rollin’ & a pitchin’, it was definitely interesting in the pool. They have pumps at the far end, with a frame to sit on, so you get a gentle massage.

Very comfortable loungers

They also have an intense steam room, ice room, heated beds and a cooler plunge pool. I tried the steam room, which is so dense you can’t recognise the person sitting next to you. I lasted 5 mins, then headed across to the snow grotto, where I chatted with a young chap who’s dad was living in St. Andrews. Had a great chat, as he was a frequent visitor to the village pub.

After dinner we headed to the Star Theatre for another excellent performance from a guest entertainer.

Juliette Primrose

Hailing from New Zealand, Juliette is a virtuosso fiddle player that can play a huge range of music – classical, blues, country, rock, etc. Excellent show. 

As another day closes, we bid you farewell, till tomorrow and hope for fair skies and following seas.