The Main Dining Room was closed today for both breakfast and lunch, which is most unusual for a sea day. Up on the Pool Deck they hosted an exceptionally well presented and comprehensive Brunch, with multiple stations throughout the pool area and Wintergarden.

Read on to enjoy the photos.

Temperature: 21C/68F

Wind/Weather: Partly cloudy with fresh E’ly winds

Sunrise/Sunset: 06:20/20:10

Clox: No change (Z-11)

Navigation

We departed Hobart on time at 18:00 last evening, sailing down the River Derwent and into the estuary, altering course to Port at Cape Raoul, steaming up the East Coast of Tasmania. On clearing Tasmania we set a course a ways East of Sydney, to avoid the heavy weather. Speed was set at 16.1 kts, which is in excess of the speed required, so the ship’s speed was reduced at Noon to 10 kts, for the heavy weather.

Since departure Hobart, we steamed 289 miles and have 425 miles to reach Sydney, at a speed required of 10 kts.

Weather

Partly cloudy skies that are becoming cloudier as the day progresses and the storm approaches. Winds are consistently E’ly, reaching about 35 kts at Noon and freshening throughout the rest of the day.

Meals

Today’s special meals:

• Pool Deck & Wintergarden (10:00 to 13:00) – Brunch

To prepare for the brunch, the MDR is closed for both breakfast and lunch today.

In anticipation of an extravagant brunch, we skipped breakfast, ordering tea, croissants and fruit juice from room service.

We headed up to the Pool Deck around 11:00 and although busy, we had no difficulty finding a table, sharing with another couple. Before picking a plate, I ran around, capturing a photo of each station with the camera. Photos posted under Activities. Great selection of food.

Dinner in the MDR was Lobster night, with a full lobster split in half. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so no photos, for this segment.

Activities

Although my resident nurse has cleared me for walking, the ship was already rolling on deck 4, so I didn’t want to take a chance up on deck 8, so skipped the walk again this morning.

We started with a very light breakfast in the cabin, then Judi headed to her usual spot in the Living Room, while I attended the resident historian’s lecture on the History of Australia.

On completion of the lecture, I found Judi on Dk 1 and we headed up to Dk 7 for Brunch.

I tried a Bloody Mary and OMG it had some heat to it. Lots of Tabasco.

It was extremely well laid out and presented, with the crew working tirelessly to ensure everything was well stocked. Everyone in the Hotel Dept was pitching in to assist – GM, Finance Officer, Restaurant manager, Shore-ex Manager, etc.

We headed to Trivia at Noon, scoring a reasonable 10/15, with today’s winners having 12/15. One more day on this segment to regain our champion’s crown.

Not much going on this afternoon, so we headed to the cabin for a few hours, then went up to Wintergarden at 16:00 for afternoon tea. We should have checked the Viking Daily, as today it was cancelled.

For dinner, we sat with Allison & Ron and a couple from the Tri-Cities in Washington State. After the steak a few nights ago, I stuck with fish – salmon appy and lobster for main course. OMG !!! this wasn’t a small lobster tail common on Princess, this was a full lobster cut in half. It was cooked to perfection.

After dinner we headed to the evening show, featuring Cruise Director Bevan and the ship’s band. Great show, which started with film clips of him performing on TV at 12 years of age. He even sang “You’ll never walk alone” by Gerry Marsden & The Pacemakers, the national anthem at Anfield Football ground, home of Liverpool FC.

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