I started today with good intentions, headed for the spa sauna right after breakfast, forgetting that it was Crew Safety Drill day. The sauna has an emergency fire door that automatically seals when a drill is activated. Obviously, no one wants to get sealed in the sauna for 30 minutes, so it was not available.
Instead, I did a “Schwitz” (both German and Yiddish – when the w is exchanged for a v – for “sweat”) in the steam room, followed by a cold bucket of water to wash off the sweat and a few minutes in the snow grotto to close my pores. Refreshing! (I still prefer the sauna’s dry heat though.)
Today’s special lunch event – a fajita station – was so popular that we couldn’t even get close enough to take good photos before the locusts descended.
This may be the first time ever that we’ve seen such high demand that a live cooking station couldn’t keep up; even last night’s surf and turf event wasn’t as busy!
Ted did get a few shots that demonstrate just how popular it was, and for good reason – the fajitas, the fresh totopos (what Americans call tortilla chips), guacamole, pico de gallo, and bite-sized cheese-stuffed poblanos were all absolutely delicious!!
We’re always impressed by the fact that we consistently get “fresh” food, not reheated pre-prepared items presented as fresh.
After lunch, it was back to reading Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible, which is January’s onboard book club selection. I had three hours to simply sit on a couch on the pool deck, with the roof open once skies cleared, and make some inroads into the book before meeting Andrea, Barb, Katherine, and Judi in the Wintergarden for “tea and sympathy”.
Tonight’s dinner theme in the World Café was “A Taste of Caribbean”. On prior cruises we (the royal “we”) always preferred to eat dinner in one of the full service restaurants, but with all of the inventive menus being presented in the buffet, we’re splitting our dinners about 50/50.
The advantage of the buffet is the chance to eat al fresco on the Aquavit Terrace on these gorgeous warm nights.
Singer Terrell Edwards performed in the theatre again tonight, much to everyone’s delight. He even duetted with our extremely talented Assistant Cruise Director Tara on “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”.
Tomorrow we reach Tahiti. For tonight, it’s moonlight, tropical breezes, and calm seas.
Rose and Ted’s Excellent Adventure 
What a great bookclub choice! One of my favorite authors and one of my, now, three favorite of her books. (Prodigal Summer and Demon Copperhead may outrank it now!) I hope some of the Bible Study group are also in the book club because their perspective on this missionary family would be valuable. Sorry you are missing Bora Bora. It’s been #1 on my husband’s bucket list since he was about nine and met a merchant seaman retiree who said it was his favorite place ever. We want to be there longer when we do go so it won’t be Viking… I hope the passenger who needed help will survive and thrive.
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Bora Bora is back on the itinerary, Moorea being missed.
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