It’s usually everyone’s nightmare to sail in the middle of nowhere with no place to embark and nothing to look forward. On the second day of our cruise, we had a whole day in the sea, which is what everybody called the boring day. I think Princess cruise has done a pretty good job in organizing activities and jazzing up the day. Actually, I think I have as much action and excitement on day 2 compared to the rest of my voyage.
After having a quick bite at the Horizon Court (the buffet), we started our day with “The $1000 Treasure Hunt”, which basically wants the guests to get familiar with the ship by having them to collect 10 stamps located in the different part of the ship. We finished that in 10 minutes~ but no luck in winning anything. Meanwhile, there are a lot of enrichment classes that we can take throughout the day. E.g photography@sea, creativity@sea: origami, fruit & vegetable carving demonstration, floral arrangement demonstration. “Scholarship @ Sea” is one of my favorite among those enrichment class. All presenters, especially our naturalist Sandra Schempp, are at professional level and they are a walking library.
After attending the naturalist lecture: inhabitants of the Alaskan coastal water, we had lunch at the international dining room. We were seated with a tourist flied from Tokyo, Japan and he does not speak any English at all! WOW! I really admire his courage to travel alone and doesn’t speak the language in the country he travel. I managed to use my broken Japanese to translated and communicated with him. It was a really interesting conversation with both of us guessing what were we trying to say-- I think he was saying “his wife will get seasickness and thus she is not coming with him; after 3-11 earthquake, people in Japan, especially in Tokyo are still scare of the 2nd wave of earthquake; Sapphire Princess is very famous in Japan as it was built in Japan by Mitsubishi heavy metal-- he thinks it is a very nice ship...” 恥ずかしく...日本語
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| Philly Cheese steak, half the portion |
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| London Mixed Grilled |
We continued our exploration of the ship after lunch~ we found out that the skywalkers nightclub kind of like an observatory during the daytime and a lot of people love to bring books to read in that “glass room” (I think the nightclub is 75% surrounded by a ceiling-to-the-floor window). We checked out the “movies under the stars” by the Neptune’s Reef & pool--- showing the latest movies but way too cold to sit in an open deck for movies at this time in Alaska. Then we headed back to our stateroom and get ready for the captain’s night.
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| Cinnamon Rice Pudding |
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| Berries Fruit Tart |
For those who have cruised before will know that “captain’s night” is stand for alcohol, pictures, and indulge. Tons of people are crowded at the bars and the Piazza to wait for the captain’s champagne waterfall party. I made an effort to stay away from the drink here but I couldn’t say no to Kary’s friendly offer as he insisted to treat us a drink-- otherwise he will keep saying “it hurts my feeling”. We indulged ourself with good food, yummy drink and great “neighbor-talk-and-laughter”. We went to the theater for the show after dinner and the we called off our not-boring-at-all day.
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| Calpyso & Reef & Pool--with hot tub |
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| Calpyso & Reef & Pool |
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| Neptune's Reef & Pool-- hot tub |
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| Neptune's Reef & Pool |
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| Movies Under the Stars |
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| Table tennis right above the Calypso pool, on the second level |
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| Skywalker Nightclub-- Daytime |
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| Captain Nick at the Piazza |
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| Grilled Mignons of Beef Tenderloin with Madeira-Truffle Demi-Glace Vegetable Medley, Almond Croquettes |
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| Sauteed Shrimp Newburg with Shellfish Cream Pea pods, Carrots and Saffron rice |
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| Caramelized Pear in Flaky Puff Pastry Crust French Vanilla Anglaise |
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| Nutella Icecream |
阿拉斯加之旅的第二天: 航行海中心~
許多人都認為航行在四邊無制, 嘅無風景又無登岸目標的大海中最 為難熬. 旅程的第二天, 遊輪全程航行在海上, 往目標全速前進--這就是大家所指的無聊日. 本人認為Princess 在安排節目活動這方面做得非常妥善, 令我們的”航行經驗”生色了不少. 感覺我在這天的活動不比以後幾天的旅程少.
在自助餐餐廳吃過早餐後, 我們便開始參與船上的活動. 我們先玩了”$1000大元尋寶”--其實遊戲的目的是為了讓賓客了解船上的設施,在不同的店舖搜集不同的印花,然後抽獎. 我們花了十分鐘便完成,但與獎品無緣. 與此同時, 船上有許多資訊性或附娛樂性的興趣班供賓客參與:例如 攝影, 手工藝班, 蔬果雕刻,插花,等等. 我最感興趣的莫過於學術班. 所有學術班的導師,特別是自然家 Sandra Schempp都有專業水平或以上, 可以稱得上流動圖書館.
上過自然學課: 阿拉斯加的沿海”居民”後, 我們到餐廳去吃午餐. 我們被安排到坐在一位由日本東京遠道而來的旅客旁. 真佩服他的勇氣: 他完全不會說英語, 又沒有朋友親人跟他一起來,完全沒法跟服務員溝通. 我用了我那l不流利的日文來幫他翻譯,溝通. 我們互相猜測大家想表達的意思. 我想他想說: 他的太太會暈船,所以沒有一起來; 經過311 大地震後, 日本人,特別是住在東京地區的居民, 都很怕會有第二次的地震; Sapphire Princess/ 藍寶石公主號 在日本也蠻有名的---因為她是日本三菱重工的結晶品.~ 恥ずかしく...日本語
飯後,我們繼續在船上勘探-- 發現Skywalker 夜總會在早上的時候會被乘客當作瞭望台或閱讀室使用 (整個夜總會有75%以上是落地大玻璃). 我們到”星光下的銀幕” 看戲~ 銀幕在Neptune & Reef 海王星泳池旁. 播放的,是最新的電影, 但是阿拉斯加在這個時候還是很冷, 不太適合坐在甲板上看戲. 之後, 我們便回房休息, 準備今晚船長之夜的晚宴.
相信很多有坐過遊輪的朋友們都會知道船長之夜是相等於喝酒, 照相, 及放縱自己. 當我們來到中心Piazza 廣場時, 已經看到很多人已擠擁在酒吧或廣場的四周等待香檳派對的開始. 我們努力地抗拒香檳的誘惑, 但我們無法抗拒kara的熱情款待. 他堅持要請我們喝酒/飲料, 若果我們不領他的情, 他會詼諧地說我們傷了他的感覺. 跟Kary及Marilyn 足膝長談, 舉杯暢飲, 沉醉於美食中~不亦樂乎. 晚飯後, 我們到劇場去看歌舞表現, 然後回房休息, 結束了所謂的無聊日.
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