Not much to report today other than another day of games, lectures, food and entertainment! We chose to have a quiet sit down breakfast in the dining room and were rewarded because the special of the day was a stuffed French toast, one of Yvonne’s favorites and I opted for one of my favorites-Swedish pancakes with lingonberry preserves! It was a good way to start the day.

Each evening when they do a turn-down of our room they leave a copy of “Passages”, which highlights the activities offered the next day. There is also a 4 page newspaper with nightlights of happenings around the world. There is an option to get a full blown copy of several papers but I don’t need to know that much about the world when I am on vacation.

I was intrigued and attended a 11 AM lecture given by the Chief Engineer about technical details about the ship. It is pretty impressive of what it takes to keep a ship of this size and complexity running smoothly.

I skipped the gambling tournaments as I figured I could never repeat my winning the blackjack tournament earlier in the cruise. however, I did participate in several of the competitions to win more Reward points and we participated in our daily trivia competition.

Sophie, one of the lead singers on the production staff offered a pre-dinner solo concert in one of the cocktail lounges which we attended. She is from the UK and just graduated from college. Being on this ship is her first real job and she admits to be nervous. No need to be as she is a natural!  She has a great voice and great “banter” with the audience between songs. I expect she will be a big hit someday and told her I look forward to seeing her “in lights” someday.

The after dinner show was by a new performer, Susana, a gifted violinist from Hungary, who entertained us with a variety of different music genres.   She, along with Foggie Flax, had just boarded the ship for the next few days to entertain us.  These entertainers must lead a trying life, flying in/out of often strange airports to board a ship for a few days before moving on to another gig elsewhere.

Tomorrow we will be in the small country of São Tomé & Principe, a series of islands off the coast of Africa.