February 1, 2013 Sea Day

February 1, 2013  Sea Day

We are sailing towards New Zealand now but will not arrive in Auckland for several more days. Jonathan Mercer, the Captain of the ship was the featured guest at the Good Morning Amsterdam show today. He is from England although he is married to an American woman and has resided in Florida for the past 17 years. He had a great sense of humor and was a delightful guest.

Charlie Urbanowicz lectured on “World War II in the Pacific” today. He discussed some of the important battles between 1941 and 1945, including Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and the bombing of Japan.

Bruce Linder’s lecture today was on: The Intriguing Voyage of the U.S. Frigate Essex during the War of 1812.

Tonight twelve of us went to dinner in the specialty restaurant onboard called the Pinnacle. We were seated at a large table in a private dining room at the rear of the restaurant, which was beautifully decorated. The walls were lined with gorgeous oil paintings; the chairs are painted gold and are upholstered in a red velvet fabric. The service was exceptional with several waiters tending to our table. The menu is a step up from the main dining room and the food is prepared by a chef that only services the Pinnacle restaurant. The portions of filet mignon, lobster, pork and steak Diane were very large. After dinner they brought us trays of homemade chocolates of which we needed just a few more and they were happy to bring us.

The entertainment on this night was a couple of International Ballroom Dancers by the name of Natalia and Michael. He is from Wisconsin and she is from Moscow. They live in LA where they have a dance studio and entertainment company. The show was a variety of Latin dances.