This sea day we attended cruise director Jorge’s Coffee Chat where he interviewed Entertainment Coordinator Bienelisa. Bienelisa is from Orange County, California, although her parents are from the Philippines. She is responsible for the daily bulletins called the When and Where and coordinates various activities.

Hawaiian Ambassador Kainoa presented a lecture on the Geology and Geography of Hawaii. Here he discussed how the islands were created from volcanoes and how the islands deal with these natural wonders. He also touched on the issue of tsunami’s created from earthquakes and how one of these may devastate the islands in the future.

Professor David Horne presented a talk on Hawaii-From Polynesian Monarchy to the 50^thState. He discussed the monarchy of Hawaii, the British control of the island, the U.S. Territory and then the eventual statehood of the islands.

The afternoon included a talk by Hawaiian Ambassador Kainoa on the Hawaiian Lei. He showed photos of the many varieties and styles of leis in Hawaii. They are used to celebrate holidays, births, deaths, graduation, or just to be worn to church. They are worn by men, women and children every day and are just another part of daily life on the islands.

The evening’s entertainment was a show titled “On Tour” by the Amsterdam singers and dancers. However, due to the very rough seas the show was postponed. Instead of the show they showed the movie White Christmas with Bing Crosby.

When we arrived back at our cabin we found a small gift of two leather luggage tags and two luggage straps with a combination lock each.