World Cruise Day 23/152 - a sea day rescue and an aloha moment

Cruise day: 23/152
Ports days: 8
Sea days: 15
Countries: 4
Continents: 1
Ports: 6

Let me start out with a continuation from last night, specifically those amazing tomahawk steaks.  They were 28oz (0.8kg) steaks - wow.  And, the cooks perfectly prepared 187 of those beauties, feeding 330 of the 518 guests onboard.  The remaining 188 folks ate at The Restaurant, Manfredi's, or The Chef's Table.

Today was a really good day.  We spotted dolphins a couple of times today, completely jumping out of the water.  Of course, I didn't have my camera either time, but it was really cool to see.  They were jumping some serious distance, both vertically as well as horizontally.  It looked like they were just having a ball.

When we took a walk on the promenade deck (deck 2), I spotted what I thought was a whale spouting toward the aft of the ship.  As we rounded the stern, another couple was looking and pointing, and they saw it as well.  Later on, I spotted a lone turtle floating along as we passed by.  That made for a really nice day.

But this is titled a sea day rescue, and here's the tale...

As I wrote yesterday, Arlona forgot her Yeti cup in the Star Theater.  She retraced her steps but didn't find it. After the Star Theater, Arlona went to another venue for her collage art lesson.  I asked her if she had taken the cup with her from the theater to her lesson.  She was confident that she had not and had abandoned it in the theater, therefore, never retraced that portion of the day. We talked to the Explorer's Desk for lost & found several times yesterday and again first thing this morning, and nothing. 

 So this morning, I was lamenting the sad state of affairs on this ship.  Someone must have picked up the cup, and deciding that it was a pretty nice item, kept it.  There was ample time to get it to lost & found, so since it hadn't turned up yet, it appeared to be gone for good.  A case of finders-keepers, losers-weepers, I guess.  Hard to believe, but my faith in people dropped a notch. Off we went to breakfast, my cup in my hand, but Arlona's hands empty.

Meet Uma.

Uma is one of the managers in the World Cafe.  Uma sees us every morning.  Without us asking, as we sat down, there he was with two glasses of ice, a can of Coke Zero for Arlona, and a can of Diet Coke for me.  I told him that Arlona was sad as she forgot her cup in the theater yesterday and it seems that someone must have kept it for themselves.  He held up an index finger, told us to wait a moment, and disappeared into one of the service doors.

A moment later he reappeared carrying Arlona's cup!  He said that a restaurant worker found it where the art class was being held yesterday.  He had immediately recognized it and put it aside as he knew he would see us the next morning.  What a guy!  Faith in humanity restored!  Uma, in one simple act, made our entire day today.  This is another example of Viking's outstanding service.

Bridge lessons continued as did trivia.  We did not win today but did manage a respectable 12/15.  One team was perfect and others came in at 13 & 14, so the competition is heating up. Who used the phrase "The lady's not for turning"?  Margaret Thatcher.

Arlona's art adventure today was acrylic painting.  Here is her rendition of The Arch of Cabo San Lucas. Another masterpiece, in my humble, I-can't-draw-a-good-stick-figure opinion.  She is her own worst critic. I'm her biggest fan.

We will see that in person again tomorrow as that's where we're headed...again.

If you look at the tally that I start the blog with every day, we're here on day 23 of this 152-day adventure and have spent nearly 2/3 of the trip at sea.  That trend will continue for a while as our stops will be spread out until we hit the Mediterranean when we will go into full-on port-heavy mode.  For now, we'll do things like we did today like attend a future cruise virtual itinerary presentation and do laundry.  The cruise presentation was interesting as it featured the Viking Homelands itinerary that we will be doing for the last two weeks of this 152-day trek.

Before dinner tonight, the Captain made a special announcement about our current COVID status.  He confirmed that there continue to be no new cases and that there are currently two passengers and two crew in isolation for a total of four cases onboard.  Great news for everyone, indeed.

As we sat on the balcony waiting for the dryer to finish, we couldn't help but notice the beautiful sky to the east with a slightly waxing, nearly full moon on display.

The bright moon against the brilliant blue sky deserved its own closeup.

As we sat with friends in the Living Room, a casual seating area that surrounds the Viking Bar on deck #1, enjoying a pre-dinner libation, Arlona snapped these shots of the western sky, ablaze as the sun settled in for the evening.

This was simply a continuation of the terrific day we were having already.  We thought that would be a great wrap-up to a great day.  Until...

The World Cafe was featuring Hawaiian Night.  OK, sounds alright.  Here's the first stop - half lobsters! The small items around the outside are coconut shrimp cakes - think "crab cake", but with coconut shrimp making up the bulk of the item. Yum!

A few steps farther down the line - suckling pig!  There was more too - Arlona had a piece of Hawaiian chicken too.

We did some damage with the lobsters and the pork. Both were terrific.  The chicken was equally tasty.

They even had Pina Coladas made with fresh pureed pineapple, served in the pineapple itself.

Arlona had creme brulee that was also prepared inside a pineapple - I forgot to get a photo.

This was simply an amazing dinner, improving on an already amazing day.  If the food keeps up like this...uh-oh...

Tomorrow, back in Cabo with a bus tour to San Jose del Cabo.