World Cruise Day 121/152 - Sea Day - We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly

Cruise day: 121/152

Ports days: 57
Sea days: 64
Countries: 20
Continents: 5
Ports: 41

Today is Day 121 for us.  That is significant.  Why?  It means that there are only 31 days remaining in this 152-day adventure.  Before this cruise, our longest cruise was a 21-day (12 & 9-day back-to-back), since our 56-day New Zealand & Australia adventure got interrupted after 12 days in March 2020.  It seemed like perhaps too long of a trip, but as we enter our last month, I can't believe it is going to be over soon.  Don't get me wrong, we miss home and our friends.  But we have seen and done so much, a little part of me doesn't want this to end.  Even sadder, we will be saying farewell to some friends we have made on this cruise as they will be departing in London. It sounds like somewhere around 80 of us are continuing on for the Viking Homelands cruise, so even with new passengers coming on the ship in Bergen, Norway, we will have plenty of familiar faces to smile at.

Today is a sea day and that means bridge, trivia, and art.  But today, it means so much more.  Let me explain...

"We all eat, and it would be a sad waste of opportunity to eat badly." - screenwriter Anna Thomas

A few days ago, Arlona was talking with Uma, one of the managers in the World Cafe, about the fact that breakfast seems to be quite repetitive - no significant differences from day to day.  It would be great if they could offer biscuits and sausage gravy.  He said they can do that for us.  They don't make wholesale changes like that to the buffet offerings, but if a guest requests something, they will do their best to make it happen.  Wait, what?  All we had to do was ask?  Uma checked with the chef and said they can do it the next sea day and that day is today.  Woo!  We told him there would be six of us and he took care of the rest.

This morning, we arrived at the World Cafe around 8:30AM with Kathy & Steve and Jim & Nancy.  We let them know we had requested the special meal and a short time later, we were eating biscuits and sausage gravy!  If I have to nitpick, the biscuits were a little too dense and dry, not fluffy and flaky like a good southern biscuit, but that didn't much matter.  The sausage gravy was spot on, with just the right amount of spice and tons of sausage throughout. We were a table of happy campers.  They brought so much that we stopped passers-by and asked if they wanted some.  A few took advantage.  Thanks to the culinary team for putting this together.  We might request it again before we're done.

They brought three bowls of sausage gravy for the six of us

Biscuits for six, please. Sure, here's twenty or so!

That was some good eating!

We went full and smiling to bridge lessons, basking in the glory of a good stick-to-your-ribs breakfast.

The day went downhill from there, starting with trivia.  Assistant Cruise Director, Sarah-Leanne, ran a traditional general knowledge trivia, but she sure dug deep for some of the questions as evidenced by an 11/15 winning score today and 10/15 placing second. Those are 73% and 67% respectively, or a C- and D+ for the win. Our score?  One out of the points at 9/15 (60%/D-), our lot in life. The goofs:

• What was Judy Garland's birth name?
• Frances Ethel Gumm - we had no clue and guessed Judy Garland in case it was a trick question - it wasn't
• What star sign is the first in the Zodiac?
• Aries - the zodiacal year starts on the spring equinox, March 21 - we went with the obvious (and wrong) Aquarius, and also considered Capricorn (also wrong)
• Reno Sweeney, Hope Harcourt, and Billy Crocker are characters from what musical?
• Anything Goes - we leaned to Sweeney Todd (based Reno's name) but then went with Guys and Dolls - missed it by that much...
• Which rock and roll legend never performed outside North America, and purchased Franklin Roosevelt's presidential yacht, The Potomac?
• Elvis Presley - we figured Elvis had to have performed internationally, so we went with Chuck Berry
• What was the first country to sell stuffed teddy bears?
• Germany (although they were simultaneously created in the US - our guess)
• Iceland diverted roads to avoid disrupting communities of what?
• Elves - we said puffins - but felt foolish after hearing the answer - especially since I've seen the movie, Eurovision

After that, the day took an upward trajectory again.  They had mint chocolate chip gelato at lunch, so that's always good...for me.  Arlona hates it.  They had a couple of amazing chocolate desserts that Arlona said were worth the calories, so all was well.

Arlona went to art class to wrap up her multi-day project.

This was the example presented

And this is how Arlona saw it - she spent a lot of time on this one and I think it shows

In addition, they did a new Greek temple project.

The sample

Arlona's rendering - her technique continues to improve

So, where are we?  On this sea day, we're heading west (hence the time change last night), heading from Piraeus, Greece to Naples, Italy. 

We will be heading through the Strait of Messina that connects the Ionian Sea on the south with the Tyrrhenian Sea on the north, but unfortunately, that will come around 11PM tonight, so it won't be all that scenic to photograph.

Dinner tonight was a Viking Star Barbeque held on the pool deck.  If it was going to be like all the other dinners held on the pool deck, we expected it to be over the top.  We were not disappointed.

The pool deck was jam-packed and we got lucky scoring the ping-pong table - Pisco Sours were flowing freely

The starter was an avocado and crab salad that was delicious

The main course (or what we thought was the main course) was comprised of tempura okra, grilled red bell peppers and zucchini, barbequed wings, barbequed ribs, and a filet mignon

Then...the second main course arrived - a lobster tail, and grilled salmon - we were all too full to accept it, even though it looked mouth-watering

Dessert was small and therefore, perfectly sized - ice cream and brownie crumble

Of course, live entertainment was provided.  First, Assistant Cruise Director, Damian, performed a variety of songs from ballads to rock & roll.  Then, guitar entertainer, John, took over. It created a nice ambiance under the sky - with the roof closed as it was a bit chilly.

It was a fun evening with friends with good music, great food, and terrific company.  We called it an early evening. We suspected that with everyone up on the pool deck, washers would be open and we were right.  We are having a romantic evening, waiting for the laundry to finish.

We will be pulling into Naples, Italy around noon Eastern European Summer Time (UTC+2), or around 6AM US east coast time. We will be heading to Pompeii shortly after we dock.  This is the start of our four-day port blitz, edging us closer to a 50/50 split between sea days and port days.