Antarctic Cruise Day 8/40 - Another trivia victory, final deck tours, and the bridge

Antarctic Cruise Day 8 / 40 - Trivia, the bridge, and decks 4 & 5

Trip day: 8 / 40

Port days: 4
Sea days: 3
Countries: 1
Continents: 1
Ports: 1

Smoother seas, sunny skies, and warmer weather greeted us this morning. It was time to wrap up the ship tour, so let's start with deck #5.

We'll start at the rear of deck #5, behind the World Cafe.  A restroom on the port side doesn't appear on the deck plan.

Looking aft, we see the lounge chairs that surround the small pool on the aquavit terrace

This narrow pool has the unique feature of a swim-through to the outside

Stepping outside, we see the steps that lead up to the pools - there are three pools here

The right pool is the chilly pool, the middle is the swim-through and the tepid pool, and the left pool is the warm pool

Al fresco dining is available alongside the World Cafe

The fifth floor has the only promenade-like path on the ship.  It runs down both sides and along the back, but when in front, walkers have to take steps down to deck #4 around the front of the ship and back up to deck #5

Forward from the aquavit terrace, we see indoor seating for the World Cafe and the bar

The World Cafe spans deck #5 with food stations on both sides - we'll move forward on the port side - this is the sushi station

Looking forward

There is a stairway and elevator here as well

Large group seating

Looking bar at more seating

The seating in the World Cafe is plentiful

The port side cold station

The port side hot station

At the front of the port side of the World Cafe, we see the pizza station

Sandwiches and snacks are available throughout the day

Continuing across to the starboard side, we see a bread station

Starboard side hot station

Starboard side cold station

Starboard side seating

Continuing aft, we get to the grill - they feature fresh burgers, chicken sandwiches, and more - in the evening, they prepare surf & turf, tomahawk and t-bones, pork chops, and more

Chef de Partie - Shaji

One of several beverage stations

Back up front in the World Cafe, we see the gelato station featuring a cold plate for mixing gelato with mix-in toppings

The dessert station - only modestly populated before lunch

Cookies and muffins are available almost all the time

As we move a little more forward, we see the World Cafe entrance

Turning around, we see the entrance to Mamsen's - another dining venue - the main elevators and stairway are immediately behind me as I took this photo 

Mamsen's features casual seating

They have a variety of cold food plus Norwegian waffles

Additional table-based seating is just forward from the food station

Continuing forward, we see the Living Room - a casual conversation space

Lots of seating is available starboard

A large jigsaw puzzle table is always in use

All the way forward, we find the entrance to the second level of the Explorers' Bar

Its signature feature is the huge wraparound windows

Let's head down the stairs to deck #4

Entering the main space on deck #4 Explorers' Bar

The semi-circular bar is right in the center with plenty of additional comfortable seating throughout

You can go outside and around the front of the Explorers' Bar on deck #4 - these are the stairs down from deck #5 on the right and the stairs down to the bow on deck #3 on the left

The view from the deck in front of the Explorers' Bar

Seating on the port side of the Explorers' Bar

Stairs sit right behind the bar entry as well as doorways on both sides to guest rooms

Mid-ship features an alcove on each side with these cool curved benches

The main staircase mid-ship

Continuing aft through the guestroom hallway

At the back of the ship, the hallway wraps around to the other side and heads back forward again

There is a stairway and elevator near the back

 The hallway continues forward back to mid-ship, wrapping up the tour of deck #4.

This completes our ship tour as I've covered decks A-6 plus that sneak peek on the upper deck.

We successfully defended our trivia title again today, edging out another team by one point.  Today's contest had two parts - 15 traditional general knowledge questions plus identifying ten company logos.

1. KFC
2. Pringles
3. Shell
4. Michelin
5. Nike
6. Hertz
7. Warner Brothers
8. UPS
9. Levis
10. John Deere

We got all of those right.

Our misses in general trivia:

• What was the first fast food chain?  We guessed Jack-in-the-Box - it was White Castle
• The international dateline runs through which of these?
• Baffin Bay
• Bering Strait
• Denmark Strait
• Hudson Bay
• We thought it was west of the Bering Strait and definitely wasn't Denmark nor Hudson, so we guessed the Baffin Bay - it was the Bering Strait
• True or false: when ducks are courting, only females quack?
• We guessed false - turns out it is true
• What insects are kept in an apiary?
• We guessed butterflies - it is bees

This afternoon, guests were allowed to tour the bridge.  It was quite busy so we didn't get a lot of explanations, but the bridge was similar to the others we have toured.  Here are some of the things we saw.

The main propulsion is Azipods that are fully rotatable 360-degrees

Arlona - getting her Cap'n A on

Yup - there's still a wheel

The official souls on board count - many of the remaining christening guests will depart tomorrow in Madeira

The side bridge doesn't extend past the side of the ship to meet Great Lakes locks sizing - this external landing can be moved out if needed and the ship can be steering from out here

There is always a sextant aboard

Country and signal flags

We met new friends for dinner tonight at Manfredi's.  That meant we also got to see the lovely Katerina from our world cruise.

She always makes every guest feel special

Norwegian singer Sissell gave a concert tonight in The Aula.  We opted to watch part of it in our room as even though she is quite talented, it isn't our favorite style of music.

Tomorrow midday, we will dock in Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.  We have a bird-watching excursion planned and the weather looks like it will be perfect.  I'm hoping for some fun photos tomorrow.