20231203 AAAA Trip - Sea day sailing from the Coral Sea to the Tasman Sea

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 78/105 - Sailing south from the Coral Sea to the Tasman Sea

This is the last sea day and the second to last day of the Viking cruise. That means the dreaded luggage tags show up in your stateroom.  This is the signal that the cruise is ending, and while they love having you here, you have to get out. If we want them to take our bags off the ship, they have to be packed and outside our door by 10 p.m. tomorrow.  

As of this morning, we were still in the Coral Sea.  By this afternoon, we reached the Tasman Sea. They are both part of the Pacific Ocean and it is unclear to me exactly where the dividing line is, but we crossed it.

Today and tomorrow will involve laundry and packing.  But before all of that, since this is a sea day, there is Baggo.

A couple guests determined that the officers kept beating us because they wore uniforms. It would be great if the guests had uniforms. But what could we all have that we could wear?  Robes! They came up with the idea to come to Baggo wearing the robes we all have in our staterooms.

Two players decided to play but not participate

Do we look more professional in uniform?

Non-dominant hand throwing from midway up the stairs

In the end, the officers beat us by more than 50,000 points, but everyone was smiling

It was a noble idea, but it produced no results as the officers once again thoroughly pounded us - it wasn't even close.  The addition of the robes made everyone a little silly and we all were laughing throughout.

Our last trivia of this voyage was a tough one with us netting only 10/15. the winning score was 12, so we were at least respectable.  The five failures:

• Who wrote and sang the 1966 hit, Leaving on a Jet Plane?
• I immediately thought of John Denver but ruled it out as I thought that was too early - we guessed Petula Clark knowing it was wrong - yup, it was John Denver
• What is the Italian musical term to indicate the end of a composition?
• We guessed "Finale", it was "Fine"
• +998 is numerically the last international country dialing code for, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan?
• We guessed Turkmenistan but it was Uzbekistan
• What is the name of Charles Dickens's final, unfinished work?
• We had no guess - it was The Mystery of Edwin Drood
• What are the final three words uttered by Woody as Andy drives away for the final time in Toy Story 3?
• We guessed, "It's been fun", but it was, "So long, Partner"

Laundry and packing were the big afternoon activities.  We are mostly packed and will complete the packing tomorrow as we'll be on our last day on the ship at that point. Packing is a little easier as the bags just have to go with us to the hotel in Sydney. We will have to pay more attention when packing for our flight to Dubai in a little more than a week. We did spend some time on the veranda this afternoon and the weather was noticeably cooler and dryer and that was a welcome change.

Last night and tonight, Viking hosted an appreciation party for long-haul cruisers sailing from Tokyo or earlier.  Last night's party was for those disembarking in Auckland.  Tonight's was for those of us disembarking in Sydney.  The Viking band played as we enjoyed cocktails and appetizers.  The Viking vocalists came on and performed a series of Burt Bacharach tunes. It was a nice gesture by Viking.

Vocalists Ellie, Jacob, Naomi, and Joe

Tonight we dined in The Restaraunt. Fellow cruisers were having a special Filipino dinner prepared by Chef Jessica and they asked if we would like to join.  Since we enjoyed the Filipino breakfast that Chef Jeffery prepared for us, we said, "Sure!"  Everything was fabulous and we enjoyed a nice special meal and talking with the other diners.

Lumpia, (Filipino spring rolls)

Top to bottom: Chicken adobo (Succulent chicken simmered in a sauce of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, and creamy coconut milk), Bistek Tagalog (thinly sliced beefsteak braised in soy sauce, calamansi juice, garlic, and ground black pepper), rice

Pancit bihon (fried rice noodles with chicken), Bistek Tagalog (thinly sliced beefsteak braised in soy sauce, calamansi juice, garlic, and ground black pepper)

A yum-filled plate

Our hosts, Jo & Keith and Chef Jessica

Everything was delicious and we all had way too much food. It was a lovely meal and a nice evening.

We dock in Newcastle, Australia tomorrow around noon.  We will be taking a boat tour of the coastline tomorrow afternoon as our last excursion of this voyage.