20231225 AAAA Trip - Cruise day #7, Persian Gulf sailing

2023 Alaska, Asia, Australia, Arabian Peninsula Trip 
Day 100/105 - Cruise day #7 - Gulfing on Christmas

Persian Gulfing, that is. We reached day #100 of this trip and we found ourselves slowly floating about in the Persian Gulf. 

Because of the changes in itinerary, we have two days to kill with nowhere to go, so that's exactly what we're doing - going nowhere. Well, technically, that's not true. We're going this way a bit, then that way for a while, then this other way for some time...you get the idea. We will continue doing that until we can dock in Abu Dhabi on December 27. No matter - they have stuff for us to do on the ship and we're good with sea days.

Of course, we started out with the crazy putting challenge this morning to rack up more O points. Arlona attended a needlepoint demonstration before we met up with other cruisers for a game of Majority Rules. The Cruise Director, Paul, would read a question. Each team would write their answer on a slip of paper and turn it in. Whatever answer that was the most submitted was the "correct" answer and those teams were awarded a point.  For example: Who is the most attractive male actor?  Teams submitted names like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and such. The most popular answer (and ours) was George Clooney. We scored a point for that. Several teams decided to play for humor rather than points and that made the game fun. For the question: If you could throw something overboard, what would it be? Cigars, cigarettes, and rude people were some of the answers - "spouse" was the winning answer, but "The Cruise Director" got the most laughs. In the end, we tied with a couple of other teams for the win and three more big O points!  Woo!

We enjoyed time on the balcony for the rest of the morning, taking in the salt air and smooth water of the Persian Gulf.

At lunch, they had a lovely (and delicious) chocolate mousse cake.

At 1 p.m., the singers gathered in the atrium and sang Christmas carols for 30 minutes.

That led up to the entrance of two non-ticketed and non-revenue passengers.

There are only seven children on the ship. Santa and Mrs. Claus had a present for each one and that was a nice touch. They also stuck around long enough for everyone to get photos.

We participated in the bocce challenge this afternoon for more O points and then returned to the room to relax a bit. Looking at the map, we've been sailing north for a bit and just turned to the northeast. It appears that we are only about 40 miles off the coast of Iran - the closest that we will likely ever be.

We hit the late afternoon trivia and with our partners, we snuck in a second-place performance.  The mistakes:

• Who is the Greek goddess of the rainbow?
• We didn't know - it was Iris - we should have known that
• What Missouri bank robber was turned in by his own gang for the $10,000 reward?
• We guessed Billy the Kid - it was Jesse James
• What country has the northernmost point in Europe?
• We guessed Norway - it was Finland, but the internet disputes that - it seems there is some disagreement about whether it is Finland or Norway
• What are the top five tea-producing countries?
• We correctly guessed China, India, and Turkey. We guessed Ethiopia, but Kenya produces more, and we guessed Cambodia, but Sri Lanka produces more.

We went to the Terrace Cafe for dinner tonight. They featured turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce plus many other options.

The turkey was beautiful

Turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce - it was delicious

I decided to make it surf and turf and added shrimp and lobster tail - Arlona had two lobster tails

Another pretty cake, but ice cream called to me instead

After dinner, we played one more trivia match. Unfortunately, our partners abandoned us tonight, and the two of us only managed a 4th-place finish. Our undoing:

• What country uses the vehicle registration code, "P"?
• We guessed Poland - it was Portugal
• What Asian country's tradition is to dine at KFC for Christmas?
• We stupidly said China when it was Japan
• What three countries will host the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
• We didn't know - it will be USA, Canada, and Mexico
• What musical features the song, On the Street Where You Live?
• We guessed West Side Story - it is My Fair Lady
• How many gallons are in a barrel of wine?
• We guessed 16 - it was 60
• What three countries took home the most gold medals in the 2020 Olympics?
• We guessed the USA (correct), China (correct), and Russia - it was Japan

Oh well, no big O points tonight.

It was a nice, albeit non-traditional Christmas for us.  Tomorrow will be another day of cruising around the Persian Gulf.