20240413 Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 10 - sea day

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 10 - Sea Day sailing to Samoa

We are at sea for five days as we sail from Hawai'i to Samoa. We're back to our usual sea day activities of trivia, ukulele lessons for Arlona, reading, more trivia, drinks, dinner, and evening games.

We went to the buffet this morning for breakfast. After grabbing seats in the aft section that doubles as the steakhouse in the evening, Arlona noticed this panel.

Upon closer inspection, the panel had this worrisome sign mounted on it.

I'm no disaster expert, but if there is an emergency and this is the escape route, we're all screwed!

We played morning trivia, along with noon progressive trivia, and afternoon trivia, plus geography trivia after dinner. I'll summarize our missed questions for the day here:

• What artist's work is the most expensive to ever sell at auction?
• We guessed Picasso - it was Da Vinci
• What year was the first NYC New Year's Eve ball drop - 1907, 1923, 1965?
• We guessed 1923 - it was 1907
• What is the shortest "-ology"?
• We guessed biology or apology - it was oology - the study or collecting of bird eggs
• Where did mocha come from?
• We guessed Mexico - it is named for a town in Yemen
• What is the inspiration for the lyrics of the Spanish national anthem?
• We guessed battle victory - none - along with Kosovo, San Marino, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, it is one of four countries with national anthems without lyrics
• Who is credited with the first "eureka" moment?
• Archimedes when he entered the bath and water spilled out
• What was a computer mouse called first?
• Turtle
• Who is Richard Starkey better known as?
• We guessed Ricky Martin - it was Ringo Starr
• What is a group of baboons known as?
• We guessed Congress - it was Troup
• What is the largest landlocked country?
• We guessed Afghanistan - it was Kazakhstan
• What is the smaller Central American country?
• We guessed Belize - it was El Salvador
• What is the world's most recognizable trademark with 98% of the world's population being able to identify it?
• We guessed McDonald's - it was Coca-Cola

For lunch today, we decided to try Alfredo's Pizza. Our Princess Plus package includes two casual dining meals per person. Those can be used at Alfredo's Pizza or the Vines wine bar for sushi. We find it interesting that Plus includes two meals per person, regardless of the length of the cruise. Seven days? Two meals. 32 days? Two meals. Whatever. We gave it a try.

Lunch consists of the only available appetizer, your choice of pizza, and the only available dessert. We both opted for the pepperoni pizza. The appetizer was good if not a favorite at least for me. The pizzas were good and a bit of a step up from the pizza available at no extra cost at Prego Pizza on Deck 14.

Dessert was OK. Neither of us are big fans of Tiramisu so this was lost a bit on us.

Still, it was nice as a shift away from the usual lunch fare.

After lunch, we strolled through the art gallery.

Neither of us understands the fascination with olive-based art on cruise ships. Art is subjective, so it doesn't matter, and given the fact that every ship with art available features olive art, there must be something to it that is lost on us.

The weather was mild today - not terribly warm, and overcast. We spent time this afternoon on the deck reading.

We returned to the International Dining Room for dinner tonight. Here's a look at today's menu.

We were both in the mood for a low-key evening, so after a post-dinner cocktail and the geography trivia, we headed back to the room.

Tonight, we gain the fourth of the five hours we will gain (and then lose again) on this cruise, moving us to UTC-11 or seven hours earlier than US East Coast time. Very soon, we'll begin tripping back and forth across the International Date Line, gaining and losing days, willy-nilly. It will all be weird. I think I'll post this blog based on the date in the US, just to keep things straight.

Tomorrow is sae day 2 of 5 on the way to Samoa.