20240504 Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 31 - Sea day 6 of 8 back to San Pedro - I'll be strumming my way back to you, dear...

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 31 - Sea Day #6 back to L.A. - The Concert

Our day began as usual, with breakfast and then trivia, but with one difference - wow, it was borderline chilly!  There was a marked drop in the air temperature overnight as we continued our way north toward L.A. I think we're done with the hot weather until we get home - it was 91F there today.

We won morning trivia today, scoring Princess string backpacks for the team. Progressive trivia went well with 9/10 and afternoon trivia was a little tougher.

Our mistakes throughout the day:

• Where was the first fashion week held?
• I lobbied for NYC, but was overruled for Paris - it was NYC
• What supermodel was born in Streatham, London?
• We guessed Twiggy but it was Naomi Campell
• Per InstaCart, what is the most disliked food?
• We guessed liver, but it was anchovies
• What 2021 Netflix show was the most streamed show that year?
• We guessed Ozark, but it was Squid Game
• What color flag is waved at a driver whose mechanical problems have become a threat to other drivers?
• Black
• What Latin American country was the first to gain independence?
• Haiti
• How many countries have only one international border (5, 10, 17, 26)?
• 17, Brunei, Canada, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Haiti, The Gambia, Ireland, Lesotho, Monaco, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Qatar, San Marino, South Korea, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, Vatican City
• Who was the drummer for the band, Queen?
• Roger Taylor

All of this was just a distraction from the day's main attraction, a concert featuring the entire ukulele class plus all the folks that have been learning hula dancing.

Arlona, looking tropical and lovely, ready to strum

When I got to the theater for the performance, the place was packed.

The show started with a few hula numbers from the hula students.

Next, the ukulele students took the stage for five songs.

Can you see Arlona?

See the woman in blue front and center? See the man with the hat behind her? Arlona was right behind him.

There she is

Strumming

Singing

She said they clipped their music on the back of the tall man in front of her

They played five songs before the hula dancers rejoined them for a two-song finale

The entire ensemble

A nice concert

One of the numbers - thanks to our next-door neighbor, Tricia for the video!

My only disappointment was in the instructors. They both had microphones and he had an amplified ukulele. Therefore, the audience could only really hear them, not the masses of students strumming and singing on the stage. In my not-so-humble opinion, the instructors turned the show into being about them and not about the students who have been working so hard this past month. It was a shame. Still, it was a fun concert and I think all the participants enjoyed themselves. They sure looked like it - lots of smiles all around.

Arlona wrapped up another knitting project today. She improved on her cellphone purse design. She removed the flap and added a little flair at the top.

Old on the right, new and improved on the left

The ship has art pieces located all over. This one spoke to me today.

I think that he is telling her that her hair smells funny and she's not pleased - thoughts?

A few days ago, we received a disembarkation survey. It asked us to detail our travel plans, whether we were using Princess transport to the airport or private transport, our desired departure time, and so on. We filled it out stating we would like our luggage taken off overnight, we would arrange our own transport to the airport, and we would like to disembark between 8:00 and 8:30.  Here's what showed up today.

We said we wanted to disembark between 8:00 and 8:30. We got assigned to the Silver 3 group with a 7:30 disembarkation time. Why do we even bother if they ignore our requests? Customer service really isn't that hard, but sometimes, Princess makes it look like it is.

Dinner tonight was unremarkable, but the dessert was worth noting. The fruit and vanilla pavlova was yummy.

In the Explorers Bar tonight, we attended a Broadway trivia with our trivia partners. One of them retired as a band director and he was excited about the game. We had to identify the play and song from a snippet of the song. We scored 29/40 - respectable, but from the 39/40 the winning team and obvious musical theater buffs scored.

Next up was a second round of Liar's Club where the three contestants had to provide a definition of an obscure word and the audience had to determine who was telling the truth.

Assistant Cruise Directors, Bernardo, Victoria, and Javier plus host, Fortuna Luck

While the last round a few days ago was funny, it paled in comparison to tonight's round. We laughed from beginning to end as the contestants provided silly, goofy, and down-right hilarious definitions. It was a great way to wrap up the day.

We called it a night as we will lose our last hour overnight, making for shorter sleep time. Of course, we can sleep in as trivia isn't until 10 AM tomorrow morning. We have two more days to go before we jet home, and one of those will include packing. Tomorrow night will be our final formal night so we have one more night to look awesome (except Arlona who always looks awesome).