Day 03 - Fri 12Apr2024 - At Sea to Picton, NZ - Day 2

 There was once again motion to the ocean overnight but once again i slept well.  We woke up just before 8 which gave us enough time to get ready for the day and have a little breakfast before the 9am Bible study,  The Bible study was very well attended with over 20 people and led by a former college professor from Pennsylvania who led an enthusiastic discussion about Jesus' pre-crucifixion events.  Afterwards Susan Beard presented on the Picton and Wellington ports.  She was followed by a shore excursion presentation on all of the New Zealand ports.  The speaker's emphasis was on the need to book excursions now as many have sold out and the remainder will go fast.

I would note that it's a bit annoying that a passenger's booked shore excursions don't show up on the Princess APP.  So I went to the shore excursion desk and got a print out of our booked excursions.  That list doesn't have the names, but only Princess' code.  On the APP one has to open up each shore excursion to view the code to match off the printed sheet to the details found in the APP.  It's a bit frustration to say the least especially when Holland America's and RCCL's APP's do show that detail.

Our normal lido lunch followed where I enjoyed a Reuben sandwich along with some Manhattan clam chowder, but I never found the clams.  After lunch I watched the Deal or No Deal game show in the Princess Theatre while Angela attended a choir practice and a Maori dance lesson. This was followed by an enrichment lecture on Avoiding Disasters by a former Harvard professor, Franz Schneider.  While the topic was fascinating, I found his reading from a script lecture style to be quite boring.  He'll be giving a whole series of enrichment lectures until Papeete.

  I then found the Hollywood Conservatory which has forward facing windows, game board tables and lots of seating.  It's nice to have a forward facing indoor space to sit and watch the ocean and I'm updating my blog from this location.  It's a shame that the Regal doesn't have this publicly accessible location.  

Tonight was formal night, but we decided to still eat in the Marketplace on the Lido deck.  They had an excellent grill area where I had grilled scallops and a grilled steak.  Afterwards we watched what was supposed to be the Captain's toast.  But it was modified to just be an introduction of the senior staff and a short speech by the Captain.  The cast production of Encore was supposed to be presented but it was cancelled due to the rough seas.  Brendan Dooley, a comedic magician, performed in their place.  He was quite good.

In Princess Live, we participated in the game show 10 in 60 seconds where contestants need to list 10 items in 60 seconds.  It was a fun and engaging show and quite difficult.  Example questions were;  name the last 10 US Presidents; list the 10 largest Princess ships in decreasing size order; the 10 largest organs in the human body.  Afterwards I ran into Doug and Linda and we adjourned to the library for a nice long chat.  Angela joined us for a bit before she left for karaoke.  I left our meeting with Doug and Linda around 10:30pm for bed and read for a bit before Angela returned and came to bed.  The ocean was certainly moving and at one point she exclaimed, "We need seat belts to stay in bed!" With that we rolled over and sleep came quite quickly even with the motion of the ocean.