6190 & 6196 Under the Sea Dinner Balloons.
Addendum to Nov 18 – Cross the International Dateline. (Not sure how I missed noting this in my journal ) Lest you think we got a whole day back for the one we lost I should mention that we lost an hour at 2AM and then another hour at 3PM so this was my first 22 hour day at sea.
Nov 20 – At Sea. We lose an hour today at 1PM. So civilized to change the time in the middle of the day. At least it wasn’t like the first 18th when we lost two hours in the day for the first time ever. (see addendum above)
The dining room was decorated for what was on the on the 1960s huge Prom themes, Magic Under the Sea. It’s such a cliché that they used it for Marty’s mom’s prom theme in Back to the Future. I hate to admit it but in 1963, it was the Senior Prom theme at my alma mater, Fountain Hill High School. Yikes!! They decorate for dinner almost once a week but this was the best yet. All the waiters were wearing fish hats and the balloons were shaped like several different types of fish, sea turtles, octopi and starfish. There were shiny round mobiles with fish at the end of each vertical. It was great.
Our entertainer was Paul Fredericks again. I love his voice and his mix of songs. This time he did songs by the Beatles, Pozo Seco Singers, The Eagles, Roy Orbison and some lesser known in the US but big in the UK singer/songwriters. His voice is controlled, expressive and rich in tone. He has a four-octave range and he uses every part of it well. Any weakness is in the bottom 3 notes and maybe the top two but I can’t hear it if there is one in the highs.
Nov 21 – At Sea. Today we have a special treat, the Indonesian Crew Show. The 200+ Indonesian crewmembers put on a show at least one time on these long voyages and we always attend. They are so genuine and open in their performance that any deficiencies in style and polish are not even noticed. This time I decided to just enjoy them and not bother to take pictures. They did the Saman Dance where everyone kneels in a line on the floor and they do synchronized hand motions. It’s always lots of fun and they’re laughing and smiling right along with us.
The performed the Kecak Dance next. It tells the story of the Ramayana (Rama’s Journey), an ancient Sanskrit epic. In the story the Hindu sage Valmiki, a monkey like humanoid, helps King Rama (an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu) fight the demon-like King Ravana who has kidnapped Rama’s wife Sinta. It’s a great story and the crew obviously has fun doing it. In the version, they did this evening Valmiki uses CPR to try to revive his army who have been placed under a spell by Ravana. In the end, he uses two flip-flops as defibrillator paddles to shock them awake. This was definitely not in the original Sanskrit story.
Our entertainer was Martin Ralph, the ‘King of Spin’. He performs with all sorts of things that spin, starting with gyroscopes, moving on to yo-yos, then to a yo-yo he invented that is not hooked to the string and ending with thrown tops. It’s an unusual act made more unusual by the fact that he broke a small bone in his foot on the way to the ship. We’ve only seen him once before and he was just as good this time. Very enjoyable.
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