Asia trip Day 5 - cruising the South China Sea

Thursday March 2, 2023

True vacation. A day at sea is what I call "forced relaxation". Of course breakfast is first. So many choices. It is not easy to be a "good girl". We like to go to deck 9 in the back and be outside. 

Afterwards we tried to get to know the ship a bit better. To walk the fitniss trail which is on the very top is out of the question today. It is really, really windy today especially up there. Deck 5 has outdoor areas because this is were the lifeboats are. It is in the shade which is also very great. 

But opening the doors, whether it is from the outside ....

... or from the inside, that is a challenge. Not sure the photos really show that properly.

At 11 am was a lecture on Brunei, our first stop. A lady from Australia talks a bit about the people, the economy, the royal family, and showed us a lot of photos with gold on it. The sultan is very rich. 

We knew a little bit about that when we visited there November 2006 when we lived in Singapore. It was a business meeting for James and spouses were invited. The meeting was held in the hotel in which the Crownprince celebrated his wedding just a year or so before. Our room (more like a sweet) had gold-plated faucets etc in our bathroom.

These business meetings always had also planned outings. When we went to the Water Village James had to miss it with a few other colleges because they could not get out of a meeting. So this is what we have to see tomorrow, ha-ha.

After lunch we went to the ships library and even though I brought one I found another one which interested me more. 

Since I had internet for a little while I also solved the day's wordle. It went very fast though. Lucky break.

A major excitement of the day was that we had to get our electronic arrival cards for Brunei. OMG, that was a major undertaking. Between the v.e.r.y slow internet and the website we were all very frustrated. Yes, yes, the fun of traveling. James and I went down to the service desks where the very nice lady helped us and a lot of other guests. At the end we were told we needed to take screenshots of the results.

5:45 pm we were invited to the show room for the Captain's party. Free cocktails and hors d'oeuvres. The captain introduced his people in charge of the different departments. James and I found some seats. He talked to the right with a couple from Germany and I with a couple from New Jersey. We both had very nice conversations. 

When we went to dinner we answered as always that we were happy to share a table. We were joined by a couple from Canada. They told us that it was there 19th cruise with Oceania and after one more they will get a free cruise.

Today I choose the cheese soufflé. It was very nice.

James had foie gras which he said was a bit strange with that bread and jam.

I didn't take a photo of every course but this was my lobster main dish. The lobster pieces were very delicious but the rice and veggies were lacking taste.

Doesn't the apple pie look gorgeous. 

I had not thought very much about the entertainment. The performer was Foggie Flax and I wasn't sure whether he was up our alley. But we went. And he was actually quite good. 

It didn't seem like bedtime yet (even though I could not sleep much the previous night) so we decided to go up to deck 10 for a little more music and a nightcap. After all, it was happy hour there. The band was very good and we enjoyed it.