June 20, 2010 Coral Princess

Our first night on board we heard a great trio from the Ukraine (violin, guitar and accordion…yes accordion) in the Crooner’s Bar. As is always the case Doug made fast friends with Referen (Ref), a bartender from the Phillipines. We also were introduced to the famous ship’s buffet. Not gaining weight will be a challenge.

We awoke this morning, on board the ship, in gently rolling seas. The small swells were hitting us broad side and caused us to wobble back and forth. This made for some interesting walking as we had not yet found our sea legs.

The first thing we had to do was attend a mandatory safety class to learn about emergency procedures. We headed to the breakfast buffet and tried not to over do it. We attempted to do some walking on the promenade (2.8 laps=1 mile) but it was too windy and cold. Doug decided to retreat back to the stateroom to do some work and play with his photographs. I found a nice sofa outside the Wheel House bar where I could watch the scenery and do some crocheting.
The ship is famous for its ice sculpture and carved fruits and vegetables. We saw an amazing demonstration by three of the decorative artists. What they produced were master pieces. Don’t be looking for these types of centerpieces from me any time soon. I attended a martini demonstration that Ref participated in and it was quite entertaining. Mid-afternoon Doug and I attended a wine tasting.

This evening was the first of two formal nights. When we signed up for the cruise we opted for any time dining as opposed to being assigned to one of two dinner seatings. We neglected to make a reservation in time for our formal dining room, the Bordeaux but were told that being seated between 8-8:30 wouldn’t be a problem. I guess we were all surprised when we went down at 8 and couldn’t even get off the elevator. So back to the buffet…shucks.

Returning to our cabin we went out on the balcony and were treated to an extreme view of the Fairweather Range. I didn’t want to go to bed because the dramatic scenery was changing by the minute. As the costal fog gently enfolded the mountains and the light began to fade it was time to say goodnight after a very good day.