Entertainment

I swam in the Tahitian Pool on Friday afternoon, only my third dip since the cruise began. It was a cold afternoon and the waves sloshed across the top of the pool, splashing water into the inner tiled pool “container”, a few feet below the pool deck area. Steam rose from the heated water, where I was the only swimmer for about 20 minutes, until a few others joined me – briefly. The hot tubs had a few takers, though, all drinking beer, sold in buckets the rate of six for the price of five.

We had an early dinner, seated in the stern of the Summer Palace. Earlier in the week, I got the picture on how to buy wine. An unfinished bottle is corked, for later retrieval from a wine cellar that serves all the restaurants. We (mostly I) had a Chilean merlot for two evenings; yesterday I selected my old standby Beringer white zinfandel, to be polished off for our last dinner tonight.
After dinner, went to the Stardust Theater for Bob’s favorite dance review, Sealegs. It was pretty much the same show we had seen in the Caribbean last March, and very enjoyable. Great costumes, excellent dancing, live singing. The cast included performers from Texas, Oklahoma, New York, Nebraska, France, England, Australia, the Ukraine (the same gymnast/dancers we saw the other night).

After the main show, Simon your Cruise Director called many of the ship’s crew onto the stage, where they got a standing ovation from the audience, to the live sound of We are Family. The whole spectacle was quite riveting and emotional.

We’ve become aware of the crew community, somewhat divided along national lines. Over 1,100 crew members from 65 countries serve the ship. For some, this is the last voyage as the Norwegian Pearl completes its last Alaska voyage of the season. A lovely young woman from India told us happily that we would be flying home from Seattle to be with her parents. Others will be taking a vacation after 10 months, 7 days a week without a day off. It seems like a hard life.