The rest of the sea days!

At Sea – Day three – Marshall Stern started us off with his lecture on Buddhism 101 – What Buddha Taught (very enlightening!).  The next lecturer was on Commercial Revolution and growth of Transatlantic Trade by Dan Schutzer.  We are certainly getting a varied education!  After lunch and some time at the pool we went to see Aimie Atkinson again for the afternoon performance.  We met some friends for dinner in the Normandie dining room then headed to the Theatre for the evening performance – a singer by the name of Domenick Allen.

At Sea – Day four – Dale started the lectures this morning with his Vimy presentation.  We then attended the Veterans/Remembrance Day ceremony and Dale did a wonderful reading of In Flanders Fields.  A lovely message from the Captain, a couple of great songs from the Celebrity singers, the Celebrity pianist played and of course the Orchestra’s trumpet player Josh did a great job playing taps.  One of the passengers whom we had met earlier, told a very emotional story about a comrade killed in Iraq.  All in all, a very moving ceremony.  After that, we had some down time reading, then lunch before heading back to the theatre for a matinée with Domenick Allen.  More down time at the pool and of course some ice cream (did I mention that they have absolutely the best ice cream here?).  We were back at the Tuscan dining room for dinner with the group of fellow lecturers onboard.  Afterwards, to the Theatre for Thomas John, a comedy act.

At Sea – Day five – Dan Schutzer started the lectures with ‘Cruising Then, Now and in the Future’.  He is also an Historian and had lots of interesting facts.  Dale followed with his ‘Top Gun – Was it Real?’ lecture.  After lunch we tried the S.A.F.E. Archery again – great fun!  We were then treated to a matinée with Thomas John, who also did a Q&A about getting started on America’s Got Talent, followed by lots more jokes.  Back to the pool for ice cream and some down time.  The hot tub was wonderful too.  Dinner was at the Normandie dining room.  Showtime was called ‘Hype’ – singing and dancing by the Celebrity performers with huge energy and amazing music!

At Sea – Day six – Buddhism 101 with Marshall Stern, with Important Buddhist Concepts to start the day.  David Wiemers followed with Adventures at the Walt Disney Company.  Marshall and Nancy were on again just after lunch with more Improv and then another matinée with a pianist, David Howarth.  Marshall was back for the third time for a lesson on Meditation – busy day for him.  After dinner at the Tuscan dining room, Showtime was with Phil Palisoul, a comedian.  Then there was a guest choir performance.  I had wanted to join the choir, as they had one of the performers as the choir director and a real pianist instead of canned music, but unfortunately, all the practices were during the lectures.  It was a real tough choice to make.

At Sea – Day seven – Last day!!!  As usual, the voyage sped up as we got near the end.  So much to do, and have to fit packing in as well.  Dale started the lectures off with his presentation on Amelia Earhart.  Then Dan Schutzer talked about Christopher Columbus.  After lunch we fit in the Improv before hitting the pool for our last sunshine for a while, then back to our room to finish packing.  We met some friends at the Normandie dining room for dinner followed by the production show called Colors of Life – another fabulous show! 

Ft. Lauderdale – early departure from the ship, but all went smoothly.  Had our last decadent breakfast and on our way home (back to reality!).