DAY 62---CRUISING IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

 

        This is our position at 3pm.  I forgot to take it at noon before going up for lunch.  The Captain on his noon PA said we were half way to Hong Kong however.  It is cooling off now with high temp today of 76 degrees.  It is quite windy with a 32 knot wind causing the ship to move about some today.  Not too bad however.

LAST EVENING

                                     Murphy presenting this evening's featured red wine.

                                          I enjoyed this Lake Doctor, Australian shiraz.

We both started with the French onion soup

Next our entree was the pan seared veal liver but we asked for grilled yellow onions instead of the red onions.  I also asked for sour cream mashed potatoes and a roasted tomato.

This is my apple buckle with ice cream.

TODAY

        We will be arriving at Hong Kong by 7am tomorrow.  On the original world cruise itinerary we were supposed to be here two days (over night) but later it was totally removed from our schedule.  Then during this cruise a day in HK was added back to the itinerary.

        Yesterday during the day a letter was delivered to the suites saying to go ashore in HK we would have to have a "negative" antigen covid test.  It further said the test kits would be delivered to our suites last night and the tests were to be accomplished by us today (the day before our arrival).  The tests would be free for the world cruise passengers.  Segment folks would have to pay for them.  Officials will be spot checking randomly as we passed through the cruise terminal on the way to the tour buses.

        This is my test result showing I am "negative" for covid.  We had to take a photo on our phones to show officials our test result if selected.  Rebecca also took the test which was "negative" also but she had decided not to go ashore tomorrow.  We have visited HK in 2010 and 2013 on other Regent cruises.

We had lunch up in La Veranda.  I enjoyed the black mussels in a white wine cream sauce with tomatoes and scallions.

Today at the pool grill they had a Tex-Mex BBQ buffet.  I had tacos with all the fixins to make them.

        Our option on switching next year's cruise was to expire tomorrow.  So this morning I went down and had Bea, the cruise consultant, finalize the switch.  So now instead of doing a 59 night Grand Asia cruise in mid January, we will be doing an 83 night Grand Arctic cruise beginning June 2nd.  I believe I put the link for it on a previous post but here it is again for you to cut and paste on your browser to see it.   https://www.rssc.com/cruises/MAR240602D/summary?source=CruiseSearch

        It is popular cruise and our friends who have done it, loved it.  Plus I won't have to be away from the house during winter.  I'll just have to find someone to mow the yard.

        This afternoon I wrote the history/background info for the port of Hualien on Taiwan.  This port was added after this world cruise began so I had not pre-written the port information.

        Then I watched Terry Bishop's lecture on Hong Kong's history followed by Jim Kennedy's lecture on the future of NASA and why we should care.  The lectures were live earlier today in the theater but I always watch the tapes of them on our suite tv.  Rebecca napped.

        At 6pm there is a special "Top Tier" cocktail party in the theater for Seven Seas Society members in the Commodore, Diamond, and Titanium levels.  We aren't sure yet if we will attend.

        

        This is tonight's Compass Rose menu where we will dine.  They are having an Indian dinner up in Sette Mari again tonight and a Philippino BBQ dinner out at the pool grill also.

        Tonight's headliner entertainer in the theater is a comedian, Scott Williams.  If we go we will be sitting up in the balcony for a quick escape if he is bad.