Wednesday, 7 April 2010


It’s 10:30 pm and we are just passing the halfway point on the 8-day crossing from Ft Lauderdale to Lisbon. Once we start hitting ports I hope the blog will become a little more interesting and a little less repetitious. They days are wonderfully uneventful, with calm seas and clear skies. It’s a good thing I have a pair of shorts, since they are pretty much what I wear during the day.

After room service breakfast this morning, I attend a talk on Italian culture from the Romans to the 20th century, by the second lecturer, Professor Joe Barghoti, a native of Jerusalem. He is refreshingly secular in his approach to Christianity. I use my cell phone to talk to Will at home and am amazed at the speed and clarity of the call—much superior even to land service. Of course, I won’t tell you what the per minute charge is!

Wednesday Evening: Dinner and Entertainment


I begin a new bottle of wine with dinner, a Blackstone California Sauvignon Blanc that is refreshingly dry and crisp. Tonight’s menu choices:

• Skewered shrimp brochette with soy-peanut dipping sauce

• Caesar salad with anchovies

• Coho salmon with rice and steamed vegetables—the salmon cooked perfectly, although the maître d stopped by to make sure that it wasn’t underdone

• Raspberry sorbet and decaf

The evening’s main entertainment is a comedian and juggler (yes, they still exist), Benji Hill. And I write this blog entry while waiting for the Indonesian Crew Show to begin at 11:15 pm. My assistant table steward, Jaya, made a special point of telling me he plays the lead in the “Ramayana Dance,” so I will have to put in an appearance. I will give a report in the next blog.