Tuesday, February 20, 2024
Aboard the Carnival Miracle, Pacific Ocean
Today the seas returned to relative normalcy. The captain announced that the swells were still around 10 feet high, but the wind was much calmer (though strong). For the past 3 days, all passengers have been confined to the inside of the ship. Deck 10, which is entirely outside and exposed to the elements, has been closed. But today the captain lifted the restriction and we were able to go fully outside. Must have been that 5 bucks I slipped him when we had our photo taken with him last night. Anne and I enjoyed a pleasant walk around Deck 10, which goes around the perimeter of the ship. It was a bit windy, especially walking into the wind, but walking in the opposite direction was…a breeze!
This morning we attended a Hawaiian language class. We are not exactly fluent in the language yet, but at least we can say Hello, See you later, Thank you, and No problem. That is, we can say those expressions, some animal words, body parts, days of the week, and count to 10 as long as we have the lesson’s cheat sheet with us. Like many languages, I quickly realized that Hawaiian has a different word for everything. I think I’ll just stick with Japanese. At least Japanese has the courtesy to use many English words in the language, such as “karaoke” and “karate.” It was interesting to learn that the Hawaiian language has 5 vowel sounds that are exactly the same as the 5 Japanese vowel sounds. Anyway, English is the official language of Hawaii, and Hawaiian is spoken by relatively few people. So, Japanese it is, mahalo nui loa, ありがとうございます!
I then attended Part 3 of a series of lectures on the history of the Hawaiian islands. Today’s lecture was about Kauai, the garden island. The lecturer, a woman who is supposedly a world-renowned physicist, astronomer, black-hole specialist, former NASA scientist, with several other amazing qualifications - just ask her how knowledgeable and credentialed she is and she’ll tell you - was a bit dry in her presentation, so I don’t remember much of what she said, other than Kauai is lovely. As a teaser for tomorrow’s lecture, she said she was going to talk about how Hawaii’s volcanos are somehow connected, if not responsible for, the black holes in space and that some of the first inhabitants of Hawaii were elf-like people, called menehune, similar to leprechauns. I don’t think she’s still working for NASA.
The weather was warm enough that we could enjoy sitting in a shaded area in the adult only Serenity section. We read for a while there, but after a while, it started to lightly rain so we decided to seek drier quarters. We found some comfortable chairs on the Promenade Deck (Deck 2), by a window overlooking the ocean. It was also next to the ship’s art gallery, which was featuring the art of Thomas Kinkade, especially his Disney artwork. After reading for a while, I slumped back in my chair to take a nap. But that did not last long because at 3pm a lecture in the art gallery started about the life of Thomas Kinkade. The lecturer, whose voice was loud enough to make it feel like he was sitting right next to me, was a British man with a heavy British accent. There were about 15 people listening to his lecture, and apparently, he was having trouble keeping their attention. He could not speak for 30 seconds without saying, “Ladies and gentlemen,” sometimes 2 or 3 times in the same sentence.
After the lecture, we went into the gallery to look at the artwork. They were all lovely, and I especially liked the Disney-themed ones. One of the gallery staff members spoke to us about the uniqueness of these “one of a kind prints.” “One of a kind PRINTS?” It seems to me that the original piece of art can be classified as unique and one of a kind. But the mass-produced prints made thereafter are anything but “one of a kind.” Now, I’m certainly not an art aficionado, but to me, calling hundreds of prints “one of a kind” is an oxymoron. Nevertheless, I was told that for a mere $5,500 (and a modest $35 shipping charge), one of these “one of a kind” prints could be adorning my living room shortly after the cruise! Every Christmas I give Anne a $15 mini-wall calendar of Thomas Kinkade’s Disney prints to hang in our bathroom. Thankfully, she told me that set of prints is just fine with her, and she had no need for a $5,500 “one of a kind” print from the ship’s art gallery. PHEW! Now I am wondering what to do with that $5,450 she just saved me! Time to book another cruise! Or two!
After dinner, we watched the show in the theater - an amazing singer whose vocal range was absolutely incredible! Then we did our usual bar stumbling…hopping, completely sober!
Another perfect day!
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