Today Barry spent most of the day filing insurance and police reports, and calling our Florida hotels and shuttle company to report the loss of my jewellery. I decided to attend a Gemology lecture to learn about
the precious gems, what to look for when buying them, and what to watch out for when you are buying them in the ports of call. I did learn a lot actually, from Stuart, who is a very animated gemologist originally from the UK, but now from the US. There is no such designation now of precious or semi-precious - they are all precious. He also told us that in the "gem" countries, the best quality stones are sent to the richest cities of the world where the wealthy live - and there are lots of dangers that you can be buying not only inferior quality stones but ones which have been "doctored" to look better than they are. Lots of pitfalls. I also got my hair trimmed by Violetta, a young woman from Macedonia, who did my hair last cruise. We had a great gabfest catching up on all the news about ship board crew romances, marriages, and her travels between cruises. It is really one of the best surprises we have had this cruise, how warmly we are greeted by the crew we got to know last year. Our previous cabin steward, Ben, and his new wife, Sari who works in the Pinnacle Grill, are also working the World, and were supposed to be on another ship. They were just so excited to see Barry and me, and we look forward to seeing their wedding pictures from Bali, where we are scheduled to visit.
The highlight of the day, was our first formal dinner, with a pre-dinner cocktail party at which Captain Jonathan Mercer welcomes us all aboard, and introduces the heads of the departments. Amazing to recognize most of these people too. We had a fantastic evening, with much hilarity over dinner telling stories and then we headed off to an outstanding show of young singers and dancers (Hit me with the Hot Notes). The four singers had exceptional quality voices and sang a lot of songs from the 60s and 70s which Linda and I were belting out. All in all a great start to the cruise.
Glad you are having a better day than yesterday, Jane and that you got to meet so many of your friends from your last cruise. And you look fabulous in these pictures, by the way...love this blue dress. Thanks for sending me the link to the blog. I do read quite often though I probably won't comment as much. Enjoy your cruise!
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