February 20 - Sea Day #1

Friday, February 20, 2026

Not surprising, the swells overnight made our sleep fitful. The four of us went to breakfast in the buffet and struggled to find a table. We finally found a spot at the very back of the ship in the area called Cafe Caribe. This area had a smaller buffet line compared to the Horizon Court and extra seating. The sign-up for the ukulele classes was being held at 9:45 and Michelle and I discussed going, but it was so nice to just linger over breakfast that we never made it.  

Good morning!

None of us are into trivia, but for lack of something else to do after breakfast we attended the morning session in the Explorer's Lounge. Out of 20 questions, we only got 12 correct. That is just barely respectable.

Michelle and I convinced the guys to participate in the craft class to make a ribbon lei but when we went to the Michelangelo Dining Room for the class we discovered that they were just handing out tickets. All of the tickets for the morning class had been claimed so we collected tickets for the 2:00 session. Instead we went back to the Explorer's Lounge for a talk about Oahu by the Hawaiian ambassadors that were onboard the ship for our cruise. The talk was helpful and gave us some tips about things to do on the day we would be in Honolulu.

Jon thought the lights on the Explorer's Lounge tables looked like aliens.

Good tips about what to do and eat while visiting Oahu.
After hearing about "poke bowls", Jon was determined to try some.

A little background ukulele music.

After the mob scene at the buffet during breakfast, I suggested we go to lunch in the main dining room (MDR). When we arrived it seemed as if everyone else on the ship had the same idea. We were seated quickly, but then it took forever to get our food. The dessert was especially slow and by the time we finished we were barely going to have enough time to get to the ribbon lei class. None of us were particularly excited about going (and I had made a ribbon lei on a previous cruise) so we changed our plans. Michelle and I went back to the cabin to take a nap while the guys made the healthier choice and went to walk and explore the ship.

By the time Bob returned, I had finished my nap and showered and changed for dinner. Bob started a movie on TV and I pulled out my watercolors and painted until it was time to go to the Botticelli Dining Room for our 5:20 reservation. (Prior to the cruise I had made reservations for 5:20 pm on all sesa days.) During the day the seas had calmed considerably so it made walking much easier. 

My Hawaiian inspired painting.

We were seated at the same table as the previous night with Lokesh and Ian as our waiters. I don't remember what everyone else had, but I ordered an orange and shaved fennel salad (delicious!), seared scallops, and samosas with mint sauce for dessert. My fennel salad had a few raisins as garnish and when Lokesh started to remove my plate, Bob quickly grabbed them. Later, when dessert was served, Lokesh brought Bob a whole bowl of raisins! 

Our service had been quick, but slowed when it came to dessert. It was 6:50 when we finished eating and I knew that there was no way we could walk to the front of the ship and find seats in time for the 7:00 pm show. The clocks were scheduled to go back an hour so with an extra hour of sleep ahead, I suggested we go to the 9 pm show instead.

Playing cards would fill in the time until the show, but where to play? We split up and tried to find a suitable place. We had played in the Cafe Caribe yesterday, but at this earlier time those tables were still in use for dinner service at the buffet. Bob and I checked out the Piazza but it was crowded and there were no suitable tables. 

During the day we had made an amazing discovery when we found out that even without a wifi package on the ship we could still send iMessages and even access YouTube videos!! Jon texted us that Club Fusion was empty and had tables that were suitable for cards...but it was very cold in the lounge. Bob and I stopped by our cabin to grab jackets and met them there.

While walking around the ship, Jon had stopped briefly by the theater and claimed that singer, Tena Torres, wasn't that great and not worth seeing. She had been an American Idol finalist so I can't imagine that she was too bad, but I suspect Jon just preferred playing cards over attending the show. 

We played cards in Club Fusion until keyboard/vocalist "Chip" started singing in the lounge at 8:30. Not many people were there dancing, but the volume was SO loud that it made it impossible to continue our card game.

We moved to the Explorer's Lounge for the nightly game show which turned out to be trivia related. The "game" was patterned after Jeopardy. We did a little better with the trivia questions this time, but still didn't come close to winning.

Easy to see that these guys didn't have an afternoon nap!

We played another card game in between the game show and karaoke and then sat through about half a dozen singers...some OK and some downright awful! We were ready to call it a night, but Jon wanted to see if the pizza place was open. It was after 11 pm so I knew it wasn't, but we went up to the pool area anyway. (And I was correct...no pizza.) I suggested checking out the International Cafe (IC) and that is where we ended up. Jon and Michelle both ordered coffees and we all picked out a little something to eat from the IC.

It was midnight when we returned to the cabin and I was thankful that we were going to get an extra hour of sleep. We crawled into bed hoping for a good (and not bouncy) night's sleep.