Tuesday – Same, same, no different!  Morning trivias, Ed goes to the Dr. Lecture, I collect points.  Lunch then down time until the 2:45 collectibles scavenger hunt – this time we are supposed to collect a bunch of random things – but I thought it was still a photo thing, so we brought photos back.  Oops.  Of course Izzy just rolls his eyes and says, you know you were supposed to bring these things, but…..and gives us the points!  It’s just t-shirt.  No biggie!

The rest of the day is slower and longer because tonight is our late reservation in Prime C for Gayle’s birthday dinner.  This is a production let me tell you – she is so excited and has the entire entertainment team in her room doing her hair and makeup and getting her ready.  So sweet.  Mark keeps sending us updates on WhatsApp with pictures and everything.

The evening turns out wonderfully – the seas cooperate and are not all that bad, Gayle is in her glory, Mark finally has his steak, Dofri comes up for photos and we spend the evening chatting, gossiping, looking at pictures and have a thoroughly wonderful time.  We end the soirée with a birthday cake and song.  Oh, and goofy selfies in the elevator on our way out. 

Then it is back to the cabin for another beautiful night at sea.

Wednesday – Let the rocking and rolling commence!  Overnight the swells intensify and spread out so that we are definitely into the pitch.  I wake up a couple of times feeling the up and down movement, pop my pills and go back to sleep.  We laze in bed late this morning too, Ed gets up for breakfast, I stay in the bed.  He comes back, then goes to the gym.  I stay in the bed.  Only for a little while.  Finally forcing myself up and into the shower. 

Then it is a morning of trivia, Captain and HD Q&A that Ed goes to while I stay collecting points, then lunch, then…well…nothing.  They were trying to put on one of the production shows this afternoon – but no way, no how.  It was really rough there for a while, as in, we are all falling all over the place rough, no way the dancers will be able to do it.  Up until the noon announcement though, it looked like it was still a go – but finally somebody came to their senses and canceled. 

So that left the rest of afternoon wide open.  We decided to go to the 4pm trivia for more points and time wasting, OMG!  What a zoo that was!  Jam packed with people, barely a seat in the house.  Jeez, no wonder all these people have pages and pages of stamps!  We are such pikers, we haven’t even completed one whole sheet.  Ack, whatever, it’s just a t-shirt!

I did manage to be first in line for our stamps – strategy, it’s the name of the game – then onto the gym and drinks a tad early so we can be ready for our Arabic chef’s table at 6:30.  We arrive early, with most of the other guests as well, and begin to get seated, but there is no assigned seating.  On Pursuit we all had our place cards at our seats. And it is a big table of 14.  We grab seats next to each other because that was all that was left, leaving 2 orphans across from us.  I go to ask Michelle, the wonderful hostess, if we have anyone else coming, and she confirms there is another couple.  Well, they aren’t going to be able to sit together then.  Eventually, we, the passengers, just give it up and start to introduce ourselves, figuring the staff will handle it.  The other couple finally shows up 15 minutes late and has a fit coz they want to sit together. Well, yeah, we get it (been there, done that on HAL excursion) but you also need to get here on time, we’re all established with our bread and everything.  Sigh.  We eventually work it all out and settle down for a great dinner.  (PS – the couple in question turn out to be racist, bigots who, with another couple across from them, are complaining about everything in the UK, and then move onto Trump, and at that point the rest of just turn around and tune them out!).

Our first course is Emirati Grilled Prawns, followed by Shorabit Jarjir Squah and Red lentil soup (that was awesome, butternut squash with a red lentil cake in the middle – seriously good from the non-soup lover), next is chicken tangine and cauliflower shawarma and fried beet chips (oh, I just want a whole bowl of those, please), then the pineapple-saffron sorbet as a palate cleanser, followed by the main course of pan-fried Tuna for me and Lamb Shish kebab for Ed (both incredibly well prepared and totally excellent).  By now we are all totally stuffed and we still have 2 courses left!  The cheese course which is Goat cheese parfait with basil oil and wine jelly (very creative and very yummy) with our final dish being dessert of muscat soaked apricots served with vanilla honey yogurt mousse and pistachio gelato (which also included marshmallow and cacao meringue as well as little stars of meringue and fried sugar rounds – disgustingly good!).  We will all be lucky if we can get ourselves out of the chairs!

But, we do, and retire to our cabin for a lovely moonlit night.