At Sea Day #3 -- Houdini Highlights & More

Saturday, July 14, 2007 – AT SEA DAY

Our last At Sea day on this cruise—I can’t believe how fast the trip went! We slept in a bit, then I headed up to the Horizon Court and brought down some breakfast for Rich and the kids. Rich took them to Bingo at 11:15 while I tried in vain to find a quiet place to relax and write. Unfortunately, all of the nice chairs in the atrium lounges were full, so I ended up at the Painted Desert restaurant amidst the people playing bridge and board games. It wasn’t too noisy at first, but eventually got crowded, so I left and met up with Rich and kids.

After Bingo, we watched an ice carving demonstration on Deck 14, and then had a quick bite to eat before heading to magician Bernard Reid’s presentation, “Houdini: The Man, The Myth, The Magic.” It was FANTASTIC. Reid is one of the world’s foremost experts on Harry Houdini, and his presentation included some fascinating information, including extremely rare video and audio clips of Harry Houdini. He clearly has a passion for the subject matter, and has devoted his life to being as informed as possible. I wish they’d given him more time…an hour wasn’t nearly enough to squeeze in all of the information he had to impart.

We stayed put in the Vista Lounge and tried out hand at Masters Team Trivia, but it was really tough and we didn’t win a prize (which was fine, because we’d already gotten prizes a few days ago—one of the social staff had some extra water bottles and slipped them to the kids at the end of one of the trivia sessions because we’d come in second place).

After that, it was time for Snowball Jackpot Bingo. The prize was up to $2,200 but nobody won it, although we tried our best.

Soon it was time to head back to the room and start getting ready for our last Formal Night. We purchased a few of our Formal Portraits already, and they cost a small fortune, so we had no intention of sitting for any more pictures. We headed straight for the dining room, and the staff there mentioned the Princess Questionnaires we’d be getting soon in our staterooms. They made it clear that if they received any rating less than a perfect 5 out of 5, they would get in big trouble. While I had no problem giving high marks to our waitress and her assistant, the Powers That Be at Princess got an earful about the rest of the dining room staff and the folks at the Purser’s Office. I’m not sure if it made any difference, but I’m hoping it did.

Right after dinner was a brand new production show, “Do You Wanna Dance”. It was the best show of the entire trip. The dancers performed a wide variety of dance styles, including Irish step dancing (like Lord of the Dance) that was energetic and perfectly executed. The kids absolutely loved it, and so did everyone else in the audience. We gave them a standing ovation.

After the show, we headed for the atrium to see the Champagne Waterfall at 11:30pm. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was so much fun. White-gloved waiters walked around handing out glasses of champagne to all of the adults, and there was a huge tower of glasses stacked in the bottom floor of the atrium. At the designated time, the Maitre D’ began pouring the champagne down the glasses, starting at the top, and as the bubbly flowed we all toasted one another and our wonderful trip we’d enjoyed thus far. It was the first time I could remember every staff member with a smile on their faces, and when I got back to my stateroom—lo and behold!—the Princess rating questionnaire was waiting for me. Perfect timing, eh?

Coming up…Our last port of call: Le Havre, France