After four port days in a row, we had a sea day prior to our final port day the following day. We had figured we would have a lazy day in our future, but this was not quite how it worked out. It was hugely enjoyable though.
We woke up at about 7:30. We got up and ready. We put our swim gear underneath our clothes so that we were ready straight after breakfast. Then we headed up to the Windjammer. Graham had oatmeal with dried fruit and sugar followed by some tinned pears and peaches. I had plain congee with fried onions and scrambled eggs with ham followed by some tinned pears. Then we headed out to the pool deck.
For the first time of the cruise, we had felt some motion from the ocean as our captain likes to refer to this when we got up. However, it did not seem like a big deal. However, when we got to the pool deck, the pools had turned into wave pools. I was pretty sure that aqua aerobics would be cancelled. Graham went to the middle pool for a swim. I decided to hang around the main pool. Somebody else from the aqua aerobics group turned up and she agreed that it did not look promising. Then the instructor came, and his reaction was “no way Jose”. I was just gathering up my stuff to go and join Graham. I figured some hot tub time was in order. Some other members of the group turned up and they wanted to have a go. I figured it was worth a try and I could always get out if I felt unsafe. A short while later Graham joined us, too. It was wild, but felt safe and it was a lot of fun. I definitely got a good workout.
After aqua aerobics, we dried off as much as we could. Then we headed back to the cabin to get showered and changed. Then we headed to the Music Hall for morning trivia. We scored 9 out 20 and the winning score was 18. Then we hotfooted it to the Two70 for progressive trivia. I have loved progressive trivia ever since I first encountered this on our Suez Canal cruise in 2016. Graham does not share my passion for this. What did not help either is that the one time I talked him into this previously, it had a really strange format,and the first round consisted of photos of celebrities before they were famous. We did not go back for a second round. Still, this was definitely not normal. I suggested that we could sit up on the balcony and make a quick exit if it was weird again. Fortunately, it was not. It was just standard general knowledge trivia. This was hosted by our activities manager Stefan. One thing that he did differently was that after every 5 questions, he shared a useless fact. This was right up my alley. Something else good had come out of going to progressive trivia. We found out about a matinee performance that sounded interesting and that I had totally overlooked.
After progressive trivia, we came down from the balcony. We decided to stay on for Next Cruise Trivia, which was due to start at 12:30. Graham found us a seat downstairs in the Two70 while I went to the Cafe Two70 to get us some proper coffee. I got an Americano for Graham and a latte for me.
The Next Cruise trivia was subtitled Where on Royal Caribbean. This was all a bit strange. They showed of venues from ships, and you had to guess on which ship this venue can be found. It turned out that all the venues were from their two newest ships Icon of the Seas and Utopia of the Seas. I had expected them to cast the net a bit wider. We still scored 10 out of 13. The winning score was 13.
We decided to have lunch from the Cafe Two70. We both had chicken Caesar salad. Graham had a roast beef kümmelweck, I normally love those. However, on Radiance of the Seas they were not very nice, and I was not brave enough to try on Odyssey. Instead, I had half a Ruben sandwich and half a Cuban sandwich. Graham went to get some dessert. He had some oatmeal and raisin cookies, and he brought back strawberry baba and a lemon cookie for me. Lunch hit the spot.
After lunch we headed for the matinee of Cruising With The Classics. This was the final concert featuring the concert pianist John Paul Ekins. The star of the concert was the young violinist Lucilla Rose Mariotti. She had joined the ship in Malaga after performing in a concert in Dubai. I figured if she is good enough to perform in Dubai, we were in for a treat and so we were. What I did not know until that afternoon is that Royal Caribbean has a partnership with the Royal College of Music in London that means that rising stars that are nominated by the Royal College of Music to come to perform on the ships. This gives them the chance to perform to an audience and provides high quality music for Royal Caribbean. I think this is a really nice scheme. Lucilla Rose Mariotti is a very gifted violinist. John Paul Ekins gave some background about each piece of music that they played. Towards the end of the programme, he interviewed Lucilla Rose Mariotti. It was at this stage that we found out just what a treat we had. She is playing a 1709 Stradivari violin, that is on a 2-year loan to her as a prize for winning prestigious violin competition in Vienna in 2023. in was very surprised that the owners allowed her to bring this onto a ship. Getting to hear somebody play such a special instrument is definitely not an opportunity that comes around very often.
After the concert, we headed across to the Schooner Bar for arts and literature trivia. I fancied my chances with this. I have a degree in English and European literature, and I am a massive bookworm with eclectic tastes. I also have a pretty decent knowledge of art and art history. Well, there was one art question, and their interpretation of literature was not necessarily what I would call literature. We scored 5 out of 15. The winning score was 12.
While we were at the Schooner Bar, we decided to give the desert pear margarita another go. It was a huge disappointment again. They really cannot do this drink on Odyssey. After the trivia, we decided to get some fresh air. I arranged a meeting spot with Graham and headed back to the cabin to get some ducks to hide. I had hidden most of them by the time I met up with Graham again.
After we filled our lungs with fresh air, I got a vanilla and chocolate swirl ice cream from Sprinkles and then we headed down to the Music Hall for trivia @ 5. We scored 8 out 20 and the winning score was 18.
After trivia, we went back to deck 14 to get a proper drink at the Roy bar. We both had the drink of the day, which was a limoncello lemonade. This was refreshing and delicious. On the way back down, I took a photo of the giant rubber duck by the kids’ splash area.
We headed back to the cabin to get changed. We then went downstairs to get some photos. This was the second formal night of the cruise. They had suggested black and white, but I had not brought either. I ended up wearing one of my favourite gowns.
Dinner that night was the Beyond the Sea menu. This was the first of the menus that were exclusive to longer sailings. The name did not inspire me, but this ended up being my favourite menu of the cruise. Graham started with the New England Clam Chowder, which was creamy blend of fresh clams, potatoes and vegetables. I had the Vegan pan-seared asparagus with creamy white bean hummus and a hazelnut-basil pesto drizzle. This also appears on one of the regular menus and Graham had this before. For me it was a first. It was delicious in its simplicity.
For his main course, Graham had the pecan-crusted salmon, which was apricot-glazed salmon served with citrus asparagus and roasted potatoes tossed in a horseradish scallion crema. I had Italian meatballs baked in a rich tomato sauce, served with creamy polenta and grilled vegetables. This was hands down my favourite dish of the cruise. For his dessert, Graham had the blueberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream and Mississippi mud pie. We both had a couple of glasses of Chateau St. Michelle Riesling with dinner.
After dinner, we headed back to our cabin. Overnight was the first time that we were due to gain an hour. We got ready for bed. I changed the time on my gadgets and then read for a while. Soon my eyes felt heavy, and I went to sleep.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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