This was the day I was celebrating the big 5-0. We were awake around 7:00 again. Things were decidedly bumpy that day. It is a good job that neither of us gets seasick. We got up and ready and then headed to the Promenade Cafe for some light breakfast. We had plans for lunch and did not want to spoil our appetite. Graham had a carrot muffin and a croissant with a cup of coffee. I have never encountered carrot muffins on Royal Caribbean, but had them on a work trip on Celebrity and really liked them. This one did not disappoint either. I also had a strawberry granola parfait. I decided that I had deserved a treat and had a nitro cold brew with vanilla sweet cream from Starbucks. I thought the game was up. I had kept quiet that I was celebrating a special birthday. However, when the person at Starbucks swiped my Sea Pass card, she wished me a happy birthday. Fortunately, this was the only time this happened all day.
Once I had finished my cold brew, we headed for the Music Hall for morning trivia. We scored 12 out of 20 and the winning score was 18. Then we headed to the Two20 for Progressive Trivia. The view that day was interesting as there were some huge waves. We did OK that day scoring 11 out of 20. We stayed at the Two70 a bit longer after Progressive Trivia to admire the view. Then we headed to deck 14 for lunch.
I had chosen the teppanyaki for my birthday lunch. They offer this for lunch on sea days, which is about half the price of dinner, but offers exactly the same food. According to the menu, you can choose between one protein, or some preset two protein combos. However, on Odyssey, they let you mix and match any two proteins. Graham passed on the starter. He had the vegetable fried rice, stir fried vegetables, New York strip steak and tiger shrimp. I had the miso soup for my starter. I then had vegetable fried rice, stir fried vegetables, beef tenderloin and lobster. We had a She’s A Geisha cocktail with lunch, which consists of fresh berries and pomegranate shaken with rose syrup and junmai grade sake. We both had the green tea mochi for dessert.
Lunch was a bit more thrilling than I had anticipated. Shortly after they took our orders and brought us water, the ship suddenly rolled, and everything went flying. There were some broken glasses. Things were cleared up quickly and fortunately things settled down after this. We got a scaled down version of the show. That was fine by me. Neither of us is keen on the show that comes with teppanyaki, but we like the food. The food was definitely top notch, and I very much enjoyed my birthday lunch.
After lunch, we went back to the cabin briefly. I picked up my iPad and the remaining ducks and tags. Then we headed to the Two70. Graham took some photos of me on the Via. We stopped by the Cafe Two70 to redeem our free coffee vouchers. Graham had an Americano, and I had a latte. Then we settled down. I attached the tags to the remaining ducks. At one point, Captain Per came on the PA to advise that we were going to change course and while doing so, the ship may list. He advised everybody to stay seated during this manoeuvre. He told us he would make a further announcement just before we would change course and then again when we were OK to move again. There was a lecture about to start in the Two70 and the lecturer had a captive audience. The lecture was about Roald Amundsen. The subject was interesting, but the lecturer was somewhat dry. By the time the lecture was over, the change of course had been completed and things had actually calmed down quite significantly. It had not been too bad. I actually think we have experienced much worse on other cruises. I could however understand why Captain Per played it safe. There were plenty of people on this cruise with mobility issues. There was also the matter that a few days earlier, the Explorer of the Seas got caught up with a freak storm on her transatlantic crossing and people had got hurt. Our cruise actually made it in the news, which seemed somewhat ridiculous as it was really nothing.
Once we had been released, we headed downstairs to the Music Hall for trivia @ 5. We did not do very well getting only 8 out of 20 with the winning score being 15. After trivia, I stopped by one the backdrops to get some photos with t shirt that my colleagues had made for me. We headed up to the Roy bar for a bit. We both had a Watermelon Rita. Once we had enjoyed our drinks, we headed back to the cabin to get changed. We found some carnage. The wine glasses had smashed. The wine bottle was on the floor, but thankfully undamaged. I picked up as much of the glass as I could. Once I was ready, I tried my hand at a selfie as I wanted to share a photo of my necklace on the Facebook group of the artist that created it.
Earlier in the cruise, I met one of the people who worked in the high-end jewellery store on the ship. She was absolutely fascinated by my Mermaid Crown necklace. I told her that I had something even more stunning for later on in the cruise and she made me promise that I would come by when I was wearing it. I swung by the store, but unfortunately, she was on her break. Her colleagues however went crazy about my necklace. I was kind of surprised when one of them homed straight in on the merlion charm. This is not particularly big and is kind of tucked away around the side. I have noticed whenever I am wearing this that people tend to notice what speaks to them which are not usually the bigger elements of the necklace. The necklace is about as far from what they are selling than something can get, but it was nice that they could still appreciate it as a piece of art.
We still had some time and decided to get some photos before heading for the final trivia of the day. They had a backdrop out with an underwater scene with a blacktip reef shark. I met one of those when I learned to snorkel. Graham pointed it out. The photographer picked up on this and managed to get a photo that looks like I am touching the shark. I absolutely loved it. I ended up getting a print of this. Graham had this photo turned into a crystal block as a Christmas present for me.
We then headed to the Music Hall for evening trivia. We did really well scoring 16 out of 20. I though our luck was in. However, the winning score was 17. After evening trivia, we cut through the casino to the dining room.
The menu that evening was A Taste of the Mediterranean. Graham had the shrimp cocktail for his starter. I was not keen on the starters and passed. The rest of the menu however was a hit. For his main course, Graham had the prime rib with a baked potato, buttered seasonal vegetables and a horseradish au jus. I had the Chicken piccata, which was Panko crusted chicken in a white wine and caper butter emulsion, served over creamy lemony mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. I was not sure about the lemony mashed potato when I saw this on the menu, but the flavours worked really well together. We both had the pistachio crème brûlée for dessert. We both had a couple of glassed of the Chateau St. Michelle Riesling. I was very relieved that we made it through dinner without anybody coming to sing Happy Birthday.
After dinner, Graham headed back to the cabin while I went back to the jewellery store. This time Jo was there. She loved the necklace and thanked me for remembering to come by. Then I headed back to the cabin, too. I changed the time on my gadgets and then I got ready for bed. I read for a bit, but soon I went to sleep. Things had felt quite calm walking around the ship, but when I lay down, it was obvious that the ship was still bouncing quite a bit. However, this just rocked me to sleep.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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