Fog Horns and Black Gunk - Thurs., Aug. 2, 2018

What goes up (north), must come down (south). At sea for almost two full days, we traveled from Skagway to Victoria, B.C. Today's blog covers Thursday when we left Skagway.

No icebergs today. I wanted to post another
picture of one from the Dawes Glacier day.

Since we didn't have any activities or ports, we slept in and then had breakfast in the Garden Cafe Buffet. The day was very foggy and misty. The ship's fog horn kept sounding every few minutes. It was damp and chilly. Any thoughts of whale watching were put aside because we could barely see the water from the ship.

At 11:00 a.m., we headed to the go-karts for our reservation to race. The go-kart track is the top two decks of the ship. The top-most race track was quite wet. We didn't realize what we were in for. 

First, we suited up with a knit face mask that goes under the helmet. We strapped in and then the helmet was put on for us. It was snug and I had a moment of claustrophobia. They told me to leave the visor up a little so my glasses wouldn't fog up. I was squished into the seat because I had a heavy winter coat on and the seat was narrow. It seemed a long time before we got to race. We waited for another group to suit up and they told us the rules. I was chomping at the bit, and they had me in almost the very last car. 

One of the rules was if you were slower, you should stay to the right. I have a lead foot and I'm competitive so to put me in the back didn't sit well with me. As soon as they let us go, I got stuck behind a slowpoke who hogged the whole track. As soon as I had an opportunity to pass, three cars came flying around me from the back. I couldn't see them because of the helmet. For about two laps, I was stuck behind the slowpoke. Finally, I flew around him and kept my pedal to the medal as much as possible. Now we're talking. THAT was fun when I got to move it. Bob ended up coming in 3rd and I came in 5th out of about 12 people. 

The hardest part of the whole go-kart process for me was getting out of the karts. I have long legs and it was hard to maneuver them around the steering wheel and get them far enough under myself to stand up. I finally had to use my arms to lift myself off the seat up onto the back of the seat. 

Because of the mist and fog, the track was wet. It hadn't rained for a long time because our temps had been in the 80s. Our go-karts kicked up black gunk off the track and hurled it on our clothes, legs, hands, and visors. At least I had on long jeans. Bob, on the other hand, was in shorts, so his legs had the gunk on them. Icky stuff! It was probably a combination of rubber, oil, and ??? I decided at the end of go-kart racing that I like laser tag much better. We went back to the stateroom, got cleaned up, and changed our clothes.

Lunch was next. After lunch, we read a little. I wanted to go to the International Crew Talent Show. Bob opted to stay in the room, read, and nap. The talent show was so-so.

At 3:45 p.m., Bob met me in the Atrium where we listened to the CruiseNext team talk about Norwegian's new ships, itineraries, and destinations. We like cruises with Norwegian so much, we made a down payment on a future cruise.

Our dinner reservation at 5:30 p.m. is at Cagney's Steakhouse. We dressed up for dinner. Bob took a photo of me on our balcony. The white backdrop is the fog. 

Cagney's Steakhouse was delightful. Our service was impeccable and the food was excellent. We are so happy we bought the specialty restaurant upgrade. They were not stingy with what we could order from the menu. Included were an appetizer, salad or soup, entree, and dessert. I chose petite filet mignon for my entree and Bob had Oysters Rockefeller for his appetizer and scallops as his entree. My filet was cooked to perfection. Mmm!

Immediately after dinner, our walking group went to see "Jersey Boys," the big musical production on the ship. The story explains the origin of the music and the inside story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The performances were very good, although I had trouble hearing some of the dialogue and couldn't distinguish words in the songs clearly. That caused a problem because song lyrics tell most of the story. I got the gist of it, though, and Bob filled me in on the rest afterward. Because the show was right after dinner, my eyes closed a few times during the performance.

Next, we had a dessert from the buffet and then headed to The Cavern Club to watch Britain's Finest: Abbey Road. This was our go-to band for the entire cruise. I think we saw them perform five times. Every time we went I was singing along! Tonight, however, in addition to playing the biggest hits, they also showcased songs never performed live by the original Beatles. Very fun.

That's it for our day at sea. Never a dull moment.

Tomorrow: Victoria, British Columbia in the evening.