Day at Sea

We spent yesterday morning getting ready to get on the cruise. Ray bought housekeeping basics…I bought two pairs of shoes. I found a great pair of “tramping boots” (New Zealand for hiking boots) and a pair of exercise shoes – both of which are VERY comfortable. The shoes were a good deal – especially considering that the US dollar is worth about 25% more in New Zealand.
We had a lovely harbor-side lunch and then made our way to the ship. Check-in was remarkably easy compared with some of the other ships we’ve been on. Our room is bigger than on other ships – though that’s still not huge. What always amazes me about cruise ship staterooms is how well designed the storage is in them. They really know how to utilize every nook and cranny.
We did dinner in the “fancy” restaurant last night – it was good, but neither of us thought it was out of this world good. We were both kinda surprised they charged for it separately. The show last night was a Liza Minnelli impersonator – quite funny though I will admit to snoring part of them time being awakened by Ray laughing. We came back to find the pictured “towel dog” in our room – announcing the dog tag dance for tomorrow. It was a cute reminder of Babe.
Today is mostly a day at sea. We did do some scenic cruising past White Island, which is an active volcano. It was quite interesting to be able to get that close – you could certainly smell the sulfur. Tomorrow we arrive in Wellington, which is the capital of the country. The tour we wanted actually sold out like a day after it went on sale – so we’re going to do our own walking tour. We are actually arriving two or three hours early, so we’ll have plenty of time to explore with the guidebook we brought along.