January 8th, 2024

Our last sea day before Los Angeles. About 400 people who were just on the the Panama Canal crossing will get off in the am and we assume that many will get on for the world cruise. It has been getting colder outside and the high today was 60. It has been too chilly to sit on the balcony like we normally do on sea days. Last night was very rough. The Captain warned us on the noon report that the wind was picking up and it would get very rough and he was not kidding. We ended up taking some medication and going to bed. It was still rough when we woke up but not as bumpy, just lots of swells.

Several of our Mah Jongg players are getting off tomorrow but we are sure we will pick up more. The daily, which is the paper we get in our room every night about what is happening the next day, has Mah Jongg from 9am to 3pm in the Italian restaurant. Our group decided 9 was too early so we all show up at 10 and play until noon. There is another group that plays at 1pm. A few beginners have been playing in both so they can learn.

We are hoping that they pick up some supplies ion Los Angeles as we have run out of a lot of things. Splenda has disappeared from the ship. Kathy has searched high and low for it but it cannot be found. It may be added to our shopping list in LA. Also they ran out of lemons so if you ask for ice tea with lemon they bring you sliced limes. Bananas have disappeared and we never had blue cheese. We will see what happens.

The Captain also said that we would anchor off LA at 10:30 pm so that we could send divers down to examine the hull. They want to make sure there is no algae growth on the hull that might prevent the ship from being able to dock in New Zealand or Australia. We are unsure if it is our crew that will do the diving or if someone from LA is coming out to do it. I cannot imagine diving at night, in the Pacific, under a huge crew ship. Does not sound like fun.

In LA everyone has to get off the boat for immigration by 9:30am so we have signed up for a bus ride to Santa Monica pier. They will drop us off and give us a map of the area and then pick us up a few hours later. They also have a shuttle going into Long Beach from the port so we may do that when we get back from Santa Monica pier. We figure there won’t be much shopping at the pier but hoping for a nice seafood lunch.

Sunset and you can see some of the swells. This was from deck 8

Since we showed you pictures of the room we thought we would show you the bathroom. There is plenty of storage with shelves on both sides of the sink and a nice walk in shower. The best thing is that it is cleaned twice a day!