At Sea, November 11, 2014

Remembrance Day on board - 11:00 and the ship became very quite, an announcement was made and the ship's bells and horns blew, marking two minutes of silence. Many were gathered in the main show lounge for name reading and some speeches, including one from Captain Eversen. There are many veterans on board and I am sure they were all very impressed at how HAL honored them today.

Under beautiful sunny skies we float down the east coast of Australia, the seas were calm and the scenery was next to perfect. The cruise from Port Douglas through to almost Brisbane is reminiscent of cruising the Inside Passage, there are many channels and islands as we navigate for a good day offering amazing sights as we sail closely to many of the islands that dot this part of the coast. Next to the Inside passage this area is one of my favorites to cruise through.

After another amazing sunset we were in for a celebration tonight, Jeff's Half Birthday Party, yes Half. You see Margo and Harry missed Jeff's 65th Birthday and they will miss his next Birthday because they will not be on the World cruise do the Harry having hip surgery. So as to not totally miss the Birthday, Margo arranged for a Half Birthday Party (Jeff's Birthday is in April), with crackers, hats, presents, cake and all of Jeff's favorite food. Let's see, with a bulging eleven at our table we enjoyed, french fries, chicken wings, rice and really spicy, Bobbie Ketchup (a favorite Indonesia Pork Dish Jeff loves). A very fun night, lots of pictures and great cake - the same cake we had for our anniversary celebration earlier in the cruise. BTW - we gave Jeff the cool birthday glasses and the Australian T-shirt.

Bonus for us was returning to our room and finding a HAL Grand Gift tonight, special Grand Voyage Mugs from Tiffany's. Pretty nice, I don't think they will go in the dish washer.

Hope you enjoy our pictures of this fun sea day...