There was certainly motion to the ocean overnight and this morning. Fortunately we were only sailing at 10 knots or 11 miles per hour because Yokohama and Osaka are relatively close to one another. We attended the first of the new interdenominational services, and this one was led by Rev Barry White from Florida. Because this is Easter week, we'll have a service on Friday night as well as Easter Sunday. Afterwards we watched a presentation on shore excursions by the Shore Excursions manager and the Location Guide.
The Cruise Critic meet and greet was scheduled for 11am which was very unfortunate as it conflicted with the major morning lecture on Japan by Dr. Kam. It was well attended; however, it would have been better to have introduced those of us who organized tours (4-5 of us) so we could more easily connect with our participants. I was, however, able to connect with most of my fellow travelers who are on my tours. Also seasickness plagued a few attendees.
At lunch we enjoyed great conversation about cruising and other related topics with a couple fellow travelers. Then Jeremy gave his port presentation on Osaka which was quite informative and confidence building.
What a difference a day makes! We were able to finally walk outside on the Promenade deck (#3) and logged 3.5 miles. The wind died down, the seas calmed down, it was sunny and I wore a t-shirt. No wildlife was spotted but we saw lots of marine traffic on this route along the eastern Japanese coast. We also elected to skip the formal dinner in the main dining room and eat in the Lido. The Captain was there to eat and we had a brief conversation about our mutual interest in riding a motorcycle in Europe. He has the same model motorcycle as I do (a BMW R1200GS).
After dinner we attended Phil's repeat lecture on Manga and it turned out to be quite different than the previous presentation and was quite good. From there we went to the Captain's toast in the main showroom.
It's worth noting that like the prior segment's toast, none of the senior officers were introduced. I see that as a community communications shortcoming as we are all curious about knowing who runs the various ship's departments. I, for one, don't view a cruise as just a floating hotel. It's the whole sailing experience. Certainly we know who the Captain, Cruise Director, and the entertainment staff are, but it would be nice to see who the staff captain and chief engineer are, among others. I've noted a number of other changes which I'll comment on later. Some are just changes, and some are negatives in my opinion.
The evening's entertainment was the cast performing 'Atlantic Crossing' a show focused on the invasion of British music in America. While we've seen this about a dozen times, we still enjoy watching it.
The rest of the evening we spent reading. I started a new book on George Washington's life between the time of his resignation as General and his election as president 6 years later. The first 3 chapters are really good!
Tomorrow we have a overview tour of Osaka with a Cruise Critic group and plan to visit a Manga store afterwards.
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