Tasmania to Tokyo – Busan, South Korea – Day 60 can be found here.
Today’s Chronicles can be found here.
As we approach the end of the cruise, the prospective of Leaving begins to loom larger and begins to impact more and more of our decisions. Should I wear these clothes when I’ll need to have them washed before Leaving? How many more times will we visit La Terrazza before Leaving? Can I take the half-full bottle of Flor de Cana rum with us when Leaving? You get the idea.
Some items on our list have officially been abandoned. I think it highly unlikely that I will be able to use our free passes to the thermal suite, for example, and our son has given up on the notion of having one more haircut before we leave the ship. Even the best cruise is a hundred great experiences, and a thousand missed ones.
Late wake-up this morning, then off to Arts Cafe for breakfast. Continued cajoling has resulted in a passable chai latte which are no longer served in plastic mugs.
The morning vanishes into a cloud of reading / writing / homework, plus travel admin as we attempt to plan our visit to Universal Studios Japan once we reach Osaka. We have registered for a VIP group tour, but even so there is a dazzling array of questions in terms of which attractions to visit, and when. I make a mental note to download the Japanese language pack for Google Translate – but there is a real risk that we are going to have to rely on the kindness of the staff.
While in Dolce Vita, there are no fewer than four different tables with their phones on speaker. There’s only so much glaring I can do, and I have no interest in being the phone police when there’s this many of them – so I’ve officially given up. Clearly we need to pick more of an oddball cruise next time around with fewer Complainy Pants.
After lunch, we squeeze in one more round of Dungeons and Dragons. During their dinner with the dread vampire Strahd Van Zarovich, an unknown vampiress had brought in a sleek-yet-haunted Irish wolfhound with haunted eyes. The party successfully recognized this as the werewolf Emil, the abducted partner of their fated ally Zuleika – who created a diversion that let them to recover the sun sword and escape Castle Ravenloft.
Zuleika, however, refuses to leave without Emil, and asks for the party’s help. Our kids agree, and Zuleika leads them to a servants’ entrance. Here they encounter a trio of Ravenloft’s black guards who they quickly defeat, but not before the guards call out for help.
The party then enters a bedchamber where they once more encounter the vampiress – Strahd’s bride, Anastrasya. They enter into combat – Zuleika draws first blood, but Anastrasya does massive amounts of damage, almost downing the werewolf in a single round. But – after a tough fight – the party defeat Anastrasya.
The party locates a hidden chamber leading to a dungeon where they find Emil, caged – only for the doors to slam shut and for Strahd to issue forth a riddle: “One prison has no bars, no key, no lock, no key, and still none may flee it. Name the jailer that men feed with every trembling breath, and only then may the captive go free.” Our daughter correctly names that jailer – “Fear.”
The party has successfully freed Emil, but now must escape Ravenloft – and Strahd himself.
While all of this is playing out in Dolce Vita, we learn that Nova and Moon will be crossing paths port-to-port. I dash out to snap a few photos:
We pass suprisingly close to one another!
Off to bingo – no winners amongst our crew, though our son got very close on almost every round.
Then on to trivia – we correctly identify what AM and PM stand for (ante meridian and post meridian) and the bird which eats with its head upside down (flamingo), but learn that 34 is the dialing code for Spain and that the third ingredient in a B52 shot is Grand Marnier. Our 19 out of 21 score is sufficient for second place.
Down to Atlantide for dinner tonight:
I start with shrimp tempura – with a lobster tail add-on:
And then lamb rogan josh for dinner:
We’re so full that we all skip dessert.
Then back to the room. Early to bed tonight – we arrive in Kochi early tomorrow, and will need to deal with the vagaries of Japanese immigration before departing on our Nakatsu waterfall hike. We’ve been told (repeatedly) to pack our patience for the required face-to-face interviews. Sounds ominous…