... to the Captain's Dinner ...

... and the Black and Silver Ball. We were invited to the Captain's cocktail reception, followed by dinner in the Pinnacle Restaurant, the upgraded restaurant on the ship. When we got there, we found that we were seated at the Captain's table - and I was seated next to the Captain! One of the big topics of conversation was the Costa cruise disaster in Italy; very sad, and sounds as though it should have been dealt with differently. Our Captain, who is British, was quite horrified by the entire incident. Earlier in his career, a freighter on which he was the Third Officer caught fire, and through a series of poor decisions (the Captain refusing to call for help - until after the radio had melted, etc.), all aboard were forced to abandon ship in three life rafts. They floated for nearly three days before being rescued by a passing freighter which was fortunately a little off course. The ship burned totally, but never sank, and was retrieved by the freighter company, the hull used as the basis for a new ship, and our Captain actually sailed aboard the restored ship as a Captain years later! He's a British Captain, now living in Florida, and a very jovial guy. The dinner was magnificent, the accompanying wines superb. The after-dinner entertainment was the Ball. The floor was covered with confetti, which we were told would turn up weeks from now in unexpected places...

Today we have a quiet day at sea; we've been invited for cocktails by friends in one of the two penthouse suites, followed by dinner in the Pinnacle restaurant. Good thing we swam for a few hours, and then went through our weight-training program in the gym...