Ode to Italia cruise – day 4 (Capri Naples Call cancelled)

Friday, April 22, 2022

Last night, an announcement was made that we wouldn’t be able to call on Capri because of inclement weather and that we’d be sailing to Naples instead.

Approaching Naples this morning it was announced that there were dangerous swells and high winds that precluded us from being able to take tender boats to shore and that today’s port call was being canceled and we’d forge on with an unplanned day at sea.

The ship’s cruise director and his team scrambled to add extra activities to today’s schedule, and Seth’s team added activities for us today, too.

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From 2:00-3:00, we participated in Seth’s recording of his Sirius XM On Broadway radio show, which consisted of him recording short stories between 8 songs about either the song that just finished or the one coming up next. Sometimes he plays a few measures of songs as part of his stories.

He wanted to tell one story about Andrea McArdle and asked who was on his last cruise on which Andrea performed. We raised our hands, and he called Bob up to ask him a question on the air. And Bob answered beautifully. We don’t have Sirius XM, so we’re not sure how it works, but he said it was airing on 04/22 from 3-9 p.m.

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On each of Seth’s cruises, he chooses a huge Broadway production number that includes a chorus, and he teaches the parts to everyone in the group who wants to sing it. Then, on the last night of the cruise, one of the Broadway stars sings the song, and everyone joins them on the stage to be in the chorus.

And, in the Before Times, each person in the group could invite 4 people they met during the week on the ship, but who aren’t part of our group, to come to the final show, but they’re not doing that this time due to the COVID “situation.”

So at 3:00, we had our first rehearsal for this cruise’s number, which was (Ya Got) Trouble from The Music Man. One of the stars on this trip, Jason Graae, is going to sing it and our group will be the chorus.

After handing out the music, Seth asked everyone who wanted to sing to move into their desired sections—soprano, alto, tenor, or bass—and he taught each part, after which we rehearsed it all together.

Then, we did it once with Jason singing the lead part:

Such fun!

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If you cruise, you’ll know this is very unusual. We called room service to have bourbon and club soda brought to the room and this is what was delivered:

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This ship has 3 “high-end” restaurants that you can eat at once during the cruise, and we ate at the first of them tonight. It’s called Prime 7 and described as: From perfectly aged, prime New York strip, porterhouse, and succulent filet mignon to smoked salmon with a phenomenal tamarind-whiskey sauce, Prime 7 elevates classic American fare to new heights.

Our charger plate

Pretzel bread with sea salt butter

Other breads

A spicy tomato soup (compliments of the chef)

Apparently, I got so excited about the bread that I didn’t photograph our “Iceberg wedges”: Crisp applewood smoked bacon, hardboiled egg, fresh chives, buttermilk dressing.

We both had the “Surf & Turf” filet mignon and lobster tail with drawn butter

After our server removed the lobster tail from the shell for us, and with my twice-baked potato

Cherry-topped fudge brownies (literally) on the dessert menu

Caramel Popcorn Sundae (side view)

Caramel Popcorn Sundae (top view)

Bob had chocolate ice cream for dessert, but we apparently failed to photograph that, too. Did it really happen?

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The ship’s show tonight in the Constellation Theater was Seth with Jason Graae and Faith Prince.