We spent the day sailing through the Denmark Strait which was notable for the WWII Naval Battle between the British warships HMS Prince of Wales and HMS Hood and the German battleship Bismarck.  More about that event HERE

The guest lecturer, Dr Michael Douglas, has been very popular and his events have always been standing room only.  Since Holland America doesn’t choose to replay guest lectures on the ships TV, they decided to repeat each of his lectures so more people could attend.  I attended the encore edition of one of his lectures this morning.  

The Vocal group Cantaré was in the Rolling Stone Rock Room this afternoon at 3 pm.  They weren’t singing, but they opened the floor to questions about their backgrounds, interests, and a variety of other topics.  One of the nice features of cruising is a greater opportunity to meet the guest entertainers than you have in other performance venues.  

Hyperion Knight hosted a “Name That Tune” event in the Billboard Lounge at 4 pm this afternoon.  Unlike some other name that tunes, Hyperion’s was a complex series of questions about generally classical tunes that were popular in movies or outside the traditional classical music audience.  For example, certain Mozart songs are often played at weddings and Hyperion would play the song and ask people to identify the composer and the name of the song.  There were a total of 25 questions and one group of guests managed to get a perfect score.  We managed to get 8 correct answers.  

The Name That Tune event ended at 4:45 and we headed back to our cabin to get ready for the Tuxedo Junction as tonight is the second “dressy night” of the cruise.  I was surprised to see that the line for the MDR on the second floor stretched all the way back to Club Orange as people were lined up to get into the dining room at 5 pm.  I’m not sure if the line is that long every night or only tonight.  The menu for tonight’s dinner was OK, but nothing extraordinary.  There wasn’t any Surf & Turf which sometimes draws more of a crowd.  

Now that “Formal Night” became “Gala Night” and now “Dressy Night”, fewer and fewer people dress any differently on a dressy night than any other night.  To try and keep the formal tradition alive I created the “Tuxedo Junction” where people so inclined can gather for cocktails on dressy nights.  We had a small turnout tonight, but we still had a good time and plan to continue this tradition going forward.  If you are on board now, we will be in the Ocean Bar at 7 pm on “Dressy Nights”.  

Here is a copy of the “Dressy Night Menu”.  Most of the items are often found on daily menus on other nights but they grouped some of the best ones together for tonight’s menu.  There weren’t any decorations in the MDR or any other indication that tonight was anything special.  There are two more “Dressy Nights” on this cruise.  I suspect that the final one may have the more traditional Surf and Turf Menu.  

Christ Pendleton performed for the second time this evening.  The first 30 minutes of her show is a pure stand-up act.  She plays some humorous musical parody songs for the last 15 minutes.  

Back in our cabin, we found a large Peacock as a towel animal along with 2 chocolates.  These items have only appeared on Dressy Nights for us on this cruise.  I’m not sure what the fleet-wide policy is on towel animals and evening chocolates.  Other people have reported getting these items more frequently on other ships.