Rietkerks in Germany: Cruise Day 2

August 8 Day at Sea, Kiel to Stockholm
We returned to the ship in fine form after our day of sightseeing in Kiel and got dressed for dinner. We had 2 tables in the L'Hibiscus dining room, a table of 8 and a table of 4. This proved a bit of a challenge because we had 7 adults and 5 children. We decided to rotate who sat at the "little table" with Tim drawing the lucky spot for night number 1. Our servers, Adriana and Lucas, kept us entertained with incredible food and magic tricks throughout the evening. Since MSC is an Italian-owned ship, each evening featured dishes from different regions through Italy. I have to admit, they all started to taste somewhat the same by day 4 but we still enjoyed the opportunity to choose from the menu up to 6 courses, with dessert always being a highlight.
Our day at sea was absolutely perfect. Lots of sunshine (even on the Baltic Sea), warm temps, refreshing pools and a rousing game of mini-golf on the top deck. Will and Troy spent hours preparing an "Olympic games" competition for our time on the cruise which was great fun until we discovered that supplies for events (like ping pong and suffleboard) were a bit limited. Not to fear...as the sun began to set, all of us were a bit weary from the day's tiring schedule of sunbathing and drinking tropical drinks. Following dinner each night, the entertainment crew put on a gala spectacular in the ship's theater. It reminded me a bit of Vegas, a little opera, death-defying acrobatics and even an appearance by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson.