Subject: Report # 120 Sailing Towards Ft. Lauderdale, Florida April 29, 2016 Friday Partly cloudy & 78 degrees
The last full day at sea found the day beginning on a positive note……………..blue skies, smooth seas, and warm temperatures. Almost like it had been scripted that way. Ending everything on a happy note.
At breakfast, our head waiter Pande came by, almost dancing. Can't blame him as he will be on his way home to Bali tomorrow evening, his 10 month contract ending. He will join the Volendam later this summer, and he will be sorely missed here.
Last minute sales are being advertised, because once the ship is docked in Ft. Lauderdale, everything closes. So if you need those last minute photos, or a fabulous and expensive diamond necklace or watch, or perhaps some art that you cannot live without. The Signature Shops are selling some items up to 75% off (key words "up to"). What we know from experience, is that some of the 2016 World Cruise logo items will be sold for 75% off after we leave Florida. The Casino will be closing tonight, so there is a Texas Hold'em tournament at 2:30pm for those who would like to try to make up for any loses while onboard. Our suggestion: give up while you are ahead. Should be interesting to see how full this casino is on the next voyage. We remember it busting-from-the-seams full. Lots of smokers too, which is still allowed if you are actively gambling.
A good idea that is available is a 15 or 30 minute internet package for $8.25 or $12 for last minute communications with transfers and flight updates and the chance to print your boarding passes using their kiosks. Great idea for those who have run out of internet minutes. On past cruises, leaving the ship from Ft. Lauderdale with the majority of folks debarking, it has been a nightmare. The amount of luggage that has to be claimed and lugged through customs and immigrations is massive. We remember the days when we had booked a veranda and had free shipping. We brought 22 bags with us, not all huge sizes, but still way too much stuff. We ended up going back with 24 with all the gifts we had received back then.
After breakfast this morning, we joined the crowd that was On Deck for a Cause, the non-competitive 5k fundraising walk. Or whatever you are capable of walking, even if it is once around the deck. In fact, one can contribute the $20, receive a t-shirt and wristband (valued at $4), and not walk at all. This walk is no longer directed towards one cancer organization, but to several worldwide. We cannot remember for sure, but this event may be a one-time event on this 115 day cruise.
The hallways continued to fill up with luggage as the day commenced. And it was being cleared as it was being put out. It had not been announced that you could put out the baggage early, but the latest time for it to be put out was 1am. It was nice to see that the luggage is now loaded on special hand trucks to take down the elevators. And for those who might like to know, a digital scale was made available outside the Housekeeping office to weigh luggage to be flown. As long as the ship was not moving a lot, the scale would be fairly close to correct. As we are not leaving yet, we did not receive the debarking info, but did find a video on channel 26 with the complete instructions. And for the first time we can remember, there was no farewell disembarkation talk in the Queens Lounge. Things are changing, that's for sure.
Even at lunch, we found changes. We joined with Aart and Ellen, Barb and Maureen at a table for six in the dining room. Lunches in here have been a pleasure. The changes, however, were with the tableware. The plates with our entrees and soups were different. Plain white dishes with no design or color, and no HAL logo…..you know, the familiar old ship within a ship. We hate to see this tradition of the Dutch identity to be gone, but that seems to be the intent. Wonder if this is happening fleetwide? Now the problem we found with the larger soup bowls, was that our cheddar cheese soup was not hot. Not even close. The bowl had drained the heat right out of it. Barb and I sent them back, and they came back steaming hot, probably microwaved. Since the dinner plates are larger, our mini-sized hamburgers were lost in the middle of the plate. Gosh, we hate change.
Not too much was happening this afternoon as the ship prepares to end this voyage, and begin a new one starting tomorrow. Most of the daily activities ended yesterday, so we watched a room movie until 4pm. That's when we went for a promenade walk to get some fresh air and sun. The timing was just right, because while we were at the railing, a lone dolphin swam by, did an about face, and jumped out of the water to look at us. It was one of those rare moments when we were not sure we really saw that, because it happened so fast. Except for a handful of flying fish, that was the first wildlife we have seen since leaving Funchal.
At 5pm, we had an invite to the Wajang Theater with 38 of our fellow cruisers. We will all be sailing on to either San Diego, Vancouver, or Seattle. As we entered the room, we were offered a beverage of our choice. We had an exclusive presentation of the upcoming turn around call in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow. We all got the info concerning the mandatory US immigration inspection procedures. We will all need to take our passports, a filled out customs form, our room cards and ID when we debark the ship. Everyone needs to clear the ship, which should happen by 11am, more or less.
Barbara H gave a quick over-view of the upcoming Panama Canal re-positioning ports, and Nyron, the shore ex manager, told us a little about the tours that will be available. He promised that the new tour booklet would be delivered to our rooms this evening. In fact, they arrived before we left the theater. Many questions were asked, but the one we were interested in hearing was about the survey that we get online for this world cruise. We have always been expected to fill it out on our own time. Now Gene promise that each of us would be given 30 minutes of internet time to complete the surveys. That's a first. Anyway, we are now ready for tomorrow's procedures. As for us, we booked a tour which will leave the ship by 8:30am. All aboard will be 3pm, with a mandatory muster drill at 3:15pm. Sail away should be sometime after 4pm. That should be quite a turn-over in one day, and we'll be surprised if the ship leaves on time.
The one and only show this evening was at 7:15pm in the Queens Lounge. It was a farewell show featuring the Amsterdam bands. We heard from our tablemates that it was awesome. In fact it ran over-time, because three of our tablemates were late coming to dinner. With extra guests, our table turned into two tables with 13 people. Unfortunately, the company was excellent, but most all of the food was near cold. Yep, the plates seemed to be the culprit. Even our waiters could not figure that out. The entrees had come straight from the kitchen.
We all exchanged emails with Paul and Bonnie, who we hope return someday. We sure enjoyed them as tablemates. As most of us will be back on next year's world cruise, it was not too sad saying goodbye. It's just a matter of months before we will be back. The menu was titled International Dinner, with an assortment of entrees from different parts of the world. There were few really outstanding dinners. Also missing was the performance of the waiters singing a farewell on the staircase. Guess it does not work with open seating anymore. No more baked Alaska Parade, or the parade of the kitchen staff and waiters. Dinner did end on a good note with the serving of the cappucchino bomb, our favorite ice cream treat. Yep, doesn't take much to make us all happy.
For the rest of the cruise, 16 days, we will be moving upstairs to a table for two on the railing. Two couples we know well are there now, so we will not be alone. Will keep an eye out for differences we notice from a grand voyage to a regular cruise. We honestly don't remember a whole lot of differences, but who knows, this year may be different.
Bill & Mary Ann
