"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #24 Sailing Towards Hilo, Hawaii January 23, 2017 Monday Partly cloudy & 72 degrees 15 Pictures

Day four at sea found us still rolling with the swells, although not quite as bad as yesterday. The chill in the breeze is about gone as we near the Hawaiian Islands. The skies have remained mostly cloudy, with a few breaks of sun shining through the morning. We feel it necessary to keep outside and breathe some fresh air, since more and more folks we know are coming down with the Amsterdam cold. Happens every year, so it should not come as a surprise.

Turned out to be a good afternoon to relax in the dining room for a pleasant lunch. They offer a different type of burger every day in here, along with other good entrees. However, they will customize the burgers with your preference of cheese, or fried onions, lettuce and tomatoes. The fries that are served on the side are always hot and crispy. So far, we have yet to try the Dive In Grill, mostly because of the long wait, and we really don't care for the double-dipped fries…..a bit on the greasy side for us.

In between walks, we watched a couple of good movies. Sometimes, we don't remember the titles, so a quarter way through them, we realize we saw it. If they are good, we watch them again. The same thing happens with books. The library onboard is still well-stocked, even though so many folks read their tablets these days. We still like the real book.

Sitting on the outside of the Ocean Bar around 4pm, we end up seeing more people we know, mostly on their way to early-seating dinner at 5pm. Seems that the dinner times can put folks on a different daily pattern. For that reason, we have not spotted some people we know since we left Florida, three weeks ago. We learned a bit more today from cruise buddies that are very up on cruise news. Discussing the recent deletions of decorations in the dining room on gala evenings, we learned that new rules for the crew prevent them from using machinery to hang the over-sized ornaments and draperies from the center atrium. It is a safety issue. That does make sense now. Minimal decorations that can be hung within arm's length are still used, but not often.

Safety is also responsible for the barrel-type BBQ's to be banned from the outside decks for luaus for instance. According to the dining room manager, we will still have deck BBQ's and Mongolian Cookouts, but the food will be served from the Lido. We do have a luau coming up in Honolulu, so we will report what we see that day.

Perhaps, towards the end of this cruise, we can post the full list of changes (good or not) we have noticed, and the response to these changes. By then, we can put them in categories of ones that are done fleetwide permanently, and those that are still being considered for the future world cruises.

Our biggest job was taking our passports to the front desk for collection. Seems that officials in Majuro, a future stop, need to clear us. Normally, our passports are kept in the office, not in our possession. For the times we need a face-to-face inspection, we do pick them up, and proceed to the customs check. And usually at that time, the passports are collected again. One exception is Singapore, where we are required to carry them with us during the time we are there.

In response to a few questions, we'll take the time to answer them the best we can. If you contact ship services before a cruise, you can request a tower fan for your room. That also works if you need a small refrigerator for meds or whatever.

While gone, our very nice kids watch over our house. Any household bill that can be automatically paid has been in place for as long as we have been retired. Some things need to be paid in advance (taxes, for instance). Once done, you can forget about it. Outstanding bills are paid by our kids who monitor the mail monthly. We are spoiled, and we appreciate it, thanks to Bill and Ken, our sons.

We have not noticed that the price on the world cruise have gone up significantly over the last few years, but then, we can only base that on the category we have, which is E. The biggest hit that we can remember was when the airfare was no longer included in the price. That happened in 2010, we believe. The price remained the same, or a bit higher.

As for wear and tear on the Amsterdam, we really think a huge effort is being implemented in keeping her shipshape. Yes, some carpeting needs replacing here and there, but the last couple of drydockings have restored and remodeled the public areas. The lower promenade deck has had lots of work done, especially the ceiling. The slats that hid the overhead piping have been removed, and the insulation has been replaced and painted white. So much better.

We have been told that the future drydocking will deal with more upgrades on decks six and seven. New flatscreen TV's and remodeled bathrooms will be done. The outside cabins will not be touched. So the "more you pay, the more you sway" rooms will be much nicer.

We inquired with the future cruise consultants about the 2018 Grand Asia/Pacific cruise, but the itinerary has not been announced yet. The new booklet does not go beyond April of 2018.

Dinnertime found all but Martha back. She attended the James Bond Dinner in the Pinnacle. We will surely hear all about it tomorrow. We ordered soup and the entrée salad, which was tataki , sliced rare steak on a bed of lettuce. If you really put your mind to it, you can eat healthy on the ship. We have done very well so far, keeping meals lighter, and enjoying all of the fresh fruit and vegetables that are available at every meal. Now tomorrow may be an exception, since we have a special-ordered birthday cake coming to the table………….

Bill & Mary Ann

The sunflowers are growing just fine