Our first day at sea with nothing to do. Yeah, right. Our day began with breakfast in the dining room, which began at 7:30am, not 8am as we are accustomed. The staff is so friendly once again, and we found another buddy, a head waiter, Mega, from the Amsterdam. He had gone home last April, at the end of the world cruise, then was deployed to the Eurodam three weeks ago. He greeted us with good news that our favorite dining room manager, Philip, may be going back to the Amsterdam after all. Hope that is true, since he has made the last two world cruises a most pleasant dining experience.
We had a list of questions for the guest service folks, so we headed that way to attempt doing some internet work while in the atrium. Hands down, so far this new internet service has been the worst ever. Perhaps it is where we are located (haven’t we heard that before?), or there are too many people using the system. Blah-blah-blah. So the helpful guest relations fellow attempted to send our file, and succeeded to send it four times, sorry about that. Last year, the internet worked with minutes, now it is by packages, unless you have a freebie perk, which gives you minutes that are converted to gigabytes. Confusing? Yes, but who cares if it works better? So far, it is our humble opinion that it is not better. Maybe tomorrow, when we are in Juneau, it will be a different story……we will let you all know.
For those who may want to know, you can still get meclizine tablets, complimentary, at the front desk. Also, we requested a newspaper be delivered to our room in the morning. Not a problem. Nothing in the way of gifted shipboard credit is cashable, as some of it was in the past. Spend it, or lose it. Been there done that. Learned our lesson. Lastly, our account will carry over from this cruise to the next on to Hawaii.
The Canadian declaration cards were given out for all to fill out for Victoria’s visit on Friday. A detailed description was included with the card, so filling it out was a breeze. For those going home on Saturday, the disembarkation options were also given to all. Port Valet is offered in Seattle, where you put your luggage out on Friday evening, and it will be delivered to the airport, and end up at your destination city. There was no charge for this service, only the airline baggage fees. It is a wonderful service, which we have used many times in the past. If your bags happen to be a little over-weight, you are not charged extra. As for us, we will be in-transit, and do not have to worry about this until October 17th. And so ends our work for the day.
Time for lunch in the dining room. Soup, salad, and two mini burgers were just enough. Dessert? No thanks. We figured we would attend the complimentary wine tasting, and indulge with the cheese and fruit plate. So at 2pm, we joined the small group, and happened to take two seats next to our buddies, Johnny and Yvonne. What luck. We sipped and savored the two white selections, but did not care for the reds. Actually, we never drink wine, but do enjoy the presentations, good cheese, and fruit samplings. Wines promoted today were Danzante Pinot Grigio from Italy, Dreaming Tree Chardonay from California (our favorite), Frescobaldi Castiglioni Chianti from Italy, and Cuarto Domino Lote 44 Malbac from Argentina. The malbac was the favorite of most folks.
Time for a quick walk of over a mile on deck three in order to stay awake. It was windy, cool, but still pleasant. You could count the walkers on one hand. It takes three rotations to equal a mile, and most folks were doing about one time around. The shops are on this deck, and that’s where we found most everyone…..in the stores. Looked like bargain basement bonanza with all of their sales. We suppose it is the end of the Alaska run, and they are trying to clear out their stockpile. Tickets were being handed out for a drawing, and the line was really long. Great way to get people into their shops.
Other things to keep people busy included purchases in the photo shop. Something was different about the layout, but it wasn’t until dinnertime that we discovered why. The Eurodam must have gone into dry dock and had some re-modeling done since last September. So a crafting corner has been added, as well as computer shopping for photos. Package deals are available too. During a further conversation with a familiar photo gal, we learned that the Navigator phone option also has possibilities for purchases packages. This department has really been modernized….a much needed change.
Other apparent upgrades we saw were the removal of a glass staircase in the atrium. We always thought it was an accident waiting to happen anyway. And on deck one in the same atrium, a mini bar was removed, replaced with tables and chairs. The future cruise consultant has a different location, and it is where the shore excursion desk used to be. A very congested area, now the shore ex is located in the Crow’s Nest, we think. New carpeting throughout the ship has the added ship direction pointing forward. Hard to get too lost.
We enjoyed catching up on another series in the Game of Thrones on our stateroom interactive TV. Such as improvement from the old-fashioned TV’s on the Amsterdam. Dinnertime was formal, oh excuse us…..gala. Most everyone dressed the part – the men in suits or tuxes, and the ladies in sparkles. There were a few hidden t-shirts under a jacket, and yes, we did spot a couple of men with baseball caps. No one was turned away that we saw. We had soup, salad, shrimp cocktail, and mains of rack of lamb with a baked potato. Deciding to pass on dessert, we relented and shared a slice of lemon meringue cheesecake. Good choice…..really tasty.
Since we are at a table for two, there is no waiting between courses, so our meal moved along quickly. We certainly miss our buddy, Barb, but she would agree getting out after 10pm some nights was a bit much. Taking a walk outside was not a good idea. In fact, it was so windy and slightly rough that the outside doors on deck three were roped off. Strolling through the shops was a better idea, then off to our room to catch one of the nature series. We love this TV format with so many choices.
And better news, the clocks went back one hour tonight as we get closer to Juneau. Works for us and the crew also.
Tomorrow we will be in Juneau around 1pm, and away from the rolling seas we hope.
Bill & Mary Ann
