Our third day at sea found the Amsterdam 850 miles away from Easter Island, with light winds, and highs of 68 degrees. According to Captain Jonathan, we are experiencing two swells of six feet, one from the east and the other from the west. It has calmed down a lot since yesterday, for which, we are glad. But the most interesting comments at his afternoon talk, were about the internet, or should we say, the lack of the internet. Going online at 7am, we were able to connect, but after 8am, the system was down, for the most part, all day long. The Captain remarked that we are all in the same boat as far as the internet service was concerned. He claimed it has been the fault of the provider, Speed Cast, and it has been reported to Seattle repeatedly for weeks now. Inefficient service is putting it lightly, and we think everyone is up in arms over this. Especially the crew, who cannot connect with families at home. The best thing we can do is turn the computer off, and wait it out. At this point, it may take a miracle to get it to work normally.
And on the lighter side, Happy Valentine's Day to all. After breakfast and our 2 mile walk, we came back to the room to find a single red rose, two heart-shaped boxes of Seattle's Best truffles, and a nice Valentine's Day card from the Captain and his staff and crew. We also had a cute old-fashioned Valentine card from our hosts Luisa and Gene. Nice touch. We had wondered why we have not gotten the truffles on gala evenings recently, and now we know they have saved them for our gifts today.
Everywhere we went on the ship, we saw red. Red heart cascading mobiles in the dining room and Lido, red lights in the dining room and Lido for special effects, and red and silver covers on the dining room chairs. For sure, the wait staff will be wearing red vests and ties at dinner tonight.
We witnessed the funniest thing we have seen in a while. Sitting in the atrium on deck five, and also behind the backdrop for the photo sessions, we watched the two florists proceed to tear apart the Valentine's decorations across from the front desk. This was during the dinner hours. Partially blocking the way to the Pinnacle Grill, they took all of the red and white branches and put them in florist boxes. The red hearts and yarn balls were next, then they tediously wound the strands of vines up to store for the next time. They were just taking out the foam in the vases, when Henk, the hotel director, came by and must have asked what they were doing. It was still Valentine's Day, and they were taking down the decorations? Well, the moment he walked away, they systematically put the vases back together. It had taken them 45 minutes to dismantle them, and 10 minutes to put them back. The rolled vines stayed rolled. The few flowers that had been here and there were already dumped, so the props were the only things in the vases. Now we realized how much we miss our buddies Eddy and Calista. For one thing, Eddy would have put the vases on a cart, and taken them down to his area. Then he would bring new ones on the cart, and put them in place. They would never do their magic with the arrangements in public, let alone block the aisle during dinner time. Oh well, nothing stays the same forever, does it?
A few lectures did take place today with the EXC group and the Polynesian Ambassador. Guess Kainoa is the speaker on this cruise. The same group of Tahitian gals and guys that were on the Tales of the South Pacific have returned here to the Grand World Voyage. During that trip, they mixed with the passengers and had a whole lot of fun, especially at the pools. Not sure this group is quite the same as that group.
At 1:15pm, there was a Chocolate Surprise for Valentine's Day. Instead of having the chocolate treats after dinner, they decided to do this after lunch instead. Probably a better idea, since most folks are totally full after dinner, and do not consume large quantities of chocolate. The little chocolate snacks were served on deck 5, 8, and the Crow's Nest. Barb said they also came into the dining room to pass the sweets around the tables. Bet some of this also appeared at the Valentine's afternoon tea at 3pm.
So dinner was gala, of course, and most all of the guests wore something red. From what we saw, many more people dressed for the occasion this evening. At least, all of our tablemates looked fantastic. The entrees that were most popular were the rack of lamb, tenderloin, and sea bass dishes. There was no caviar, much to Barb's disappointment, but there were some different substitutes. The best was the dessert of lemon cheesecake with a few blueberries on the side. Not sure if this was homemade or frozen. And being that it was so good, we did not ask.
The party continued for those who could stay up later than 9pm. Actually that was the joke Hamish used yesterday at the beginning of the show. Seems that most folks tend to turn in very early here, and the later night parties have been kind of low key. Two time slots were listed for the Crow's Nest…one at 9 and another at 10pm. Also, the show in the Mainstage was a performance by the singers and dancers with "Amour". And yes, we saw it last fall.
Good news: the clocks went back one hour, as we are sailing due west.
Bill & Mary Ann
Monday, February 17, 2020
Report #100 Day at Sea February 14, 2020 Friday Partly sunny & 64 degrees
