Today began much the same as yesterday as we sail towards St. Maarten. Heavy clouds stayed with us most of the day as did some showers. The sun did peak out during the afternoon, and with it came a most pretty rainbow.
Due to the time change last night, many folks arrived near closing time for the Club Orange breakfast. We could tell that the manager, Wayan, was getting very busy as was his staff. We could also sense that Wayan was not feeling well. There was a very good reason for that……he just got "boosted" yesterday, and was experiencing muscle aches, joint pains, a headache, and chills. Not to mention the sore arm. We told him that we had the same reaction when we got our shots last October. Perhaps that means the vaccine is doing its job better. It took a week for our symptoms to subside, and we told Wayan to hang in there. From what we understand, he does not have the option to kick back and take it easy.
Many activities took place all day, the biggest being shopping. We did go to the aft pool for a bit to get some sun. Still too cool for swimming, we did listen to the Music Trivia game played there. Hate to say it, but most of the songs were not familiar to us. The prize for the winning group was a double serving of ice cream in the Lido dessert section. Guess there are no prizes given anymore. Or perhaps, that only happened on Grand Voyages. Many years ago, we collected "dam dollars" for a variety of games or even walking a mile. At that time, we earned enough to trade for really nice sweatshirts. Those dollars are a thing of the past now.
After a Dutch Café lunch, we watched a movie with good actors….Nicole Kidman, Jason Bateman, and Christopher Walken. It was called The Family Fang, but really was a sleeper in our opinion. Good thing there is a very large collection of movies, and we will find more that are better.
If we have not mentioned this already, we need to compliment the laundry service here on the ship. For the most part, it has been the same day turn around service. And many days, the basket comes with a personalized note thanking us for using them. Nice touch.
Tonight was the first gala of this cruise, beginning with the Captain's welcome in the World Stage at 7:15pm. Barb attended and said the room was full of guests. The Captain's speech was only 15 minutes, then the one and only show of Cantere' Presents: Timeless began at 7:30pm. Prior to the virus interrupting things, there were two shows….one at 7:30pm and the next one at 9:30pm. Now we miss it since our dinner time is 8pm. And to make things worse, the entire BB King's All Stars are now in quarantine. We believe the two dueling pianists are still playing, but the Lincoln Center group are down to two people. We did find out that the Rock & Roll group are being quarantined on the ship. They were not sent home. We questioned Presty as to why this group of entertainers are free to leave the ship in ports, and the crew is not allowed. He said they are under a different contract, and cannot be made to stay onboard.
And we could have sworn that there was a passenger at Lincoln Center Stage doing a comedy routine. He had a full audience too. We could be wrong, but he was reading his jokes from a piece of paper. Oh well, guess this cruise is a unique experience. It is still better being at sea, than freezing at home, as most of the Canadians are saying.
For starters, we all had the shrimp cocktail, and Barb added a seafood cocktail also. She loves escargots, so she ordered a plate of those. Two of us had rack of lamb, sauces and gravies on the side, and one of us had the stuffed ricotta pasta dish. We have learned that if you like your ice cream frozen hard, you have to wait and order it after your main meal.
Tomorrow we will be in St. Maarten, but we are not sure if we will be able to go off on our own. Betty Ann announced today that only certified tour operators will be able to escort folks on excursions. Of course, that includes all of the HAL tours. We shall see……….
Bill & Mary Ann
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Report #28 Day at Sea Friday - January 14, 2022 Mostly cloudy & showers 78 degrees
