The morning began with a nice sunrise that Bill was able to capture. Lucky he is an early riser and we have the right exposure to capture it.
What a reception we got in Club Orange dining room this morning. Every person working there, from the manager, Wayan, the greeter, Jonah, who pitches in every day, Joyce, the lovely mimosa gal, to the waiters and cooks……all greeted us with a hearty "welcome back". We even got our special table back. Sure nice to have a hot breakfast that was not served in a cardboard box.
Then we had an appointment at 10am with the IT tech, because the internet was still not working in our room. Sitting at the table near the Front Desk, both Jonah and Janine stopped to chat. Both managers have been most helpful with our situation. We had brought the hotel statement and all of the receipts for our 10 day quarantine just in case we saw Janine. She made copies and said she will begin working on it. Also gave her our private insurance cards, which may help cover what HAL does not.
So the IT tech supposedly fixed the computer, but we soon discovered it still was not working in our room, as well as not functional on deck three. After playing phone tag, we finally scheduled an appointment with the same fellow at 3pm. This time he would come to our room.
Time to get some fresh air. We walked the promenade deck for at least one hour. There was no sign of birds, but there may have been some tiny flying fish. They are so fast, if you blink, you'll miss them.
Today we got a letter from the Captain outlining what tours will be available in the upcoming ports. Of course, all of the HAL excursions will be permitted, and in some places, local tours may be allowed. As for third party tours or exploring on our own, three islands were iffy. They are St. Lucia, Barbados, and Grenada. We'll have to wait and see what their rules will be when we get there. On our last visit to Barbados, the officials lifted the no exploring on our own ban around 10:30am.
The weather was quite cool today with winds at 7 on the Beaufort scale. The ship was rolling with the choppy seas, but we have been in much worse. Looking at the forecast in the upcoming days, we saw rain almost every day. Hope it holds off on port days.
We had a light lunch in the Lido, with just a salad, since we wanted to save ourselves for dinner tonight. It was the first gala evening, but we still have not been able to connect with all of our tablemates. If they choose to dine at 7pm, we still prefer the 8pm time. So we will probably do more specialty dining, with a few nights meeting with the group. It's not the same as being on the world cruise, where our group has assigned seating, with the same waiters for 128 days. Not happening here, not even for two months. We all have our quirks such as liking hot soup, sauces on the side, hot dinner, or no shellfish, etc. Then we have to start all over again.
After lunch, we spent some time on the veranda, where we did spot some active flying fish. It takes a lot of patience, but out of hundreds of photos, some good ones were achieved. The good camera is the only way to go.
Taking a walk at 5pm, we could see the Front Desk staff still bent over their desks working relentlessly on their computers. Since it was getting dark, the light from their computers lit up the back room, where we jokingly say they are hiding. Seems like their jobs are never-ending.
Dinner for us was in the Pinnacle Grill at 8pm. Expecting it to be full of guests, we were surprised to find it only half full at the most. Since this was the first gala evening, we suspect the restaurant was busier early at around 6 to 7pm. The service and the food could not have been better. Greeted by the friendly manager, we were served by a nice waiter who took our orders right away. Both of us had the wedge salad with the clothes line bacon put directly on the salad plate. We could live without the presentation, just give us the bacon. Cutting it in small bites, we enjoyed it on our delicious salads. Both of us had the lamb chops with a side order of a loaded baked potato. The chops were finger-licking good, although we would have liked to use our fingers, we refrained from doing it. At home? Yes, we sure would have picked up those bones. Desserts were one almost baked Alaska and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Glad we had kept lunch light, we enjoyed every bite.
And so went our first day at sea. Nice to be back.
Bill & Mary Ann
Friday, February 4, 2022
Report #48 Day at Sea Enroute To St. Maarten Thursday - February 3, 2022 Cool, Gale Force winds, & 68 degrees.....50 Pictures
