A day at sea was most welcomed this morning. The Pinnacle Grill was not crowded, and we think the reason for that was the time change of going ahead one hour. At the entrance to the Dining Room at 8:45am, there was a line heading down the hallway with guests waiting to be seated. We have truly been spoiled with breakfast in the smaller Pinnacle Grill. No waiting for anything. After we finished our meal, we gave the manager a list of dates for this venue and one for the Canaletto for next week.
At 10:30am, we were invited to another Mariner Recognition Event which was held in the tucked away Gallery Bar on deck two. Gone are the days when a much larger group of high day Mariners were invited to attend. In total, we counted about 12 guests, including us. Wine, champagne? or mimosas were offered, along with two trays of hors’deuvres and jars of “formal” nuts, as we loved to call them. Of course we declined having just finished breakfast. The Captain had a few minutes to chat with us, sharing the news that the Zuiderdam will be undergoing a dry docking for 14 days in December at the cost of 10 million dollars. He has heard that a library may be added, but no Grand Dutch Café as we had hoped. The rest of the refit would be behind the scenes. We did have a quick discussion with Henk concerning the amended itinerary for the upcoming Tales of the South Pacific. We informed him that we had received a copy of the original itinerary on our computer just this morning. Nothing had changed. He said he was going to get to the bottom of this snafu, since the revised itinerary had been out for several days now.
Ian, the Cruise and Travel Director, announced a couple of medal awardees who came forward for a photo with Henk and Captain Friso. Then the rest of us were acknowledged according to our medal level. One fellow was sitting alone, away from the group, and Ian failed to mention him. He corrected his mistake and invited him up for a photo, asking where his wife was. His answer was she was not feeling well. Someone in the group remarked they hoped it wasn’t Covid. With that comment, the man nodded that it was.
After the event was over, Ian came over and we talked about the pandemic mess of March 2020, and where we all had been stuck when the ships ceased operations. At that time, he was on the Volendam’s Grand South America cruise, but was not allowed to debark due to the fact he was British. He ended up on a Princess ship which was headed to Europe and England. Under the circumstances, he praised the Princess team for doing a great job getting him home.
Taking a walk on the Promenade deck, we saw many people with cameras and binoculars looking for whales, they said. Way out in the distance, we did see many blows, but did not see any diving whales. At least we saw some. We were told we may see some orcas around 5pm when naturalist, Kainoa, has a wildlife spotting session at the Sea View Pool.
When we went back to our room, we had two Delft tiles left for us on the bed. Another end to a 7 day run.
It was a room service lunch for us with salads and sandwiches at 2pm. The complimentary 8 x 10 photos we had taken in the Mariner Event was delivered to our room by 4pm. The rest of the afternoon was spent working on the computer as well as relaxing on our veranda. The further south we traveled, the nicer it got. It had warmed up to 57 degrees with a slight breeze. The skies remained blue for the most part, so the sailing into Queen Charlotte Strait was beautiful. We never did see those orcas like we did last week, but the scenery sailing between the islands of the Inside Passage was rewarding. Following closely behind us was the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, and way far behind was the Celebrity Eclipse, we believe.
Dinner was in the Canaletto tonight. Andre greeted us and gave us a nice table for two. For starters, we ordered salads and a shared bowl of veal meatballs with freshly-grated parmesan cheese. One of us had the lasagna and the other the special of the day……short ribs. Not particularly fond of the sides, he added a baked potato, and assumed the toppings would come with it. The butter and sour cream did not come with it, and by the time they brought it, we were about finished. Oh well, we will need to remember to order it all at once. Our waitress felt bad, but we said it was fine. We had saved a little room for desserts of gelato, one with espresso and chocolate shavings. I ordered the cappuccino like I had last night with almond milk. It was better than dessert.
Yesterday, we got the letter describing what we do in Vancouver tomorrow with the zero clearance and debarking. We will need to leave the ship around 9:30am, and be back before 2:30pm. Looks like the weather will be even nicer than last week, if that is possible for the first day of autumn.
Bill & Mary Ann
33 Pictures
At 10:30am, we were invited to another Mariner Recognition Event which was held in the tucked away Gallery Bar on deck two. Gone are the days when a much larger group of high day Mariners were invited to attend. In total, we counted about 12 guests, including us. Wine, champagne? or mimosas were offered, along with two trays of hors’deuvres and jars of “formal” nuts, as we loved to call them. Of course we declined having just finished breakfast. The Captain had a few minutes to chat with us, sharing the news that the Zuiderdam will be undergoing a dry docking for 14 days in December at the cost of 10 million dollars. He has heard that a library may be added, but no Grand Dutch Café as we had hoped. The rest of the refit would be behind the scenes. We did have a quick discussion with Henk concerning the amended itinerary for the upcoming Tales of the South Pacific. We informed him that we had received a copy of the original itinerary on our computer just this morning. Nothing had changed. He said he was going to get to the bottom of this snafu, since the revised itinerary had been out for several days now.
Ian, the Cruise and Travel Director, announced a couple of medal awardees who came forward for a photo with Henk and Captain Friso. Then the rest of us were acknowledged according to our medal level. One fellow was sitting alone, away from the group, and Ian failed to mention him. He corrected his mistake and invited him up for a photo, asking where his wife was. His answer was she was not feeling well. Someone in the group remarked they hoped it wasn’t Covid. With that comment, the man nodded that it was.
After the event was over, Ian came over and we talked about the pandemic mess of March 2020, and where we all had been stuck when the ships ceased operations. At that time, he was on the Volendam’s Grand South America cruise, but was not allowed to debark due to the fact he was British. He ended up on a Princess ship which was headed to Europe and England. Under the circumstances, he praised the Princess team for doing a great job getting him home.
Taking a walk on the Promenade deck, we saw many people with cameras and binoculars looking for whales, they said. Way out in the distance, we did see many blows, but did not see any diving whales. At least we saw some. We were told we may see some orcas around 5pm when naturalist, Kainoa, has a wildlife spotting session at the Sea View Pool.
When we went back to our room, we had two Delft tiles left for us on the bed. Another end to a 7 day run.
It was a room service lunch for us with salads and sandwiches at 2pm. The complimentary 8 x 10 photos we had taken in the Mariner Event was delivered to our room by 4pm. The rest of the afternoon was spent working on the computer as well as relaxing on our veranda. The further south we traveled, the nicer it got. It had warmed up to 57 degrees with a slight breeze. The skies remained blue for the most part, so the sailing into Queen Charlotte Strait was beautiful. We never did see those orcas like we did last week, but the scenery sailing between the islands of the Inside Passage was rewarding. Following closely behind us was the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, and way far behind was the Celebrity Eclipse, we believe.
Dinner was in the Canaletto tonight. Andre greeted us and gave us a nice table for two. For starters, we ordered salads and a shared bowl of veal meatballs with freshly-grated parmesan cheese. One of us had the lasagna and the other the special of the day……short ribs. Not particularly fond of the sides, he added a baked potato, and assumed the toppings would come with it. The butter and sour cream did not come with it, and by the time they brought it, we were about finished. Oh well, we will need to remember to order it all at once. Our waitress felt bad, but we said it was fine. We had saved a little room for desserts of gelato, one with espresso and chocolate shavings. I ordered the cappuccino like I had last night with almond milk. It was better than dessert.
Yesterday, we got the letter describing what we do in Vancouver tomorrow with the zero clearance and debarking. We will need to leave the ship around 9:30am, and be back before 2:30pm. Looks like the weather will be even nicer than last week, if that is possible for the first day of autumn.
Bill & Mary Ann
33 Pictures
