You would think that since we are getting closer to crossing the Equator, the temperatures would be stifling. Much to our surprise, we felt far less humidity, and temperatures than never exceeded 80 degrees. This suits us just fine, as we are still getting used to warmer days. It would turn out to be another day to enjoy our veranda.
Our day started out with another nice breakfast, where we were invited by our "breakfast club" friends from what we all knew as "Ganville" to take a group photo. Simply put, the six of us dined in the same area on the Amsterdam for breakfast, and Gan was our waiter. One of the nice guys, he took care of us, but after Covid shut down cruising, he decided to get employment elsewhere. Many of the fellows did the same thing, but it took many of them away from Holland America Line. Now that he is not here, his colleague, Danu, has taken over as our assistant morning waiter. Another really nice waiter, he posed with the six of us, and Linda will send this via Facebook where we know Gan should see it. "Danuville" is the new name. Hope he gets a chuckle from it, and he will know he is truly missed. Andri is our main waiter, and we are so glad he stayed. They make an excellent team.
Walking this morning was pleasant, since it had not gotten too warm. When we did this run last November, we had rain all the way from Papeete to San Diego. At least, it is dry, although cloudy, the sun did shine through off and on all day.
Wanting to check out the limited collection of South Pacific pearls in Effy, we priced some of their necklaces and pendants. Anything with diamonds was over-the-top expensive. However a few of the strands were affordable. The sales fellow seemed most willing to give discounts as well. We do have time to make our minds up, but at least we got to see some of the items close up. One problem we could see right off the bat, was that many of the stranded pearls were chokers, and we mean chokers…..too tight for the average woman's neck. Inquiring if they had the ability to lengthen them, they said they would work on a solution, and call us if it was possible.
Passing by the Ocean Bar after 10am, we saw the group of ladies (and maybe some men) working on their Linus Project items. It is called the sit, knit, and needlework group, and the entire room appeared to be full of guests busy at their projects. I have a needlework picture framed at home with the saying "Busy hands, happy heart". This sure could apply here and was nice to see.
Of course the activities were numerous all day long, and there is something that would appeal to most everyone if they choose to be busy. Compared to the shorter cruises, the various activities offered on sea days attract many repeat passengers that enjoy being busy. And many of them know each other.
Today we inquired about the ability to order dining room food during the serving times. Such as lunch from 12 to 1pm. The nice room service fellow said we can order during any meal service time, and have it delivered to our suite. And it still remains at no cost, unlike ordering from the Dive-In or the Pinnacle Grill. One of these days we will try ordering the cowboy burgers from the dining room lunch menu, and see how that works. On our last cruise, we tried two burgers and fries from the Dive In, and were disappointed as they were barely warm and the fries limpy.
Even though we are a bit late reporting this, we had been invited to a wine tasting held in the Crow's Nest two days ago. Even though we don't drink wine, we have attended numerous tastings onboard the various ships over the years. It was always a food pairing with the different wines, which made more sense to us. In the end, we still came out not caring for the wine, but appreciating how food can taste better with it. Now the reason for these wine tastings is to obviously sell their wine packages. Yesterday we took that trip up to the Crow's Nest to see the set-up for the second day of tastings. The wines had been separated into three cellars (categories), and presented by whites and reds, along with their clever names. And we had heard that no food was included with the tastings due to Covid restrictions. We heard many comments that people really missed the assorted cheeses, crackers, and fruit, even though the servings were small, it was better than nothing. Maybe someday, the food will return.
Our dinner service was better this evening. We were all served in a timely manner, and at the same time. It sure is awkward when one or two of us has to wait for an entrée. We do believe the head waiter was aware of this situation last night, and stuck around throughout our entire meal. He asked each of us if we liked our starters and mains, more than once. Even followed us out of the dining room to make sure we were happy campers.
The show tonight was a performance by vocalist Rebecca Kelly, and the fellows were on their way to listen. By the way, since early this morning we have had no TV reception, as expected according to our warning a few days ago. Luckily, the internet still worked for us. We happened to notice a mysterious credit for internet on our shipboard account. Tonight we had a message that due to the diminished connectivity during the 8 day crossing to Nuku Hiva, everyone with an internet package received the credit.
Bill & Mary Ann
