The weather had improved quite a lot as the ship continues to head southwest towards Florida. Doing at least 20 knots, it feels like a thundering herd of horses heading back to the stables. We figured that as long as the movement on the ship was fairly stable, it was a good time to fill some suitcases. We use a nifty hand-held scale that works rather accurately weighing the bags. If the ship is moving up and down too much, the weight may fluctuate. This morning it was working OK as the sea swells were not that bad. And for those folks who do not have the hand-held device, there was a digital scale set up near the front desk.
We managed to complete six of our eight pieces of luggage, keeping them a bit underweight just in case. Now we wondered how soon we could put them outside in the hall to be picked up. And had the decision been made whether or not we would have to gather and drag the Luggage Forward bags through customs? A quick phone call to the front desk folks answered those questions.
We would be able to put the luggage outside by 8am tomorrow morning, with the final pieces out by 11pm Thursday evening. And the greatest news of the day was that the shipped luggage would not have to be gathered and pulled through customs. Now if we had any pieces of luggage we were bringing home with us on the airplane, we would have to go through customs with those. We chose to go luggage-free and not haul anything on the plane except hand-carrys.
Instead of flying home the day we disembark we had decided to stay one night in Ft. Lauderdale and fly out the next morning. Really alleviates the stress of getting off early to catch a flight. That way we will not be in the middle of horrible traffic when we land in San Francisco. We booked the hotel stay with transfers with HAL, so our disembark time will be 10:15am, among the last ones to get off. The disembarkation package was promised to be delivered either this afternoon or tomorrow morning. It was in our mail slot within an hour after calling.
We took a nice long walk on the promenade deck around 5:15pm, mostly to see how the folks were dressed for the final formal evening in the dining room. It appeared that the majority of guests followed the dress suggestion, while a few did not. If HAL had not changed the description of formal to gala, then gala to dressy, and the usual country club casual, perhaps more people would stick to the suggested code for the various evenings. We understand the trend is changing to almost 100% casual, but many folks like to dress up and we hope this tradition does not go by the wayside.
Doesn't take much to make us happy as we saw some flying fish this afternoon while on our walk. We began seeing those chunks of green algae floating by, followed by some tiny flying fish. Patiently we watched for more, and they did get larger…. evidence that the water is warming up the closer we get to Florida. Hoping for dolphin sightings would have been the frosting on the cake. Did not see any of those……at least not yet.
A couple of interesting events occurred today with a Q&A session with Captain Frank. Greg attended and said the questions were very good, and his answers on some subjects were acceptable. A very sensitive question was asked regarding the situation we were in while stopping in Senegal in West Africa. As you may recall, none of us were allowed off of the ship that day. Apparently there was some confrontation with the locals and the Captain, who refused to deal with them. That is probably one reason the containers meant for us were not released. Not all of it was food, but supplies and furniture etc. Non-perishables. The Captain suggested that other HAL ships were due to stop there, and they may be able to take possession of some of the items. That is, if they are still there and not pilfered. That area was not our favorite part of the world cruise for sure.
The other event was the Guest Talent Show. Hoping it would be televised at 2pm, we could not find it on the room TV. Since we were in the middle of packing, we did not want to quit to go to the show lounge. We did hear that there were a few good singers among the passengers.
And as we have already said, it was formal for dinner tonight – the final one. This afternoon, two Delft plates for the 150th year of Celebrating Holland America Line were left on our bed. Printed on them were the words, 2023 Grand World Voyage. Unfortunately, there was no itinerary printed on the plates this time. Since there had been so many changes with ports deleted and some added, they never would have gotten them correct. Funny story…..one year not too long ago, the plate-makers in the Netherlands got the wrong year and itinerary completely. That summer, they mailed us corrected plates. Guess the incorrect ones may become a collector item someday.
Our table was hosted by our friend Rene, the spa manager, but we were missing Woody. Apparently, he had miscalculated the time, and was so late, he must have decided not to come. Our waiter Nik tried calling him but got no answer. Barb got worried that something was wrong and went right to his room. Oscar, our head waiter followed. Afraid that Woody may have had an accident, Oscar got the room steward to open the door. He was OK, but definitely not dressed for dinner. As it turned out, he must have decided it was too late to join us, and never did come. Oscar said he would see to it that he had room service for his dinner. You'll never find crew members like we have here, and all of us appreciate it.
So the starters were fishy, like bay shrimp cocktails, fish chowder, and a mixed croquette. The usual formal entrees included surf and turf and a type of shrimp ball with Dover sole. Expecting the Dover sole that needed to be de-boned, this dish was far from that. It looked like two eyeballs on the plate with sides of veggies. The sole had been wrapped around a shrimp ball. Creative and tasty we suppose, it did give us all a chuckle. One of us had the" formal" cheeseburger and savored every bite along with the hot French fries. Fancy desserts were available, but we had one jello and a frozen chocolate yogurt. Pavlova and a fruit plate for the rest ended the meal nicely.
There were two choices of entertainment after dinner., as well as the venues in the Music Walk. One was a Grand Masquerade party in the Crow's Nest at 9pm, while the other was a performance by the singers and dancers with Simply Broadway. We would wager a bet that the show in the World Stage might have drawn the bigger crowd.
As expected, the clocks went back one more hour tonight. Now we have one more to go to be on Florida time or Eastern Standard Time. And waiting for us on the bed was a letter from Gus Antorcha, President of HAL saying that he was grateful for the fact we chose to sail with them. He thanked everyone that provided feedback, including praise and critique while he was on the ship recently. He added that they are already working on ways for the next Grand Voyages to be even more special. And he said that they will be finalizing changes for the future cruises based on our feedback. He added that he was proud of the genuine connection the guests had with the crew and officers. We strongly agree.
This was good news to read, since it does make a difference speaking up and questioning changes. If not, nothing would ever have a chance of improving. Some may consider this whining; however, we see the comments (good, bad, and ugly) as constructive criticism. A large group of our friends that have up to 20 Grand World Voyages under their belts like us, are on the same page as we are. We will not be seeing everything through rose-colored glasses or accept these cutbacks and deletions quietly.
Two more sea days left now, and we hope the Atlantic Ocean will be smoother as the swells and winds did pick up later in the day.
Bill & Mary Ann
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