For the very first time on this extended cruise, we over-slept and arrived late to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. Not by a lot, but enough the manager, Anton, was concerned. We have not missed one single morning there, and he knew we would arrive. Nice to know someone was watching for us, better yet that no one insisted on sitting at "our" table. Some people are funny that way if they see an opportunity.
Taking a walk outside after breakfast, we got right in the middle of a mandatory crew drill, so we finished our mile or so, and ducked back inside. We had things to do.
Day four at sea had arrived and we needed to begin packing. Of course, it was only half of what we usually bring on a 128 day voyage, but still time-consuming. We kept a list for one of the suitcases that will not have to be re-packed for the next trip. Then we continued to do the second piece of luggage because we had plenty of time, since it was not going to be a day to spend outside. By the way, the weather was terrible with winds at 23 knots, misty fog blowing over the decks, and close to 12 foot swells. We felt as if we were being told it was time to go home. The only thing that was OK was the temperature which was about 77 degrees. The humidity was another story as it measured at 90 %. Sticky but warm.
Weighing each piece of luggage, we came up with 48 pounds each, and we had already filled most of the third bag. There was still one more left, and we could not figure out how we could have that much room left. With the ship pitching so much as well as rolling, we may not be able to trust the hand-scale. Hopefully, these conditions improve as we travel north towards San Diego, then we can weigh them once again. We also think there is a digital scale in the area of the front desk for the folks to use. Whether it is accurate is something we do not know.
Taking a break, we went up to the Seaview Pool to find one man snorkeling with fins and lashed onto a ladder. Guess we are never here at 3pm, because we bet he does this every sea day. There was another couple who came up to swim. But when they put their robes and shoes on a lounge, they blew away. No wonder all of the chairs and umbrellas were stacked and tied down. Sitting on the opposite side of the smokers, we lasted for a while at a table which was out of the wind. One of the deck crew came over and offered us ice water, but we declined, thanking him. He had few customers today.
Relaxing on our veranda, while waiting for the sun to go down, not expecting much due to the overcast skies that had persisted all day. However, we were happy to see some blue skies appear with some higher interesting clouds like two nights ago. It wasn't the best sunset we have witnessed, but OK in our books. We will miss seeing this when we get home, as the mountain where we live, block the sunsets.
Yesterday, we had received another invite (the third one) for a tour of the Volendam Bridge. Of course, we will not attend but it was nice to be included. As Captain Paul promised, he extended this invite for everyone on the ship. In addition to that, we had another invitation for an engine room tour tomorrow at 1pm. We suspect it will be our small group of seven President's Club members, but we may be wrong. We will make it a point to attend this one. Finally, one of the front desk fellows came to our door before dinner and handed us tiles from this 56 day cruise, as well as a photo that was taken at the Mariner Event yesterday. Nice touch.
Dinner in the dining room was special since it was Dutch-themed for The Orange Party that would take place at 8pm in the Lido Pool area. Of course, we would miss it because we prefer to eat at the same time and place most every day. So the menu was written in Dutch, with English explanations. We had three appetizers, mostly to see what they actually were. The shrimp cocktail was good, resembling the small shrimp one they have occasionally. The corn fritter turned out to be a Dutch version which looked like a pancake. Not only looked like, but was a pancake with corn in it covered with a sweet and sour sauce giving them a spicy taste. Not bad at all. The pea soup was the closest we have had to Dutch pea soup that was served while we were in Alaska. Also very good – stick to the ribs thick. Our entrees were different. One of us tried the Club Orange special of the day which was shrimp linguine, looking good on that blue plate. And the other main was the Indonesian bami goreng with noodles and satay chicken skewers. Also very tasty. Having a bit of room left, we both enjoyed the boschbals(sp?) with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Expecting a small version of this éclair-like dessert, they came larger than we anticipated, but we were able to polish them off. Really good…..
Got to catch up on sleep that we lost due to the hour ahead last night. Changing the clocks three times in this last week has made a difference .Just takes time to adjust.
Bill & Mary Ann
