Now we are on our way back to Fort Lauderdale and to our new
house and our beautiful cats, Tinkerbelle and Sami. This has been a fantastic
cruise, as I have said over and over. I thought I might share some of the
shipboard life that we have experienced over these 114 days.
As many of you were aware this ship requires you to have a
dinner seating, early or late. We originally picked late, but found out that by
the time we finished it was too late to go to the show, so we switched to the
early seating. We have become very good friends with the couple we were seated
with at the late seating. The new table had a woman that spoke only Japanese as
well as three others. One gentleman was from New Zealand and his friend Judy
was from Vancouver. Just the greatest people and we see them a lot. But, they
had a friend coming on in Singapore so they needed to switch tables. We decided
to also, and are now seated at a table for 10. It is quite a mix of people.
There is an older couple that have been on a million world cruises. There is a
gentleman, Jack, that has an ex-wife he talks about all the time. He apparently
likes us as he always stops and talks to us when we see him around the ship.
There is a woman, Sigrid, who is traveling with her sister. Just a wonderful
lady. There is also Erin, from New Zealand, that grew up as a sheep farmer and
then became a teacher. Another wonderful lady that Steve has spent a lot of
time with working on her phone. And lastly there is Paul, that knows
everything. We see and hear him everywhere. Needles to say we have eaten many
diners in the Lido.
One thing that we have done consistently for the whole
cruise is play team trivia, every sea day at 11:45. There are five us who play.
One couple is from Melbourne Beach, Florida and the other woman is from
Seattle, Washington. We have done a lot with her and her husband also. We never
do well, but have a good time. There was a lot of drama with trivia, as these
people do not like to lose, and are very vocal about what is right and wrong.
You win ‘Dam’ dollars that you can spend on ship stuff.
Since we are on a World Cruise we often get gifts from the
Captain, usually after formal nights. We have gotten Stieff Bears, wireless
speakers, silver bowls, mugs, and suitcases as well as other things. Needless
to say, we are bringing back more than we took. And, you get chocolate on your
bed at night also. We have been saving it in a bag and will give it to the bar
staff at the end of the cruise.
There are two specialty restaurants on this ship. The elite
one is called the Pinnacle Grill and the other is Canalleto, where they serve
Italian food. We have eaten at both, and they are good; however, they require a
fee (10 Cnaletto and $29 Pinnacle). However, since we made 4 star we get a 50%
discount.
On many of the sea days we have been walking 3 miles around
the deck, for a total of 135 miles so far. In fact, my shoes are worn out, so I
will get a new pair when I get back. They have holes in the top and there is no
support left in them. On port days, we end up walking 10,000-12,000 steps, so
we have gotten our exercise, but have probably eaten more than we should. We
eat breakfast and lunch up at the Lido (buffet), as well as some dinners. They
also have a burger place called Dive In by the pool with gourmet hot dogs and
hamburgers as well as a taco bar. Again, the food is excellent. The pool on
this ship has a retractable roof, so the area always usable. For big parties and
sail away parties they do them there or on the front pool deck. Also, sometimes
at lunch they will have special lunches out there, like a Mongolian BBQ. a
I would be remiss if I did not mention the libations. There
are many bars on the ship, but we usually frequent one called the Ocean Bar. We
know all the staff at this bar very well. We like it as they have a nice band
and it is quieter than some of the others. We are usually there for either the
4-5 or 6-7 Happy Hour. Three of the bars on Holland ships have a happy hour. It
is 4-5, 6-7 and 9-10 every day. Buy one drink and get the second for $1. A very
nice thing to have. The drinks are not as expensive as on NCL, but they do
mount up. During Happy Hour they have hot appetizers, which are also excellent.
We brought wine on in some of the ports, as each person was allowed one bottle.
One of our amenities for the cruise was four bottles of liquor; we took three
rum and one vodka, and were able to finish them all. We purchased one
additional bottle of rum from the ship and one bottle of Jameson from one of
the ports. All that is left is ½ bottle of Jameson. And, still a few days left.
There are all sorts of activities during the day, including
a show in the morning called Good Morning Amsterdam, where they usually
interview the talent from the show the night before. It can be interesting.
They have cooking classes, lectures on all sorts of topics as well as on the
ports of call. They try to sell you things from the shops as well as promoting
the casino. We have played roulette once, and won, and that was early on. Or,
you can spend the day doing nothing. You would not believe how fast the time
passes.
We will miss our room stewards and having our beds made
every morning, fresh towels and whatever you wish. We will miss our bar people
who know what you want before you get there. We will miss not having a ton of
selections on what we want for dinner and from the last three weeks, I will
miss someone doing my laundry.
This is the end and there are still a few special events. On
the 25th we are having dinner in the Pinnacle with a couple we met
who are from South Dakota. This is their second world cruise. The 26th
is the last formal night, and the captain is hosting a cocktail party before
dinner. On the 27th there is a Mariner brunch, in honor of your
Mariner status on Holland America. On the 28th I start teaching a
new class and it is our last trivia game. Also, on the 28th, all of
us who patronize the Ocean Bar are meeting for a few drinks. And on the 29th
we are planning to go to Canaletto’s for dinner with the couple that was at our
first dinner table. Then it is getting off the ship.
We got on with four suitcases and 4 boxes, we area getting
off with six suitcases and 6 boxes. Lucky for us Holland America is shipping
all but four small suitcases by Fed Ex. We are really looking forward to seeing
everyone again, to being able to Google whenever we do not know something and
getting back into a routine. I think one of the things we missed most was Googling
things that we saw or wanted to know more about. As far as the house is
concerned, we have already put together a list of what we need to do around the
house when we get back.
Thanks to everyone for following this blog. We missed
everyone and hope to see you all soon in our house in Florida, or a cruise in
the future.
Steve and Mary Anne
