Sea Day #6

Thursday, April 26

I had been pretty faithful in doing a rough draft of my daily blog posts before going to bed each night, but this was one night where I failed. So…that leaves me to try and remember details of what made up our day as I write this a month later. I have my copy of the “When & Where” to jog my memory but I make no promises as to accuracy. I have so much respect for the cruise bloggers who post live reports day after day on their cruises…especially those on extended voyages such as a world cruise! After a long, busy day it is so much easier to crawl into bed with good intentions of catching up the next day…but then there are two posts to do and one usually gets neglected (and that was exactly what happend!)

But let me go back and see what I can remember for the day! I took my iPad and went to the Crow’s Nest after breakfast. I was still trying to finish the blog post from the previous day in Hualtulco and thought that would be a pleasant place to sit and work. Guest speaker, Tim Calvert, was giving a lecture on yachts in the main theater but that was not of interest to me.

The morning coffee chat was taking place in the Crow’s Nest and featured the engineering department. I half listened to what they were saying, but I was more fascinated with the birds circling around the bow of the ship. One fact I did hear was that due to the fuzz from all the new carpet throughout the ship, they had to replace all of the AC filters…all 6,000 of them!

Pickleball was on the schedule for 10 am so while Bob went to that, I went to the Wajang Theater for the America’s Test Kitchen presentation on “Flavors of the Mediterranean.” This time the monitors were working and the closeup cameras made it so much easier to see the dishes being prepared. At each presentation, large color recipe cards were available for the dishes being prepared.

Recipes demonstrated all featured olive oil...garlic pasta, tapenade, and a vinaigrette.

An invitation to the Mariner’s Luncheon had been delivered to our cabin a few days prior and we met up with Danny and Stan who were also attending. Taylor, the cruise director, said just a few words prior to the meal, but that and a glass of champagne were really the only things that differed from any other lunch in the dining room. Oh…and we were each given a blue Delft tile with a picture of the Zaandam. During this cruise we “graduated” from being one-star Mariners to the two-star level. From looking at the schedule of benefits, the higher status won’t really offer anything to get excited about. The only perk I would really like to achieve is free laundry, but we have many, many more days at sea before we even come close.

Bob’s afternoon consisted of walking on the promenade deck, a workout in the gym and finally the BBC Earth movie, “Inside Earth: Innovation and Ingenuity.” All of the BBC movies shown during the cruise were ones we had seen on our fall cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam so I opted to enjoy the sunshine and a dip in the pool instead. I am always concerned about getting sunburned…so much so that I probably over-do the sunblock. However, I was finding out the thick layer of goo was making me feel so hot and sticky that I had started putting on less and less and realized that I was actually getting a little bit of a tan!

I could tell we were nearly two weeks into the cruise because when I looked at the evening menu at dinner time it was hard to find anything that I really wanted to order. That was a sign that my body was starting to tire of the rich foods and was craving plain, ordinary stuff. I do have to say that I enjoyed the potato and leek soup (all the soups are SO yummy) and the chili relleno that I ordered was also tasty.

SOUPS, SALADS, and STARTERS

The singer and dancers were the evening entertainment in the theater doing a production show called “Rock Legends.” A couple of the male dancers were dealing with injuries and other health issues so the one remaining male dancer had been performing alone with the three females. A couple of times we have had a chance to visit with the dancer (Jason). This was first contract on a ship so it was interesting to talk with him about the experience.