Sea Day #7

Monday, April 30

All during the night I heard some sort of banging noise. The seas were a bit rougher so I thought perhaps it might be the bathroom door, but I closed it tight and the noise continued every time the ship rolled with a wave. Then I thought maybe it was the safe door, but I checked and it was locked. I finally got wide enough awake to realize that the noise was coming from the ceiling on the other side of the room. I could anticipate the “bang” and knew every time the ship rose and fell that it was going to happen.

I peaked out of the curtains at 6 am and the sun was a big orange ball coming up over the horizon. I grabbed my cell phone, but all I got was a photo of the water drops on the window. Each night the crew sprays off the promenade deck and washes down our window which makes one think there has been a heavy rain.

It was easy to tell the weather had changed without even going outside. The sea was rolling with white caps and the people doing their morning walk were wearing jackets…some with hoods cinched tightly about their heads. Bob and I both decided to play it safe and took a meclizine tablet hoping to avoid any motion sickness.

We met Dan and Stan at the buffet when we went to breakfast. It was nice to not be worried about rushing off the ship and we took our time finishing. Both Dan and Stan had signed up to do the “Walk for a Cure” but before they started, we went to their cabin on a fact-finding mission. Since our January cabin will be similar to the one they are in, Bob wanted to find out which walls were magnetic. He wants to rig up some sort of clothesline system! I also took some photos of their bathroom to share with our friends who are joining us on the Antarctica cruise.

This contraption is the hair dryer! We were lucky to have a newly remodeled bathroom on this cruise, but this is what we will have on our next Zaandam cruise in a few months. Fortunately a "normal" hairdryer is provided as well.

The old-style bathroom. I much preferred our new glass walk-in shower over the tiny bathtub.

After that, Bob and I parted ways. He went to check to see if his tape lines were still on the pickle ball court and I went to the Crow’s Nest for the coffee chat with the culinary staff. The location of the Crow’s Nest…high and all the way forward…just magnified the movement of the ship and made me glad I had taken the meclizine. After two weeks of sun and blue skies, the weather all day was gray, cloudy, windy and cool. Bob even broke out his down vest at one point.

I took some notes during the coffee chat...here are just a few things I jotted down:

• The menus are determined by the corporate office
• Amounts are based on computer programs and the nationality of guests.
• Recently Holland America has switched to recipes that use more traditional grains instead of so much refined flour
• Europeans eat more fish, South Americans don't show up to eat before 9:00, and North Americans eat a lot more beef
• Lots of dishes contain quinoa since it is popular now
• Parisian potatoes are cut in a ball shape...they have nothing to do with French fries
• As a rule, the moment passengers see food, it is a waste product and can't be used again even if it hasn't been touched. If the food has not left the galley then it can be used. Waste is dehydrated and disposed of in port.
• The coffee bar used to have healthier food options such as muesli and berries. This was changed to items such as cookies and biscotti that aren't so much of a food hazard.

 I remained in the Crow’s Nest following the coffee chat and worked at updating my blog posts until folks started showing up for the Mexican craft activity scheduled to start at 10:30. The project, Papel Picado, was the Mexican equivalent of a tissue paper snowflake and are used to decorate for parties by stringing them together to make a banner.

My final project resembled a kindergarten project, but I’ll blame it on the large scissors. The craft really should have been done with small pointed scissors.

You can see the Papel Picado that I made at the craft session lying on the desk. 

I returned to the cabin and got there just minutes before Bob. The pickleball game hadn’t happened because of the wind so he had been walking outdoors and then spent some time in the gym.

Bob was really drowsy (a side effect of the meclizine) so he took a quick nap while I backed up a couple of day’s worth of photos from my iPhone.

At lunch the 3 guys went to the Asian station (as usual!) and I had a delicious salad with Asian sesame dressing and a cup of soup. (Danny had discovered the Asian dressing in the main dining room and we all thought it was so good!) I also grabbed a slice of pizza (which isn’t the greatest). No dessert however because we were planning to go to afternoon tea.

The Lido buffet was not at all crowded for a sea day (which was nice) since the second Mariners lunch was being held in the dining room. But…this worked against us when it came time for trivia at 1 pm. Our Aussie friends were at the lunch so Bob, Danny and I were a team of three. We did a little better than I anticipated, but still not great. Taylor the cruise director, must have been cleaning out the prize closet because he gave out prizes to everyone and continued to hand out the rest of the box of goodies as people showed up for the second craft session.

The Crow’s Nest had been freezing cold (even for me!) when I had been there in the morning, but the heat had been turned on and it was comfortable in the afternoon. We have both noticed how much the temperatures vary on this ship…cool in some places and overly warm in others. I am more than thankful that our cabin has been cool…especially at night. From what I heard, not everyone was as fortunate.

Bob stayed with me to make the afternoon project which was a fringed cloth to use in a tortilla basket. The Mexican ambassador, Susan, provided precut pieces of fabric and all we had to do was pull threads to fringe the edges. The colorful threads that we pulled could then be used to make tassels for the 4 corners.

By that point in the day, I could barely keep my eyes open, but we had promised Danny that we would meet him for tea in the dining room…which we did. This was our first time to attend the tea on this cruise and it was pretty sparsely attended…possibly because many had just gone to the Mariners lunch. Regardless, it was a pleasant time and we enjoyed visiting with the others who were seated at our table.

After the tea, there was no way I could make it any longer without a nap. Bob was going to be out of the room to attend a lecture on submarines and I crawled into bed and was out in no time.

I had to force myself to get up in time to shower and dress for dinner. Bob and I ordered exactly the same dishes…corn soup, salad (with Asian dressing substituted for the regular dressing), haddock, and the no sugar added almond cake. We discovered on our last cruise that the no sugar added desserts were always excellent and that was confirmed again on this cruise.

The evening entertainment in the theater was a “rerun” of two performers we had already enjoyed…the very funny comedian Chris Pendleton and Kuba Kawnik, a musician who plays may unique and unusual instruments.

Besides the vibraphone, Kuba also played a very unique instrument called a "theremin."

For many, this was the final night of their cruise and they would be getting off in the morning when we docked at San Diego. Luggage was starting to show up in the hallway when we returned to our cabin and it was nice to know that we still had another week left.