Sea Day #2

Monday, November 11, 2019 - Veteran's Day

Bob claims he doesn't like sea days (or at least not too many) but he was the first one dressed and out the door to start the day. He wanted to check to see if anyone had shown up on the Sport's Deck to play pickleball. At home he plays at 7 am each morning...and at 6 am during the summer! No one was there so he went directly to the gym to work out instead.

When I left the room to go to breakfast, I met Jon and Michelle coming down the hallway towards our cabin. They had discovered a copy of the HAL Cruise Atlas in their room and knew I had been on the lookout for one. The three of us sat at breakfast until Bob arrived from the gym to join us.

Michelle had noticed an ad for the gift shop...three charms for $10 that she wanted to check out. Jewelry is not usually something I shop for on a cruise, but hey...at that price why not! Turns out they had offered 5 charms earlier in the week for $10 and if you bought all 8 you got a free cruise ship charm and a free bracelet. We each spent the $20 and got the bracelet with all of the charms.

Or at least that is what I attempted to do. When I tried to pay, my card didn't work. They were able to manually enter my information, but it was frustrating knowing how much trouble I had already with my stupid card.

Bob and Jon had gone up to the Lido deck to enter the ping pong tournament but by the time we finished shopping and showed up to watch, they had already gotten eliminated!

At 11:00 am we all went our separate ways. I went to the Test Kitchen session on "Salad for Dinner" and Bob went back to the Sport's Deck to play pickleball. It was so windy that they used a tennis ball rather than the plastic whiffle ball that is usually used for pickleball. Jon, having served in the army, attended the military meetup in the Explorer's Lounge. At precisely 11 am, cruise director Hanna made an announcement that the ship would be observing a minute of silence in honor of the armed forces. (The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the end of World War I and was formerly known as Armistice Day.)

When I got to the buffet around noon, Bob was just getting in line at the salad bar. After watching the America's Test Kitchen salad presentation I was in the mood for salad too. The salad bars on HAL ships are outstanding with many choices. A crew member makes the salad to your specifications which may take a bit longer, but means there aren't a lot of passenger hands spreading germs. I also went down the main line and got a couple of small pieces of the boneless fried chicken which I cut up into my salad...a great combination with the blue cheese dressing.

It was after 12:30 before Jon and Michelle arrived. Michelle had felt a little sea sick so had gone back to their cabin to rest. The seas weren't overly rough, but definitely rolling more than what we had been experiencing the last few days. So far most of the cruise it was easy to forget we were even on a ship!

After lunch, Michelle and I changed into our swimsuits and met on the area at the back of the Lido Deck. I have enjoyed being by the aft seaview pool on previous HAL ships but the Veendam was a little different. This area of the ship had been redesigned and a couple decks of balcony cabins had been added. Apparently a different pool had been installed during that phase which leaked like crazy so it was removed and replaced with several hot tubs.

This is the way the ship looks now.

This is how the ship looked when it was first built with the open sea view pool on the back.

Besides giving the ship an ugly profile, I missed being able to swim in the pool. The elevated hot tubs also blocked the open view from one side of the deck to the other, something that made this area on other ships so appealing. But...I was on a ship in the Caribbean Sea basking in the warm sunshine so had nothing to complain about. The seas continued to be rough and the water from the hot tubs was sloshing out all over the deck. Michelle and I did spend quite a bit of time in one of the hot tubs visiting with some of the other passengers.

I would have liked to enjoy the sunshine a little longer, but needed to get back to the cabin to shower and get ready for the 2nd gala night dinner. Our newly made dinner reservation is now official because it is showing up each day in the daily itinerary on the Navigator app. Oka, our waiter, has assured us that we will keep the same table for the second week of the cruise as well.

A beautiful sunset...just not a great photo. Most evenings the sun was setting as we got to the dining room. This picture was taken through the windows which caused the glare.

Surf & Turf was on the menu along with sunchoke soup...one of our favorites from our Panama Canal cruise. Our orders were taken as soon as we sat down and we were finished with dessert by 6:30 pm. I mentioned that we should probably leave so someone else could have the table but Oka assured us we didn't need to rush out and could linger if we wished.

Shrimp Cocktail

Sunchoke Soup

Surf & Turf

By finishing dinner so early, we easily got seats for the show front and center in the chairs rather than the very uncomfortable bench seats. During our 45 days (over 2 cruises) on the Zaandam, we always sat in the balcony of the theater, but I was disappointed to find out that on the Veendam the balcony also had bench seats with very low backs. So uncomfortable to sit in. Bob and Jon played a card game while we waited and Michelle and I collaborated on the Wordscape games on our phones.

The evening show was called "Atlantic Crossing" and featured the Veendam singers and dancers performing songs from Great Britain. It was outstanding and the performers are so talented!

Singers

Antonio (from Spain) was one of the dancers on our cruise to Antarctica.

After the show we found a spot in the Mix Bar where we could continue playing the card game that the guys had played earlier. Monday night football was on the TV and a crowd was also starting to gather for the piano bar. Not a bad spot to be part of the action but the smoke drifting out of the casino made it a little unpleasant.

At 9:15 the piano bar singer began playing and at the same time the Chocolate Surprise began as well. The latter consisted of a parade of waiters passing out many different kinds of chocolate goodies as they walked throughout the deck. The treats were different than what we were offered on the Zaandam, but equally sweet and rich.

After indulging in the chocolate snacks, we said good night and made plans to meet in the Ocean Bar at 8 am to pick up tender tickets to Half Moon Cay.

The ship continued to roll and we were rocked to sleep...