Having a cabin at the very back of the ship on the top deck meant we felt the effects of rough seas more than most other passengers. It was annoying during the day when trying to walk, but at night we were rocked to sleep like babies. I'm concerned that once we get home I will struggle to sleep in a bed that doesn't move!
Bob and I both took a dose of motion sickness meds before getting out of bed. I can't say that I've ever really been sea sick, but I don't want to take a chance. Bob definitely does get sick and has finally learned the importance of taking the meclazine BEFORE the symptoms set in.
The first order of the day was to log onto the Holland America website (which we have access to via the Navigator app.) The health form for our next cruise needed to be filled out and I was able to get that taken care of. I also took screen shots of our Nieuw Statendam boarding passes so we should be good to go when we transfer ships on Saturday.
Bob tried to walk on the promenade deck but one side of the ship was blocked off because of the high winds. He checked the pickleball court and it too was roped off. He ended up going to play ping pong at the tables near the midship pool. Bob found someone else looking for a partner and the other guy did some texting and got a few more to join in.
I sat on the "back porch" working on my blog and counting my blessings that I was someplace warm on February 1! I was fascinated watching a bird floating on the air currents behind the ship. No land was in sight so where did he come from?
At 10:30 I went to the Ocean Bar to watch a flower arranging demonstration. Billy, the lone florist aboard the Zaandam, put together three different bouquets. With a heavy accent, I struggled to understand what he was saying but enjoyed seeing his creations. Holland America has gorgeous flowers throughout the ship (although less than they did pre-pandemic) and some arrangements are huge! Flowers can also be ordered by passengers, which Billy also handles.
I got back to the cabin shortly before Bob returned. He cleaned up and then we went to the buffet for lunch. I usually check the menu online before we go, but often there are special themed stations that aren't included on the menu. Today was "German Day". We both had salads and a few of the German offerings.
We hung out for a little while on the back deck, but Bob just can't sit for long. He headed back to the ping pong table with plans for us to meet at the 2 pm matinee of BBC Planet Earth on the World Stage.
The Planet Earth video is usually a night time presentation, but Ryan explained that there was an excess of entertainment for the ship this week so he scheduled it as a matinee. The video is always accompanied by a group of live musicians, but this time it was only the classical duo...a piano and violin. Much of the time they weren't even playing and only the prerecorded score was accompanying the video. My guess was that much of the score was written for other instruments besides violin and piano. This was at least the third time for us to see this particular Planet Earth video (there are others that HAL shows) but it was still breathtaking to watch.
Afterwards, Bob went back AGAIN to the lido to play ping pong. I really wanted to swim, but both pools were sloshing back and forth and were covered with a net. I used one of the coupons we got for a free "Mariner's cocktail" and enjoyed the drink on the back deck. That is until the sun got too warm and I retreated back into our cool cabin. (Side note: I was very pleased with the ability to keep our room comfortable during the day...and really cool at night.)
A note had been delivered to our cabin with luggage tags. Since we will be transferring to another HAL ship, we will be in the last group to disembark. I am a little concerned because our assigned boarding time for the Nieuw Statendam isn't until 1:40 pm. I made a trip down to guest services hoping there was something they could do to move our boarding time a little earlier but the answer was NO.
Bob returned when I was about half way through a documentary on the Panama Canal that I was watching on TV (Big, Bigger, Biggest) and he finished watching with me. Two or three documentaries on the Panama Canal had been added to the "movies on demand" feature on our stateroom TV for this cruise. Before dinner, we went up and sat by the pool and were able to see a decent sunset. There have been so few clouds on this cruise (not that I am complaining!) that the sunsets have not been very impressive.
We went through the buffet line and then ate outside. Fish is something I rarely make at home but I have really enjoyed it often on the cruise...tonight was no different. For dessert, Bob had a custom made crepe that was filled with chocolate, bananas and pecans. I remember enjoying crepes on a Norwegian cruise, but I don't recall seeing a crepe station on our HAL cruises before.
The main show was to have been the dance show that was postponed TWICE, but guess what...it was postponed again! At the last minute Nestor Santurio was called in as a replacement. Neither of us were that impressed with his first show (Latin guitar) so we went to listen to the classical duo instead. Both the violin and piano player are from Ukraine and tonight they performed pieces by Ukrainian composers.
The band performing in the Ocean Bar was about the only other option for entertainment but the singer just is not very good. She sang one song in the abbreviated dance show last night and it was very off key. We wandered through the library and stopped to work on a mostly completed jigsaw puzzle. It was a 2000 piece puzzle and all that was left were a few small sections of sky...basically a bunch of pieces that were different shades of blue. By the time we left we had added a couple of dozen pieces.
We enjoyed our nightly tea time by the pool and that was it for the night.
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