Sea Day

 Monday, March 3, 2025

Having the clocks move forward overnight had me confused this morning. Bob, Jon and Michelle were going to play pickleball at 7 am, but it had rained and the courts were too wet. Instead Bob left to go walk on the promenade deck and I took my time about getting up thinking it was earlier than what it really was. We had planned to do brunch in the MDR but ended up going to breakfast at the buffet where Bob met us and that is when I figured out my time was off by an hour. 😕

After breakfast, Michelle and I met up on the promenade deck and sat in the lounge chairs doing our NY Times puzzles until it was time to go to the Rolling Stone Lounge for the cooking show. The skies were overcast, and it was interesting to watch the cloud formations

We had only been in the Rolling Stone Lounge for a few minutes when Bob and Jon showed up as well. The head chef demonstrated how to prepare Bahamian Grouper with bacon grits. A few years ago that same venue would have been set up for the America's Test Kitchen but Holland America no longer has an affiliation with them.

Since we hadn't made it to brunch earlier, we decided to go to the main dining room at noon where the Caribbean brunch menu was still being served until 1:00. Bob ordered a sweet potato and corn chowder that he thought was very delicious. He asked the waiter if he could get the recipe and we were surprised when the waiter returned in just a few minutes and handed it to Bob! It may take some advanced math skills to figure out how to scale back the recipe to get a normal sized amount however. The version Bob has calls for 8 pounds of salt!

Being pre-diabetic, I try to stick to the low carb and sugar free options when ordering, but I couldn't resist getting the hummingbird cake for dessert. It was several layers of cake divided by the most delicious cream cheese frosting. I didn't finish the whole slice (although I wanted to!) Later when I checked my glucose level it was in the normal range which was a total surprise! Bob attributes my lower levels to walking more on a cruise than I do at home. Even on sea days (without any EXTRA walking) I have been putting in about 2 miles (according to my iPhone health app) just getting around on the ship!

We had talked about the possibility of trying to attend the Royal Dutch tea at 3 pm, but we were so stuffed from lunch we vetoed the idea. Also, Jon had made reservations for he and Michelle to have a couples massage about that same time.

Looking back at "The Daily" (the paper copy with all of the events listed) there were many options we could have done on a sea day but after quite a few cruises with Holland America some of the offerings get to be repetitive. Also I find that now I actually enjoy NOT trying to cram too much into a sea day, especially on a port intensive itinerary. Here are just a few of things we could have done for free. There were many more options that were just sales pitches or came with a fee (bingo, wine tasting, etc.)

• Coffee with Valerie (interviewing Food & Beverage Director, Pedro)

• Coloring for Adults (basically color book pages & colored pencils)

• Origami Folding

• Creating Designs from Doodles

• Trivia

• Learn to Line Dance

• Golf Putting

• Art of Flower Arranging 

• Paper Airplane Building 

• Tech for Travelers

•  Watercolor Class

• Movie in the World Stage: Wicked 

• Ping Pong Tournament 

• Lecture in World Stage: Water Works (Fascinating World Beneath the Waves)

During the afternoon Bob spent some time walking on the promenade deck. While he was making his laps he noticed several people lined up at the railing and realized they were seeing a water spout!

It was dressy night, but after Jon and Michelle's massage they were feeling pretty mellow and decided they didn't really want to get dressed up. Instead we met at "our table" at the buffet. Many of the main dining room dishes are also served in the buffet but I chose to have a custom made salad with Asian dressing and then some sweet and sour chicken and Szechwan shrimp from the Asian station. Both of the Asian dishes were quite spicy but very good. For dessert I had a scoop of sugar free coffee fudge ice cream.

We got to the theater just in time for the captain's toast before the evening entertainment. This time no mention was made about any sickness onboard the ship (as there had been on the previous cruise.)

Captain Joost Eldering

The Island Magic steel band was on stage performing classical and Broadway tunes in the main theater. This would be the 3rd time we had seen them perform but they are just that good that we didn't care! 

The evening ended as most of our days do with us playing cards in the Crow's Nest. It is a very busy place during the day, but hardly anyone is there in the evening.