Today we awoke after a bit of a tossing night at sea. Well lets just say Lynda felt a tossing night at sea – Andrew slept through it! It seems that the wind direction is now more westerly or easterly and the balcony door is now singing again which it likes to sing a lovely high pitched tune in the middle of the night while we rock around at sea!
Had breakfast at 8 am as scheduled and then hung out in our stateroom and relaxed! I downloaded the pictures from yesterday (I seemed to take a lot of them) and tried to optimize them and fell asleep! Nothing like being in a rocking cradle at times at sea! Needless to say, had to then get up and get ready for lunch which the previous night we were told was the Mariner’s lunch for people who have sailed with Holland America previously.
Lunch was very nice – I had a lobster and beet salad with some sword fish that was a little closer to sushi than I wanted, and then a chocolate desert which was pretty similar to what other people received – which included a chocolate brownie! All in all pretty good! We sat at a table for 8, however there were only 7 of us plus my walker. One couple was from Austin, Texas, however they did not talk much. The other couple and their daughter were from Arizona. Their daughter’s husband skipped the meal to play Pickle ball which is all the rage on the ship right now. As these couples were fairly quiet, I started talking about various subjects – how I liked Austin, Texas when I was working there, and about my trip to Unalaska as one of the couples had taken a 2 week cruise to Alaska from Vancouver. Then, which I have no recollection on how we got onto the subject (Andrew does not remember either) I found out that the husband of the other couple had flown 707’s and 727’s for Eastern Airlines! Well, now the conversation got interesting! We chatted about planes, how I like the Dreamliner, however we are going to fly from Sydney on the 380 as we had seen them being built in Toulouse, France. I have a faint recollection of Eastern Airlines which flew before I took to the skies with my job with the software company, so I asked the pilot what happened to Eastern Airlines and if they were taken over by one of the current airlines? I found out that actually the pilots, flight attendants AND mechanics all banded together and went on strike together for better pay and that was the end of the airline – it just went under. This gentleman had retired a couple of months prior, however the impact to him was two fold – he lost his medical benefits (I am presuming his pension was covered by the Airline Pilot Association (APA) – I did not get to ask him that question though) and he no longer gets an airline “discount” to fly as he is not associated with any airlines. He does still get a discount as a former pilot on cruise lines though! I did mention that I volunteered at YVR and was interested in Aviation and that I shared that same interest with my father who went with me to visit the Airbus factory and has visited the Boeing plant too!
There are lots of activities going on at all times on the ship – this afternoon I decided to go to the colouring and crochet class and then back to the cabin and relax some more – yesterday was such a busy day! When we were in Honolulu I did stock up on some craft essentials which have now come in handy – some cotton to crochet dishcloth’s and some pencils so I can do some colouring outside of the scheduled colouring activities on board. They give out black and white outlined papers, such as a picture of the beach, or Hawaiian flowers and then you can colour that to your hearts content!
The other thing on board that is done, which on previous voyages had its own classroom is Technology at Sea. Right now the technology at sea is a bit below my level but is is great to see all the people attending the classes with their cell phones learning how to use Google Maps and how to find this through the various search criteria that can be used online! Here is a picture of one of the classes where they are learning about the “search” feature to figure out a plant species. I do not think that lady was happy I was taking her picture at the back!
As Holland America is Dutch, tonight was the Orange Party! I have NO IDEA what got into me at home, however I forgot my silk orange skirt that I normally pack for these voyages! Luckily enough, I was escorted by a properly dressed man, Andrew in his black pants, dress shirt and orange tie, which we got on Amazon just prior to leaving! Tonight’s dinner was a Dutch influenced dinner, however there was not much Dutch about my dinner except for the dessert! I had a chocolate tulip!
Tonight, on the stroll from the stern to the bow of the ship, we stopped off at the Rolling Stone Lounge (which also is where the food demonstrations are) to see the comedian who was doing the 9 pm show. He had been “downgraded” from the World Stage, which is 3 decks high at the front of the ship, to this stage as the Orange Party was going on at the World Stage starting at 9 pm. I much rathered this venue as it was much cozier!
The comedian, whose name was Chad, was VERY good! His opening night was the night we went to see the show in Waikiki so we missed that show however I heard great things about it so was keen to hear his next show. I think he changed this show for the more intimate audience – I would call him a more “casual” stand up comedian – he likes to talk and drop puns and funny references in his commentary. All I can say is it was a good thing I used the restroom BEFORE we attended the show as he was really funny! He joked about “normal” things like everyday life, M&M’s, going to the mall and being a handyman – or not! The best thing is there were no political jokes (he is American) and it was good comedy! It was a great evening!
When we got back to our room, we found out that we had crashed the Mariner’s party today at lunch! It was for the 1 and 2 star Mariners (those who have cruised at least once and up to 50 days) and we were supposed to attend tomorrow per our invitation! Oh well, they gave me the paper last night to order my food for lunch – I did not know any better! So tomorrow I am having the same thing again for lunch! Looking forward to the chocolate brownie again!
As for tomorrow, it is going to be my catch-up day for posting. I am not sure what is going to happen as the Blue Jays will be playing at 2 pm and as we are in the middle of the darn Pacific, I am not sure if they will be playing the game on the TV’s in the bars or not. So that might mean some nasty slow internet tomorrow when I am trying to upload my pictures and videos from October 22nd! I should have done it today but today was a days of rest 🙂
We hope everyone is having a great time where ever in the world you are reading this from and chat with you soon! Lastly, Happy 58th Birthday Joanne! From your sister rocking away at sea – I know not your cup of tea…. 🙂