Today we have the first of two sea days to get us back to Ft. Lauderdale. The first one will be used to cover the distance between Puerto Limon and Cuba and the 2nd day, to sail North of Cuba up to Florida. The weather is improving, at least the rain has mostly disappeared, but there is a gale force wind blowing from the North East, a sort of turbo – trade wind – but as it coming from a slightly different direction than before, we have less swell. The swell system is sort of filling each other out and the ship sails a lot steadier than before. We still have the occasional wobble but not much to worry about.
Now for to sea days the ship has to provide enrichment, entertainment and diversion to the 2000 guests on board. The regular facilities will take care of some, the Lido is nowadays open all day and there are constantly guests present. The line for the ice cream parlor collided this afternoon with the line for the Pizza and spaghetti section. This should not be the case as the lines – line up – in opposite ways but somebody started queuing on the wrong side and then it rolls from there. It took the Lido manager some time to sort it out as nobody wanted to move the moment they were in the Food Line.
While in the past, the enrichment activities were mainly limited in the morning and a movie was the most that was happening in the afternoon, nowadays this has changed considerably. I started with the arrival of the Music Walk, introduced on the Koningsdam in 2016. Now all the larger ships have a variation of this on board. And with more performers on board, more activities can be scheduled.
Line Dancing in the BB King Show Lounge. Today they were learning “The Wobble”. I did not know it even existed but I suppose it is something you dance after a few drinks when everything wobbles a bit easier.
Looking at the program for this afternoon, we have: Afternoon movie, Wine tasting, Casino & shop activities, lecture by the Shore ex staff (now called EXC guides) in a dedicated area in the crows nest. Classical Matinee in the Lincoln Arts Centre, Line dance class, drinks mixing (and trying them….), Computer Class and America’s Test Kitchen. For those who have withdrawal symptoms there is always Bingo at the end of the afternoon.
The Lincoln Art Center with the afternoon Matinee. Completely full, so full that the area behind it was full to overflowing as well.
Today the activities taper off a little bit at 1700 hrs. as it is formal night and first sitting guests need some time to spruce themselves up. 2nd sitting guests tend to go for a quiet time in the cabin as they tend to hang out later in the ship. For those who do not need that, Happy Hour starts at 16.00 hrs.
Holland America has found out that our guests have in general a great interest in knowing more about whatever they come across. This sort of traveler is known in the industry as a globetrotter. Going everywhere and when doing that, wanting to understand why something is there when they see it. And thus the EXC lectures are always full (Dedicated area in the portside crows nest) Lincoln arts center is over- full as with the music comes a Q&A as was the case this afternoon and when we run the BBC nature experience where all the ships orchestra’s combined provide the underscore of the documentary shown, the Main Stage is full. (I have now watched it several times. The documentary’s you can watch as well at home, if you have a large 4K TV, but to have a live underscore by real musicians, is something totally different. Somehow Mahler’s – From the New World- sounds much more awesome in the ships show lounge than at home.
Who says that Holland America ships are boring inside, is far from correct with one exception, we do not do a Conga Line around the swimming pool at lunch time.
Nice to see. All the dark clouds are still near Costa Rica and only a few rain clouds around Jamaica. (Photo Courtesy, the Weather Channel)
So tomorrow is our second sea day. We are already on Florida time as the clocks went one hour forward last night. During the 2nd sea day we will sail through the Yucatan Channel and then turn North East at Cabo San Antonio and follow the Cuban coast up to Florida. Then we will also sail out of the wind and that should result in a wonderful last day at sea.
February 21, 2018 at 3:01 pm
Formal night has changed to Gala. This means smoking is no longer required and you can come in with jeans and polo shirt. I hope they will be aware of this mistake and bring it back to the original FORMAL night.