25 October 2008, a peaceful day at sea.

After all the hectic times that came with sailing up and down the Amazon, we had a nice and quiet day at sea. The sun was shining and the ship was making good speed, being pushed towards our next destination Barbados by the Guyana current. It seems that everybody used today to tie up loose ends and to get in the mind frame of enjoying the last week on board. As the chief engineer had reopened the self service laundries, it was extremely busy there. However most guests seem to view this a social meeting place as well and the laundries where well patronized from the early morning until the late evening.

Although it was a leisurely day, I had to call all the guests out in the morning for passenger boat drill. At least with a sea day we could do it at the civilized time of 10.30 am., The number of guests lifeboat drills during a longer cruise have been varying over the years. In the beginning it was only once during a cruise, than later on the stipulation came that a repeat should be held each week and at the moment the authorities are requiring a repeat after 30 days. So with a 36 day cruise, we had to hold a second one. As most guests are multiple time cruisers, they know in detail the way Holland America conducts its drills, so it all went very quickly.

With the sea days, the social life on board stepped up a pace and there were quite a few parties for me to attend; some organized by ships side, some by the guests or by travel groups. This cruise we have three mariners’ parties to cater for all the guests. Everybody becomes a Mariner after one cruise, or after seven days. With a 36 day cruise, as this one is, every guest on board is a Mariner. Part of the Mariner program is a luncheon in the dining room and in order to cater for all 1179 on board, we had to split the Mariner function into three groups. Luckily we have a few sea days on this cruise, so the Hotel manager was able to plan it all in. With it being a longer cruise we are handing out a larger number of medals. With 36 days added to the tally, quite a few guests made their next step up the ladder. Thus we had several 100 days achievements, a 300 day one and also a 700 day one.

In the afternoon I gave my Holland America Line history lecture. On the shorter cruises I do not have the time but during a longer cruise it is always possible to free up an hour or two. As I give lectures at home as well, I have about 8 or 9 different ones up my sleeve, all in relation to passenger and cruise ship history but on a HAL cruise, it is of course all about the company. I always find it amazing to see that there are guests in the audience that came over with the company’s ships in the 1950’s as emigrants or used them in their younger years for business travel. This time as well and we had a couple who needed convincing that the Veendam they traveled on in the 1950’s was not the same Veendam they were traveling on now. Sometimes it can be confusing when a company keeps using the same names over and over.

My evening was filled this time with a cocktail party and when I a made a round over the decks afterwards it was gratifying to see numerous guests sitting on the outside decks, under the stars with a good glass wine in hand. This is the way to travel. A good ship, starry skies, warm weather and a bottle of wine on the table. It certainly beats standing in a traffic jam each morning to go to work.

Tomorrow we are in Barbados. We are the only cruise ship in port and that means that I can park the ship right opposite the cruise terminal. The weather looks good, with maybe a shower later on in the day.