20241027 Thursday At Sea.
Here we begin five days at sea. We'll loaf, we'll watch shows, we'll play, we'll dine, we'll meet people, we'll enjoy a slower pace.
The sun came out, but wind came with it. It appears a high-pressure area has replaced the European low. The ship is bouncing around, pitching more that rolling. Lots of whitecaps on top of rolling swells coming from the west. We're on course 236*, 18 knots, in an effort to minimize the roughness. This takes us below a great circle route.
We did breakfast, then some weather and ships observation in the Crow's Nest - three other ships out here. We'd brought books, so some reading took place. We had Dive-In things for lunch, augmented by little things from the Lido.
We attended the Tech Lecture, which today was on things useful when going ashore. The presenter went through these apps at a superficial level - Google Maps, WiFI Map, Google Translate, Rome2Rio, Xe, and Google Lens. O knows most of these but found a couple of hints.
Back to the cabin to stall until Trivia.
At Trivia we were joined by Hank, from a tiny town in Alabama. One where the Co-op provides the utilities. Population 250, on a lake owned by a power company surrounded by a state park. Sounds lovely to us. We scored poorly as did everyone else - a tough quiz.
Hank has done Oceania and likes the smaller Oceania ships for the same reason we like Azamara. Must be something to this. At the end of it D & O were thinking that our next cruise should be back to Azamara.
Back to the stateroom for a couple of hours before our dinner at Pinnacles. The seas settled somewhat as we ran into a fog bank.
The dinner in Pinnacles was nice but not outstanding. The entrees were huge, more than we could eat. Funny server. Evaluation: not worth the money. Nightcap in the Ocean Bar, then back to the cabin.
Rest.
Slept in. Ordered continental breakfasts brought in.
Ship on course 238*, 18 knots, over half-way to the Azores. It appears we'll go through the Azores and turn toward Bermuda.
Seas still bouncing the ship around somewhat. Wind out of the WSW at 30 mph. Temperature 68* (warming). Overcast.
O worked on his obits duties - daily, he picks out obits of people who served in submarines and tabulates them into a BBS site for other submariners to review.
We did things and wandered around. We established ourselves at the Trivia grounds. A nice lady from Erie PA joined us. We got 11 of 17 on a really tough set of questions.
Back to cabin, off to early dinner. The seating flap was in effect. I asked an authority if 4-star persons had any privileges; he said there are many 4 & 5 star and senior person on this voyage and it's impossible to humor them all. But the food was good & we were seated on Deck 3 with Gusti our server.
After dinner we joined a bunch at the pool to be part of the Captain's reception. We had our champagne and forced ourselves to the greeting line to say we'd now sailed on Rotterdam V, Rotterdam VI, and Rotterdam VII. O got a picture of Bas and D.
We headed to the theater to see the evening entertainment. Mr Pap is a violinist who does various gigs - some rock, some classical. He uses a loud four-piece ships band to provide backup noise. D kinda liked him, O not so much.
Then back to the cabin. O felt like going out but D wanted to stay in the stateroom. O went to the Half Moon bar and engaged in conversation will two couples. Returned.
Rest.
We passed through the Azores earlier this morning. The ship has turned for Bermuda, now on course 256* at 17 knots. Wind is 33 mph out of the SW, so we still have the pitching and rolling. It's 72*, mostly cloudy.
We loafed but then went to breakfast and returned. We noted one panel of the pool's sunroof is raised to let out some heat. Lots of people have shifted to shorts. We read for a while. The ship ran into another fog bank. Picture left shows people getting ready for Trivia.
Trivia on Geography came along so we did it - a retired Air Force couple had us join them. They live in New Braunfels TX where we had camped back when. We talked about Texas until the questions came. We got 16 points, the winner 21.
Up to the pool deck for beer and hot dog, just something to carry us along until dinner. Back to the cabin; our laundry had returned so we put it away. Noticed that the fog had gone away.
General Trivia came along. We formed a team of three with a lady from yesterday. We did ok but didn't win. A brief interlude, then dinner. We took it in the Lido late. Food was the same as the dining room, just as good. Wienerschnitzel tonght.
A break, then down to the theater to watch the ship's singers and dancers. They''ve been off for days due to the rough weather.
The show was good. Excellent dancers, good singers, good routines. Then 2200 came along and we were both yawning, so back to the cabin.
20241020 At Sea
It's 70* and cloudy (still). Ship at 20 knots on course 259. The whitecaps are gone but there are still swells from the west. We will be happy when we get a sunny day
Gave the shower a workout before going to Lido for breakfast. Nothing enticing on the entertainment today so we did books. First with a bloody mary in the Crow's Nest. Then in the cabin. Then the Sky Bar, aft of the Lido on the stern, where there's a small pool (empty now), a bar, and the smoker's area. Picture left.
Since we'd had a large late breakfast, we skipped lunch to prepare for dinner at Canaletto.
The general knowledge trivia was terrible. Questions on things we'd never heard. But sort of fun.
Canaletto was nice and we enjoyed that. Compared it with our few days in Bologna - we loved Bologna. Food was nice, service good.
The evening entertainer was a comedian, the thing we don't much enjoy. So we'll skip him. We'll take it easy and rest.
20241021 Monday
O up early for breakfast, D up later, meeting in the Crow's Nest. Today is the Mariner's Luncheon in the MDR for persons who had three, four and five star ratings with HA.
We were seated at a table for six with four Canadians from the Toronto area. They had ties to the Netherlands through family so we chatted about Holland. The lady next to O had a service background so she talked about crazy places they were stationed, some of which O knew. Our RV experiences in Canada were discussed.
The CD and Captain gave an address, noting that in attendance were 70% of the people on board, showing a great deal of loyalty. Also that HA was now highly ranked in the Carival chain of cruise lines. Applause was given to all the crew in appreciation of their efforts.
The chatting continued through the very nice lunch. Very amenable Canadians, and well traveled. Lots of cruise experiences discussed.
Back to the cabin to do these notes. We stepped out onto the verandah and found pleasant weather for the first time - sun, warm. But the clouds came back. At least the ride is better. Wind 12 knots out of the SW, temperature 77*f at 1700. We're doing 20 knots on 260*. Bermuda finally made the chart presented in the cabins. But we're steaming into a big rain cloud (right).
We were doing great at Trivia for the first 10 questions… and then fell apart. A lady joined us who was born in Trinidad but now lives in Sint Maartin - or the other half of the island, we didn't pin her down. Husband still working, they have a place in the Miami area. Enjoyed the session.
And at 1900 came the major change. There is a storm on the east end of Cuba that is going to head for Bermuda, which is where we're heading. So the captain, perhaps in excessive caution, is going to head farther southwest to get behind the storm. Rather than Bermuda, we will now have a day in Nassau before the stop at Halfmonkey (HA's private island Half Moon Caye).
At 2000 we've turned a bit to port, now on course 245*, and bumped up the speed to 21 knots.
Please turn the page for the remainder of the sea days.
