April 24, 2016

World Cruise 2016 Day 110

Day 110 - At Sea in the Atlantic. The temperature has warmed to 68. The skies are clear, the winds out of the South West on our port bow at about 20 mph. The ocean swell is about 12 feet, and the ship is pitching, enough to make the elevator cables slap, but not enough to make walking difficult. The wind and the waves have cut our speed to about 17 knots. Seas are expected to build during the afternoon, and then subside about noon time tomorrow.


There is not a lot of activity on the ship that interests me today. I listen to the morning show "Good Morning Amsterdam". Judy Carmichael is the guest. She does about 20 weeks a year on cruise ships, using the cruise as travel between land engagements, and the free time on board to produce and edit her radio shows for NPR. She keeps a large inventory of shows ready so that she is never under the gun to meet a deadline.


Gene shares that over 150 crew members are leaving the ship in Florida. He remains thru San Diego, Seattle and for one round trip to Alaska. He then has three weeks vacation time before returning to the Amsterdam.


We already have had one crew show, another is scheduled sometime before Florida, and Gene is now pleading for guests to participate in a "guest show". 15 guests volunteer.


I spend the afternoon sorting pictures. Tonight I attend a "Captain's Dinner". This was scheduled for about a month ago, but was canceled when it was required that the captain be on duty on the bridge. On short cruises, dinner with the Captain and other officers is reserved for the best customers. On the World Cruise, all passengers have the opportunity if they wish.


Calling it the "Captain's dinner" is a little misleading. There are over 50 people in attendance. I am seated with two other passengers and the future cruise consultants Joanne and Michael. The captain is in attendance somewhere in the room, but not where I can see him. A few passengers are inappropriately under dressed.


First we were served champagne, followed by white wine with our soup and appetizer, and then by red wine with the main course. Dinner presentation is excellent. The main course of beef tenderloin was good, but the portion was smaller than a chicken egg. While clearing the table after the main course the waitress knocked over a full glass of red wine. The glass shattered and I was soaked from head to toe. She cleaned up the broken glass and brought several dry napkins with barely an apology.


About five minutes later someone dropped a large tray of dishes at the back of the room. The sound of breaking china guaranteed many won't need to be washed. If you asked me this morning I would have said that dining room service is definitely the low point of this ship, now that I have had the opportunity to experience the Pinnacle Grill my opinion has only gone lower. My clothes have already been sent to dry cleaning. I hope my clowns survive.


The show tonight is comedian Buzz Sutherland. He travels more than we do, having performed in 46 countries in the last year in addition to TV shows. He does a lot of shows for military personnel. I was not impressed, but having just changed out of a wet suit I probably started with a bad attitude.


The ship is definitely rocking more tonight, a few guests are beginning to complain, as if anyone can do anything. We again turn our clocks back an hour, after which we will be two hours ahead of Florida.