Unlike oceanliners that cross the Atlantic as quickly as reasonably possible, repositioning cruise ships have different priorities. With fuel being a major cost, we meander across the ocean with only 2 of 4 engines running and a comfortable speed of 15 or 16 knots. No transatlantic speed records for us.
As we move further north and east the daily high temperatures have slowly dropped from the 70s into the low 60's, but the cloud cover is less and there is more sun. Too early for good European forecasts. Only time will tell.
The demographics on the ship are much as you would expect. One person reported less than 12 passengers under 30.
Personally I have spotted 4 children. 2 boys about 5 and 9, and a couple of young teenage girls. I expect maybe related. At least three of them are seated together in the dining room.
What there is here are some very interesting passengers. Many cruisers dream about visiting Antartica. Most cruise ship just pass by. A few let you step on the ice for a few hours. Marty, one of our table mates, worked in Antartica with a number of the famous explorers. A naval engineer by education it was his chore to keep all the equipment working.
After hearing stories of the conditions, I think a quick visit would be enough for me. But he did relate swimming in the ocean near where a volcano had erupted and warmed the water.
Holland has always presented enrichment talks during cruise sea days. Now they have perfected the process that was beginning to change when I last cruised Holland a few years ago.
Experts in various fields put together the programs and they are then presented by the cruise director, following a script and using a teleprompter.
The best of both worlds. Excellent programs and excellent presentation.
We have both. One speaker that is doing his own series of presentations, and others that are being presented by the cruise director. I wish she were doing all. Bradley Jacobson who is talking about AI amongst other topics is a very poor presenter, but I endure because of the topic.
It is frequent for reservations to be messed up on the first few days of a cruise. Passengers have come to expect that, at least I have.
By the third night we were settled into sharing early dinner with the same 4 other people at our table. Then the next night it happened. A 7th person was sitting at our table when the rest of us arrived. If I related that she told me she had "talked with the captain" and he told her she was to be seated at this table you might correctly get the feeling that I quickly formed an opinion about her.
More unacceptable was that no one up to and including the dining room manager would even attempt to resolve the problem. They wouldn't even acknowledge that something was wrong with 7 people assigned to a table for 6, or that any mistake was made somewhere. Getting the feeling that we would never get dinner until this was resolved we litterly took matters into our own hands. A chair and place setting was stolen from a nearby table. The staff wouldn't resolve the simple problem at our table so now they have other problems to solve.
Our table became overcrowded, creating more work for the servers not only in serving 7 instead of 6, but in juggling everything to fit on the table. And the adjoining table - well they were short a chair and place setting. Management wouldn't address their original mistake so now they have more to contend with.
There are a few first time cruisers on this voyage. One interesting gentleman is originally from Vietnam. He was one of the children evacuated from the embassy roof by helicopter and air lifted to the US at the end of the war. He became a data analyst for a large Washington financial research firm and comfortably retired in his 50's.
Just for those that feel we should not allow immigrants into the US.
About 3 days from Europe the seas have increased to about 5 meters with waves coming from both the North and the South as we pass between 2 North Atlantic weather disturbances. The roll of the ship has increased to about 4 degrees, still very manageable for most passengers.
The colder temperatures and some rain keep most of the passengers inside.
There is an underlying concern amongst many passengers of how we will be received in Europe in lite of the actions being taken by our deranged fascist president. Time will tell.
Overall the food has been good. There is a heavy emphasis on fish and seafood, but let me assure you I have found more than enough to choose from.
Having done it both ways, I have concluded that it much easier when traveling east across time zones to change the time midday, and when traveling west to change during the night. This was the scheme used by Cunard on the Queen Mary 2, and it was much easier.
I add to this in bits and spurts. It is now day 10, 7 days after Bermuda. The skies are partly cloudy. This morning there was a very bright rainbow that appeared to be only 30 feet from the side of ship. Of course I was too slow to capture it. But I was able to tell many passengers and crew to take a look.
As expected the swells today are about 7 meters or just under 25 feet. The captain has raised our speed slightly to 17 1/2 knots so the stabilizers can work better. For most passengers the seas are very tolerable. I imagine a few of those most sensitive to motion are having a more difficult time.
The Seas are predicted to subside after midnight.
As do many ships the Statendam has a cook to order hamburger and hot dog venue on the pool deck. I must say probably the best of any ship. The secret - everything is cooked to order, not prepared in a galley and left in a steam table pan for hours.
With the enclosed pool deck it is quite comfortable. A few passengers enjoying the pool, many more reading, playing cards, and just relaxing.