Santa Barbara is a tender port. We use half a dozen of our life boats to ferry passengers to shore. Tender scheduling is pretty well organized. Everyone gets a ticket and they call ticket numbers as the tenders are ready to board.
A crew member operates one elevator specifically to take passengers from the gathering place on deck 2 to deck A where we board.
Our hour and a half Trolley ride was slightly worse than boring. 90% of what he had to say was about some actor that lived here or there, and how much the house sold for. I could care less.
Back on the ship an excellent burger for lunch from "The Dive".
This afternoon a couple of sets of classical music with piano, bass and violin. A normal feature on Holland but missing for the past few weeks. My guess is they didn't make the ship in Vancouver.
Our waiter spent the afternoon working shoreside and didn't make it back to the ship in time for dinner. The pressure was on his assistant to do everything. Though a little nervous Alexis did fine. Many others on the staff jumped in to help, especially when his table of 12 arrived and was immediately followed by a table of 8.
We are seeing the extremes of Holland America. Nearly three weeks with mostly mature passengers from a multitude of cultures and countries with many sea days followed by a low cost four day cruise of mostly young Californians. I won't say booze cruise, but probably as close as Holland gets to one. Definitely a different atmosphere.
Next werk the entire ship is under private charter to a jazz and blues group. No one can stay on unless they have already booked with the private charter. Holland just makes 1 sale to the group, and they handle all the details.
Tomorrow we sail to Avalon on Catalina Island. The weather remains near perfect.
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