At Sea – January 7, 2018

Instead of having a “morning program” on TV as I have seen on many previous cruises, on sea days there is a “Coffee with Hamish” (the cruise director).  The coffee takes place in the Explorer’s Lounge and the two that have taken place so far have been packed.  He will usually have a guest.  Today the members of Abba Fab were the guests. They talked about how they got started and the various shows they do.  They also mentioned that they have now been together longer than Abba was.

After the coffee I headed to the Crow’s Nest for our Sit and Stitch get together.  There were about 10 present.  I had to leave just before 11 because my travel agency was having the first of their sea day get togethers.  The three hosts have “office hours” where you can ask questions, get help, etc.

The only trivia for the day was held at 11:45.  I played with my usual four teammates.  Trivia is getting harder and this time we only had 10 out of 15.  The winners had 13.

1)       What Latvian city is known as “the Paris of the Baltic”?

2)       How many copies of an album need to be sold to be declared gold?

3)       Who is the only person to win a Pulitzer Prize for movie commentary?

4)       Which two planets in our solar system are known as the “ice giants”?

Today was the first Sunday Brunch.  On previous Grand Voyages there have been Sunday Buffets.  Because of health regulations, many of the buffets of the past are no longer.  According to the maître ‘d, this brunch is something that began on the Amsterdam only a few months ago.  It is planned to be held every Sunday that is a sea day.  The menu will change each time.

During the noon announcements the captain mentioned that the temperature was 81.  I decided to spend some time out in the sun (it’s been a couple of weeks since I have experienced sun and warmth at the same time!) so I went up by the Sea View pool.  It felt wonderful so I decided after arts and crafts I would go for a swim. 

Nancy Grace and her friend (who’s name I cannot remember) are in charge.  Nancy has a huge list of activities for our sea days.  The two meetings so far have been much more popular than expected.  She mentioned today that she had put together 100 kits for each activity which is twice what HAL suggested.  Today there were a few people who came late and all the kits were gone.  It did not take long to put together the zippered purse/keycard lanyard (Nancy had already sewn together the bags).  We were also given a small pen to put in the bag.  About 60 more projects to do over the course of the cruise.

By three I was back in my cabin changing to go to the pool.  I decided to try the Lido pool (the one that has a retractable roof which today was open).  There were very few people around and I swam for a half hour.  I then sat in the sun (and will admit I nodded off a few times) for about 45 minutes.

The reason there was no trivia tonight is because it was the Captain’s Welcome Aboard Reception.  It is also our first Gala Night – the Black and Gold Dinner.  For those unfamiliar with HAL, within the last two years they changed Formal Nights to Gala Nights.  The dress code is not as stringent for Gala Nights.  I had read in blogs from previous years that people still tend to dress more formally on the world cruise and it certainly looked like that to me.

During the reception there were (free) drinks and appetizers, the band played and some people danced.  Then Captain Mercer came out and introduced the senior officers.

As soon as that was over it was time to head for dinner where all the chairs were covered in black or gold and the napkins were also black or gold.  We had a surprise visitor at the table – Mario, the Second Engineer from Croatia, hosted out table.  We all had a good time and invited him to join us again (he is on until Singapore).

Went to see the stand-up comic who I only considered so-so.  When I returned to my cabin there was another “pillow gift”.

Menu for the Sunday Brunch (I did not get the "To Begin With" foods - maybe because I was seated with a group that were already on "The First Course".

The "First Course"

The "Main Course"

"Dessert"

The keycard lanyard

Hamish the Cruise Director

Captain Jonathan Mercer

Some of the officers

Black and Gold decorations in the main dining room

Tonight's pillow gift

Look what I got today!  The right messenger bag!

Trivia answers…

1)       Riga

2)       500,000

3)       Roger Ebert

4)       Uranus and Neptune

Smooth sailing until next time!