At Sea – March 30, 2018

Water aerobics was back on the schedule today so I was up at 8:30 and in the pool by 8:50. Picked up juice and a roll and then changed for Sit and Stitch.   Not many present today because it was the big presentation of the 90 or so Project Linus blankets made by the knitters and crocheters that meet in the Explorer’s Lounge.  Some of our stitchers had made blankets and went to have their picture taken with Orlando Ashford.  I finished my second pair of socks.

It was another off-day for “The Bridesmaids” with only getting 10 in morning trivia.  Two teams tied with 14 out of 15.

1)What is the regulation height for a basketball hoop (in feet)?

2)Goat Island, Luna Island, and Three Sisters Island can be found near what tourist attraction?

3)Which alcoholic beverage is known as “Dutch Courage” or “Mother Ruin”?

4)How many different combinations of raised dots is used for Braille – 49, 63, or 75?

5)Since 1975 which sport can only be played right-handed?

Had a burger and fries from the Dive-In for lunch and ate by the pool.

The big event of the day was a “Special Presentation and Q&A with Orlando Ashford (President of HAL) and Gerald Bernhoft (head of the Mariner’s Society)”.  It was at 2:30 in the Queen’s Lounge and I figured it would be standing room only so I arrived at 1:45.  By a few minutes after 2 all the seats were gone – people were sitting on the floor, on the stairs, or standing.

Mr. Ashford opened by welcoming us to “beat up the President for an hour”.  He comes off as very personable and told a few funny stories.  There were a few announcements and/or confirmations of items.

·       In 2021 the third Pinnacle Class ship will be launched and will be in the same passenger range as Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam

·       Zodiacs are being added to the Maasdam and Amsterdam may be next

·       HAL is partnering with Fujifilm and putting in stores on board where you can take your pictures and make mugs, create art work, etc.

·       Stores on board will feature more products relative to the itinerary such as Cuban sourced products on ships that visit there

·       He showed a slide of some of the enhancements for Amsterdam during the upcoming dry dock (see photo)

·       The proposed 2020 World Cruise is scheduled to be 128 days (see photo) but warned the proposed itinerary will not be finalized until the end of April

The Gerald Bernhoft spoke for awhile but mainly talked about some unusual upcoming itineraries.

Then it was time for the Q&A.  Hamish announced that you could only have one question and to keep the personal ones for some one-on-one time afterwards.  Still someone wanted to know how to get the mariner days for a crossing she took in 1956 and someone else threatened to cancel his world cruise booking for 2019 if the TV sets were not replaced.

Here is the gist of some of the answers from the panel of Mr. Bernhoft, Captain Mercer, Mr. Ashford, and Henk Mensink

·       New builds will be under 3000 passengers but economics prohibits any new smaller ship

·       Loyalty cross over among Carnival Corp. lines has been discussed and they are looking at ways to equalize the differences

·       HAL is working with the technology developers to provide faster internet (especially on the newer ships)

·       They are hoping to add B.B. King and other “assets” to ships that do longer itineraries

·       HAL is not doing away with libraries on the ships

·       No immediate plans for OBC for veterans

·       They are going to be working on the plumbing problems on decks 1, 2, and 3

·       Single supplement is a “tension” (he used that word a few times) but will not change

·       Eliminating smoking in the casino is another “tension” with no immediate plans to do anything

·       Self service laundries are not being removed from ships with longer itineraries

The Q&A went on for 70 minutes and finally was stopped at 4:30.

It was a quick ride up to the Crow’s Nest for afternoon trivia.  Again, we did terribly with only 9 out of 17 – the winners had 14.

1)What “p” word means the visible portion of the Sun?

2)Which capital city was once known as Byzantium?

3)What is the most popular beach in Rio?

4)What name is given to male rhinos?

5)What Dickens’ character asked for more?

Changed for dinner and went to Name That Tune with Jamm.  Tonight’s theme was “The Piano Men” such as Billy Joel and Elton John.  Usually I do not put any of the questions because we do so poorly I can’t remember them.  Tonight, Helen and I won with 15 out of 25!  We won 5 vouchers!  So, in honor of that I will put a few questions.  

1)When did Stevie Wonder go blind?

2)What name was Elton John born with?

Fill in the blank music lyrics

3)”dreamin’ of my ___ and my old blue jeans”

4)”If you said ___ to me tonight, there would still be ___ left to write”

5)On June 17, 2018 Barry Manilow will turn – 72, 75, or 78? (5 point bonus question)

Only five of us at dinner – Stephanie and Herb went to the first of two Seder dinners.  I had fruit, flatiron steak, and a butterscotch sundae for dessert.

Skipped the show so I could work on the blog.

Maputo, Mozambique tomorrow.

Orlando Ashford

CEO of Carnival Corp. sitting in front of Henk and the Captain

Drydock

Proposed  2020 WV

Gerald Bernhoft

Q&A panel

my second pair of socks

Morning trivia…

1)10 feet

2)Niagra Falls

3)gin

4)63

5)polo

Afternoon trivia…

1)photosphere

2)Istanbul

3)Copacabana (sp?)

4)bull

5)Oliver Twist

Name That Tune trivia…

1)at birth

2)Reginald Dwight

3)Chevy (from Crocodile Rock)

4)goodbye, music (from The Longest Time)

5)75

Smooth sailing until next time!