Day 11 - Coast Guard and Elton John

We’re headed back west towards Hawaii, but they didn’t bother to change the clocks since we won’t be getting off the ship. That meant that sunrise wasn’t until after 7, which meant that I didn’t wake up in time for stretch class. Oh well. We woke up pretty much wondering what was going to happen today, since last night all they told us was that we’d be heading back to Hawaii and the medical transfer would take place in the morning. We ate breakfast with Vic from Connecticut (originally from NYC) and LaVerne from Minnesota who had to explain that while they were eating breakfast together they were not a couple – they were on an elderhostel tripand were both singletons. They were good tablemates. Vic used to own a company that made actual Wall Street ticker tape, which was an interesting occupation. Vic said he’d heard that there were actually 3 people needing medevac, which turned out to be true. It was nice because they had a lecture to get to at 9, and I had Zumba at 9, so we all rushed off together.

Zumba was especially fun because she introduced a new song – a salsa. Suzy and I were in the back row being rowdy and having fun. Before the class started the captain came on the PA and explained what was going to happen, but it was completely unintelligible where we were standing. After zumba Dave came by and explained – they were starting the medevac at 10, and the whole front of the ship would be closed after 9:30, which meant no boot camp. The whole time we’d been doing the zumba class a coast guard airplane had been circling the ship.

At 10 the two coast guard helicopters showed up. We went as far forward as we could on deck 10 and watched them as long as we could. It was pretty impressive, given that the ship goes up and down and side to side and the wind was very gusty. The first patient got loaded up pretty quick, but the second took much longer. Then the helicopters flew the 100 miles to Hilo, and one of them came back for the third passenger. It was really something. While we were up there watching I was reminded of the eclipse cruises – everybody standing on deck, staring in the same direction and taking pictures. Bernie the cellarmaster was up there too. I asked him what wine he’d recommend with a medevac. He didn’t think it was funny.

We had some time before lunch, so I got my suit on and went to the pool midships. It is just a shade too cold for most people – you need to keep moving – so I had it all to myself again. I got about half an hour in and then it was already time to get ready to eat again. We met Mama and Merna in the explorer’s lounge and got a table for four so we could chat. Lunch was good as usual, and we enjoyed sharing a slice of coconut pie for dessert. As we were finishing up the captain came on with the announcement about the upcoming plan. Basically since we’d taken an entire day to go back the cruise had been extended by 24 hours – we’d be arriving in San Diego at 7 am on Sunday, rather than Saturday. In order to let passengers change reservations and notify folks, internet and phone service would be free until 10 pm on Thursday. They were very apologetic, but hoped we’d understand that the health of passengers had to take priority. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? You’re giving us a free day at sea and free internet, and you’re apologizing? Well, Dave and I were doing the dance of joy.

After lunch we had a very busy afternoon planned. First on the agenda, human ring toss in the midships lido pool. Imagine our disappointment at finding out the humans were the post, not the rings. Your lifestylist Louise ad your DJ Brett were the posts, and boy did they complain about the water in the pool being cold. The ship was continuing to rock and roll, so they weren’t exactly stationary in the pool. Dave took a turn at throwing the rings and got one over Brett for 10 points, so he came in 3rd. Brett did some giggling, which made us happy.

We had about 20 minutes between the ring toss and the premium wine tasting, so I went over to the gym and did my stretches. I was a little crabby while I was doing them (something like a petulant 5 year old) because although I was sure the wine tasting would be fun what I really wanted to do was get back in the pool. Once we got to the Pinnacle Grill for the wine tasting I got in a better mood. We shared a table with a couple from Kansas and boot camp Suzy. Susan and Stephanie were there too. Mark had commented while I was doing my stretches that he was glad the wine tasting was today and not tomorrow, so people would come to his fitball class. There seems to be a tight correlation between the gym users and the wine tasters. We started with a Domaine Chandon sparkling wine (not bad), then moved to a premier cru Chablis (bleah! bleah! I did not like that wine!), a chateuneuf-de-pape that we’d had with dinner one night, not bad but too young, and a very nice Washington State merlot. We finished with a late bottle vintage port, which everyone at the table except Dave thought tasted exactly like cough syrup. They’d put together an interesting plate of things to try with the wine – lemon (huh?), smoked salmon, duck liver mousse, cold shrimp, marinated mushroom, crackers, and a brownie. The wines were mostly good, but Bernie talked too much - it took over an hour to taste the 5 wines, and he made many large generalizations. I’m not sure the wine tastings are something I’d do again.

We barely made it to the Queen’s lounge in time for the Indonesian crew show, so we didn’t have great seats – about halfway down on the balcony level, pretty far to one side. The crew shows are always a highlight – amateurish in the very best sense of the word. Usually they start with a dance, but the woman who usually does the dance got hurt during rehearsal, so instead we started with a traditional Indonesian love song, sung in English with a standard drum kit and electric guitars. We’re not sure what was traditional about it, but we did enjoy it. Then there was more singing, and then the thousand hand dance, performed by 9 people in 3 sets (one red, on blue, one yellow). The cute young woman on the left end never did quite get with the beat, and some of their big moves took a while to get everybody doing the right thing at the right time, but it was performed with such good humor and evident enjoyment that none of that mattered. The director of the show made a little speech about how they’d given up their rest time to practice and perform but they did it because they loved us – and we believed him. Once the show was out we headed out of the lounge. When we got into the hall Dave said, “quick! Let’s not get stuck behind the coots!” But it was too late… we were surrounded.

Between the show and dinner there was time for about an hour more of swimming. Tomorrow my plan is to get in after lunch and not get out until dinner. It really is like being in the ocean and I just love it. I was a little rushed getting ready for dinner, especially since the extra day at sea necessitated putting together another bag of laundry (there’s no do-it-yourself laundry on the ship). Once again we managed to cram an astonishing amount of the laundry into the tiny bag – the charge is by the bag, not by the piece. When we got to dinner everybody was there except Gus and Rita, who didn’t show up at all. We hope they are okay. We had a very fun dinner, although mama’s special order dinner didn’t come until very late, which was unusual and made her a little tense because she is a slow eater and she was afraid everybody would have to wait for her. I told her not to worry, we didn’t need to be off the ship until Sunday, and as it turned out it was an enjoyable leisurely dinner. And an exciting one for John, who has been asking every night if it was crème brulee night. It was, but it was chocolate, which disappointed him. But don’t worry John – Putu to the rescue! He had had a plain one made up special. He’d also brought an extra chocolate one, which we passed around the table and I ended up finishing, because my esterhazy was too sweet.

After dinner we grabbed the laptop and headed to the crows nest for some guitar, only to discover that it was closed (!) for a private party. This left us somewhat at loose ends… we’ve been with Chris every night. We ended up with the jazz band in the Neptune lounge. John and Carol were there, as well as Suzanne the German Lady with Amazing Fake Red Hair. She would be something of an object of ridicule, and in fact was at first, but she and her husband are far and away the best dancers on the ship, which pretty much shuts everybodys’ mouths. It is just amazing to watch them float around the dance floor. Dave isn’t crazy about the singer, but the music is tight and the dancing was amazing. They did play a cha-cha (Madonna’s “Like A Virgin”, if you can believe it) and John and Carol tried to get us up on the floor, but I was blogging too hard to dance. Dave didn’t seem too unhappy about it.

From 9 to 10 was western night in the Neptune lounge, and we made it until about 9:30 before we decided to head back to the room and put the laptop away. It was a happening place – much like Elvis night, it was standing room only – but it wasn’t really our kind of music. That was about to change. We’d been hearing about Joel Mason (billed as Holland America’s most requested performer) and his Elton John show, but we weren’t sure we were going to like it so we sat up in the balcony. Our first hint that this was going to be quite a ride was when we looked down and saw that the piano was chained to the floor. Yes. The show got started late, but when the lights came up and he and the piano rose up from the pit where the stage had opened up, it was all rock and roll from there. The room was more full than usual and he totally got the crowd on its metaphorical feet. The HALcats were backing him and the bass player was hopping around through the whole show. It’s hard to describe everything that happened – it was a great combination of many of my favorite songs plus very funny banter. We clapped and yelled so much that our hands are bruised and our throats are sore. Apparently he’s going to do another show and you can bet this time we’ll be in the front row. Well, maybe the second row. We’re still us, after all.

After the show the cruise director came on and gave us an update on the 3 passengers – one had been having kidney trouble, one with internal bleeding, one with heart trouble. They all made it safely to the hospital on Hilo and were all in stable condition. We were all pleased to hear it. Meanwhile, the phone lines are still busy, so we’ll keep trying to get through to Alaska Airlines to change our ticket. But as far as I’m concerned, this cruise could go on forever. Tonight’s towel animal: bunny