Day 2 - Zaandam Repositioning Cruise

 

We both ordered decaf coffee that might not have been, so neither of us slept very well. We didn’t care because 1. We’re on vacation so naps and 2. The door to our balcony stays open, so we could leave it open and listen to the water (and the ships’s foghorn), and 3. The ship got out of the channel and into the ocean and began the wonderful gentle rocking that makes you not care if you’re sleeping or awake. Instead of the racing thoughts that sometimes happen when I can’t fall asleep, it’s more of a peaceful hum while my body relaxes more and more. Highly recommended.

We woke up early – about 6:30 – but I didn’t feel like getting up and moving to go to abs class, so we went to the Lido for breakfast, where Dave discovered that ordering 2 eggs benedict gets you 4 eggs with accompanying accoutrement, and I discovered that I don’t care for Holland America congee. Hoping for oatmeal tomorrow. After breakfast I went to Tai Chi, which was very good, and Intro to Pickleball, which was entertaining, although we spent the entire half hour learning the rules, which I still don’t know what they were. Dave went to the morning Coffee with Clare, where Clare the cruise director interviews various senior staff people. Today it was Murat, the food and beverage manager, and Dave learned a lot about how they provision the ship for the 51 day cruise (it includes flying the requisite non-tropical fruits and veggies into Fiji) and other interesting cruise facts and stories. Then he went to the cooking demo, which was a BBQ salmon bowl with mango-avocado salsa, which was also very well done. The cooking demos vary in quality from ship to ship and chef to chef; this one was one of the better ones.

In between activities I stopped at Guest Services to see what I could find out. What I found out was very disappointing – no, they will not let us bring guests on the ship in San Francisco, and no, we are probably not going to get on the long cruise- they have overbooked it as it is, and are unlikely to get to the wait list. So that was sad, and we had to adjust our attitudes, which we partly did by going to the future cruise desk and getting quotes for future cruises so we can have something to console ourselves with. Two cruises sound good – a 35 day Hawaii/South Pacific or a 35 day “Voyage of the Vikings” which includes the 2026 total solar eclipse. The computer was down, so we don’t know the costs yet. But it made us feel better.

After lunch, which we did in the dining room by ourselves so we could leave when we were done, I was planning to go work out by Dave’s lectures had sounded more interesting than my workouts, so I decided to go with him to the next one – a lecture on the Titanic with an Aussie twist. It was fine, and I did get a short nap. Then I had some free time to blog while Dave headed off to the wine tasting.

At 3:00 was the long awaited salsa dance class. Last time we were on the Zaandam we had the best dance teacher EVER, so I set my expectations very low since there was no way this class could be as good. And it wasn’t, but it definitely exceeded expectations and I had a blast. They suggested we partner up so I got with the woman next to me (we exchanged names and I immediately forgot hers) and forced myself through my first-born-child reluctance to be anything but perfect and between us we figured it all out! Clare was the main instructor, and it turns out she used to be in the dance troupe with Freddy. Freddy is no the director of entertainment on the ship, with the white shirt and gold stripes and everything, but he has not lost his moves. So that was fun.

Dave was still tasting wine, so I went and sat in the Explorer’s lounge and listened to the classical trio (violin, cello, piano) nicely playing non-demanding music – you know, the kind that sounds pretty. It was a nice moment of down time. Then it was up to the cabin to shower and change for “dressy” dinner, which used to be formal night.

A note here about “up to the cabin”. 7055, our cabin, is at the aft end of the ship – super convenient to the Lido (1 floor up for breakfast) and the dining room (either 2 or 3 decks down for dinner and lunch, respectively). Most activities are midships or forward, and mostly on deck 4 and 5, except the gym and the forward bar, on 8 and 9 respectively. So there is a lot of up and down and back and forth. I haven’t been doing a lot of hills because of my back, and the stairs are killing me. It’s better today – but I’ll do some targeted training before our next cruise.

When we go to our table Larry & Laura weren’t there and didn’t show up until quite late, which of course I had to think meant they didn’t want to sit with us. But once they showed up we were back to our rollicking good times. Dave and I split a bottle of wine  and so did they, and we hug out until after second seating had started. Then we went off to hear the singer on the big stage, Tiffany Dissette, who was pretty enjoyable, surprising both of us.

We split up – I went to watch the “game show” while Dave hung out in the Ocean Bar. The game show featured Clare as the host and 3 staff members – Murat the Food & Beverage director, Byron the assistant cruise director, and Freddy the dancer/entertainment director as the panelists. They were given a category like famous people, and then we were shown who they were supposed to be and they had to guess by asking yes/no questions. It was very fun. Then I joined Dave in the Ocean Bar and we listened to more music. Laura came over to say they hadn’t known it was dressy night and also that she was now a fan of Tanzanite, which Dave has not been buying me any of in the on-board or in-port jewelry store since 1993. Larry isn’t buying any for Laura either, apparently.

Then it was time for a walk to the secret 6-forward deck where the dark skies are. It was less windy than we expected (and way less windy than it was on the Atlantic side of our Panama Canal cruise, where you had to hold on with both hands) but still chilly and a little foggy. Then it was time for bed.

Tonight’s towel animal: pig? dog?