Liking Luca

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It is like being back home again, waking up on a DAM ship; only, on this DAM ship there are a few things that didn’t give me that “like home” feeling that I did have on the Nieuw Amsterdam. It’s funny how not having the day of the week greet us in the elevators really shouldn’t be such a “big thing”; but, it’s just funny how it is. And taking my shower this morning reminded me of another, they’ve changed the bath gel from the refreshingly pleasing and distinctive amber liquid on all of the other DAM ships that I’ve ever been on, to this blue gunk that has a faint odor of something fruity (and I’m sure that it cleans just as well as the one that I’m used to) and it’s only real fault is probably that it is different. Sharon had researched that both of the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Zuiderdam were experimenting with an unlimited internet package; and, we had if for the whole 24-day collector’s voyage we’d just taken on the Nieuw Amsterdam but it isn’t offered for our 19-day voyage on the Zuiderdam. Sharon ordered their maximum time package of 1,000 minutes for $250. The problem is that you lose a lot of time because of a slow connection, and it’s intermittent service can leave you logged on while you can do nothing about it (unless you’re able to re-logon and logout). This can leave you with a 60-minute hit to your time until the system automatically logs you out. And of course, they don’t have the New York Pizza on the rear outside Lido deck so I guess I’ll be skipping the pre-made pizza by the slice you can get in the regular pasta section of the Lido buffet; which, let’s face it may be a good thing for my waistline! There’s also a very strange stairway between decks 2 and 3 between the casino and the elevators just next to the normal staircase. Not sure why they would have put that in and don’t remember it on the other Vista class ships we’ve been on. Now, there are some good things about the Zuiderdam and I’m hoping that these will accumulate to overcome a few minor disappointments. Sharon’s $250 win in the free bingo went a long way to winning her over! And in the Lido breakfast this morning they had the serve yourself Swiss Muesli so I got a large serving (not these pre-filled demitasse cups of the Nieuw Amsterdam; and, they also had a hot rolled fluff pastry filled with marzipan and chocolate dipped on each end. Now these really were good, something I’d never seen before, and will probably make up for any pizza-calories that I’ll be missing out on, especially after I went back for seconds. Sharon chuckled when she told me about mass the afternoon before. Evidently some woman had come with music sheets printed for everyone to sing during mass. She’d evidently been on a previous cruise with this priest. She evidently had prepared more music than he’d planned to do for these “shorter” daily sessions. The first night the vestments for the priest were not set out in the Hudson Room and the candles were not turned on. He called the front desk to say there were some things missing like the vestments and the woman who answered didn’t seem to know what he was talking about. He told her it was like the clothes worn for the service and she asked if they were like the cases for his instruments. At that point he just told her he’d make do but the assistant showed up shortly after that and got what was needed.



Sharon got some plain potatoes just the way she likes them and her standard “cold” chocolate croissant. She was eyeing my warm delicious looking chocolate tipped pastry; but, she declined my offer to get her one (when I went back for seconds). The marzipan is not so overwhelming or abundant to cause Sharon any problems… she tends not to like such things. The warm chocolate gooey fudge frosting did however overwhelm this delicious treat!



We met in the showroom for our tour. They also did not sticker people at the door. It soon became apparent that this was a new practice for this ship, as the Shore Excursions Dispatcher continued to remind those going on tour, that unlike on the previous leg of their collector’s voyage, stickers would be given out on the way to the gangway. One lesson that still needs to be learned from the Nieuw Amsterdam is to dismiss particularly large groups by sections of the Showroom to join board their tour busses. Especially for the very large group on the Florence Transfer bus. Our group was smaller. We found our bus headed to Lucca for our 4 ½ hour tour. The guide told us that we would be stopping at a rest stop before going into Lucca, because the walking tour would begin straight away once we arrived. I’m not sure how many stars to give to a restroom where the toilets have no seats, something both Sharon and I had to deal with several times in Italy.



Our guide told us that Italy is composed of 20 regions. We are in Tuscany, a region composed of 9 provinces. In the distance we could see the Apennines, jagged looking Alp-like mountains, where there appeared to still be snow an many of their steep slopes. These white areas in fact were in fact not made of snow but marble. These mountains are home to many marble quarries, including Carrara, where the top grade white marble comes from that is so popular in many of the largest ancient buildings of Italy.



We were dropped off at one of the gates into the walled city of Lucca that dates back to the Roman times. We met up with our local guide to walk with us through this city. Once through the gate we saw some massive ramparts where the earth rose in a mound to the top of the exterior wall. We took some scenic pictures and walked along the top of the rampart for a bit. Then we walked back into the interior of the community. Some of the building dated back 1,000 years. The streets were narrow and winding. We had to be careful walking to the side and allowing both bicycles and some cars snake through the narrow openings. Traditional vendors were open along the first floor of these multi-story buildings. Some were cafes with their tables setup in the alleyways, some were tiny markets for locals, some were souvenir shops, many gelaterias offering their icy tasty homemade treats folded in their stainless steel containers and quite a few pizzerias as well. Out of place in this tranquil rustic community with an aura that dates back centuries was one shop offering mobile phone devices and laptops. So we had the full spectrum of history as we had a leisurely stroll down these streets, temporarily disrupting the locals trying to get from one place to another on their bicycles, Vespas, Fiats and Smart Cars. We stopped in a series of piazzas where many churches could be found. One had an impressive mosaic facade. The entire walk through and around the town of Lucca took about 90 minutes and we were given about 60 minutes of free time. I decided against stopping in the pizzeria that appeared to be selling precooked pizza by the piece, even though it also offered free WI-FI and sold gelato. A few cafes later we found a promising looking gelateria and we stopped in and both enjoyed some ice cream in the square near Puccini’s house. By the time we reached the meeting point we had about fifteen minutes to wait, and found a stone bench to sit in the shade.



It was a non-eventful trip back to the ship that lasted 60 minutes. We passed by Pisa again, and the sun was situated such that we could see the Leaning Tower from the Autostrada. We were soon back at the ship, and I headed up to get the Sudoku sheets; and, then on to the Lido Deck to order my “Cannonball” from the Dive-In with French fries. Sharon had already taken hers back to the room to eat on the balcony. But shortly after she started some stewards came by to change out the furniture on all the balconies on our area of the ship. The new chairs look much more comfortable so we’ll have to try them out soon. I got a soda card, and a Coca-Cola (in glass with ice) and it was nice that the Zuiderdam has the taco bar by the Dive-In so I could add some guacamole, salsa and jalapenos to my burger. It was quite good; but, I do miss the New York Pizza spot.



I went up to the Crow’s Nest to look for a team to play Team Trivia with at 5:30 PM. Sharon went to 5 PM mass and promised to join me when that was over. The Crow’s Nest was packed and I could only find some seating for a team (yet to be found) behind the bar. Then I spotted a couple vacate a choice l table for playing trivia along the side, and rose to make sure it was indeed vacant. The steward started bussing the empty glasses and cleaning the table. I took a step towards the table and then another couple appeared out of thin air and sat down. I left my hat where I’d been sitting and went over and asked them if they were here to play Team Trivia. They were, and they said yes when I asked if I might join them. I told them that my wife would be joining us, and I pointed at my “I Don’t Need Google Shirt, My Wife Knows Everything”. I fetched my hat and sat down with Jim and Lucia who were Americans living in Ohio. Soon Stewart and Vanne from Great Britain joined us, and I gather that they had played with Jim and Lucia the day that we boarded the ship in Rome. Sharon joined us before we started. Sharon correctly guessed what Snow White’s coffin was made of (Glass) and that the group signed to challenge the Jackson 5 was the Osmonods. And Lucia suggested the right answer for what animal’s name comes from the Swedish for “Whale Horse”. It is the walrus. Vanne knew instantly the performer whose given name was Gordon Matthews Somner. That would be Sting. She also came up with what PB means by an athlete’s name on the results (Personal Best) Between us, we had enough knowledge to come up with which city held the Summer Games in both 1908 and 1948. My guess was Paris… It was London. I was thinking that London wouldn’t have recovered from the war to hold the games in 1948, but Stewart said afterwards that he knew the games had been held shortly after the war, but like me was sure it could have been 1948… I would have known that it couldn’t be 1952. It came down to the three-point bonus question: “Who was TIME magazine’s Man of the Year in 1939 and 1942? Answers from Hitler, to Churchill, to FDR and even Stalin were bandied about. We went with Churchill (even though the answer was indeed Stalin)!



We were later than normal getting to dinner, doing both mass and trivia first. I enjoyed the Dim-Sum followed by the corn and yellow squash soup. Sharon’s entre was the daily chicken with the baked potato while I had the gnocchi in red sauce with garlic. It was quite good; but, after having had gnocchi four times in the last week, I must give the nod to the gnocchi in gorgonzola sauce in Rome which was particularly light and flavorful. We both instantly knew that we wanted the chocolate avalanche cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.



We went to see Stevie Jo at the Show. This was an act that we’d both seen on the first leg of our cruise from Venice to Istanbul and back. This time he was performing before a packed theatre, something that he had commented on the first time that we’d seen him. He is quite a good comic, known as the “clean comedian”, and a great sense of ad-lib humor which was full evident in tonight’s performance which was clearly evident by one woman in the front section who was laughing uncontrollably. The show had one of Sharon’s favorite bits about him getting their luggage back on the baggage claim carousel and getting only the handle extension contraption of a luggage bag back.

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