Blogs from Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 28

The morning found us still with a bank of clouds far off our starboard side. It has been this way since we left the Azores sailing under blue skies. The other day I had tried to open the door to the balcony in the morning, but a stiff wind made me use all my force to push the door open. The winds were brisk, it was chilly, and I didn’t spend much time outside. This morning to door opened easily and the early morning air is what I would call pleasant. Sharon went off to mass and I was still finishing up the blog. I asked her to get me a pecan croissant if she found one, and we both understood that I would be meeting her in the Crow’s Nest for Travel Trivia this morning. ... read more

I was awake at 4 AM this morning, and had yet to record even a single note for yesterday’s blog. I hadn’t even sorted through all of the trivia questions yet to capture new ones for future reference. I found that at least two of the ones we had heard before, and gotten wrong before, were not yet in the spreadsheet (for example the Peppermint Lifesaver had not been captured yet). Sharon made sure that she got up in plenty of time to shower and get ready for mass. She asked me, “Are you going to meet me at the Hudson Room after mass; or, are you going to meet me up in the Crow’s Nest (after mass) for Travel Trivia.” Now, I added that second part of her question for your benefit, as I surmised ... read more

Some folks don’t like “Sea Days”, some folks do but if you do a Transatlantic you’d better make sure you like them. Luckily we do. We had fairly smooth sailing through the night, especially when compared to our approach to the Azores. We were supposed to do our trans-Atlantic crossing on the Nieuw Amsterdam when we booked this cruise nearly two years ago. Last January we were informed that that final leg of our cruise had been cancelled. Sharon supposed it was because Holland America had gotten a charter to remain in the Mediterranean. We learned however that they had instead decided to remain in the Mediterranean for two additional one-week cruises. This is probably a mistake that they won’t make again. We learned that the Nieuw Amsterdam was forced to remain at sea instead of ... read more

Geo: 34.765, 32.411In yesterday's daily ship bulletin, The Herald, there was an announcement that the Cowboys game would be carried on the ship's satellite TV. They listed it at 9:15 p.m. Sunday, but they miscalculated the time difference. It was the later afternoon game which would have started at 2:15 at home, but a nine-hour time difference here meant it started at 11:15. Phil stayed up for the whole disappointing game.(This program requires a city to be named in the location field. We weren't really in Cyprus, but it seems to be the closest location I can find that the program will accept. We simply sailed nearby.)... read more

The seas had worsened during the night and we experienced the gambit of pitch, roll and yaw in our forward berth. More than a couple times could we hear the sea crashing into the sides of our vessel, we would hear the bow plunging into the sea after a swell and then the white spray by our window. Occasionally the spray would hit our balcony and fourth deck window. Sharon made her way to mass. When she returned I was finishing up one blog entry and we went up to the Dining Room for breakfast. I felt like the eggs Benedict, again, and Sharon had her American Breakfast. I made a point to add the potato cakes with my plate; and, again the dining room steward corrected that to hashed browns. Two others at our table ... read more