Advertisement
Published: April 3rd 2018
Edit Blog Post
Our schedule for today is open. No meetings. No luncheons or receptions. No nothing. We have a few things we may be interested in checking out but no obligations of any kind. We wander up to breakfast for some cereal and fruit, Karen has toast and some vegetables along with an egg. Other than coffee, that's it. Returning to our room, I grab my laptop and IPad and head for the theater while Karen takes her swimsuit and bag. I plan on listening to a presentation by the on board cruise consultants for those interested in future cruises aboard Holland America and Karen is going up to the spa.
We make the split. The cruise consultants, a husband and wife team, are knowledgeable and dispense some valuable information. I'm already aware of most of their "secrets to saving money while cruising". I say most, not all. While I was listening to the free lecture in the theater, Karen was purchasing luxury British skincare products for $198. Not much savings there. This is why we should not separate. In my absence, no one is present to talk her out of this stuff. I don't believe in any beauty products and look
at me. I'm an Adonis. Besides, she never takes any pictures of anything. Not me, not her, not anything. I have no fodder for the blog.
With the future cruise presentation complete without me parting with a dime, I am now up on Deck 10 in the Exploration Lounge, sipping my Coke at 50% off (I'm a great shopper) and working on pictures for the blog when Karen arrives, showing off her recent purchases. Hello? I'm trying to save money here! From our vantage point here on Deck 10 in a room wrapped 180 degrees with floor to ceiling windows, the view is unbelievable as we zip across the ocean at 18 knots and 81F. Water temperature, 82F. It's closing in on 2pm and I want to hear the program documenting the history of the Panama Canal. We'll be entering this man made wonder the day after tomorrow. It sounds interesting and Karen joins me. Returning to the theater we find it packed thanks to the bingo game still in progress. We wait until the game host finally calls "O-62" and some guy starts yelling, "Ya, ya, ya, ya, ya" over and over. I don't understand all the excitement
until I hear he just won $620. Ok. I get it now and we grab some seats with the bingo crowd exiting.
The history lesson regarding the construction of the canal is very informative, lasting almost an hour. Karen wouldn't know as she slept through most of it, not even bothering to go under cover by wearing her sunglasses. It's 3pm so we return to our room. Dinner in the dining room is at 5. We are seated with one other couple from Massachusetts. They are both retired and Karen starts her spiel about sailing with Holland America, driving through Norway and the crazies in California. She's off and running with, "How about the student protests, how come these kids don't understand what's going on and what's the deal with teachers promoting many of these wacky ideas?"
While I mentioned that the couple were retired, they didn't elaborate until now. They are retired teachers. Moving on. Actually, it wasn't a problem as they sympathized with Karen about some of the unbelievable stuff going on in California lately. She dodged a bullet and we had a pleasant evening. Tonight's entertainment is Jim Curry, an entertainer performing the songs of John Denver. We've seen him before on other cruises and he's very good, sounding just like Denver. We bid farewell to our dinner mates so they can get good seats at the show and return to our stateroom so I can finish the blog and retire early since we need to be up by 6am tomorrow for our visit to Cartagena, Colombia. I can't believe I didn't take many pictures today.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.236s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 49; dbt: 0.0797s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb