Blogs from Oceans and Seas - page 20

A strong breeze has been with us all night and remains this morning, kicking up white caps on the normally calm blue-green sea. It's still warm compared to back home at 72F but a full 12 degrees cooler than yesterday in Mexico as we make our way north toward The Keys. Tomorrow will be our last full day aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam. It's 9am when we awake and we have a busy day ahead if we're to partake in the activities Holland America has in store for us. First it's breakfast on our own and we create little excitement here as cereal, oatmeal, coffee and some fruit complete that task. We sit out by the pool to enjoy a little environmental change compared to the Lido. The pool is busy before 10 am with some adults ... read more

After partying all night we didn't even return to our room until 9:30pm. After that, the festivities continued, watching two nature films while I finished yesterday's blog and Karen lay sound asleep beside me on the bed. Many of our co-traveler's, unable to keep up with us, had given up after dinner and returned to their staterooms but not us. Unfortunately, the nightlife we live comes with a price and dawn at 7am is no match for the heavy curtains in our room and so we sleep. It's not until 9:15 that I awake and realize we have a date at 10am, the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet we had promised to attend. No time to lollygag! Surprisingly, we make it up one floor to the Lido and have a light meal, our usual. While we ... read more

Day .......13??? I think .... day at sea- edited to add pollygog ceremony. We have had a brilliant day at sea today.... I forgot the clocks went back an hour and was up at 5am wondering what to do with myself because Dave was still asleep. So...... I went upstairs to play some basketball alone but, of course, at 5:30 in the morning there was already a bloody pickle ball player there practicing serving....on his own. So I grabbed a basketball and started shooting hoops on the opposite end of the court to him. We didn’t say much to each other for the first few minutes but we did allow each other space to play. I got bored shooting on my own and so I sat down to watch pickle ball man serving to himself. Once ... read more

Ahoy there, Mates! We are dropping anchor here for a few days. We have some good friends (Les & DeAnne McKay) coming to visit us tomorrow and staying here for a few days. Our time will be occupied being with them. We are so looking forward to being with them again. Our travel through the Panama Canal will begin when we return. Don’t turn your appetite off or loose your sea legs. It will require several blogs because besides going through the Canal, we also took a 6 hour excursion by bus and railroad around the canal, through Panama City, to Colon and ending up at Cristobal before being tendered back to the cruise ship. Lots to share in my on-going Show and Tell. So keep your life jackets on....they may seem bulky but if you ... read more

Day eight, day at sea. Up at the crack of dawn again yesterday and had our own little table tennis tournament. We then checked the basketball court but, of course, it was being used by the paddle.....or pickle ball players. To be fair, they acknowledged us and said they just would finish that game so, an improvement! It’s so hot here, I think we did a lot of intense exercise in a short period with very little shelter from the sun. I got a touch of heatstroke I think. Felt quite unwell for the last part of the day but feel much better this morning. There was another basketball competition yesterday....more people attended and i came second by just one basket. Boooooo Dave came third! Which is good too. We are loving our club class status. ... read more