April 7, 2019 – at Sea
Today we moved up to 3 star mariners. This a rewards program through Holland America and its parent company Carnival Cruise lines. One star is awarded for completing a cruise. 2 stars for 30 cruise day credits, 3 stars for 75 cruise day credits, 4 stars for 200 cruise day credits, and 5 stars for 500 cruise day credits. One of the nice perks for 4 and 5 star mariners is priority boarding on the ship and ship tenders. It means little on this cruise because most of the passengers are 4 and 5 star mariners. It will mean more if book another cruise.
A note about the internet was given to all passengers. A 500 MB data limit is on the top package. After 500 MB is reached, severe throttling occurs. 500 MB is not very much data. Texting works fine but there are times when my google email app will not even load and web pages the same. This makes blogging difficult. I know other bloggers who wait until they are in port to post on stronger wifi. I choose to upload fewer photos.
For the team trivia buffs: Which pure metal element has the highest melting point? Who was the author of Sleepy Hollow? Which Latvian City is known as the Paris of the Baltic? See how much you don’t know?
The seas were rough today and the wind has picked up some. We have been on this ship so long that it is rare that we feel any motion.
We are in the red sea and it is one of the warmest and saltiest. It contains an algae which turns the water reddish brown. It doesn’t look any different to me. Maybe as we move farther north.
Tomorrow night we set clocks back one hour. We will be seven hours ahead of home.
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