We have settled on a location on the Lido for breakfast. Doing this, the staff quickly learn your names and habits. Often times, coffee, juice, water, or whatever you have in your morning routine will be delivered to your table without you even asking. Jose is taking care of us.
The food is incredible. There is so much variety and everything tastes great. The executive chef came out to greet passengers at dinner last night. He is a tall and muscular Scot with a heavy accent. I asked if he was responsible for all of the great food. He said that when passengers praise the food his assistant is responsible. When passengers complain, he is responsible. I haven’t seen anyone complain yet but that will be just a matter of time. He would not be someone that I would like to complain to but the age group we are traveling with has reached the point of entitlement and tends to complain freely as a source of human interaction.
It is tempting to want to try the local food when the ship is in port but then the question becomes why? There is so much variety on board. Local dishes are always presented on days in port. It also becomes a question of safety. Can we drink the water in this port? Is it clean? It is easy to see why the all aboard time on these days is usually 4:30 pm. Everyone wants to get to dinner on the ship. No reason to have a later time. There will be no passengers to wait for. They will all be in the dining room.
We often will try a local dish for lunch. If the food is very hot, we feel safe. Getting ill on a cruise would be no fun. We carry ship water with us are quite careful.
The gym has been crowded with yoga and class stretching. Often times these classes will be held at a different location on the ship because they tend to get large. We shall see if they get moved. The tread mills on this ship thankfully don’t have the tv screen that is right in your face. I don’t like these. I’d much rather watch the ocean. The gym is above the bridge. We see what the captain can see.
Team trivia was a first. We answered every question correctly! We are the only team that has an official Canadian team member. Susie answered the question about the name of the first Canadian prime minister correctly. The winning group gets a free drink from the bar! Team trivia is getting better! I sent an email to Jose from our African cruise as he is not aboard. Jose was a professor at MSU while I was a student. He is really an expert in languages and was a key member of our team. He had just finished an Asian cruise and said that he played trivia faithfully with two other folks that were on the African cruise with us.
While we enjoyed our winning drink, the conversation turned political. I asked Susie about a term I had heard others use. Canada is now known as Chinada as it is becoming more like the communist country. She shook her head yes. She is from British Columbia and said that Vancouver is run by the Chinese. She talked about those formerly known as Eskimos, now referred to as Inuits. You can’t call them Eskimos anymore as Inuit is the correct political term. It reminded me of things back home. She had no idea what the DEI office is. My explanation just produced familiar head shaking.
Tonight was a formal night although I left the tux at home as the definition of formal has been softened quite a bit. A suit works fine. Terri looks spectacular here standing next to my Dad!
The evening entertainment was proceeded by the Captain introducing his executive staff. Decades of experience here. Most of the staff works behind the scenes but our cruise director, Kimberley, had a successful broadway career and is doing a great job in her role on the ship. She has the most interaction with the passengers on the ship.
The ship is like a tiny country operating in international waters. The difference between it and a real country is that there is someone to take responsibility for everything that happens on the ship and the people responsible own it. I have many complaints back home but reaching out to Joe Biden doesn’t seem to do anything. Maybe I should try Kamala.
The evening entertainment was the Zuiderdam singers and dancers. They performed a show called “In the Mood” that featured music from the 30s and 40s. Canned music was used but the house band backed up the rhythm section. I’m not sure why but I guess they were part of the show. The vocals were spot on and the dancing was excellent. I’m guessing that all in the group are in their 20s but most carried some extra baggage that I was surprised to see. They will be doing 18 different shows on this cruise.
Tomorrow we arrive in Tobago at 8am.…