at Sea
Another day closer to Guam. We are finally on Guam time and are 15 hours ahead of home. All those 25 hour days are really nice. I’m not looking forward to the 23 hour days that are coming.
I sent a note to the Zuiderdam staff about the inability to hear the Captain when he speaks at noon. I received a nice note in response thanking me for taking time to do this. They did address it the next and turned up the volume. DIdn’t help much since it is really the way the Captain speaks. Very strong initially and then trails off. He does this over and over. It’s really inexperience with the microphone. No issue when Kimberly comes on right after. She has years of experience from being on the home shopping network.
We received a customs form for Guam. Same one we received from Saipan. Everybody on the entire ship needs to go see the customs officials just like they do on our southern border. I want to get in the line for the free hotel room and preloaded debit card.
It looks like our tee time may not work since custom officials do not begin until 8 am and our tee time is 8:45am. It looks like a 30 min ride to the course. Hope we can change the tee time.
The evening entertainment was another set by the Bird Dogs. The house band accompanied them and they played some great tunes. They emphasized artists that influenced the Everly Brothers and those that they influenced. Early influencers were Roy Orbison. They played Pretty Woman with an Everly Brothers feel. Those that they influenced included the Beatles and they performed Get Back. Elvis Presley and they performed Falling in Love. Chuck Berry and they played Johnny B. Goode. Fun show and the house band kicked it up a notch. Pianist was very good. Bass player not so much. Drummer fair and guitarist good.
After the show we sat back and chatted with Janet and Brian. They are from Calgary and we knew them for the 2019 world cruise. We of course talked about how each of our countries were run by people that have no idea that there people are suffering. We also chatted about all of the stores that have closed. There is still a Kmart in Calgary. I had no idea. We also laughed at the ridiculous things government was forcing businesses to do. You could go into Walmart but you couldn’t buy certain items. You could buy a gallon of milk but not a tomato plant. A fifth of gin but not a gasoline can. They did these things in Canada also.
As we chatted, we met some other folks today that were on the 2019 world cruise with us. I remember her because she was the executive assistant for Pierre Trudeau when he led Canada. They also were on the 2020 world cruise. This is the cruise that gives folks nightmares. The ship was near Australia when the world decided to shut down because of the pandemic. The ship had a difficult time finding a port to dock. Passengers were being whipped into a frenzy by the media and other passengers. Everyone had to stay in their room until something was worked out. Getting flights home was another nightmare. Some waited for 8 months to finally get their luggage.
We really lucked out that year. We spent the entire month of January 2020 in Australia. 6 weeks after we left it was turned into a crazy, authoritarian place. Much like home.