At Sea...

Thursday, April 20. At Sea, Copenhagen tomorrow. 8 C. Calm seas.

We sleep in our own bed in 22 days.

We do indeed have a busy two weeks ahead of us, so many ports in so few days. We have been afloat in this ship sailing in excess of 44,240 miles or 50,911 KM, for 107 days now. During that time we have not been in the Real World, not by my standards at least. There are some people on board who would like to be on a Cruise Ship all the time. I feel sorry that they do not have what I consider a 'Normal home life', but, I have to consider, that to them, life on a cruise ship would be ‘Normal’. Hmmm.

Confession Time:

In the almost four months at Sea, I have had some ups and downs and a couple of minor medical issues that have caused me some stress. As we get closer to home, those problems become almost not worth even thinking about. Things will get back to normal pretty soon at home, trust me!

One of my major ‘Hang ups’ on the cruise is the procedure of going on a Shore Excursion by Coach. You make your way to the Theatre and get a label that you stick on your chest, then sit in the theatre until your label number is called, you then make you way through the passageways with the crowds, check out of the ship, then make your way down the gangway, find your proper Coach and get a seat. Usually the front section is given to, or reserved for, those that have Wheel Chairs, Walkers, Scooters, difficulty walking, overweight or both. However, there are some self-centred physically abled people who are Speed walkers that worm their way to the front seats and ignore those who could really use a seat, near the front. I cannot help it, but those kind of people get my ire up.

Also, the other day, when getting off a coach after an hour ride to the Tulip Gardens in Amsterdam, there was a loud ‘Ugly American Style’ man seated in the back of the coach who tried to berate the passengers in front of the side door that “If you got on the bus from the front door you get off the bus from the front door!!!”. That may sound logical but the side door is 2/3 of the way to the back. Minutes later, when all 48 of us rallied near our guide when entering the Park, that man and another woman in our group had a face to face ugly confrontation that was an embarrassment to  see and hear.

Inasmuch as Coach Tours are one of my biggest hang ups, I am happy to report that Fellette and I only have one more Coach Tour to be on, and that is with a special tour for clients of the Travel Agent we used, and, the Coaches are usually not full. Also as we have some commonality between us all, we are also a more mellow group.

End of Rant!

The President of Holland America Lines is aboard and today gave a gutsy live talk to us passengers aboard. He did  a great talk, which is also a pep talk to die-hard annual World Cruisers. Then he did a ‘Question and Answer’. He has obviously done it before, but also before the Pandemic hit. That was a different world! He did OK on the question and answer questions but there were many, many comments on what people call Cutbacks. It is very obvious to anybody who has been on even one World Cruise, that this was a lame imitation of that wonderful crazy luxurious life before Covid. Those who may never have had a long cruise have nothing but good things to say about the voyage.

In my opinion, he admitted this 2023 World Cruise was an experiment that they had to try, and now they are getting the feed back. It did not go down well. It is their problem how to get out of the mess created by Covid. We will not be part of their solution. 

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Fellette and I, along with Jim and Gail, hope to go ashore, together or alone, in every port the next two weeks. Jim and Gail likely on more excursions, or longer walks than we will. Time will tell, any cold/rainy weather will determine a lot what Fellette and I do in that time. Regardless, it will be fun! 

A Good Day...