Monday, August 24, 2009

Onboard ship – College Fjord


We passed College Fjord around 6:00 this morning. I’m glad I woke up to see it. Took lots of video, since the professionals were still sleeping. Will upload later. Steven took the mile walk around the Promenade Deck and I joined him for his last lap. Breakfast at the Lido deck was extensive! Every breakfast thing you could think of, including prune juice. Yes, I drank it.

Steven and I then took a short tour of the ship. I’d found the sky deck before and took him there before coming back to the cabin. We have the whole day to do absolutely nothing and at the moment, I think we’re at a bit of a loss. I brought books to read and may end up just curling up on the couch here and getting comfy. The air temperature isn’t terrible, but it’s sweater weather for sure. Later I’ll go out and sit on the deck to read, but right now, that’s a bit too chilly if you’re not moving about.

Have just gone through the daily events calendar of what can be done onboard ship. There’s a culinary demonstration at nine-thirty that looks interesting – might take that in. At eleven is a port and shopping talk that will give maps of the various ports of call we’re to make as well as coupons that can be used there. They’ll also go over duty-free rules, which is good. I have no idea what they entail, to be honest. I always avoid buying anything in Canada because I don’t understand duty taxes. Time to learn!

At four this afternoon is a big bingo party. I’m pretty sure we can talk Steven’s mom into that! The movie of the day is Observe and Report; we’re thinking of taking that in this evening. The ship certainly doesn’t lack things to keep one occupied! There’s also a spa special combining a few of the individual body part massages.

Okay, when the review website I went to before the cruise said Holland America excels at pampering their guests – they weren’t kidding. The two men who make up our cabin each day greeted us in the hall by name as we left the room this morning and when we got back from breakfast, there were fresh flowers on the table and not only was the bed made, but the room straightened as well (although my separate piles of papers to deal with had been all neatly stacked into one!). I was just looking at the bottle of Sierra Mist that Steven had bought and packed in his knapsack, thinking that I hadn’t seen an ice machine yet. The bucket is sitting right here on the desk beside me. Just as I’m thinking that, a noise comes from the bucket. Suspicious, I lift the lid and sure enough…the guys filled it with ice already! Nipo is one and I didn’t catch the other’s name. But I will. This kind of service? Deserves that I at least know their names!

11:15 am

The canapé demonstration was interesting and fun, although Steven was bored. I told him he didn’t need to follow me around, but he said he was fine. I enjoyed seeing the different ways one could prepare things that one has in one’s fridge, although mostly I don’t have pate hanging around.

Lost two dollars in the slot machines whiling away time before the 11:00 presentation on tips for the shore excursions. Steven, of course, spent one dollar and won four! Dave and Dar were also at the presentation. I didn’t stay, as you can tell by the time stamp for this entry. The guy came across as one of those slick salesmen types and the literature that was handed out all had to do with jewelry. I rarely wear jewelry and decided it wasn’t going to be a fun use of my time. And I did NOT come on this cruise to be bored. Steven said he actually felt good that I didn’t want to stay, even though he did. Now, he said, he won’t feel guilty about leaving events I’m interested in and he’s not.

So I’m sitting in the Explorer’s Lounge, which is sponsored by the New York Times. In fact, we had a NY Times highlight broadside delivered to our cabin this morning. There’s a café here (had to pay for the can of Coke -- $1.95. Not as bad as Disney, but still one would think the drinks would be as free as the food for the price we paid). There are lots of computer stations and WiFi if I want to pay $25.00 for thirty minutes of access! There are prints of vintage NYC on the walls (I’m sitting under a photo from the NY Times photo archives of the dressing room for the record-breaking performance of A Chorus Line when it became the longest-running Broadway musical).

One can also borrow books and DVDs – or just take a book off the shelf and read it here. There are comfy overstuffed chairs and it’s fairly quiet. Good place to bring my book and read – or to catch up on my journaling!

And of course, the scenery slips past almost unnoticed now. We’ve moved a bit further away from land, it’s cloudy and one can only glimpse the shoreline and mountains through the breaks in the low level clouds. We’re in Prince William Sound and will be in the Pacific around 1:00 this afternoon. The captain has warned us there’s a gale blowing that we’ll hit tomorrow morning after midnight with 12-foot waves. Should be FUN! Up to this point, it’s been relatively smooth sailing. I probably should buy some Dramamine though, just in case…

In fact, we’re just about at the point (can see it from here) where the Exxon Valdez made its mark on history. This morning, however, we were closer to shore and could see over a dozen fishing boats with their lines set and ready to catch fish. They troll for fish here, although I don’t know exactly what that means. Will have to look it up when we get home.

I do miss the kids. I try not to think of how much very often because I know they’re busy doing their own thing. But today is harder because we couldn’t get a hold of them if we wanted to. Yes, the ship does offer carrier service for the cell phones, but we’d get roaming charges. In fact, we think we’ve been roaming all along and didn’t realize it. Which means our phone bill when we get home is going to be far greater than we thought. The kids know we’ll call on Wednesday when we hit port, but even then I suspect we’ll have charges. I know in my heart they’re doing fine, but that doesn’t stop a mother from worrying!

4:46 pm
Lost $30.00 in the Casino this afternoon, Steven won $4.00. Figures. There was a Jackpot Tournament that cost $20.00 to enter and Steven’s mom anted up her money and qualified for the final round! They had set up a bunch of slot machines for the competition and she had to have one of the top six scores in order to progress. She was number three on the list.

At 4:00 this afternoon, the six finalists were set up at their respective machines and the cheering began. Lori and I were there with her and we kept hollering, “C’mon, Grandma! Push that button!” Soon the people on either side of us were cheering for “Grandma” too.

The scores on the machines were hidden, so no one knew the scores. He went down along the line, calling out each score and writing it down. The second and third place winners would win a T-shirt and the first place winner would win $500.00. Our noise had attracted quite a crowd.

The first three scores called out weren’t very high. Nothing over 60,000 points. Then he got to Steven’s mom and she had over 90,000 points. He read the next two…and none of them could top her high score. She won! He gave her a T-shirt, a hat…and $500!