Huh? Wouldn't that make it the same time they are already set at? I guess I do have to change my watch. That has a date on it. The Captain made sure that today we passed over the International Date Line AND the Equator at the same time, noon. That spot is the only place on earth that it happens, so easy to find our location on a globe. By passing it at noon rather than at night, no one would miss their birthday if it is on Jan 30 or 31. This morning we awoke on the 30th, it is now the 31st. We'll gain that day back hour by hour as we advance our clocks going west. I would hate to be going east and have numerous 23 hour days! Twenty-five hour days are great. We were served Naughty Golden Line drinks for lunch...that might be Knotty Golden Line...some juice and rum concoction. Nice touch.
As of today we have been at sea for 5 days, 6 if you count the day we lost. We have another 2 days before we reach our next port, Luganville in Vanuatu. As I've said before, the days go by quickly. We have something to do every hour, if not more. Several times we've had to leave something a bit early to make it to the next activity. Needless to say, I haven't touched my sewing machine, nor has Mel touched the few clubs that he brought. He has been enjoying all the speakers they've had on board. There is usually a lecture every morning and afternoon.
The jewelry store on board is always having a new sale, new vendor, something new to purchase. Sometimes a vendor will be on board to talk about their product. The latest are Tahitian Pearls. They'll give a talk then have everyone walk to the store where there will be a drawing for a free item. The Tahitian Pearl vendor gave away 2 different pearl pendants worth $800 each. Needless to say, a lot of folks show up. So there we are, all packed in the store like sardines, with people coughing, sneezing and hacking all around us.....not to mention some VERY bad BO on several passengers. Wonder if their showers don't work? We try so hard to stay healthy with frequent hand washing, and sanitizer. I told the store crew that if we get sick, we'll know who to blame. Hopefully next time the drawing will be at the seminar. They said it actually does get more people to look, but the people who are going to BUY will stop by the store anyway.
The gift from the recent formal night was a clock. I was expecting a nice travel clock. Wrong! It's a funny looking thing that can act as a USB port. The light only works, if it's connected to a computer. And the VERY funny thing about it is that no one can figure out how to use the thing! The next morning at Coffee Chat, folks were requesting a special seminar to learn how to use it. People were showing up at the front desk asking the girls there to set it for them. One couple called the Phone Concierge to have them set it. They said the steward showed up, took it in the bathroom and sat on the toilet for about 20 minutes, then finally gave up. The crew had never seen it before, how the heck would they know how to use it? Someone said the German instructions are better than the English ones. Kind of a worthless gift. Another formal night tonight, hope the gift is a bit more useful!
It seems that lately, any conversation we get into at lunch or dinner ends up having something to do with "interesting" events at sea. Many of the other passengers have sailed on this ship many times, so can tell us what I would categorize as Horror Stories! When we were in Ushuaia, Argentina in 2006, we met some other Americans who were telling us about encountering 2 70' rouge waves (that is correct typing, seventy FOOT waves!), making them have to turn around from their Antarctic heading for repairs and to put 50 injured passengers in hospitals. Turns out that ship was the MS Princendam, another HAL ship. Jackie, the ship's hostess, was on that cruise. She said she was on the 8th or 9th deck, probably in a crew cabin, and saw the wave coming. She said all she could do was hold on. Things went flying, breaking most of the dining ware. Not an experience I'd like to repeat. One of our table mates was on this ship going from Alaska to Russia, or Japan, not sure. They were in very rough seas and lost both engines! Without the engines they were at the mercy of the sea. The ship was turned sideways in 50' waves. It tipped as much as 35 degrees, again with things flying...like the grand piano which sits on a balcony off the upper dining room. It flew onto the main dining area! That lasted for about 2 hours while they figured out what was wrong, and were able to get the engines running again. Once the ship pointed into the waves, it was much easier to ride it out. Other stories include waves that dented the bow (not sure how that is possible but they claimed it happened!), and others that broke windows up front. She's still sailing, so guess she's a strong ship. I hope we continue to have calm seas.........and a smooth ride. We have constant bobbing, rocking and rolling, sometimes more than others. Nothing like what we've heard about.
As for our A/C debacle, they finally have offered us a different cabin which we can move into for the duration of the voyage. We decided to try it out, so got ready for bed the other night and traipsed down the hall in our bathrobes to that new room. It was strange to hear all the different creaks and moans that we'd gotten used to in our current cabin. We both quite froze also. So the next day, I started turning the A/C down little by little. I spent some time in there reading in the afternoon, to see how it was. It's freezing!!! Now we have our cabin cranked all the way up, the other cabin cranked all the way down. Our cabin seems to be holding it's own finally, a bit cool, at least comfortable. The other cabin remains freezing, so I think we'll decline the offer. Hope we aren't sorry down the line when it's even hotter outside and we are without A/C again. The other cabin is also a lot more forward than this one, so more bobbing motion. It is across from the ice machine room, so a lot of slamming of the door, and the wall that the bed is against is a fire station wall so there was a constant swishing of water over our heads. The bed vibrated constantly also, which I guess could be considered a good thing! LOL I think we'll stay put.
Being on board for an extended time has allowed us to get to know some of the crew more than we have on any other cruise. We know the Internet lady well, of course. Her name is Kelly, what a coincidence. Mel wants to say Hi to her every time we pass. She's been very helpful. We've had a number of talks with Jackie the Hostess and Beth, one of the Cruise Director's staff. She ran up to us today and grabbed her husband, who also works on the ship, so we could meet him. That was nice. They are going to be interviewed at Coffee Chat tomorrow so guess I'll have to be up early to be there. Of course by then, Mel will have been in the Lido working on his computer for about 3 hours! Mary in the jewelry shop is very nice. I visit her daily, just in case there is something new. The woman who boarded in LA to work in the clothing shop talks non-stop. I couldn't get away from her for about 1/2 hr the first time I went in there. I now try to avoid it or ask a specific question and hightail it out of there! Mary said at first Momma (that's what they all call her cuz she's older than the rest of the store's crew) was assigned as her roommate. She told HAL NO WAY and escaped that experience. Our cabin stewards are very nice, although I can't remember their names. They even gave us a card with their names on it the day we arrived. Not sure where that ended up!
Guess I'd better get ready for Formal Night. My next post will be after Vanuatu. Figured I needed to fill you in on our days. I'd wanted to add a counter to this so I would know how many visitors I get. Never got to it before we left, so instead, I'd love to hear from you! One of our friends from Discovery Bay just emailed us, presumably thru this blog, so I know it's possible. You don't have to sign up as an official follower, just send me an email. I'd love to know who is out there!
