is not enough! We need more time to do everything that we want to do onboard.
Day one I decided to hibernate. I stayed in the cabin all day, sorting thru paper stuff, reading, emailing and stowing purchases. Well, I did go out for lunch and dinner of course. :) It was a good day, but I still didn't get to working on my pictures, nor did I post on the blog that day. Guess we had a lot of papers accumulated from the various ports, maps and business cards, most which we don't need to bring home with us.
Day two I was up fairly early for me. I attended the end of the Coffee Chat then went to a lecture on Australian shore and water birds. It was very interesting. I love seeing birds off the aft of the ship. Amazing to see them so far out to sea. Nice to be able to tell what they are, sometimes! In the afternoon I attended dance class. We are learning the Cha Cha. Don't think I'll be doing it any time soon, but it was an OK class. It was formal night, so we got spiffed up for dinner at 5:30.
Our new table is a table for 10 but only has 9 on a regular basis. That leaves room for an officer to join us on formal nights. Last night we had one of the navigators join us. He was a nice young man from Holland. I asked how he ranks in order of command...he is number 7! At 25 yrs of age, he has done quite well. He said he apprenticed for 3 years then assumed he would complete 3 or 4 contracts before being promoted to his current level. They promoted him after his first contract, good for him. We decided to take advantage of an insider to get more info on the ship. I know the crew has cabins below ours, I was wondering how far below! We often disembark on Deck A which is a crew deck. There is also a Deck B and Deck C. Deck C is all equipment, engines, air conditioners, etc. It is only accessible by ladder type stairs, and very greasy, so no tours of that area! Deck B is for the stewards and servers. It's below the water line. Deck A has the officers, event staff, stores staff, etc. Good to know.
We asked about any unusual events that might have happened on the Rotterdam during his 4 years aboard her. One interesting thing....the ship has stabilizers which are like small flippers or wings that extend out to each side. When whales were spotted near the ship several days ago, they put the stabilizers in as a precaution. Turns out the Rotterdam has hit whales twice with their stabilizers, requiring it to go into dry dock to have them replaced - at $800,000 each! Expensive collision. Wonder what happened to the whales. :(
We asked about weapons on board, to use against pirates. They do have 2 sound machines which when turned on at full frequency, can break a person's ear drum. Those were boarded on recently, at a cost of $40,000 each. The officer said they tested them at low frequency on some of the crew...they work. He told us those are the only weapons on board. Somehow I don't believe that one, but who knows. There is a jail on board, as well as a morgue. (Jacky, our onboard hostess told us tonight that water hoses can also be used as weapons, hmmmm.)
When we crossed the International Date line, January 30/31, we also crossed the equator at the same time...at 12 noon on the dot! We asked about that also. Our officer said they were slowed down to 9 knots to be sure they would pass at the exact time. At the last minute they were experiencing some currents which were making the ship drift to the side. They were sweating it a bit. But the ship's photographer was there, taking hundreds of pictures so he'd be sure to have one of the exact moment. We put that picture aside to purchase at the end of the cruise. The GPS reads 0.0.0 then 180.0.0 the time is 12:00.00. Not bad!
They always have lobster of some sort on formal nights. I ordered double surf, no turf. I received 2 huge lobster tails. They were delicious. We also get gifts on formal night, which I've failed to report about lately. I have mentioned the journals, card holders, umbrellas and tote bags. We also received the clocks that no one can figure out how to set. The last gift were beautiful little Dutch ceramic vases, 2 different ones, with deco designs on them. Very pretty. Last night we received leather trays. They are flat until you bend the ends into corners. They have the same world map logo as the journal and card holder. OK I guess. We had to turn in sizes for a jacket we'll receive sometime in the future. Hope its a nice one!
I chose to skip the show since it was the HAL singers. Mel went to it. I changed into sweats and hit the deck. We'd already done our 4 passes after lunch but I had a bit too much dessert so wanted to walk again. I did 3 times around before I saw another person, it was kind of spooky. I don't think I would have been out there by myself like that if it had been dark. It's sometimes amazing that you can go somewhere on the ship and be all by yourself even with almost 2000 people on board including the crew.
Day three I was ready to participate again. I'd finished my Melbourne and Adelaide posts, so that wasn't pressuring me. I only heard the last 20 minutes of a lecture on Australian crayfish. I'd wanted to walk instead. Turns out even though I missed the first 20 minutes, I still know more about crayfish than I'd ever wanted to know. Did you know that some burrow in solid, dry earth? So interesting. LOL We went to dance class, the 3rd one on the Cha Cha. We were surprised when the Captain showed up, in uniform, with an unknown young lady and participated in class! Afterwards it was our mission to find out who she was. The dance instructor said she didn't know and it wasn't any of her business. Mary in the stores didn't know. We've seen the Captain in there shopping several times, so it was worth a try. Finally Beth who is on the event staff told us that she's a passenger, the daughter of some other passenger. They met at the Valentine's Ball and spent some time there chatting. Someone told us the Captain is married. We had to confirm that so we wouldn't be spreading false rumors. He is not. Nice that he's met someone to spend some of his free time with. Jacky, the hostess, said he'd asked her if she would attend dance class with him and she thought he was kidding! They did the first dance together during the Black and White Ball.
See, just too much to do, too little time. I look forward to our sea days again after Perth tomorrow.
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