April 4 and 5, 2010

April 5, 2010


Sea days have a strange effect on me! If I am totally honest, all days have! My memory is not what it used to be, I find it difficult to remember what I have done the last two days! Old age is getting closer and closer!

What has happened after my last update. At 19.00 hours all the newbies were on the ship, the old newbies are now promoted to oldies, and the real oldies (the ones from Papeete), are called the seniors now. I must admit, I just made this up, nobody knows yet!

The Captain introduced his crew as usual, the only difference this time being that Peter, the senior engineer, left the ship, and has been replaced by somebody from Kroatia, with an unpronouncable name. I'm sorry, have to find out how it sounds, let alone, how you write it!

One very big improvement has taken place in the dining room. No longer rush, rush, down they go at 19.15 to take down the napkins. They might be late for feeding frenzy!

No, instead you can go to dinner at any time you want. Many places left for you to choose from, but the biggest improvement is the noise level! You now can easily understand the person sitting across the table. No more shouting, no more missed jokes. Heaven!

What surprises me though is the weather. Just after leaving Sint Maarten, and not Sint Marteen as they keep on writing on the info board, the weather changed quite a bit. Gone is the humidity, which of course is a blessing, but now we have a lot of wind. The airconditioning is still blazing at full force though, so this morning I heard the first coughs already. I turned down my airco unit in the cabin till next to nothing, but my cabin is still cold. When I when to the bridge to say my usual goodnights to the watch, I was wearing my windbreaker!

Whenever you look at the passengers, the way they dress goes from one extreme to another. There is one passenger on the ship who insists on wearing a woollen hat and a jacket all day and evening, even though we had not left Sint Maarten, and then there is my person. Whenever possible, I take of my clothes and sit in the sun (wearing a bathing suit, so not to offend the other passengers!). I have no idea how much sun I will get, being back in the Netherlands, so I make the most of it. I even managed to get a sunburn in my face! This happened when I was walking in Cartagena. Strange, after being in the sun for 6 weeks, still getting a sunburn. So my face is looking great! My skin is peeling, and where the new skin appears, it looks kind of pink! So it is just if I have freckles all over my face.

Patrick and Kathryn, I have given your letter to Colin and Suzanna, who happened to sit at the table next to mine. Ross, I have met Avril, she indeed is quite a character.

I was sitting on my own heaving lunch. First Avril asked if she could join, she would like to catch up with me, she had not seen me in ages! Very difficult when you are only two days on the ship, but alas. Then Margaret turned up, steaming from both ears. She seamingly has prepared a letter to the Monaco office with a complaint about an excursion, which turned out to be only a drop off at the airport in Sint Maarten. They charges € 37,= for that! She wanted € 20,= back! After she got settled, Elspeth joined us, then a lady who I only recognise with her hat (she was not wearing it in the dining room of course), have no idea what her name is, she did not say one word, which was not too bad, because Avril took charge and told Elspeth to shut up, when she was talking! At that point, I decided to go for a desert, and told the ladies, I expected they would have settled their arguments upon my return! My goodness, what a nest full of hens.

They luckily did and we ended the lunch in a better atmosphere. I told Avril she would not be able to do the same trick with me! She fully agreed that would not possible, so I will keep my fingers crossed. I have already decided, if she forgets her words, just to get up and walk away. Will keep you informed.

Again there are some very intelligent passengers on the ship, carrying a GPS, and checking every move the Captain and his crew are making! To me, they look like persons who cannot and will not delegate anything! They must have total control.

Why question the Captain and his crew. Everybody makes mistakes, that is human, but what is the fun in telling them they could do a better job! And based on what, that they have their own sailing boat, or motor yacht, whatever, I even suspect some passengers have to use the oars to get forward. To me, it looks very rude, the more so, since they are passengers and the Captain and his Crew always have to be polite and give an answer. Brrrrrr...........

Yesterday it was Easter Sunday. Claus organised a service again, which the crew higly appreciates. When I was having breakfast, the coloured Easter eggs were brought in by Kemik. It was a lovely sight. I then and there decided I would be the Easter Bunny on the ship! So I made a bunny tale from paper napkins and asked Daniel, one of the waiters, to attach it to my shirt. It was quite a tale! Upstairs, having my daily dosis (one cup of coffee), I made some ears out of paper napkins and stuck them inside my visorband. It looked real funny! When the Captain and the officers finished their daily meeting, they walked straight to me, so there was no way avoiding my bunny tale. We all had a good laugh!

Just before he would start the introduction of his crew, he saw me, still wearing my outfit. He started laughing and said there was a nice bunny on the ship!

When I came to my cabin there was a nice plate with a chocolate bunny figure, an Easter egg, some coloured eggs and cookies. Nice touch.

Went to bed after twelve. Up at seven, get my morning tea and went to the bridge to say hello to Mariusz, the first officer.

Again this is a kind of garbeled message, sorry about that. That is the way my brain is working though!

Thank you for leaving messages in my mailbox. Have not answered any of them, since I was sitting on a concrete floor, and after 1 1/2 hour my bum was sore. Hope to find some Wifi in the Azores though. Till then, take care and leave your messages. Thanks.

Ineke