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| The Prinsendam, my home for a month |
How can you stand it, all that time trapped on a ship with NOTHING to do? You must get so bored!!!
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| A lot of stairs to climb, if one is so inclined....or the elevators don't work. |
Fat chance of that happening. After I have accumulated, over time, a little more than 600 days living aboard ships (not counting hundreds of days spent on my own little sailboat) I still hate to disembark at the end of a cruise.
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| Artistic flower arrangements grace the halls throughout the ship - and the florist gives lessons on the 'How to do it' |
Of course there is the food and wine, both bane and pleasure for the body. Temptingly prepared and presented food (buffet/restaurant/elegant gourmet dining choices) is almost overwhelming in its variety and individual choice. If that is not enough, chefs prepare 'a-la-carte' to satisfy diet and religious food requirements - with pleasure.
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| Sushi section in the Lido Buffet |
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| The Pinnacle, exclusive dining venue |
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| Halloween dinner decoration - the chefs conducted a pumpkin carving competition - and here is the winning entry |
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| Lizard Bread |
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| Chocolate windmill |
Then the wines....in addition to the line up of receptions, hosted luncheons, Captain's welcome, private invitations where the real and fake Champagne flow in abundance...wine tastings and wine lists (as well as the other alcoholic indulgences) offer the fitting beverage to any meal to any taste. At a cost, of course.
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| Rudy, a wine steward, setting up wine tasting array |
To avoid building a cruise-waist-spread requires a serious exercise in self discipline. Some fight it with sticking to the same meal volumes as back home, some hit the fitness centre, yoga group, Tai Chi group or go for daily power walks.
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| The Cyber school - how to e-mail the grand kids.... |
People who need people are the luckiest people in the world. Goes for a cruise as well. On the longer cruises one collides - happily - with old friends from home or from previous cruises. Or one forms new ship-board friendships. Six degrees of separation or 'old home week' feeling.
To initiate and develop longer lasting friendships, the 'fixed dining' option is an almost sure fire option, as one meets up with the same group of guests for every dinner. I was very fortunate this time in terms of table mates, as for the first 14 days of the cruise our table of eight seated a 'life-of-the-party' couple (in their eighties) from Quebec who had cruised on Prinsendam throughout her various changes of ownership over the decades; a cultured, well connected and fascinating lady from Connecticut, an elderly couple from Britain (surely belonging to the landed gentry or aristocracy with a give away lordly accent and tales from The Family Manor), a relatively young couple from Silicon Valley (owner of a company providing all the glass windows to the dozens of glass office towers sprouting from the city like weeds) and yours truly. Conversation, debate and discussion amongst that eclectic group made for a couple of hours of lively dining each night.
By the time five of the above table mates left in Rome, another five 'mates' joined the table. The Quebecois and I were joined by a couple from Saskatchewan (travellers par excellence as well as toastmasters and home renovators), a 'beer expert' and systems analyst from Britain, a quietly funny elderly lady from Ohio, and another elegant lady, widow of a football league player and world traveller via tent to the Ritz, from California. The latter not only read - on her Kindle - every book ever written by Jane Eyre during this cruise, but she generously hosted the entire table in her Penthouse Suite to enjoy CHAMPAGNE of the genuine genre (delicious) and appetizers (scrumptious)...needless to say: a good time was had by all.
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| As they always say: A good time was had by all.... |
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| Serenade by our table waiter Imanuel, dressed in Beatles wig and armed with his guitar. Beatles Song: Ublada, Ublada..... |
Of course there are the 'educational' events, lessons in Microsoft applications, lectures in 'well being', lectures by a Geologist from North Bay, Ontario, lectures by a 'how to live a better life' psychologist, (Tough to beat the good life we had on board...) lessons in Salsa dancing, cooking etc etc...
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| Library and Internet Cafe Kindle readers almost outnumber hard cover book readers - well, kindles weigh little regardless of the number of books it contains. Whereas REAL books need valuable suitcase space, not a good thing in an era of luggage fees. |
Nightly shows, and some of them of notable high quality, entertain the insomniacs. There is a casino - but only one or two passengers played the slots.
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| Not much action at the gaming tables or the slot machines... |
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| Instead a lot of action during afternoon snooze time in the Exploration Lounge |
Even shopping is offered. With time on one hands, one may spend small fortunes on diamonds, tanzanites, emeralds and a large choice of costume jewellery.
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| Want to book another cruise - easy! Just see this lady and it's a done deed. |
If all else fails, one can people watch: the complaining Australian sisters, the dancers dancing waltz to chachacha music, the ersatz James Bond brandishing his brandy snifter (stirred not shaken) along the halls, the off duty show troupe chatting in stage 'whispers', audible across miles of deck and strutting their stuff, the quite mature companion traveller with her girlie ponytails, flowery ribbons and baby voice to match, the somewhat mismatched couples (Internet dating??) and the very well matched ones where both compete as to who can bicker better, and the great majority of just everyday really pleasant people.
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| Towel Pets, a different one each night, on your bed. |
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| Dining Room Manager, dressed up for the All American BBQ... |
For the less activity prone, like me, there is the library, the walk around the promenade deck, writing about whatever comes to mind and watching the SEA, ever the same and ever changing and seemingly endless.
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Rainy Promenade.... |
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| Employee of the Month Kudos to the crew of Prinsendam. Most of them hail from Indonesia or the Philippines, and genuine friendliness must be in their genes. 23 years old, a sweet slip of a girl, whose previous 'job' in Indonesia was to help her mother in herfamily home, before joining the ship. Her knowledge of English helped her to a job aboard, where she maintains the public washrooms in spotless cleanliness. People like this young girl made the cruise a most memorable experience.... |
