The next two days are scenic cruising through the straits and the Fjords. It’s all so beautiful – craggy mountain ranges gliding by in the mist (it’s rainy and foggy), snow capped alps peeking through the clouds, all day long, more and more incredible sights. Everywhere we go – the Observation lounge, the atrium, the cafe, we sit near the windows and just stare all day long. Oh, and all day long we have blessedly calm waters too. When quizzed, the crew will reluctantly tell you that last cruise around the horn was the worst they’ve ever experienced. Rough for hours at a time, everyone was sick. So, we’re very happy for the calmness.
The rough seas did take over in the middle of the night on the 13th. Around 2 am, Ed woke up and said it was as rough as he’d every felt it. Remember, we’re on the lowest passenger level (just above the water line) and dead mid-ship – so if it’s rough in our cabin – we must have been going for a ride. I of course slept right through it! I had, as a precaution, taken a Dramamine before I went to sleep. So that may have helped.
The morning of the 13th wasn’t bad, until noon when we came out of the Channels and got into the Pacific. Another Dramamine, and I’m good to go, but we are a rockin’ and the barf bags are strategically placed all around the ship.
So…..miscellaneous ship notes. As we said before, this is a “starter” or “basic” cruise. It’s good, it’s fun, but some of the things they do! Talk about on a shoe string. I mean, to be honest, it’s actually kind of interesting to see how they make things work without the infrastructure. As an example – they had a Carnivale night in the Atrium the other night. They had a large screen suspended over the atrium and were showing Carnivale scenes on it. The whole set up was make shift though – the screen was suspended by rope that was attached to the banisters on deck 7. The projector was hooked up in one of the glass elevators that they had blocked off and locked so they could run electrical cords into it and set up the projector. It all worked great – but it’s just so funny.
Then there are all the signs around the ship. They are just color copies off a laser printer with different slogans and things. On the doors to the promenade deck they say “go outside and do whatever” or they say “deck closed due to high winds”. The signs to the gangway or tenders have big strips of velcro on them with arrows attached to the velcro pointing in whatever direction they need (our signs for the Treasury Road Show are way better than these!!! At least you can’t see the velcro on ours!).
The posters they use to advertise events have times and dates taped to them – so they can change for each cruise. The posters are normally strategically placed on easels in the atrium – or at the entrance to the venue the day of the event. They have also gotten into the habit of making these little 2 x 2 squares of colored paper with advertisements on them – for the wine tasting or the martini tasting – and leaving stacks of them on the bars in the Atrium. Too funny! But I guess you have to hand it to creative staff who make things happen on a budget!
No comments:
Post a Comment