What a beautiful sunrise!
Rudy, Josephine and Helen
Rudy and Josephine
Creating a Phoenix from ice.
This guitar was strange in it had nothing to it, you could see right through it.
The flowers from our agent lasted throughout the entire cruise.
A beautiful arrangement of roses with white pins in the center.
Notice how wide leaves were used in this arrangement.
Learning flower arranging tips from an expert.
Cash and Helen
The Captain's Log written by our Captain.
Alan catches a few z's before dinner.
Reading out by the pool was relaxing.
Learning flower arranging tips from an expert.
Cash and Helen
The Captain's Log written by our Captain.
Alan catches a few z's before dinner.
Reading out by the pool was relaxing.Day 10
Today was a day at sea and was more relaxing since we didn’t have to hurry to catch a tour. The forecast was for partly cloudy and around 73’. After departing San Juan our course was set to 344 degrees and would continue to sail all the way back to New York. Most of the day was spent sailing in the Bermuda Triangle. The incident that consolidated the reputation of the Bermuda Triangle was the disappearance in December 1945 of Flight 19, a training squadron of five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers. In more recent history, no such occurrences have taken place…or have they?
We enjoyed breakfast in the formal dining room. I had Eggs Benedict, fresh berries and Cranberry juice. We dined at a huge table with 8 other couples. It was nice to kick back and relax for breakfast and it was quieter and less hectic than the Lido plus it was nice chatting with others at the table.
During the day I attended a floral arrangement seminar and learned unusual ways to arrange flowers. I also attended the craft classes where I made some pretty blue and silver earrings with a bracelet to match. I thought how my coworker, Alice would like them. Since this was a day at sea we kind of just played things by ear. Some of the activities on the ship were: mass, aerobics, the Life at Sea Chat with the Captain. I was able to go to the Captain’s Chat and hear about some of his adventures. He not only is a captain but a published author as well so I ended up purchasing both his books and having them autographed by him. One is a children’s book, which I’ll give to Barbara for the grandkids to read. The captain told of a rescue off Turkey in the Mediterranean where the Noordam was honored with the prestigious Ship of the Year Award. There were 2200 passengers that had been rescued and since they were illegal it brought up an interesting predicament of what to do…they of course rescued them. When asked how much gasoline the ship uses on a cruise we were told that it used $500,000 worth of fuel from New York. One time the captain chose to go through a hurricane instead of turning around as it would 4 hours of being in a hurricane versus 2 or more days in unpredictable weather. When asked about people jumping off the ship the captain said it’s usually someone wanting to commit suicide. When a person goes overboard 2 rescue boats go forward on each side and the ship does a turn-around. The ship won’t stop, as it would take longer to try to stop the ship then doing a turn-around. The turn-around method usually only takes 7-8 minutes for a rescue
Activities on the ship included: making your own Bloody Marys, Walk-a-Mile, eBay seminar, BINGO, Fat Burning from Spa Secrets, Crib Players Meet, Pool games, Younger Looking by Spa Secrets, Mixology Class, shuffleboard challenge, Herbal Remedies by Spa Secrets, Rum Running by Chris, calls England home. He started his culinary career in Mexico City working in 5 star hotels, where Photoshop, Bridge Players Meet, Team Trivia, afternoon tea, Songs and Songwriters Part II (performance featured more songs and stories of great songwriters including Rogers & Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Hogi Carmichael and more), Yoga, Hanukkah Party and service and an Ice Carving demonstration in the afternoon. During the ice carving there were also napkin folding, vegetable carving and origami. I was given a pretty origami swan that I took back to the cabin and sat inside my flowers.
Chef Rene Rojas Olea’s gave a special seminar on preparing chilled soups, which I would’ve loved to have gone to but didn’t have time to go to. He prepared chilled raspberry soup and sour cherry soup with crème fraiche and fried ginger. His background reflects an extensive and diversified 20 years in the food industry. He is from Mexico but has now developed his chef skills and gained some important experience and confidence in the culinary field. He joined the cruise ship industry in 1992 working as a Chef de Cuisine. In 2001 he was promoted to Executive Chef. By the end of 2002 he decided to change direction and moved to the UK to further his career and to gain more international experience. He has worked as Executive Chef for the Four Seasons Hotel in London. He studied in Westminster Kingsway College, one of the largest culinary colleges in London, where top chef’s train, including Ainsley Harriott and Jamie Oliver.
In 2004 Chef Rene decided to return to the Cruise Ship Industry and joined Holland America Line as Executive Chef on board the ms Zuiderdam. Over the years of his culinary career, he has worked close with great chefs like Michael Roux and Jean Marie Zimmermann. They have been a big influence and taught him precision in cooking, clean presentation and the essence of flavour. It doesn’t matter how original or wacky the food combinations are, you need to be able to taste the ingredient’s natural flavours.
This was to be our last formal evening. Stuart wore his kilts again and I wore my purple gown. Since I had gotten my hair braided I tied a black scarf around my head. Alan looked debonair in his tux. He had lost one of the cufflinks so he used the buttons on the shirt instead. We never did find them. That would cost us another $30 to the rental store but I never did see it billed to us. At dinner the couples all sat across from each other. It was amusing when the photographer came by to take our pictures as he never asked the couples if they were together or not, he just assumed. So the pictures turned out with Stuart and I being together and Nancy with Alan. It was hilarious. The pictures did turn out good so we bought them and I sent a copy to Nancy and Stuart. It makes for a good story to share. For dinner we ordered escargot, shrimp cocktails, lobster with filet mignon, and of course Crème Brule for dessert along with our cappuccinos. Nancy and I decided to order the after dinner drink, which was called ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’. It had Kailua, Frangelico (a nutty flavor), and Baileys in it. They were quite tasty, so much that we ordered them the next night as well. We were even able to keep the adorable shot glass that they were served in.
The show for the evening was called “That’s Vegas” where 14 singers and dancers took you right there to the famed city with their songs, voices, and costumes. It was a spectacular show!
We were reminded that our clocks would have to be changed back one hour the next day. We had changed our clocks up one hour at the beginning of the cruise since we would be in the Atlantic Time Zone. With turning our clocks back we would gain an extra hour of sleep and who could complain about that or an extra hour of vacation?
Today was a day at sea and was more relaxing since we didn’t have to hurry to catch a tour. The forecast was for partly cloudy and around 73’. After departing San Juan our course was set to 344 degrees and would continue to sail all the way back to New York. Most of the day was spent sailing in the Bermuda Triangle. The incident that consolidated the reputation of the Bermuda Triangle was the disappearance in December 1945 of Flight 19, a training squadron of five U.S. Navy torpedo bombers. In more recent history, no such occurrences have taken place…or have they?
We enjoyed breakfast in the formal dining room. I had Eggs Benedict, fresh berries and Cranberry juice. We dined at a huge table with 8 other couples. It was nice to kick back and relax for breakfast and it was quieter and less hectic than the Lido plus it was nice chatting with others at the table.
During the day I attended a floral arrangement seminar and learned unusual ways to arrange flowers. I also attended the craft classes where I made some pretty blue and silver earrings with a bracelet to match. I thought how my coworker, Alice would like them. Since this was a day at sea we kind of just played things by ear. Some of the activities on the ship were: mass, aerobics, the Life at Sea Chat with the Captain. I was able to go to the Captain’s Chat and hear about some of his adventures. He not only is a captain but a published author as well so I ended up purchasing both his books and having them autographed by him. One is a children’s book, which I’ll give to Barbara for the grandkids to read. The captain told of a rescue off Turkey in the Mediterranean where the Noordam was honored with the prestigious Ship of the Year Award. There were 2200 passengers that had been rescued and since they were illegal it brought up an interesting predicament of what to do…they of course rescued them. When asked how much gasoline the ship uses on a cruise we were told that it used $500,000 worth of fuel from New York. One time the captain chose to go through a hurricane instead of turning around as it would 4 hours of being in a hurricane versus 2 or more days in unpredictable weather. When asked about people jumping off the ship the captain said it’s usually someone wanting to commit suicide. When a person goes overboard 2 rescue boats go forward on each side and the ship does a turn-around. The ship won’t stop, as it would take longer to try to stop the ship then doing a turn-around. The turn-around method usually only takes 7-8 minutes for a rescue
Activities on the ship included: making your own Bloody Marys, Walk-a-Mile, eBay seminar, BINGO, Fat Burning from Spa Secrets, Crib Players Meet, Pool games, Younger Looking by Spa Secrets, Mixology Class, shuffleboard challenge, Herbal Remedies by Spa Secrets, Rum Running by Chris, calls England home. He started his culinary career in Mexico City working in 5 star hotels, where Photoshop, Bridge Players Meet, Team Trivia, afternoon tea, Songs and Songwriters Part II (performance featured more songs and stories of great songwriters including Rogers & Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, Hogi Carmichael and more), Yoga, Hanukkah Party and service and an Ice Carving demonstration in the afternoon. During the ice carving there were also napkin folding, vegetable carving and origami. I was given a pretty origami swan that I took back to the cabin and sat inside my flowers.
Chef Rene Rojas Olea’s gave a special seminar on preparing chilled soups, which I would’ve loved to have gone to but didn’t have time to go to. He prepared chilled raspberry soup and sour cherry soup with crème fraiche and fried ginger. His background reflects an extensive and diversified 20 years in the food industry. He is from Mexico but has now developed his chef skills and gained some important experience and confidence in the culinary field. He joined the cruise ship industry in 1992 working as a Chef de Cuisine. In 2001 he was promoted to Executive Chef. By the end of 2002 he decided to change direction and moved to the UK to further his career and to gain more international experience. He has worked as Executive Chef for the Four Seasons Hotel in London. He studied in Westminster Kingsway College, one of the largest culinary colleges in London, where top chef’s train, including Ainsley Harriott and Jamie Oliver.
In 2004 Chef Rene decided to return to the Cruise Ship Industry and joined Holland America Line as Executive Chef on board the ms Zuiderdam. Over the years of his culinary career, he has worked close with great chefs like Michael Roux and Jean Marie Zimmermann. They have been a big influence and taught him precision in cooking, clean presentation and the essence of flavour. It doesn’t matter how original or wacky the food combinations are, you need to be able to taste the ingredient’s natural flavours.
This was to be our last formal evening. Stuart wore his kilts again and I wore my purple gown. Since I had gotten my hair braided I tied a black scarf around my head. Alan looked debonair in his tux. He had lost one of the cufflinks so he used the buttons on the shirt instead. We never did find them. That would cost us another $30 to the rental store but I never did see it billed to us. At dinner the couples all sat across from each other. It was amusing when the photographer came by to take our pictures as he never asked the couples if they were together or not, he just assumed. So the pictures turned out with Stuart and I being together and Nancy with Alan. It was hilarious. The pictures did turn out good so we bought them and I sent a copy to Nancy and Stuart. It makes for a good story to share. For dinner we ordered escargot, shrimp cocktails, lobster with filet mignon, and of course Crème Brule for dessert along with our cappuccinos. Nancy and I decided to order the after dinner drink, which was called ‘Beam Me Up Scotty’. It had Kailua, Frangelico (a nutty flavor), and Baileys in it. They were quite tasty, so much that we ordered them the next night as well. We were even able to keep the adorable shot glass that they were served in.
The show for the evening was called “That’s Vegas” where 14 singers and dancers took you right there to the famed city with their songs, voices, and costumes. It was a spectacular show!
We were reminded that our clocks would have to be changed back one hour the next day. We had changed our clocks up one hour at the beginning of the cruise since we would be in the Atlantic Time Zone. With turning our clocks back we would gain an extra hour of sleep and who could complain about that or an extra hour of vacation?
No comments:
Post a Comment