Day 02 - 11/21 - At Sea - Florida Straights

A Refreshing Ship Update

With our window cabin we now wake up with daylight streaming through the window. For me I forgot to advance my cellphone clock by an hour so I thought that it was an hour earlier than it actually was.  

Ian, our Cruise and Travel Director, leads a coffee chat each sea day morning. Two things are different about these coffee chats compared to those we experienced on the Maasdam. First there is a special small muffin served each day. Second, he distributes a HAL pin at the end. Mine was a Jr. Ranger from Alaska on this first coffee chat. His guest was Chandler, the production manager, who described all of the changes that came out of dry dock and other entertainment related topics.  



I led our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet at 10am in the Crow's Nest. There were about 60 people present out of the 108 who signed up. It was a good time to meet new friends and renew acquaintance with old friends.  

Lunch in the Lido was nice (sushi and a sandwich for me) . I purchased some soda cards for us and learned they don't give the can like we experienced on the Maasdam. Afterwards it was a leisurely afternoon with a wine tasting and a 3pm performance from the string quintet at Lincoln Center Stage (POP tunes). One of the things I'm liking about this cruise is having more free time during the day due to fewer lectures.  

Tonight was gala night so we dressed up for our Lido dinner. This was followed by a 6pm Quintet performance at the Lincoln Center Stage. At the Captain's toast, Captain Frank van der Hoeven spoke the longest welcome speech I've ever experienced. He just rejoined the ship after his rest break, and he marveled at all of the changes. He also thanked HAL for the investment in a small ship as do I.

One Step Dance Company performed Humanity which we saw on the inaugural cruise of the Nieuw Statendam. About half of the cast from the NS performed here on the Volendam. Later in the evening we enjoyed a great chat with one of the cast members who I recognized from the NS. Personally I really liked this performance on the smaller stage.



We caught part of the quintet's performance of Schuman  before watching the excellent movie Driving in the Rain which was set in Seattle. Some of the racing scenes were filmed at Pacific Raceways on which I've done a number of laps on my motorcycle in a training class.

And so ended our first sea day. We are really liking the refreshed Volendam as are many passengers we've sailed with before. It's another sea day tomorrow. Stay tuned.  
Tim

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