Day 01 East - 01/02/22

When we boarded, we noted a service truck had been wedged under the gangway, but by the time I went off the ship, it had been freed.  But the roof definitely got pushed in. The driver was not a happy camper.

 

We spent the afternoon getting lunchThis is our third cruise since cruising resumed after the pause.  As I indicated previously, we booked the HAL shuttle from the hotel to the cruise port.  It turned out to be the best $19 per person we've ever spent on a cruise.  We left the Sheraton at 11:17am and were sitting in the waiting area 1/2 hour later.  There was another 1/2 hour wait and we were on the ship by 12:30pm.  I did forget my CPAP machine in the terminal so I had disembark to retrieve it.  

, wandering around the ship, attending a very sparse Mariner's reception (less than 45 people in attendance), unpacking, calling cruise friends who follow us, and watching the sail-away from the Crow's Nest which was about 20 minutes behind schedule at 5:20pm.  It was definitely dark as we headed out the channel past the naval installations and our hotel.  Captain Frank van der Hoven indicated in his sail-away announcement that we would be doing a high speed trip at 19.4 knots to our first port of call of Cabo San Lucas. 

 

The ship doesn't appear full, and I estimate there's less than 1,000 passengers.  Later a crew member confirmed there are around 900 passengers & another passenger said there were 1,066 onboard out of 1,600 who were originally booked.  

 

The ship appears to be in fabulous shape with lots of fresh paint and what looks like new flooring in the Lido.  We showed up for the 6pm interdenominational service, but nobody else showed up.  We did meet the Catholic priest, Father Jerry, and he said there were 18 at his service and that the ship entertainment director did not want them to sing because fear of spreading the virus.

 

After a Lido dinner, we met our cabin stewards Ari and Itzar and attended Ian's multimedia presentation about the origins of Holland America followed by watching one set of the BBKing All Stars which was good but a bit loud for my taste.  We also were able to meet a motorcycle couple I had met some years ago at a motorcycle event.  We capped off the evening with some hot tea in the Lido.

 

Our inside stateroom is about the same size as our last two cruises and is quite comfortable although it is a bit louder than we experienced on our last two cruises.



Tim Bowman

Comments

  1. Pat and KarenJanuary 7, 2022 at 8:38 PM

    They didn't upgrade you to a balcony cabin, since so many people didn't show up? Wow. For as many times as you've sailed with them that would have been thoughtful of them.

    ReplyDelete

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