Day 08 - 10/09/22 - Scenic Cruising Napali Coast, Kauai, Hawaii

 Today was pretty much all about scenic cruising along the Napali Coast.  After breakfast we attended the interdenominational service which was standing room only.  Pastor Dan Bailey led the service and Linda led exuberant singing.  Afterwards Rachael our Cruise & Travel Director gave a shirt introductory talk about what would happen this day.


Initially I went to the open bow area, but it was too crowded so I went to a secret location up on Deck 9 and spent most of the day there with a few folks.  We had shade and enjoyed lots of conversation.  Most of the day was spent cruising at around 7mph.  Near the start of the scenic cruising some dolphins were spotted.  I spotted a 3' shark at the surface which was impressive.  I've never seen a shark from a cruise ship.  


Just before noon I took a break and joined Angela, Erik & Marilyn for brunch in the Main Dining Room (MDR).  This was the first time we have eaten brunch in the MDR in 650 plus cruise days.  Later in the day, we set another record. Also , to my surprise, the lady greeter (Cecelia) greeted me by name.  I was surprised by that and after the brunch J asked her how she knew my name.  She was one of the excellent waitstaff in the Caneletto Restaurant in January, 2022.  The waitstaff in that venue on that cruise were the best we have ever experienced and transformed our several Caneletto dining experiences.  She was promoted shortly after that.


After brunch I resumed my position in deck 9 and spent the remainder of the afternoon there as the ship reversed course for 11 miles so the starboard  balcony and suite holders could view the striking scenery from their balconies. Later I learned that the Captain altered our planned course so we could view the gorgeous Napali coastline.  


At the Hawaiian BBQ dinner we were once again joined by Erik & Marilyn. This is the first time we've eaten with another couple twice in one day, another record. The evening entertainment was a Country artist, Australian Patrick McMahon. We've seen him before and he delivered another  high energy show to a full theater at 7pm and 50% crowd at 9pm.  He was backed up by the Ocean Bar band.


After an attempt to photograph the moon we retired for the night.  We have a snorkeling trip planned for tomorrow.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 27- 10/29/22 At sea to Alotau, Papua New Guinea - Day 2

Image
 Today was a different sort of day.  While it started off like normal with breakfast and Rachael's coffee chat with Dr. John Hardy, the rest of the morning was sort of free time because of the mandatory safety drill for all guests.  We were required to watch the safety movie on our stateroom TV between 10 and 12 noon, check in at our muster station 16 on Deck 3, and listen to the Captain's instruction about the drill.  For the rest of the morning I uploaded my CPAP data to WWW.sleephq.com and reviewed my activity for the past 10 days or so.  It was totally normal. My lunch today was a basic green salad as our dinner meal will be a bit heavy, In the Captain's noon announcement, he reported 44 passenger COVID cases and 4 crew cases.  All are mild or asymptomatic.  He also announced that we would have two days in the Conflict Islands and that was very well received by everyone.  Jonathon, one of the new first officers had worked out the details and permission from the Seattle
Read more

Day 61 - 12/02/22 - At Sea to Melbourne, Australia

Image
 On this next to last sea day it was a pretty quiet day on board the Westerdam.  Carlos, the lead entertainment host was the coffee chat host.  He's a ball of energy and well suited for the task.  Dr. Woodman presented a morning talk on gender differences in language and an afternoon talk on how children learn language.  Her teaching style and content has grown on me over the weeks she has been on board and it's been good content.  It is, however, sparsely attended. We were invited to attend a Mariner's award ceremony (I think they needed to have some "filler" in the audience).  4 couples and a single lady received medallions.  Those of us who were 'most valued' members were also acknowledged as well and we could have had our picture taken with the Captain and the Hotel Director.  But we declined and enjoyed a free soda and some nuts along with a short discussion with Chris, our Cruise & Travel  car with yesterday.  It was fun to reminisce and I airdro
Read more

Day 10 - 10/11/22 - Kona, Hawaii

 Overnight we arrived at the bay at Kona where the ship anchored in position for the day.  Angela booked us on a snorkeling trip with Captain Zodiac tours through Holland America the night before.  We met in the Main Stage area and got our tour stickers (RED 10).  Soon we were off the ship and in the tender which was the first tender ride of this trip.  The Westerdam's tenders are old and of a very different design than any other we have ridden in on all the other Holland ships.  There is much more window area and the driver sits high on the right side. We checked in for a HAL zodiac snorkeling tour that Angela had booked the night before.  We boarded the zodiac which was captained by Rick and assisted by Brenna.  I took a front position and we rocketed to K .  Once there I realized that we had snorkeled there in 2016. I was first in the water and it was very clear and about 20' deep.  There were many small and colorful fish but not quite the variety we saw in 2016.  The best s
Read more