Dam ship life

The days on the dam ship can be as busy or as laid back as you like.  We try to get moving early enough to have breakfast in the Pinnacle Restaurant, which is a perk of our suite, but the serving hours are relatively short so we don't always make it.  Other choices are limited goodies in the Neptune Lounge (also a perk) or the general buffet with a huge variety of options.

During the day, there are always dam fitness classes, dam lectures, dam trivia contests, etc.  Seems Holland America attracts an older crowd, we've not seen any dam drinking or damlimbo contests.  We have only seen about five dam kids on board and they seem to be in whichever pool we are near.  There seems to always be a meeting of the Friends of Bill W (international code for AA?) at the same time, and far away from happy hour on the deck.  Later in the evening there is also an LGBT and a Singles meetup, in different bars.  I guess if you are LGBT and single, you would have to make a choice.

Afternoon tea is at three and for us, it is the perfect time for finger sandwiches, scones and a sweet dessert.  Most days we've made it our midday meal.

We choose to eat dinner at the late seating (8:15pm) at a table for eight.  This time, four of our table mates have not shown up but Bobbie from Baltimore and Carol from Portland have been great companions and we often are in the dining room past ten.  Our two servers are very friendly and one of them performs magic tricks.  He even brought back our favorite childhood dogs back from the beyond to spend a few days with us but we have to send them back tonight.

The casino usually opens about thirty minutes out of port so we are mesmerized and drawn in by the flashing lights after dinner.  Haven't made it to see the show on the Mainstage once.  Those shows vary between musical revues, magicians, and comedians.  There is a dueling piano act that plays most evenings next to the casino and we've enjoyed them.

So you see, our days fill up quickly and, oh, then there is the spa....

But one of the best parts of the trip is the people we've gotten to know over these 12 days.  This cruise has a wide variety of nationalities and languages.  There's Carol Ann and Donny from Nova Scotia (there cabin is next to ours and was flooded also) then there is Marnie from Canada, and Bob and his wife from outside of Vancouver, and Jay who smokes pot, and Joe from Florida, and Janice and Don from Oklahoma.....I could go on and on. It it has really been enjoyable talking with so many different people.