MORTECH
COMPUTERS
"No matter how much you have, you can always use MOR"
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MORTECH
COMPUTERS
"No matter how much you have, you can always use MOR"
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Day 6: At Sea: Thursday was also an "at sea" day, since we were en route to Nassau, Bahamas about 1350 kms away. You would never have known about the thunderstorm during the night because we woke up to yet another beautiful (and HOT) sunny day, although there were a few cloudy periods throughout the day. After breakfast we attended a disembarkation workshop in the Vista Lounge... although no one wanted to think about ending their vacation, there were some specific procedures that we would need to follow, in order for a smooth transition from ship to shore and then to the airport and on our way home. Bobby Broughton, our cruise director and his staff did a great job and threw in the appropriate amount of humour; including the top 9 dumbest questions he's ever heard throughout his cruising days... I especially like the one: "Is there salt water or fresh water in the toilets?" WHO CARES!. They went on to explain the luggage procedures and that we would be called to disembark in priority according to flight arrangements etc. and at the end of the workshop most of the cruise staff gathered on stage and sang a wonderful song to say thanks to their passengers... I know it sounds sappy, but they did a great job and we gave them a resounding applause! Next was the kid’s "Build-a-bear" workshop in the Explorer's Lounge that was organized by Club HAL. The young lady (I forget her name) that was in charge of organizing all the kids events worked at Build-a-Bear in a previous job and she contacted her previous employer to put this event together. Turns out it was a "build-a-moose" instead of a bear but the kids still had fun. The moose even had the Holland America Lines logo on the sole of it's left foot and came complete with a Club HAL T-shirt and everything. Of course, Maddie had to get an extra t-shirt for Mr. Monkey Monk... We then headed up to the Lido Restaurant for some light lunch and a couple Buckets'o'beer! The kids all went for a swim in the Lido pool and we basically lounged around the Lido Bar for a couple of hours, relaxing and watching the water babies play in the pool with all their friends. Just before the ice sculpting show was supposed to begin our chief officer; Bart Blokker announced that the ship would be coming to a complete stop in order to facilitate an emergency medical evacuation of one of our fellow passengers, and that we should stay away from the bow of the ship. Well, he may just as well have invited everyone to come to the front of the ship, because that's exactly what happened, although the captain anticipated this, and posted crew members to close off the foremost parts of the ship. We were already near the front of the ship because the aft pool was designated as Adults Only, and we made use of the Lido pool throughout the cruise. Before long a Coast Guard helicopter could be seen in the distance... he circled the ship once and then hovered near the ship's bow for about 5 minutes. He then started to fly away and we thought the excitement was over, but then he came back. This time he was hovering for quite some time, so I decided to head into the Crow's Nest, which had a perfect view overlooking the bow of the ship. I saw that they must have lowered a stretcher and a coast guard crewmember to the ship via that cable and winch thing that you see on TV. He (or she) was on the deck below securing the patient in the stretcher... they lowered the cable again and secured it to the stretcher. It was then brought up to the helicopter and they sent the cable back down for the coast guard crew who came aboard to help. Once everyone was safely aboard the helicopter, it circled the ship again and then off they went. The whole time this was going on, I was taking pictures so I missed the ice sculpting! Fortunately Jim got some pictures of that so it wasn't a complete loss.
After that bit of excitement, we took another mixology course with Jimmy in the Atrium Bar, and then it was time to get ready for our family portraits, our second formal dinner and some surprises yet to come. We figured since we were getting all dressed up and there were professional photographers taking our pictures all over the place, we may as well take advantage of this and get our family portrait done. I was also especially looking forward to this dinner- it was the one I had been waiting for... the "Surf & Turf". The appetizers sounded so good, I skipped the soup and went for the crab cake thing-a-ma-whatcha-ma-call-it... and no sooner had I finished that one, that Tommy had another waiting in the wings! When the main course menu showed up, I discovered that they again separated the steak dish and the seafood dish, which was the lobster tail on today's menu! I looked up at Tommy, and I'm sure he anticipated my question, because before I could even say anything he just smiled and winked at me and said, "don't worry Mr. Peter... I will look after you". Tommy was definitely my favourite crewmember! He brought a couple others and myself at our table a steak and a lobster tail together... and when the lobster tails were done, he brought extras for anyone that wanted one. It was starting to get later in the meal, and we still had our "surprise" to deal with... Since we were celebrating Mom and Dad's 50th wedding anniversary, Wendy Jim and I had purchased the "Renewal of Vows" package for them. Dad already knew, because he was going to purchase the package himself as a surprise for Mom, and Bertha at Pauwels had to tell him that it was already bought and paid for. He being the man of intelligence that he is, figured it out and came calling on us... When he asked me about it, he reminded me that it would be Angie & myself- 12 1/2 year anniversary as well and that it is customary in Holland to celebrate this milestone as well. He was right, because I had already booked it for ourselves as well! As the saying goes... "The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree"... Neither Angie nor Mom knew about it until the day we arrived on board- since this was one of the "surprises" that was waiting for us in our staterooms upon arrival. Anyway, the "Renewal of Vows” ceremony was being conducted and hosted by Captain Hans van Biljouw and started at 7:30 sharp. This timing may not have been the best, because we missed out on the Baked Alaska desert-, which is a very big deal on board the Zuiderdam! We actually had to leave during the baked Alaska Parade! (I told you it was a big deal...) Regardless, on we went to the Piano Bar, which was the room chosen for this celebration. As it would turn out there were a number of Renewal packages being celebrated and 2 of them had parties of 11 so the room was rather crowded, and not everyone had the best view- something we alerted the Guest Relations manager to later. Nonetheless, both Mom & Dad and Angie & I renewed our vows and had a rather nice reception with champagne and everything. We were also presented with a certificate and an album for the cruise line to commemorate the event.
And here's the family portait we had done:  |
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