This was our first sea day, and we had nothing planned for the day. We both were briefly awake at 07:00, but the bed was so comfortable. We decided that we were going to have a lie in. I got up briefly to put the “do not disturb” sign out. Then I went back to bed, and we both fell asleep again. When we woke up again, it was just gone 10:00. We got up and got ready for the day. By then, it was too late for breakfast. We decided to just get a coffee and then go to lunch as soon as this opened. We figured we would go to the Grand Dutch Café for some coffee and on the way, we could pop into the shop to get a model of Nieuw Statendam for our collection. We succeeded in getting a ship model, but the line for the Grand Dutch Café was impressive. We passed on this particular pleasure. We headed back to our cabin to drop off the ship. I was not quite ready to give up on coffee. I left Graham on deck 10 where had come to one of the outside areas to get some fresh air. I headed up to the Crow’s Nest on deck 12 where they also do proper coffee. There was only one couple ahead of me. I got Graham an Americano, and I had a caramel latte. I went back to Graham and we sat down with our coffees.
Once the buffet opened, we headed down to deck 9 for some lunch. Graham had baked ziti with mozzarella and tomato basil sauce and lasagna. He had rhubarb crisp with vanilla sauce for dessert. I had some red bean soup followed by tortilla chips, taco meat, guacamole, refried beans, cheese, and sour cream. I had chocolate and coffee ice cream for dessert. After lunch we headed down to deck 2. We wanted to make a reservation for dinner. On Koningsdam, we only made it to the dining room once as we did not have the best experience. However, we were ready to give this another chance. We got the time we wanted. Then we headed for the World Stage.
Graham had spotted that there were two separate port talks that afternoon, the first of which covered Haugesund and Odda and the second one covered Nordfjordeid and Alesund. We decided to check this out. We were both somewhat nervous that this would just be a glorified sales pitch as this is usually the case which events like this on Royal Caribbean. We both agreed that if this turned out to be a way of trying to sell shore excursions, then we would leave. We were positively surprised. The port talks were hosted by our travel guide Gage who was very personable and a joy to listen to. When we had cruised on Koningsdam last year, there was a role called Cruise and Travel Director, and this is what Gage had done in the past. Earlier this year, hey had split the role into that of a Cruise Director who overseas everything to do with entertainment and into that of the Travel Guide who is dealing with everything related to the destinations. They were given the choice on what they wanted to do going forward, and Gage had opted for the Travel Guide aspect. After his introduction, he gave us some general practical information about Norway. He also mentioned that he could be found at the Crow’s Nest at certain times and that they would be listed in the Daily newsletter and that he would be at the dock every morning. Then he gave us some pointers for each port on what is worth seeing. We enjoyed the first talk and stayed on for the second talk as did most of the other people. World Stage was absolutely packed. They did stream this to the big screen in the Lido and a condensed version for each port was available on stateroom TV later in the day. Not only was this no sales pitch, but he actively encouraged us to approach the tourist information centre or tour companies at the dock. I think it was probably at this point that I had fallen heads over heels in love with Holland America. This was just a completely different proposition from what we are used to in so many different ways.
We still had some time until the next event. I wanted to check out the photos from the first two days. When we got to the photo gallery, there was a huge line in front of the counter. I collected our photos and picked the ones I wanted. The person who had been behind the counter approached me. That was when I realised that the line was not for the photo gallery at all, but for the afternoon tea in the dining room. I mentioned that I had purchased a photo package, but they had no record of this. Fortunately, I had my mobile phone with me and was able to show her the confirmation. She said that she would get to the bottom of this. In the meantime, she put my photos into a folder.
I had sent Graham ahead to Billboard Onboard to get us some seats for team trivia. In the end, I was not far behind him. We both had a drink. Graham had a glass of Chardonnay, and I had a Tuscan Lemon Drop, which consisted of Absolut Citron vodka, limoncello, fresh lemon juice, and rosemary. Team trivia that day was hosted by our cruise director Jai. He was a bit of a character. In 44 cruises across multiple cruise lines, we had a small number of cruise directors that were amazing and a small number that were awful with most of them being nothing special. However, both the cruise directors that we experienced on Holland America were amazing. We scored 10 out of 22. The winning score was 15.
There was some Dutch language trivia 30 minutes later. I do not speak Dutch, but I can read it as it is quite similar to German. As the questions are always shown on a screen, we decided to give it a go. We figured another drink may help. Graham had another glass of wine, and I had a Gin’s Cup, which consisted of De Lijn gin, Pimm’s No 1, St. Germain elderflower, fresh lemon, and cucumber. We did surprisingly well. We scored 10 out 20 . The winning score was 17.
After this we headed back to the cabin to get changed. It was the first formal night that day. I had a limited number of photos to play with. My main focus were the port photos, but I definitely wanted a photo for both formal nights. We got one set of photos done and were looking at the backdrops. Another photographer approached us. There was a black backdrop set up in a separate room. That should have set the alarm bells going. The second hint that all was not as expected was that he did an endless amount of quite complicated poses. However, I was still oblivious. It was only when I was getting antsy, and started to walk off that I realised what this actually was. He took down our room number and said that he would arrange an appointment for us to view the photos. On Royal Caribbean they really push the premium photos, but at least they just try to get you to sign up for a session. The way this was done was just totally dishonest and out of order. Needless to say, he never saw us again even though he sent us a second appointment after we ignored the first one. I would have given him a piece of my mind if we were not running a little late for dinner by that stage. In the end, we just walked off and headed for the dining room.
There was one couple ahead of us when we got to the dining room. It did not take long until it was our turn to be checked in. We were asked if we were going to share, which we agreed to. We ended up sharing with two very nice couples from Western Australia.
The service was so much better than it had been on Koningsdam last year. The food was amazing, too. Graham had the jumbo shrimp cocktail with horseradish cocktail sauce followed by garlic-herb roasted chicken with avocado, tomato, corn salad and green beans. I started with the tomato-red bell pepper bisque with avocado cream. I had the beef tenderloin, shrimp with whiskey sauce, buttermilk mashed potato, vegetables for my main course and strawberry Romanoff with Grand Marnier, and Chantilly cream for my dessert. The only slight blip was the wine. We ordered a glass of Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling each. I am not sure what we ended up with, but it was not what we had ordered. Still, the wine was nice and we were not fussed.
After dinner, we managed to get photos with the backdrops done that we had missed out earlier. When we walked past B.B. King’s Blues Club afterwards, the Vivace String Ensemble was playing. They sounded amazing. We sat down. Sadly, they were just finishing a set, but we planned to catch a set later in the cruise.
We headed back to our deck. We managed to find a square lounger and just relaxed. I had some more live music in my future. Graham took a couple of photos of my outfit and then I headed back downstairs.
One thing that I really wanted to do last year on Koningsdam, but never got around to, was to listen to the piano players at Billboard Onboard play. This was high on my list this time. On this class of ship, they have two piano players playing together. One of the sets that night was love songs and I thought I would enjoy this. I was not wrong. Samuel and Ellie were both from the U.K. and were amazing. I really enjoyed this and planned to come back for another set later in the cruise. I had another drink. I decided to try the Patrona Paloma, which consisted of Patron Silver tequila, grapefruit, and lime. I had a similar drink on Allure of the Seas last year and really enjoyed it, but this one was nothing to write home about.
Once this set had finished, I headed back to our cabin. Graham was already asleep. I got ready for bed and then read a few pages before settling down for the night, too.
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