Day 24, At Sea

The ship continues to move quite a bit as we continue our second sea day after Montevideo enroute to the Falkland Islands. 

COFFEE CHAT

Peter Carey, Antarctica Lecturer, was the guest today for Coffee Chat.  He went to school in Ohio and then relocated to New Zealand to get involved with the various Antarctica expeditions.  He started by working for a Japan based expedition ship on an Antarctica cruise.  He was recently hired by HAL to work on the EXC program featuring the ms Maasdam and her Zodiac boats.  He Talked about our upcoming visit to Antartica and warned that the weather is very hard to predict.  He has a rough plan with back up plans for every contingency.  We expect to be near Palmer Station, the US research base, and will host some of the scientists who will share their experiences and observations. 

Around mid-day there was a logo wear sale on the Lido deck near the pool.  If you want something thats marked with “2020 Grand World Voyage” there is a good chance you will find it here.  Everything from water bottles to decals were for sale. 

CAPTAIN’S DINNER INVITATIONS ARE OUT

On previous World Cruises, guests who booked the entire cruise, would be invited to the Pinnacle Grill for a Captain’s Dinner.  With over 800 guests doing the full cruise, this became a major time investment for the Captain and ship’s officers who host the tables.  There was also a revenue loss as the Pinnacle Grill was committed to this probably once a week, if not more. 

This year, they are going to have a single dinner on March 5^th, to coincide with a Gala Night and probably pass out the mementos that they used to hand out during the Pinnacle Dinners.  Everyone with fixed seating will be assigned to their normal table, but those who are Anytime Dinners will be assigned to either early or main seating as space permits.  The dining rooms can accommodate all the passengers over both seatings, but everyone may not get their first choice.  Since we are eating at the main seating, which is only half full at the moment, we expect to be assigned our normal seating and time. 

Invitations (Copy HERE) were sent out for everyone to RSVP whether they will attend and their preference for seating.  The deadline was February 22^nd.  What remains to be seen is how they select the people who will actually get to sit at the Captain’s table.  Stay tuned! 

RUBEN VILAGRAND

Ruben Vilagrand, a mime who does magic, put on a wonderful show on the Mainstage.  He proves the point that humor can cross all cultural boundaries as he entertained us with wonderful tricks ending up with an amazing display of shadow puppets to close his show.  We saw him on the 2018 World Cruise and he remains a great act that is not to be missed

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