Day 83 Mar 28th At Sea
Colleen Williamson was the guest on Coffee Chat this morning. She is from Lagrange, Indiana, and now lives in Nashville. Before she was able to earn her living as a singer she worked as a Church secretary and for a tanning salon. You can read more about here background HERE
Mariner’s Reception
Orlando Ashford and the other executives from Seattle came aboard yesterday. They’ll be holding special receptions for Mariners and other groups until they depart in Cape Town. Many of these events will take place between Maputo and Cape Town. Since there are so many guests leaving the ship in Maputo to go on safaris and rejoin the ship in Cape Town, they decided to hold a special reception this evening for those guests who would be leaving the ship in Maputo and would otherwise miss the ceremonies.
There were two receptions, one for early seating and the other for late seating. The reception was held in the Explorer’s lounge. The lounge was blocked off except for the entrance from the piano bar. As we entered there was a short receiving line with Orlando, Gerald, the director of the mariner Society and Gerald’s wife. We exchanged a few pleasantries, posed for a picture and moved into the lounge where we found our tablemates seated near the piano. Waiters were roaming around passing out drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Ivelin Kolarov, the beverage manager, joined our group as we got to know him when he was hosted our table a few nights ago.
Once the receiving line was over, Orlando moved around the lounge and I had a chance to speak with him for a few minutes. I invited him to our Texas Hold ‘em game over the next few days but he chuckled and politely deferred saying that he wasn’t good enough to join our table. We laughed as I replied that we would cheerfully give him personal lessons. Orlando moved on to chat with other guests and I returned to our group until the party broke up in about 30 minutes when it was time to go to dinner.
Birthday in the MDR
The star of tonight’s menu was a 24 oz. Porter House Steak with the helpful annotation “no small portions available.” I ordered mine medium rare and it was delicious.
Tonight was Judy’s birthday. Not my Judy, but the wife of Bob from Arizona. The ship always prepares a nice cake for these occasions along with the singing of the Indonesian birthday song as all the waiters and wine stewards in the area gather to join in. Here is a short video of our celebration.
Some of the gifts Judy and Bob received were the straw hats that the ship gave out earlier in the cruise for one of our Polynesian dinners. Our table has been regifting them to the next person at our table who has had a birthday so far this cruise. Since Judy’s birthday was the final one for the cruise she would be able to keep these wonderful straw hats. Peggy and Dawn decorated the hats with Judy and Bob’s names and other bling.
Judy G with cake
Judy and Bob with their hats
24 oz Porterhouse
24 oz Porterhouse
Here are the lyrics to the Indonesian Birthday Song as sung on Holland America Ships. The English translation is on the right.
“Panjang umurnya” “Long is His/Her Age”
Panjang umurnya
Panjang umurnya
Panjang umurnya
Serta mulia
Serta mulia
Serta mulia
Long is his/her age
Long is his/her age
Long is his/her age
And treasured
And treasured
And treasured.
The Muses
The Muses, a string quartet with electric instruments including two violins, a viola and a cello, were in the Queen’s Lounge this evening. The group consists of four women from Gauteng, South Africa. They fuse classical instruments with contemporary music. One of my favorties was “Paint it Black” by the Rolling Stones. Here is a short clip of that performance:
Ashley playing the violin
You can find out more about the Muses here.