OCTOBER 26: A BIT ABOUT LIFE ON BOARD
We have now been sailing for 20 days ! We have never been at sea for so long. From time to time we wonder, if we ever can get used to another life again :-) The sun is shining. Temperature has fallen to "freezing" 24 degrees, which is very pleasant. The ocean is dark blue and continues to look totally empty - though only above surface. Yesterday we visited a small tropical island Lifou in French New Caledonia. I enjoyed talking to a local rooster and his harem. He wasn't too confident in the beginning. But he understood my "Cimbrian rooster language" well, and we almost became friends. It did not go as in Portugal some years ago, when I also spoke to a local rooster. I apparently said something awful, because all of a sudden he became very scared and ran away. This did not happen yesterday!
On board our "ferry" ( as I call our great ship ) we travel with a lot of Americans. They are - as always - very friendly, smiling, helpful, entertaining and very curious to find out, where we come from. So Liselotte can use her professional tourism background and I my position as Goodwill Ambassador for Copenhagen to promote Denmark and its values. Fortunately, they do not ask about Danish politics. If so, we might get into some difficulties being honest and positive to Denmark at the same time ! When the Americans are concerned we cannot help thinking who among them have voted for Trump! We do not ask. We do not want to spoil the good atmosphere! But our own conclusion is that very few of those on board voted for him. Why? Because his core voters ( like other nationalistic voters in other countries ) mostly are people, who do not travel and probably never were in direct contact with foreigners. That is why they are so much against them!
The only problem we have with some of our American co-passengers is that some of them are very difficult to understand! They seem to have an apple in their mouth. And a few of them have a very big apple. Such as our cruise director Dan from Wisconsin. We believe what he says. But most of it we do not understand :-(
We have a lot of entertainment on board. Almost around the clock. Impressive and most of the time very professional. The ferry's own 9 person orchestra, The Explorer of the Seas Orchestra, is second to none. An Ice Skating Show yesterday with nine young skaters was fantastic. Only one small complaint: why is most of the music SO laud, that you can hardly hear, what you think yourself. Last night I installed the app "Sound Meter" on my smartphone during a concert, just to monitor how much above the health limit of 90 decibels they played. The very second when the app was ready to function the music became much more pleasant. I should have installed that app 20 days ago :-)
The only other complaint when the entertainment is concerned was an announcement some days ago, that the evening performance would be done by "a new Victor Borge". We were very excited and were the first to arrive in the theatre. But Mon Dieu! Victor Borge must have died at least once more, if he had seen and heard that. So we were also the first ones to leave the theatre that night!
Apart from all that we have developed a very nice routine with morning walks, morning coffee on our balcony, a morning shower, late breakfast, a reading and writing session in the "Viking Lounge" with overview of most of the ferry, lunch (which we try to make our main meal - though not easy ), a power nap in our cabin in the afternoon, a pleasant stay in the Roman Jacuzzi Pool, a drink or two ( Pinot Grigio and Merlot (or Black Label ) in our Stamm Bar, the Crown and Kettle Bar, dinner in our Sapphire Restaurant together with our new Australian friends Noelene and Lindsay from Newcastle, Aus, and our waiters Kamang from Indonesia and John from the Philippines, entertainment in the theatre, a couple of night caps in the bar or at our own balcony - and bye bye to that day! Some days excursions to land destinations "spoil" this daily rhythm. But we can live with that!
Does all that seem bearable to you ?!? :-)
On board our "ferry" ( as I call our great ship ) we travel with a lot of Americans. They are - as always - very friendly, smiling, helpful, entertaining and very curious to find out, where we come from. So Liselotte can use her professional tourism background and I my position as Goodwill Ambassador for Copenhagen to promote Denmark and its values. Fortunately, they do not ask about Danish politics. If so, we might get into some difficulties being honest and positive to Denmark at the same time ! When the Americans are concerned we cannot help thinking who among them have voted for Trump! We do not ask. We do not want to spoil the good atmosphere! But our own conclusion is that very few of those on board voted for him. Why? Because his core voters ( like other nationalistic voters in other countries ) mostly are people, who do not travel and probably never were in direct contact with foreigners. That is why they are so much against them!
The only problem we have with some of our American co-passengers is that some of them are very difficult to understand! They seem to have an apple in their mouth. And a few of them have a very big apple. Such as our cruise director Dan from Wisconsin. We believe what he says. But most of it we do not understand :-(
We have a lot of entertainment on board. Almost around the clock. Impressive and most of the time very professional. The ferry's own 9 person orchestra, The Explorer of the Seas Orchestra, is second to none. An Ice Skating Show yesterday with nine young skaters was fantastic. Only one small complaint: why is most of the music SO laud, that you can hardly hear, what you think yourself. Last night I installed the app "Sound Meter" on my smartphone during a concert, just to monitor how much above the health limit of 90 decibels they played. The very second when the app was ready to function the music became much more pleasant. I should have installed that app 20 days ago :-)
The only other complaint when the entertainment is concerned was an announcement some days ago, that the evening performance would be done by "a new Victor Borge". We were very excited and were the first to arrive in the theatre. But Mon Dieu! Victor Borge must have died at least once more, if he had seen and heard that. So we were also the first ones to leave the theatre that night!
Apart from all that we have developed a very nice routine with morning walks, morning coffee on our balcony, a morning shower, late breakfast, a reading and writing session in the "Viking Lounge" with overview of most of the ferry, lunch (which we try to make our main meal - though not easy ), a power nap in our cabin in the afternoon, a pleasant stay in the Roman Jacuzzi Pool, a drink or two ( Pinot Grigio and Merlot (or Black Label ) in our Stamm Bar, the Crown and Kettle Bar, dinner in our Sapphire Restaurant together with our new Australian friends Noelene and Lindsay from Newcastle, Aus, and our waiters Kamang from Indonesia and John from the Philippines, entertainment in the theatre, a couple of night caps in the bar or at our own balcony - and bye bye to that day! Some days excursions to land destinations "spoil" this daily rhythm. But we can live with that!
Does all that seem bearable to you ?!? :-)
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