Day 39 - Tuesday, 12/17/24 - At Sea to Florida - Day 5

 It was nice to have a calm ride overnight. As is our custom we were up early to get ready for the daily interdenominational devotional time. Nick's coffee chat guest was the future cruise consultant, Melane who is from South Africa.  Ida then gave a talk on Columbus and the Pinzon Brothers. After lunch Captain Adams gave his Ask The Captain presentation which was quite unlike any we have previously seen.  He opened by answering a few questions which had been previously deposited in his question box at the front desk.  He then spoke about how the ship was used to house over 1,500 Ukrainian refugees (primarily women & children) in the spring and summer of 2023 in Rotterdam.  We had a cruise cancelled because of the ship being chartered out for that humanitarian event.  He also spoke more about the drydock and indicated that $20,000,000 was expended on the repairs and maintenance.  This likely means that the ship, which is 25 years old, will be in service for probably 5 more years.  Most of its voyages are sold out and it will be used for the 2026 Wirld Cruise. He also shared about his position as an instructor in the advanced training academy that Carnival Cruise Lines has in the Netherlands. Captain Adams also put together a full audiovisual training class for the academy on being an ice pilot. He then answered questions until 2:45pm.



Moonbow

Bradley Jacobson then gave another excellent AI presentation.  Afterwards we changed into our nice clothes for a special Tamarind dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. Our friend, Pam, joined us and we were finished by 7pm which allowed us to attend the 7:30pm entertainment by singer Chris Bannister.  He honored song writers from the 1960's and 70's. He was such a good singer that we stayed for the 9 o'clock show. In between performances, I even purchased all three of his albums that he had on board. His voice is crystal clear and he gives a lot of backstory to the songs he sings.

        Chris Bannister


Tomorrow is another sea and we have a full schedule of activities.


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