Day 41 - Thursday, 12/19/24 - At Sea to Florida - Day 7

 It's really hard to believe that we are now starting our second to last day at sea on this 42 day voyage. And being a little repetitive, it started out like every other day on this trip. We were awake by seven to have breakfast and then attend the interdenominational devotional study led by Pastor Dan. Nick followed with his coffee chat. His guest this morning were the string trio: Alex, Alice and Ashly. We were fortunate to have dinner with them about a month ago and converse on a more intimate level. However, it was terrific to hear their stories of having come on board ships as part of the Lincoln Center stage program and when that went away, they were able to transition over to what they're doing now as a string trio. The major difference between playing for the Lincoln Center stage program and currently is that they have much more creative license as to what musical pieces they play and they get to compose their own programs. They also indicated that they will be on the world cruise in 2026.

At 10 AM Ida Kolte presented her last presentation on the Portuguese court fleeing Napoleon for the New World. It's very interesting learning about the impact that Napoleon had on European affairs and the age of exploration. Bradley Jacobson followed with his AI talk "Exploring Virtual Reality". He had a pair of virtual reality glasses Rx   hat he passed around the audience and we got to do a short experience with that medium. He then spoke for the next 40 minutes on the general topic of virtual reality and it was extremely interesting. And once again he had a very large audience.

We had a pretty long break between the end of the last lecture and the 2 o'clock Volendam crew show. Angela went to the origami Christmas tree folding class and created a cute little Christmas tree. She then joined me for lunch and relaxed while sailing the flat seas. The crew show was excellent featuring tremendous amount of talent and was hosted by the HR director. Afterwards, we adjourned to the Crow's Nest for our normal Coke Zero and peanuts and watched the storm clouds as we passed through them.

To start the Christmas season, there was a Christmas tree lighting ceremony at 4:30 in the atrium by the gingerbread village and train set up. Nick was the host and he invited the captain to say a few words and then invited the young daughter of two of our presenters to ring a bell which would cause the Christmas tree to be lighted. The young gal was quite tearful about this prospect. But she came through, rang the bell, and the tree was lit. The Christmas season is now officially started on board of the Volendam. We ended the ceremony by singing a few Christmas carols and took photos of the captain and hotel director and cruise director along with the lighted Christmas tree. A very good time was had by all. Many people were red, sweaters and red Santa hats. I had totally spaced out about bringing that or I would've brought my Santa hat with me on this cruise.

While it was a dressy night, the last of this voyage, I didn't bother to change as we ate in the Lido. Once again, we joined Pam and had a lite dinner before attending the 7:30pm main stage show which was a repeat performance of the World Stage Repertory Company's Feeling Groovy. We saw it on the third day of the voyage over a month ago, but it seemed like it was a first time for us. I did notice an inconsistency in that it was supposed to represent songs of the 60s and their highlights song was Simon & Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Waters which actually debuted in January 1970. The reason I can so clearly remember that is that we were in Los Angeles, where I was doing an internship and the morning that it was played on the radio, it was announced that it was the world premier of the playing of the song and I still remember how touched we were hearing that song for the first time. We, of course, have heard it many times since and I still really really like it. After the show, I did point it out to a couple cast members so that they could do a fact check and perhaps adjust the program to a song that really is from the 60s.

For the first time this voyage, we then went up to the ocean bar and listen to the band and vocalist sing. There's a small dance floor there and people were actively dancing and it was a pleasant way to spend the evening. At 9:30 there was a chocolate surprise where servers passed out various chocolate items that were quite yummy.

Returning to our stateroom, we noted that the clocks would be turned back yet another hour tonight, which puts us on eastern standard time for Fort Lauderdale. Angela did a little packing and I did a little sorting of the papers that we had accumulated over the voyage and discarded many that we did not need to pack home. Reminiscing about previous voyages I can remember that I used to bring home all the programs; however, I no longer do that as I found that I never looked at them again after I left the ship. I do try to keep them on hand for a bit so that it can refresh my memory as I'm doing my blog and after that generally I just don't need them. For me that was a hard thing to give up.

Tomorrow is our last day at sea and it's a fairly relaxed day. While I would love to stay on board through Christmas and New Year's, we have obligations at home that need to be attended to including removing a tree from my truck and fixing a flat tire on our other vehicle and preparing to celebrate Christmas with our family. We did learn that our former pastor is coming on board on Saturday to be the chaplain for the Christmas cruise and that was pretty exciting to learn. Unfortunately, we will not be able to see them as we have to be off the ship several hours before they can show up. But I messaged him and told him that we were turning the ship over to him now.

As a concluding item, I would also note that we lost power to the light over our desk and at the bed for the second time this voyage. I reported it to the front desk, but indicated it did not need to be fixed until the morning. As a postscript, it was fixed by 7:30 AM and I spoke to the technician indicating that it was the second time that it happened. It's beyond my pay grade to further follow up on it.