At Sea
After boarding on Sunday, we had a sea day on Monday, giving us all time to sleep deeply in our inside cabins, explore the Koningsdam a bit, and just relax ... except, the captain had advised us that we'd be passing by the volcanic island Stromboli at 8:30 that morning. So, Ned and I pulled ourselves out of bed and wandered the upper decks--from which we saw only ocean in every direction--trying to understand where a volcano could be hiding. It turned out that it was hiding at 10:30--the captain had made an error in the timing.
We made the best of it by going to an early breakfast in the still rather uncrowded Lido market.
We didn't win anything (despite Ned kissing his sharpie for good luck)--what a surprise, but capturing one of the trademarked Harper death stares was worth the price of admission.
The kids took off: one, to get a massage and then stretch out by the pool (her), and two, to nap and continue binge watching past seasons of Stranger Things (him). Ned and I went to the Lincoln Center stage. The set covered everything from Dave Brubeck to Radiohead, and the musicians were personable and talented. A lovely way to spend an hour at sea. This is one of those touches that elevates Holland America Line (HAL). Cruising through the cool blue waters of the Mediterranean while listening to classically trained musicians play Bernstein's West Side Story defines luxury.
I had a nail appointment before dinner but still had time to grab a pool lounger with Harper and take a 10 min nap. Big props to the onboard spa for not trying to upsell me on a bunch of products I wouldn't want and didn't need, and for squeezing me in when my peeling gel manicure started making me crazy.
Dinner was at the Tamarind, one of the on board specialty restaurants. As the name suggests, it's pan-Asian cuisine, and it was delicious! Food was great (pictured below), service was fantastic, and the room itself was stylin'--hushed and dark in deep browns, blacks, and purple.
It was gala night, so collared shirts were requested on men at dinner--guess who didn't pack any. If Penn's shirt looks a bit oversized, it's because it's his father's. He pulled it off though.
The staff handled Harp's gf/lf with aplomb, offering her some complimentary sashimi because they didn't have rice crackers and amending the curry to assure it was gf. She doesn't eat sashimi, but Ned does, so he doubly appreciated the gesture.In order, duck lollipops, duck bao, coconut soup, red curry with chicken, Mongolian lamb chops, and a giant fortune cookie dessert served with gingered ice cream are pictured below.
The hallways and stairwells were filled with gala-night dressed up couples and families, including a young man who was charging down the corridor kicking the walls shouting, "I look amazing!" So, we opted out of dress-up to go the fairly empty tippy-top of the Koningsdam, the Explorations Cafe, for a game of Shanghai.
The setting sun brought a golden filter to our game.
We made the best of it by going to an early breakfast in the still rather uncrowded Lido market.
As 10:30 neared, I went up to the observation deck to grab some space at the railing--and in the distance, ta dah, a volcano appeared!
Just a week earlier, Stromboli had erupted with fury, killing a hiker and putting the small villages at its base in danger. As Penn wondered aloud, who would build a town on a volcano? Great question. The volcano was still smoking on the far side, the only sign of its instability, but we could definitely smell the sulfur in the air.
The sun was really beating down, as the look of our squinty children might suggest. They paused for a moment, then took off. Ned insisted that when he was their ages, he would have stuck with the volcano. Hmm ...
Well, two of us remembered to wear sunnies.
After a hard morning's work searching for a volcano in the hot sun :), we decided to duck into the AC and get our Bingo on.
We didn't win anything (despite Ned kissing his sharpie for good luck)--what a surprise, but capturing one of the trademarked Harper death stares was worth the price of admission.
The kids took off: one, to get a massage and then stretch out by the pool (her), and two, to nap and continue binge watching past seasons of Stranger Things (him). Ned and I went to the Lincoln Center stage. The set covered everything from Dave Brubeck to Radiohead, and the musicians were personable and talented. A lovely way to spend an hour at sea. This is one of those touches that elevates Holland America Line (HAL). Cruising through the cool blue waters of the Mediterranean while listening to classically trained musicians play Bernstein's West Side Story defines luxury.
I had a nail appointment before dinner but still had time to grab a pool lounger with Harper and take a 10 min nap. Big props to the onboard spa for not trying to upsell me on a bunch of products I wouldn't want and didn't need, and for squeezing me in when my peeling gel manicure started making me crazy.
Dinner was at the Tamarind, one of the on board specialty restaurants. As the name suggests, it's pan-Asian cuisine, and it was delicious! Food was great (pictured below), service was fantastic, and the room itself was stylin'--hushed and dark in deep browns, blacks, and purple.
It was gala night, so collared shirts were requested on men at dinner--guess who didn't pack any. If Penn's shirt looks a bit oversized, it's because it's his father's. He pulled it off though.
The staff handled Harp's gf/lf with aplomb, offering her some complimentary sashimi because they didn't have rice crackers and amending the curry to assure it was gf. She doesn't eat sashimi, but Ned does, so he doubly appreciated the gesture.In order, duck lollipops, duck bao, coconut soup, red curry with chicken, Mongolian lamb chops, and a giant fortune cookie dessert served with gingered ice cream are pictured below.
The hallways and stairwells were filled with gala-night dressed up couples and families, including a young man who was charging down the corridor kicking the walls shouting, "I look amazing!" So, we opted out of dress-up to go the fairly empty tippy-top of the Koningsdam, the Explorations Cafe, for a game of Shanghai.
The setting sun brought a golden filter to our game.
And soon after the sleepy sun fell into the ocean, painting the sky a soft lemon ...
we also called it a night. Ned and I were welcomed back to our room by ... maybe a butterfly or a suckerfish or a crawdad or Mothra. Anyway, it was a cute gesture.
Starting this cruise with a day at sea was probably logistically necessary, but it was also quite welcomed by this family. Thanks for the rest, HAL! We went to bed dreaming of blue seas and sunny skies, ready to take on the original Olympic Village in the morning.
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