Wednesday, April 19, 2023
Once the Casino opened up, we played some slots. The Zaandam has some of my favorite machines. Never win much money but they do keep me entertained. Neither of us felt like changing for the main dining room so we took advantage of the steak dinner advertised for the Lido.
After dinner, we decided to listen to the first set of the piano bar player. This was our second pleasant discovery of the day. At the sail-away party, we saw Cat who was the Ocean Bar pianist for our Voyage of the Viking (VOV) cruise and found out she was the pianist for this trip. Yay! Now, we have discovered that the piano bar pianist/singer is Clara who was also on the VOV in the piano bar. Double Yay! They are both very nice and talented women.
Next, we went to the Ocean Bar to listen to the Band. We stayed for two sets. They play really well, and I think the lead female singer for this cruise has a stronger voice than the one on the VOV. They played a lot of songs to dance to and the floor was crowded. They also didn’t drag the songs out which is something I wish the BB King bands and the Rolling Stone Rock bands would emulate.
Enjoyable first evening.
The room temperature during the night was okay. The personal fan helped. We are headed north so it probably won’t be long before I’ll be thinking the room is way too cool.
At 6:45 a.m., I headed for the Explorations Cafe (just one floor down) for my favorite vanilla latte and an Americano for Chuck. What’s this? A sign saying please go to the Crow’s Nest for coffee. Crap. The Zaandam is one of the few HAL ships that don’t make you go to the Crow’s Nest for coffee or so I thought until today. I co uld have sworn they were serving coffee here yesterday afternoon.
I trudged down the hall and took the elevator up to the Crow’s Nest. I was glad it wasn’t crowded.
I enjoyed drinking my latte on the balcony. The wind had definitely picked up from yesterday. The temperature was still warm.
We went to the main dining room for breakfast and sat with 2 other couples. One couple had taken the cruise we are thinking about for the Fall so I found myself asking her questions about different excursion possibilities.
We played some slots. Then Chuck stopped to play cards and I went to the Future Cruise Presentation.
Next, I met up with Chuck at the Mariner Appreciation Reception. Mimosas and speeches from some of the officers.
Now it was time for lunch in the main dining room. Tacos for me. A burger for Chuck.
After lunch I went to the next Tech presentation. I spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying our balcony and my book until it was time to start getting ready for our first dressy night.
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