Day 5 (Thursday, May 25, 2006)

 

7:30 AM: There were two options for self-service breakfast: A continental breakfast was served from 6 AM on the Lido deck (deck 8, we were on the verandah deck, deck 6). Nice assortments of pastries and juices, self-service. There was also a double-sided buffet on the Lido deck which served anything you could want for breakfast, including omlettes, waffles, pancakes, cereal, meats, juices, fruits, etc. This served from 7:30 AM. (The same buffet area was also open for lunches and dinners).

This was the most popular option for breakfast, and it was hard to find a seat, unless you sat in the semi-outside area around the swimming pool. This was also the first and last time we ate breakfast on the Lido deck. We discovered two better options: breakfast was served from 8 AM in the restaurant. Lots of good choices, someone waited on you, and it was not crowded. In addition, Holland America offers no-charge 24/7 room service meals. On the days when we would be crusing into great sightseeing (e.g. Glacier Bay or Tracy Arm) around breakfast time, we would just hang the room service breakfast card (marked with what we wanted and what time we wanted it) outside our room before going to bed. We did this 3 days, and loved it. Not one penny in extra charges, and you got fresh flowers on your breakfast tray!

This day was a full day "at sea." We did some additional exploring, and discovered that the ship's TV had some interesting channels. We received CNN and ESPN via satellite (when reception wasn't blocked by the terrain). There were 3 current movie channels (along with current movies showing in the ship's theater w/free buttered popcorn), as well as channels teaching you how to play the games available in the casino, describing/selling shore excursions, hyping the "fabulous" shopping opportunities available on the ship and in the ports of call, as well as 3 music channels (which were all awful). Our favorite channels, however, were those giving the ship's position, distance from ports, sea state, weather conditions (yes, it was sorta like a shipboard Weather Channel), and the one showing the view from the bridge. (We were on the starboard side, so we could always see from that side of the ship, so the bridge view was like having your own windshield to look through with a view of what was coming up.) Every room had a flat-panel TV and DVD player.

Dick spent a lot of time taking pictures, mostly from our verandah. The scenery just kept coming by, and he took 1660 pictures during the trip. Thankfully, he was shooting digital, so there was no developing/printing cost associated! We discovered that the shipboard photographers were still shooting film. They must be crazy!

Our cabin steward is a master of making towel animals which greet us when we return to the cabin after dinner. The gold circles are the chocolates left on our bed each night:

 

Once again, we were asleep well before the midnight buffet!

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