Sunday, April 5th, 2009, At Sea passing Bermuda
Bob: Captain Mateboer informed us we were detouring off our original course to stop in Bermuda and pick up pieces to repair the internet service onboard ship. Coincidentally we had a morning discussion session in the Vista Theater with the Captain, where he described his lengthy and extensive training to be a Captain and answered all kinds of questions from the audience. When asked about his worst experience at sea, he described a small, sailing-type cruise ship that had burned at sea in the Pacific. The crew got all the passengers safely off but the ship was declared a total loss. We were also surprised to find that the Captain was married to an American and living in North Carolina, which probably explained why he both understood and spoke English (American version) so well. But his most astonishing statement to me was how he described his cremembers, many of whom apparently work 9 months out of the year at sea in order to provide a better life for their wife and family back home, as making an "honorable" decision. Describing the ordinary seaman of the ship as "honorable" indicated to me that the Captain had a high degree of respect for his crew. Possibly as a result, I noticed that everyone we met in the crew was happy and cheerful to all the passengers which made the Noordam a "happy" ship. The morning lecture by Kathleen Wulf was on Spain, and once again she gave a very thorough coverage of the geography, people and history of Spain. She left out the history of the Spanish empire in the Americas because she planned to give that as a separate lecture, but there was plenty to cover even without that. I thought that her coverage on the specific port cities where our cruise was planning to stop was also a very nice tie-in for the folks in the audience. Fortunately her husband Robert Wulf also supplied the photographs of those port cities that made the slide show much more interesting. |
Monika: After watching the sun coming up over the horizon, we walked again on the promenade deck. The Captain came on the loudspeaker to tell us that we were detouring to Bermuda to pick up a technician and spare parts to fix the satellite link for the internet. Obviously we had other communications devices with the outside world, but during such a long sea trip, they wanted to have the internet back up running. The ship had been in dry dock just prior to this trip, and the testing of the electrical system fried the internet satellite connection. Ah, modern technology.... Every morning, the ship had a question and answer session with someone from the staff. This time it was the Captain himself who answered the questions. It really was quite fascinating to hear his stories. When we found out that he had written a book about his experiences, we decided to buy it. The port lecturer again had a lot of information and nice pictures, but was boring as heck and put more than one person asleep. |
Bob:
A large part of the afternoon was spent on our veranda watching the ocean flow away behind us. The white frothy wake gradually fading out into the horizon was somehow endlessly fascinating. Behind up on the eighth deck, we couldn't hear the engines at all, but the foam coming up from the propellers was accompanied by a very soothing "swishing" noise, almost like white noise. If you imagine the bubbling sound a Jacuzzi makes but magnify it about 10 times, I think you would come close to what I was hearing. Sarah plays recordings like that to help Annalise and Rowan sleep at nights, and sure enough, I found it highly soporific for me also. It was a fantastically relaxing environment to sit back and read a good book, which I did.
Bob: Lois, Phyllis, Monika and I met again for dinner in the assigned-seating part of the Vista Dining Room in the aft section of Decks 2 and 3. There were only four of us seated at a table for 10, so we kind of occupied one corner, but the food and the service were excellent and we had a very nice meal chatting together. Both my sisters enjoy eating out at what I would call a proper, sit-down restaurant, and they seemed to really enjoy the formal dining ambience. I, on the other hand, am more declasse, tending toward fast-food chains, but when I'm with my sisters I usually get outvoted. For "formal night", the dining room had been decked out with white chair covers to match the white tablecloths and napkins. Together with the white-uniformed personnel, the effect was curiously monochromatic but certainly clean and formal looking. I was very happy that I had my black suit and the "Hindenburg" tie from the Zeppelin Museum at Friedrichshafen on (see Wanderung 15). I was just barely formal enough and that was one of the very few moments in my life that I have every wished to wear a tuxedo. Fortunately we all got talking and the feeling soon passed, because taking a tuxedo along would complicate my packing immensely! |
Monika: We approached Bermuda and could see the lights, but unfortunately we were not going to dock, instead the technician was going to be brought to the ship. Since his plane was late, the ship anchored, and we repaired to the dining room for the "formal night" formal meal. |
Bob: The evening show was a big production put on by the Noordam's song-and-dance troupe. The title of the production was "Ballroom Blitz" and it consisted of energetic and nicely choreographed song and dance numbers based on ballroom dancing music. Occasionally one of the singers would do a solo performance, and for me being able to closely focus on one person's singing without the razzle-dazzle of everyone whipping around the stage was just as much fun. From the production point of view, I think the solos also gave the rest of the troupe an opportunity both to catch their breath and to change into a new set of fancy costumes for the next number. Phyllis, who was sitting beside me, remarked on how colorful and elaborate the costumes where, and I certainly agreed with that. Two of the dancers had ballet training, and they performed solo dance or pas de deux numbers which I found enchanting, although seeing them go up on point from as close as we were just made my feet ache in empathic pain. I was also a bit surprised to see them in those classical ballet shoes because I thought those shoes had to be carefully laced up, which I would imagine to be difficult under the crowded and time-pressed conditions back stage between numbers. Afterwards one of the ballerinas was kind enough to pose with Monika, so I got a shot of them together. Phyllis complained that the Vista Lounge was too cold, so Monika advised her to put on a sweater. After the performance we watched the pilot boat from Bermuda dropping off the new equipment for repairing the internet plus a technician (I think), but they finally pulled off into the darkness and it was time for us to go to bed. |
Monika: The evening show was one of those high energy production shows with lots of costume changes. I found it very entertaining and not too loudly amped, although Lois did not think so. After the show the technician and all his equipment had finally made it out to the ship and everyone was leaning over the railing watching him board the ship. |
| Index |
| Prolog | Map of Transatlantic Cruise | Map of Northern Italian Bus Trip | Map of Eastern Mediterranean Cruise | Epilog |
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