blue sky sailing

April 14, 2017 - At sea

We had a perfectly relaxing day to end our cruise. We dined in the Dining Room for breakfast followed by an interesting lecture about Sea Power in the 21st Century. It sounds boring but it was fascinating. If anyone is interested in a career change, look into careers related to the seas. There are lots of opportunities.

As I type this I am back in Edmonton and we have had snow, grey skies and cold weather since our return. Yes, it is the end of April. Looking back at the photos and videos, I miss our sunny sea days!

For our last sea day, we sat outside on deck 11 and read, then we went to the spa for a bit, then we sat outside again and then we got ready for our last dinner at The Tamarind. Really tough life.

I didn't take many photos on our last sea day but I shot a bunch of shaky video.

Since my first Holland America cruise in 2005, this is my favorite breakfast. Muesli.

Every day around noon, the captain (Emiel de Vries) gives an update about our location, speed, weather, etc. This is what a Dutch/Canadian Captain giving an update sounds like...in case you are wondering.

For lunch we visited Dive-In for our favorite burger (the Cannonball with Gouda cheese), a Dive-In dog and fries with Dive-In sauce. I typically don't really like this kind of food...but Dive In is really good!

When we returned to our stateroom we had the reminder on our bed that we are leaving.

We had to "get rid" of wine that we had in the room and left over ham and cheese from our visit in Alicante. What a perfect snack to enjoy on our verandah.

James definitely has more work to do before becoming a sommelier!

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Dinner at Tamarind was delicious. I always pick what I know I like but James likes to try new things. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it does not. Especially when you order a dessert featuring a fruit you know you don't like. If you like mango, this dessert is probably delicious.

After walking the deck and watching our last sunset from sea, we decided we better pack and put our suitcases out for pick up.

On our last sea day we also contemplated this cruise. It was very relaxing, but would we do it again? Yes and no. I love the transatlantic crossing because I love sailing. I also love exploring on land. I would do a crossing again but I would add either another cruise on to the crossing cruise (back- to-back cruises) or I would spend more land time in the area we disembark. For our 2015 crossing we did a 7 day Med cruise after the crossing and we had 2 nights in Barcelona post cruise. It was a great balance of land and sea.

This is especially evident after being home for a week and struggling with jet lag. During this crossing we changed time 6 times during the evening (that's after losing 2 hours when we flew to Florida). People in Alberta complain about changing time twice/year. Try 6 times in 13 days. It takes a toll. After a few days on a consistent time, we adjusted and then we had to fly home and deal with another 8 hours...and go to work. I would also like to try an east-west crossing because you gain hours on those cruises. Also when you disembark the flight home is shorter and you are on a somewhat similar time zone. The problem is they are usually in the Fall and because of work commitments I can't take vacation in the Fall. One day!

Our final sunset at sea for this cruise.