We were at sea on January 27, 2025.

There we are – out at sea!

When I left you last we were heading into a night of rough seas.  They were indeed!  We heard the impressive stats in the morning but I didn’t get them down.

The rolling wasn’t really a problem but the corresponding rattling in a ceiling panel was brutal.  Randy made it some better by stuffing a washcloth between a panel and the wall.

We told our stewards, Boby and Bayu, and they said they would put in a work order.

We went to the World Stage and watched a very good presentation on Aotearoa.  That is the Māori name for what is known as New Zealand.  Eli, the travel consultant, reviewed the history of the Maori arriving, eventual colonization by the missionaries and the British.  Ultimately the Maori have regained their language, culture and equal rights (without a lot of the pushback seen in other countries) to the betterment of all New Zealand/Aotearoa.

Our next activity was a Future Cruise Presentation.  Luke, future cruise consultant, said Holland America has 836 cruises offered currently, going to 400 ports, on seven continents.

Holland has four classes of ships:

R Class (2) – 1400 guests

Vista class (4) – 1900 guests

Signature (2) – 2100 guests

Pinnacle (3) – 2700 guests

We are currently on Westerdam, one of four Vista Class ships.

We think that Future Cruise Consultant is the best job on a ship!  We’ve already spent time with Luke, booking our first ever aft cabin (back of the ship).  There are benefits for booking on board, so we usually take advantage of that perk if we know a cruise we’re interested in.  Our new booking won’t take place until late 2026.

We returned to our cabin and watched some Monday afternoon football!  (It was Sunday in the US).

I went to guest services and changed my remaining $125 New Zealand  to $65.09 USD. Then I exchanged $62.17 USD for $90 Australian.

We had a dressy night dinner which we kind of complied with.  Our dressiest clothes didn’t survive the move to the RV eleven years ago and we’ve never replaced them.  Dressy nights are getting more and more casual anyway.  It is nice to see those who enjoy getting all fancied up. 

The ship saves the “best” dinner menus for dressy nights.  Escargot and lobster were on the menu but neither of us chose them.

We went to a cocktail chat with the cruise director and Rebecca Kelly, the performer from last night.  She was quite interesting and it is always fascinating to hear how people enter a cruise ship career.

Next up was piano artist, Bernard Walz in the World Theater.  He is a premier Australian pianist with multiple awards. That show was great.  We loved how they had a camera showing him playing from above.   

We’ve never thought entertainment was Holland America’s strength, but the offerings on this cruise have been very good.

The ship was rocking when we went to sleep and was still rocking when we woke up.  Randy said he went out into the hallway over night with another washcloth to stop a plumbing closet door from banging, as the latch was left unlocked and needed a special key to close it. So he provided a solution to the banging. The noises from the previous night must have been fixed though.  He said he saw lightning out in the open ocean. After limited sleep the night before, I slept through everything.

We also got an extra hour of sleep as we are heading west!

Next Up: A second sea day!