SETTLING IN

October 31, 2019


When we crossed the gangway and entered the Koningsdam, a couple of members of the entertainment department were welcoming guests on board.  I looked at a man standing there, and said, “I know you.”  And he replied, “I know you.”  He is the cruise director, and we sailed with him back in April on the Veendam, and he’s been promoted to a larger, newer ship.  And he made me feel good when he said, “I looked at the list of guest speakers and was very pleased when I saw that you would be with us again because we had such a good time on the Veendam.”  He could have been just puffing me up, and it worked if he was.  Mom said he was sincere.

Our ride from Rome was smooth – our driver was not competing in a 24 hour Lemans Road Race.  And when we got to the ship, porters took our bags and had them in our room in good order.  We sailed through check-in and even got an early on pass because my cruise buddy was walking with a stick (that’s what the outside person said, and we’ll take it anyway we can).

There were a couple of First World problems to be dealt with.

The first problem we noticed was that the lights did not come on.  During the day, that’s not much of a problem, except there were no lights in the potty room, so that was interesting.  When I enquired, I was told that they had some kind of a power recycling in the stern section of the ship (where we are) and it may not have reset.  As the sun began to set and the lights still hadn’t come on, we checked again, and an electrician came down and replaced the master switch just inside the door, and as it says in a Good Book I’ve read, “And there was light.”

The second change that needed made was our key cards did not say “Service Staff” which meant the computers weren’t set up to give us our discounts and other spiffs.  It took a little more to get that fixed than the lights, but eventually it was done and guest services gave us new cards.  And would you believe – of course you would – the new keys would not unlock our door.  So back up to guest services and new keys were made and now we can get in and out and shop all over the ship, gamble in the casino, and, well, we can get in and out.

And if you are reading this you will know that we got internet set up.  Crew internet rate is $40 for the cruise, and guest internet starts at $14.95 a day.  That’s one reason we had to have cards that said “Service Staff.”

We have anytime dining, which we like because we can eat early.  Tonight we shared a table with two other couples, one Canada who got on today.  And the other from Australia who has been on for 14 days already and are seasoned Koningsdamers. 

My talks are at 2 o’clock each sea day afternoon, so we don’t have to get up at dawn’s crack any day except shore days.  And only on one of those do we have an early excursion, so maybe there will be some sleeping in in Stateroom 1153.

Mom is tired tonight and begs your indulgence for not writing, but she will come to the keyboard tomorrow night.  And so with the sun set, and bedtime approaching I will close for now.  See yinz tomorrey.

TTFN