Day 72 - 12/17/23 - At Sea to FLL - Day 1

 All good things must come to an end.  It's now the first of two sea days before reaching Fort Lauderdale and the end of our 73 day cruise.  Given that it's Sunday, our first activity was to attend the final interdenominational church service.  It was good and we celebrated the 3rd Sunday in Advent. A light breakfast followed before we attended the well attended. ASK THE CAPTAIN session.  Captain Smit was his usual charming self and answered many questions from the audience.  A few key questions were asked.  First was about how efficient were we in conserving water on the trip up the Amazon.  Amazingly we conserved around 100 tons of water per day which totally astonished him.  Consumption went from 350 tons to 250 tons per day.  The second question was what was his favorite ship.  Without hesitation, he responded, "MAASDAM!"  It's also one of our favorite ships.  He also added that the Zaandam is his new "Maasdam". His 3 month rotation on the ship ends in two days and he flies home to Europe along with Florin where they both are off ships for 3 months.

It's also worth noting that the "Build a Ship" contest was held at the LIDO pool.  There was lots of creativity.  Here are some examples.

Andy Fletcher continued his quantum mechanics lecture pointing out the different points of view among the scientists.  It was very challenging.


After lunch there was a spectacular crew talent show with 8 separate acts from various work groups onboard the ship.  One cook, Stephanie, wowed the crowd with her Adele song.  Something special would happen to her later in the day.  We then began the task of packing which we made a pretty big dent in doing.  Before a nice Pinnacle Grill Dinner with Bill & Solange, we attended the string duo's, George & Claire, Adoration program in the Explorer's Lounge.  It was very good, but lightly attended.


George & Claire

The evening entertainment was the violinist, David Klinkenberg, who played requested songs that people gave him after his last concert.  He also played a duet with Lisa Hartman on piano and invited Stephanie, the cook, on stage and he played a duet with her.  That was a terrific tribute for her!  Afterwards we finished packing while watching Sunday night football.  This is the earliest we've ever packed at the end of a cruise..





Tomorrow is our last sea day.  It's going to be a very full day.  

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