A Different Experience Along a Familiar Route

Day 7, 2023 North Atlantic Adventure

Thursday, May 18, 2023; At Sea, Atlantic Ocean.

As much as I love sea days, I will be ready for land tomorrow. Today is our sixth sea day since leaving Fort Lauderdale, and I had six sea days prior to arriving in Florida. We are retracing our route across the Atlantic, heading for the Azores, which we left just under two weeks ago.

We are quickly losing the four hours we gained when sailing west last week. I have adapted amazingly well – perhaps my body never really adjusted to its brief sojourn back to the states. The seas remain remarkably smooth.

Same ship. Same captain. Same initial route but in reverse. Yet this is a different cruise in many ways. I’m happy to report that, at least so far, the food has remained just as good as on the Grand World Voyage. Perhaps there is even greater variety in the Lido at noon, with special sections each day, such as churros with toppings and a Mediterranean buffet.

Dinner in the main dining room still has fresh fish, steak and other options. I haven’t seen duck, and there isn’t a list of always available appetizers and entrees. But so far, I have no complaints about the food. (Perhaps we are eating the world cruise leftovers.)

I mainly miss seeing my many friends from the past 128 days, and several times a day I think I have seen one but then realize it’s a stranger instead. Nineteen of us stayed on board for this cruise, most of whom will leave in Rotterdam at the end of the month. Yesterday Captain Frank van der Hoeven and a dozen or so officers invited the 19 to a nice reception. Among those staying are Ian, Megan (who shared her reception photos) and Jolanda, with whom I meet up frequently.

Barbara and Richard joined the Zuiderdam in Fort Lauderdale and will be on board with me till July 22, when we disembark in Boston. I met them on the 2018 Grand Asia cruise, and being fellow Texans, they traveled home from Perth, Australia, with us when the 2020 world cruise ended abruptly. Actually, Ian and Megan also were on that same 2018 Asia cruise, but they didn’t meet Barbara and Richard then. (In a further coincidence, Barbara and I have discovered that we sailed together for 30 days on a Royal Caribbean cruise in 2013, but we didn’t meet then.) Have I confused everyone?

During these six days I occasionally run into other cruisers I know from previous cruises, especially those who are active on the Cruise Critic rollcall we organized before this trip. Many of them are on for only one or two of my next four segments, so I don’t expect that deep friendships will develop, but you never know.

The biggest change is simply the number of passengers – almost 1,900 compared with the approximately 1,400 on the world cruise. It’s difficult to find a seat in the Lido at noon, and I can never find an open table by the pool for an afternoon of watercolor. The lines for a table in the main dining room have shortened but are still there around 7 p.m. On the flip side, all the venues are busy at night, adding to the excitement of the cruise, and the Rolling Stone and Billboard entertainers are great.

I gave up my verandah cabin on deck 6 for an ocean view on deck 1. The verandah was a treat at a great upsell price (the cruise wasn’t full), especially since my sisters were next door and we opened the balcony door between the two cabins. Now I’m back in more familiar terrain. My cabin is one of a few that is built around a support pillar that cuts into the room, so the beds could not be fully separated (my preference in this layout). I worked with my cabin stewards to remove the second bed, putting the mattress against the wall and leaning the base on the other wall around the pillar. It’s not ideal, but I like the extra room.

I actually have a full-length sofa instead of a loveseat and a long desk with an extra storage area. I’ll post photos to www.halfacts.com, a crowdsourced site that is a great resource.

Interestingly, at the last minute I was moved one cabin over from my original choice. At first the guest services representative insinuated that 1) I had been confused about my cabin number, and then 2) that I had booked a guarantee, which I hadn’t, and finally 3), that for an unspecified reason my original cabin required a deep cleaning. Further “research” (I once was an investigative reporter) revealed that it was because of the previous passenger’s illness.

One day I heard continual scraping from next door, and happened to walk by when the door was open. A worker had removed the carpet and was repairing the floor. That’s really a deep cleaning. Until I uncover more details, I’m just saying that murder and mayhem might have been involved, or perhaps paranormal activity.