Dave and Val's Travel Blog: Hawaii / Tahiti 30 Day Cruise

Sunday Day 2 - At Sea

Today is the first of five sea days until we reach Hawaii. We got up a little late this morning as we didn’t sleep very well last night despite being pretty tired. The seas did get a little rough during the night, but nothing too bad. We had a late breakfast at the Lido Buffet which was good and then spent a while exploring the ship. Although the ship isn’t very large by modern cruise ship standards, it is the biggest we’ve been on. It has accommodations for 1850 passengers and 800 crew members.

We returned to the Lido for lunch and then headed to the Crow’s Nest to relax a bit. The Crow’s Nest is a large lounge area on the top deck with wrap around windows facing forward. There are many comfortable chairs and seating areas where people congregate to chat or just watch the sea go by. It is also an area where some passenger activities are held, such as the team trivia game, which was going on when we got there. We sat there for a while listening to the trivia questions, but it was pretty crowded so we decided to head outside to the Sea View pool to relax. Unfortunately the weather is still rather cool,windy and mostly cloudy so it really wasn’t very comfortable to sit outside so it was back to the cabin to relax. I just noticed I use the word “relax” quite a bit, but that’s what it’s all about. You can do as much or as little as you want and relaxing is one of the prime activities.

Late in the afternoon we headed back to the Crow’s Nest to read and relax and have a couple of drinks. I rarely drink alcohol and Val doesn’t drink at all so we enjoyed a couple of the excellent “unleaded” (non-alcoholic) drinks they offer. A guitar player sung and played songs from mostly the 70’s making for a pleasant afternoon. After that it was time to return to our room and get cleaned up for the evening’s entertainment and dinner. Tonight was a formal night, so most everyone was dressed in their best clothes, the men in suits and tuxes and the ladies in evening gowns. The show was a Beach Boys tribute band which did a pretty good job on their early music, but went downhill a bit as they attempted some of their later more sophisticated music. You can see that Holland America attracts an older crowd by the type of music they offer.

After the show ended it was time for dinner so we made our way to the main dining room where we had another very good meal. After dinner we went to the casino to try our luck. Val did quite well coming out $100 ahead, but I lost all of my allowance for the night. We don’t gamble very much money on the ship so Val’s winning was quite good. We never expect to come out ahead, but anything we win means we can gamble a little longer. After that it was back to our room and to bed.

Before I wrap this up I wanted to talk about all the dining options on the ship so you’ll know what I’m talking about when I talk about our meals. First there is the formal Vista (main) Dining Room where they serve breakfast, lunch and dinner and you are seated and served by a wait staff. The other main dining option is the Lido Buffet which is an informal dining area which serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. You serve yourself cafeteria style and seat yourself wherever you like. The dress for dinner in the Lido is casual while the Vista Dining Room requires “smart casual” or formal attire on formal nights. There is also the Terrace Grill near the Lido pool which is open in the afternoon and early evening and serves hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and tacos. There are two specialty restaurants which require a minimal surcharge to eat. The first is the Pinnacle Grill which is a high-end restaurant and requires smart casual or formal attire for dinner. The other specialty restaurant is the Canaletto which serves Italian food and has a dress code similar to the main dining room. The Pinnacle Grill is open for lunch and dinner and the Canaletto is open only for dinner. Since we are staying in a suite we have two other food options. We have the option of having breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill, and there is also an option for snacks throughout most of the day in what’s called the Neptune Lounge which is an area reserved for suite guests. I think that covers it all in more words than I thought it would use, sorry.

Since I don’t have any other pictures, here are some pictures of our room which turned out to be quite nice. I plan on taking some pictures around the ship before we reach Hawaii and I will post them soon (I hope).