June 10, 2022 Sea day #2

  Today was the final Sea Day of the cruise which visits Nassau, Bahamas tomorrow.

  Today we walked on Deck 5 for half an hour, with cappuccinos from Café al Bacio, before going inside to the Tuscan Grill for breakfast which was a Bellini and a fruit & berry plate. There were some clouds and the temperature was 27°C. At breakfast Darryl, the Captain’s Club representative, informed us that there were close to 500 Elite guests, 97 Elite Plus guests and 12 Zenith level passengers on board. We also found out that there are COVID quarantine areas on Deck 3 Forward of Guest Services and Deck 6 Aft, if necessary. There are some passengers in quarantine now but all with mild symptoms. Face masks are required when in the Equinox Theatre, Celebrity Central Theatre or the Casino. There has to be 1% of passengers with COVID before the Captain makes any announcement about cases aboard. This morning’s location was 21°51.04 N and  69°29.13W

    We received our luggage tags for disembarking the ship on Sunday. We had bought shuttle tickets several days ago and also booked a time of 9:15 a.m. to leave the ship, but at two different desks on the ship. Checking with Guest Services, at first there was no record of the shuttle purchase, until I suggested to check our account and the purchase was found. I was given #17 luggage tags and time of 8:30 a.m. so we will wait in the Captain’s Club departure lounge on Sunday morning.  We completed our ArriveCAN submission which needs to be finished within 72 hours of returning to Canada.

    We went to the theatre to listen to a presentation by Captain Matt at 10 a.m. He spoke about the different levels of training required to become a captain of a ship, which includes experience at sea for almost four years, after a three or four year course, then another six months of training then more experience for almost two years then another six months training and, if you pass the course, then you are a certified cruise ship captain. Next, we enjoyed a late morning Captain’s Club Wine Tasting in the Dining Room sitting beside a couple from Victoria.  We chatted with Max after the event. He had been on the Summit at the same time as us. His journey from New York to Fort Lauderdale was even worse than ours. He switched airports from JFK to La Guardia after his flight was cancelled and finally flew to Houston and then got a flight to Miami and took the train from Miami airport to Fort Lauderdale Hollywood airport.

   We had lunch in the Dining Room and talked to a retired couple from Tallahassee, Florida, who told us that Holland America Cruises has eliminated some of the experiences on their ships, like productions shows and destination speakers, but still have lecturers, Lincoln Center and B.B. King Jazz Club. They have about one cruise a month planned for the next year.

   We sipped coffee on the balcony during the afternoon under sunny skies and a temperature of 31°C with a slight breeze. Larry received a memo from the Future Cruise office that we still have a little over $1,000 credit of which we were unaware. The Future Cruise agent is going to check with Head Office and, if we do have the credit, it will pay the balance of our September cruise.

  Tonight, dining has an Evening Chic dress code – a bit dressier than Smart Casual. There were some people were wearing cocktail dresses and suits, but not many. Anne and John were dining at Tuscan Grill so Deana and Adam asked Michael from San Francisco to join the table. We had an enjoyable dinner and were among the last people to leave the 6 p.m. seating, as usual.  D’Coolers were the band for dancing in the Grand Foyer, which was challenging because the photographer had set up a photo station on the Grand Staircase reducing the limited dance area even more. There were no small children monopolizing the dance floor this evening.

   This evening’s location was 24°04.80 N and  73°41.11 W about 9:30 p.m.

    An easy walking day just 9,319 steps.