Sea Legs

 

As mentioned yesterday, until recently I had never been on a cruise before. Perhaps the biggest obstacle standing between me and a ship gangway was the idea of waiting in line.

Lines are to me what books are to Trump. 

And I was certain I'd be waiting in many, many lines. For a bagel, for a beer, for customs, for embarking, for disembarking, for this, that and the other 1001 things. But the good folks at Holland America seemed to anticipate that and have taken steps, large and small, to eliminate the lines.

Perhaps it was because the Zaandam only sets sail with 1400 or so people and not the thousands that can often exceed the number of people who live in the port towns. Like this little bit of hell on earth, or water...

More likely, it's because they (Holland America and I suspect the other lines as well) have this whole cruising thing down to a science. 

Surprisingly, Ms. Muse and I did very little waiting in line. There was that time when the bartender ran out of bacon strips for the Bloody Marys, but that was about it. In fact, life aboard ship takes on a whole new rhythm. It slows down. It's more relaxed. Almost as if the motion of the ocean lowers the heart rate. 

Or maybe it was the aforementioned Bloody Marys. 

Speaking of motion, I heeded the good advice to get some scopolamine before the first unmooring. These magical patches which negate the effect of acetycholine -- if I may get all medical -- on the central nervous system. 

My apprehension about chumming the black water of the North Pacific was quickly assuaged. I should also add that our time we were buffeted by raw open sea was quite limited (see red line):

And again the pros at Holland America fortuitously scheduled that passage when we were fast asleep in our quite comfortable king size bed. Again aided by the Have-It-All Drink Package and my good friend and bartender, Asruhl.

BTW, as if the scenery, the accommodations, and the excursions (more on that tomorrow) weren't enough a word or two must be written about the staff. There were close to 600 staffers aboard the Zaandam. Doing the math, that's 1 staffer for every 2 &1/3 guests.

Almost all of them were from Indonesia. Their names maybe hard to spell but they were some of the most pleasant, easy going, attentive people I have ever met. When we disembarked after 8 days at sea, they stayed aboard. Cleaned. Prepped. And got ready to do it all over again. With 1400 new people.

Perhaps what's most amazing is how many of them addressed us by name. 

"Good morning Rich."

"Good morning, Ms. Muse." 

To which we replied, "Good morning, Uhtung."

In short, the people were just as beautiful as Alaska.