Orcrone
November 9th, 2004, 09:27 PM
Interesting, and confusing day. We left on Saturday when the country was still on daylight savings time. However, since the Eastern Caribbean is on Atlantic time we did not set our clocks back.
Anyhow, we were scheduled to be at HMC from 11 - 6. However, the Oosterdam, which was scheduled to be at HMC that day from 8 - 4, was off of daylight savings time. So after getting to HMC the captain announced that we were going to go to Oosterdam time and set our clocks back for HMC. So we'd be at HMC from 10 - 5. That was confusing.
In order to tender we had to go to the Ocean lounge and get tender passes starting at 10:00 AM. Well I waited until 10:00 AM (Maasdam time before setting the clocks back) to get my tender pass, and was on tender 16.
Note: Get on line to get your tender passes early!!!!
We had some large swells and tendering was slow. So we didn't make it to HMC until noon (Maasdam time after setting the clocks back). HMC was very crowded. We had to go to the end of the beach to get our clamshell. We then went to get lunch since I was on the 1:00 PM scuba diving trip. With all the people there I did not finish lunch until 12:40, which gave me ten minutes until I had to be on the boat for diving.
I got to the dock and went to a boat that had scuba tanks near it. I asked someone in a HAL officer's uniform if this was the correct boat for scuba diving and was told it was. I then walked onto the ship with all my scuba gear, with no comments from the crew. A couple of minutes later one of the people leading the excursion said that there were 2 - 3' waves by the reefs making it difficult to snorkel. Therefore, anyone who wanted to cancel could do it and get there money back. So I asked and was informed that the scuba boat was at a different dock.
I ran over to that dock. The diving was very good. There were only 3 divers including myself, along with 3 divemasters. So each of us had our own divemaster!!!
Returned from the dive around 2:50. Because of setting the clocks back we had to be back on board by 4:00. So I found DW, spent about 1/2 hour in the water with her and we had to head back to the ship. I did not have much of an opportunity to experience HMC. I could definitely tell the damage to the vegetation from the hurricanes.
We were both tired when we returned. It was a casual night, but we decided to stay even more casual (short pants) and ate in the Lido. That night they had a juggle/comedian, Charley Brown. Many people enjoyed it, but it wasn't my cup of tea. We walked around for a while and then caught a couple of songs in the Crow's Nest. DW was very tired so she went to bed while I grazed at the evening's buffet.
DW didn't realize that locking the door from the inside would keep me from being able to get in to the room using my key. So I knocked for about 5 minutes and she never woke up. I then went upstairs, found a public phone and tried calling about 1/2 dozen times. Still no answer. So I went to the front office and tried explaining that my DW was not mad at me, but locked me out anyhow. They sent someone downstairs, but he could not help since it was locked from the inside. Luckily DW woke up and let me in.
BTW, forgot to mention. Sunny and mid-80s.:)
Anyhow, we were scheduled to be at HMC from 11 - 6. However, the Oosterdam, which was scheduled to be at HMC that day from 8 - 4, was off of daylight savings time. So after getting to HMC the captain announced that we were going to go to Oosterdam time and set our clocks back for HMC. So we'd be at HMC from 10 - 5. That was confusing.
In order to tender we had to go to the Ocean lounge and get tender passes starting at 10:00 AM. Well I waited until 10:00 AM (Maasdam time before setting the clocks back) to get my tender pass, and was on tender 16.
Note: Get on line to get your tender passes early!!!!
We had some large swells and tendering was slow. So we didn't make it to HMC until noon (Maasdam time after setting the clocks back). HMC was very crowded. We had to go to the end of the beach to get our clamshell. We then went to get lunch since I was on the 1:00 PM scuba diving trip. With all the people there I did not finish lunch until 12:40, which gave me ten minutes until I had to be on the boat for diving.
I got to the dock and went to a boat that had scuba tanks near it. I asked someone in a HAL officer's uniform if this was the correct boat for scuba diving and was told it was. I then walked onto the ship with all my scuba gear, with no comments from the crew. A couple of minutes later one of the people leading the excursion said that there were 2 - 3' waves by the reefs making it difficult to snorkel. Therefore, anyone who wanted to cancel could do it and get there money back. So I asked and was informed that the scuba boat was at a different dock.
I ran over to that dock. The diving was very good. There were only 3 divers including myself, along with 3 divemasters. So each of us had our own divemaster!!!
Returned from the dive around 2:50. Because of setting the clocks back we had to be back on board by 4:00. So I found DW, spent about 1/2 hour in the water with her and we had to head back to the ship. I did not have much of an opportunity to experience HMC. I could definitely tell the damage to the vegetation from the hurricanes.
We were both tired when we returned. It was a casual night, but we decided to stay even more casual (short pants) and ate in the Lido. That night they had a juggle/comedian, Charley Brown. Many people enjoyed it, but it wasn't my cup of tea. We walked around for a while and then caught a couple of songs in the Crow's Nest. DW was very tired so she went to bed while I grazed at the evening's buffet.
DW didn't realize that locking the door from the inside would keep me from being able to get in to the room using my key. So I knocked for about 5 minutes and she never woke up. I then went upstairs, found a public phone and tried calling about 1/2 dozen times. Still no answer. So I went to the front office and tried explaining that my DW was not mad at me, but locked me out anyhow. They sent someone downstairs, but he could not help since it was locked from the inside. Luckily DW woke up and let me in.
BTW, forgot to mention. Sunny and mid-80s.:)