On board activities - then and now

Hubby and I are downsizing, and I'm sorting through 21 years of stuff that we've managed to accumulate in our house. (Oh my aching back!) I've been scanning in much of my cruise memorabilia, accumulated since my sister and I started cruising together 8 years (and a dozen cruises) ago. I found it interesting that, despite common perceptions (my own included), HAL hasn't cut back on the number of daily activities - in fact, they've increased them!

In May 2010, sis and I took a 14 day Alaska cruise aboard the Amsterdam; and in May 2018, she and I took the same cruise aboard the Zaandam. Same class of ship, same basic itinerary. Looking at just a few days for a fair comparison:

First sea day - May 2010: 50 activities. May 2018: 69 activities

Glacier Bay day - May 2010: 54 activities. May 2018: 56 activities

Second sea day - May 2010: 46 activities. May 2018: 66 activities.

Here's the list of daily programs for May 2010 (link is: https://twocruisingsisters.wordpress.com/2010/06/05/may-2010-our-first-2-week-alaska-cruise/) and May 2018 (link is https://twocruisingsisters.wordpress.com/2018/06/13/wrap-up-of-our-zaandam-cruise/) so you can see what I'm talking about.

I for one, was surprised.

Does anyone remember the horse racing game by the Lido Pool?

I remember the horse racing from my crossings in 1962 (not on HAL). I even won once and got a couple of dollars.

Remember the horse racing games well - and then, for a long cruise that included time in Kenya, we had a giraffe race one day where passengers were invited to bring a wooden giraffes that they had purchased, after the giraffes' required time in the ship's freezer. (Killed bugs they said.) In the races I participated in my giraffe was approximately 6-7" tall, raced as "Tiny". Largest was over 7 feet tall.

I didn't notice too many changes in activities for Alaska on our 14 day cruises, but there were fewer. We had whale races on the aft deck on a different 14 day cruise.

Also I remember when we had the horse racing -- both events we were able to place bets and win DAM dollars.

We had quite a few horse racing games -- some were held in the show room.

We used to have hitting the golf balls into rings in the pool. Putt, Putt golf. Bear droppings in Alaska. A lot of changes over the years and a lot of activities gone.

Does anyone remember the horse racing game by the Lido Pool?

 

 

 

I remember the joke they kept the horses in the Stablelizers[emoji3]

I was even a jockey one time!

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Thank you 'TheSecondSister'....we were on the Eurodam in May to Alaska. I can honestly say we had the best cruise ever. BUT! I sure did not like the format of the Daily Program. I sure do like the 2010 program you shared, much easier to read! Let's tell HAL!!