Zuiderdam Thanksgiving Report - part 3 - long

[winemistress45]

The second sea day for us happened to be Thanksgiving -- this was a really relaxing day.

 

The girls got up by 8:15 am and did the walk on deck for the cure fundraiser -- I went to the Thanksgiving cooking class hosted by the chef from the PG...it was great fun --- this was a free demo class unlike the other one I took earlier in the week which was $39 (I think).

 

He made Thanksgiving specialties with a "twist" - he is new to the ship -- and is fun loving and really entertaining -- a real joy to watch.

 

As a side note -- these classes are video taped and are played from time to time in your stateroom closed circuit tv -- so if you are making a choice between one activity or another -- you may want to opt to do another activity knowing you can see it later on tv.

 

My girls had unlimited thermal suite and mineral pool access on this day and only spent about 2 hours there -- I spent about 5 hours in the thermal suite--- it was heaven. Although there are a few people who can ruin it for others by using loud voices and having long conversations (this is supposed to be a no talk or quiet area) --- I still managed to enjoy it.

 

The seats are molded of hard tile so I thought it wouldn't be all that relaxing -- but since they are heated it somehow is really like heat therapy. The view is full windows overlooking the ocean and there are steam and dry sauna rooms and a little trickling water fall for white noise -- I enjoyed this so much I skipped the cellar masters wine tasting I had been invited to and also the second spin class I was supposed to take.

 

I dozed on and off in the thermal suite and read a good book -- loved it.

 

I went to the Indonesian tea and that was one of the true highlights of my trip -- I loved the service, the little sandwiches, the staff in their traditional attire -- it was very refined and relaxing.

 

Went to the big jackpot bingo with my girls and our other table mates that day at 4 pm -- it was huge -- probably 400 people attended it. They said it was the biggest bingo jackpot in the Zuiderdam's history -- the first game paid over $400, the second paid around $650 and the last game paid over $4000!!!!

 

It was exciting even if we didn't win.

 

I went back to the thermal suite and relaxed a while longer -- then went in to have my hair done -- what a mistake! I was a simple shampoo and style and she was running over 30 minutes late which was making me anxious that I was not going to be on time for formal night in the dining room --- then she did such a horrible job that I had to re-do my hair in my stateroom -- I was more than disappointed.

 

We had very rough seas that night -- horrible -- things were falling over in the spa and in the dining room....lots of people stumbling about -- a few sickies that night I am sure.

 

We made it to dinner about 15 minutes late -- we had wine and champagne with dinner -- we all opted for the turkey dinner -- I thought it was actually good --- I had all white meat and the cranberry sauce was good too.

The pumpkin pie was horrible so we opted to have them bring us ice cream which was delicious.

 

That night was a late show (11:45 pm) -- the comedian was so hilarious I can't remember the last time I laughed like that.

 

We went to N.Lights again -- and stayed til the wee hours once again -- this night things were out of control --- there were a lot of "adults" in Northern Lights that night --some really great dancers too -- I enjoyed seeing them having a fun time.

 

What was troubling is that the teens were now being told to leave when they had clearly been there the entire week -- they weren't bothering anyone -- so I didn't really understand this.

 

There were some very drunk 16 or 17 year old girls that had no supervision (no parents with them) and they were in such bad shape I was truly worried for their safety from some 20 something and 30 something guys being all over them -- I offered more than once to take these girls back to their rooms...but they were not being asked to leave -- it seemed odd to me that my kids were being asked to leave when they were sitting with me and the ones that were doing the full body makeouts with adult men were not --- hmmmm.

 

Anyway -- we managed to crawl in at around 3 am again and get up in time to hit Half Moon Cay in the morning at around 9:30 am -- it was drop dead gorgeous -- we had a super relaxing time.

 

It had been so rough the night before that we arrived over an hour late to HMC....but so glad we actually made it --

 

We did do the buffet bbq -- I had not done any buffet the whole trip so this was not really my style -- I ate very little -- there were lots of flies.

 

The sun was super intense -- we had the floating rings and the clam shells -- and I had a really nice visit with a friend I met on these boards -- it was a good day but most of us had a little too much sun.

 

As we were packing our bags the spa called and apologized for the bad hair appt. and offered to me to use the thermal suite so I took them up on it.

 

I saw the sun set and the moon rise from my heated lounger and I was the only person the room -- it was a lovely moment.

 

We dined in the main dining room and it was the surf and turf night -- also the parade of the baked alaska.

 

Food was just okay as usual -- but it was a fun celebratory evening.

 

We went and selected our photos from the photo gallery and ended the evening in the sports bar. I did go into the Northern Lights club without my girls - they decided to "card" the teens -- but lo and behold the same little girl I previously mentioned was in there so drunk she was lying down in a booth -- I just don't get it.

 

I settled my account that night and I must say it was pretty hefty -- I guess my taste in wine caught up with me....ouch.

 

I left money in envelopes for 11 different staff that we really liked.....

 

We did the signature baggage service and had some glitches with that -- they delievered our bags back to our room by accident ---- so we had to take care of that in the middle of the night.

 

We dined in the dining room for breakfast -- awful.....

 

Disembarkation was easy -- customs a breeze---

 

Our original driver picked us up and took us directly to Starbucks, then shopping for a few hours -- it was nice to have the luxury of doing so since we didn't have luggage with us and already had our boarding passes -- he picked us up and took us to the airport just right on time -- it was a breeze.

 

Wrap up of trip to follow.....whew, almost done with my trip report.:o

[maxout]

I can hardly wait for the finish! :D

[NoNoNanette]

I am REALLY enjoying your diary, my friend! Looking forward to reading your final thoughts. :)