When we gathered for our last book club meeting, the
librarian told us that this was the last book club he would ever lead and the
last one on this ship. Holland America is going to cut out the position of
librarian. They may cut out the library all together. Most people carry their
own books on Kindles and IPads. So, the library space will soon no longer be
needed. The library currently has several computers but most people have their
own computer in the form of a phone these days.
The librarian said the new ships may not have formal dining
rooms, either. We have only been to the dining room once on this trip. We much
prefer the casual dining. There is an option to pay extra ($25 each) to eat in
a specialty restaurant. We had a free dinner in the Pinnacle specialty restaurant
provided by our travel agent. I have to say it was fantastic. But, we just
aren’t into gourmet dining. The Lido is good enough. We overeat as it is.
I ran into a friend from book club and we discussed
yesterday’s meeting. Her husband has COPD and uses oxygen at all times. He caught
the coughing illness that swept the ship a few weeks ago. Bill and I had it on
our last cruise and we must have developed some immunity as we didn’t catch it
this time. We brought a bag of cough drops that we are now handing out to the
coughers. Her husband has progressed beyond coughing to pneumonia. He is on
antibiotics.
The Indonesian crew members put on a show yesterday. We have
seen several of these but this was the best one because we knew half the people
in the cast this time. It’s always fun to watch people that you know in a
performance.
This is Maria and Edy standing by a Christmas decoration.
This is Rumi on the left and Herlina in the middle. They sang at the Indonesian Crew show.
We had a few more friends among the crew.
There is a traditional part of the Indonesian show called The Monkey Dance. This was the best one we have seen.
We had a few more friends among the crew.
