The sun returned for Day 6 (Sunday) which proved to be the most sedate day yet. We seem to be falling behind the clocks, which advanced another hour (3 hours in total now). We rose too late to make the Sunday brunch in the dining room, which began at 11:30 am. Instead we had our usual coffee (black Americano for me, cappuccino with a shot of espresso for Jett) and lounged on deck, in or near the sun for most of the afternoon. I spent only an hour on the current puzzle and did not visit the casino at all, instead investing some time in the less expensive pursuit of reading.

Due to the time change, our 8 pm dinner started during the most spectacular sunset yet. The photos I took were through glass, which dulled them a bit and introduced some reflection of dining room lights, but they captured the beauty nevertheless.

Dinner was not all that interesting, which is surprising given that this was an evening when the Holland America “culinary council” exhibited their favorite recipes. I had a potato soup which was okay, but not hot enough, a jumbo shrimp salad which seemed more like an appetizer than an entree, and a pear crepe which was very tasty and very small. I left the dining room feeling less than full and, for the first time, ate something at the late night buffet. I was planning on just taking some dessert to the cabin, but we passed the pasta station and the garlic reeled me in. I ate a small plate of ziti topped with a custom marinara sauce with capers and pesto. Delicious!

We then played Hand, Knee and Foot in our room, while Season 3 of Downton Abbey played on the TV. We finished the game (which I won, coming from behind) at 2:30 am, further evidence of our bodies falling behind the clocks.

Day 7 (Monday) was another bright, sunny, cool day with rolling seas. I engaged in the usual activities: jigsaw, casino (another $20 loss – down $65 now), some reading, some hanging out in the smoking area on the Lido Deck Aft. I also spent some time on our balcony, taking advantage of the sun. The big event was the team trivia contest. My team – 5 people, including 2 retired physicians – got 14 right out of 16 questions, just one behind the two winning teams. But the annoying aspect of that is that one of the questions we missed was a medical question – what is the medical name for heartburn. Both physicians had never heard of the term so one has to wonder where the question came from.

We also watched more of Downton Abbey, completing Season 3 (poor Matthew!) and watched The Greatest Showman before bed. It was good enough to keep us both awake to the end, which for us is high praise.

Jett had steak at dinner while my entree was a cornflake-crusted haddock which was pretty tasty. The real star of the dinner for me, though, was dessert: banana tatin which looked like a scoop of vanilla ice cream atop a honey bun. But the “bun” was a baked half banana, curled into a circle and covered in a caramel glaze, resting on a thin biscuit. Yum!

First I will report two technical successes. Due to the impending Hand, Knee and Foot training session, we needed to print a set of rules and some scoresheets. So I took the laptop down to Deck 1 where there was a “business center” with 3 computers and a printer and inquired at the service desk how to use the printer. The answer was to log into my WiFi account, which meant that someone using the computer could use the printer only if they also bought WiFi time, which I found surprising. As I had an account already, that was not an impediment. But I didn’t appreciate using my precious minutes trying to figure out how to configure my laptop to communicate with the ship’s printer. Between setting it up and printing the documents, I used about 20 minutes of WiFi time – about $8.

The printer also ran out of paper one page short of completion. I again waited in line to request paper and the service agent returned with 3 sheets. I smiled and said that 3 sheets would be sufficient for my purposes but the next person would be back to ask for more. She then gave me about 100 sheets.

I also took the opportunity, while at the service desk, to inquire about the television. They were surprised that I was having difficulty and assured me that there was no ship-wide outage. She filled out a service request.

Nothing happened with the TV until after lunch, but after Jett called to jack up the urgency, a repair guy appeared within 15 minutes and fixed the problem in another 10. We now have movies again! We watched The Darkest Hour and more Season 1 episodes of Downton Abbey.

I visited the jigsaw puzzle several times – morning, noon and evening. The noonish visit was aborted because about 8 people were swarming around the table and I didn’t want to be a 9th. So I went down to the casino and lost about $50 in about 50 minutes. Not a good day at the slots. I am now down $20 for the cruise.

We met a few more interesting people in the smoking area and heard a number of complaints about the ship. Most surprising is that there were no cigarettes for sale on the ship – the stock of cigarettes was left on the dock in Ft Lauderdale and is being flown to meet the ship in Barcelona. Thank God Jett brought enough to last her until then. But some folks are going to be mighty unhappy. I can see a black market in cigarettes forming.

It is rumored that the stock of yeast was also left on the dock, meaning that the breads at dinner are going to be unleavened. The grumbling is that the ship should never have left if it was so poorly supplied. The people who are complaining are veteran (and loyal) Holland America passengers who are saying “never again.” This might be a poor cruise for the company business.

The most interesting person we met on Day 4 was Sabine, born in Bolivia of a Dutch father and a German mother, raised as Catholic while her brother was raised Lutheran and married to an Afghan Muslim. She describes herself as a “citizen of the world.”

The weather deteriorated dramatically. The balmy weather and calm seas were replaced with gray skies, light rain and a rolling ship. I put on my anti-nausea wristbands for the first time.

The Hand, Knee and Foot couple were no-shows.

We dined with our regular dinner buddies, except Bob who was absent for the third straight night. We think he will not reappear, which led to a discussion of how to find a replacement. The thinking was that we needed to find a pretty young woman for Dave. That should give Jett something to do for the next few days.

Day 5 (Saturday) continued cloudy, cool and damp, though not so rainy as Day 4 and the overcast started to break up as sunset approached. I again spent some time on the jigsaw as it neared completion, but was not present when the last piece was placed. No time was wasted in destroying it as when I returned around 4 pm a new puzzle – also 2,000 pieces – was already underway. Another foray into the casino netted another $25 loss. The winning first day is a distant memory now as I am down about $45.

I ate very lightly, skipping breakfast entirely and having only a Dive-In hot dog (with saurkraut!) for lunch. I have sampled both the Dive-In burger and hot dog now and they are good, but not exceptional. The hot dog is better than the burger.

Dinner for me was pot roast, and it was excellent. It was preceded by a seafood soup and was followed by a mango cream horn – a pastry filled with a mango-flavored concoction. Both also excellent.

We went to bed immediately after dinner (around 10 pm) but didn’t go to sleep until much later as Jett had a bout of extreme abdominal pain.

A poor end to an otherwise good day.

I think it took me 5 days to realize that the ship changed the rugs at the bottom of every elevator every day, keeping everyone informed of the day of the week. I was at first amused at this silliness, but soon began to realize how useful it was. Days blend together on a long voyage.

The first full day at sea was, as expected, quiet. At breakfast I tried the buffet scrambled eggs (terrible), bacon (good) and lox (excellent). I then, while waiting for Jett’s cappucino to be made, joined in on the attack on a 2,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. In the afternoon I attended an “international beer tasting” event that was somewhat disappointing as none of the international beers were unfamiliar (Becks, Stella Artois, Grolsch and Blue Moon) nor were they from any of the countries we would be visiting. I did, however, learn a few things about beer (e.g., ale is “top brewed” and lager is “bottom brewed”).

I sat with a couple, Marty and Judy, at the beer tasting, had a lovely time getting to know them and discovered, at the end of the event, that they are our neighbors. Small ship.

I read up on Barcelona (Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports, a wonderful guide to most of the cities where we will be docking, but excludes Portugal and most of Spain). I was amazed at the detail of the advice he provides: the Barcelona section is 98 pages long!

Both Jett and I chose the prime rib at dinner, which I thought was excellent but Jett thought was just okay. However, the spinach bacon salad that Jett accidentally ordered (she got two different salads – not sure how that happened) and passed off to me was terrific. I had Dutch apple pie for dessert, which was also very good, while Jett chose a chocolate mousse cake infused with hazelnuts which she judged to be excellent.

We hit the hay early and watched several movies: Downsizing with Matt Damon, which I thought was pretty good but Jett fell asleep, and the first half-hour of La La Land with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling – the Best Picture of 2016 – which I didn’t like at all. Maybe I will change my mind when I finish it. If I finish it.

Day 3 began with a breakfast featuring “eggs blackstone” – a concoction similar to eggs benedict but with Canadian bacon. Not bad. While Jett slept on I made my first foray into the casino and left $30 richer. Yes, I won money at the casino – a rare event for me. I also attended two informative talks about Portugal. The first was all about the available shore excursions and I left early as I have no intention of paying for tours of either Funchal (in Madeira) or Lisbon. The second was about the cities themselves and was much more interesting. I learned that in Funchal it is possible to take a cable car to the top of the 2,000-foot mountain overlooking the city, then ride back down in a wicker basket sled guided by two men. The narrator’s advice: ask to see the soles of their shoes before booking the ride, because those are the only brakes you will have. The idea sounds intriguing, but the narrator also noted that the ride leaves you far from the port and it is either a 45-minute walk or an expensive taxi ride to get back. I will probably pass. Instead I may find a bar where I can sample a couple of local Madeira wines.

We skipped dinner in the dining room on Day 3 because it was a formal night and Jett was not eager to dress up. Nor was I. Instead we “roughed it” in the Lido Deck buffet where we both had beef tenderloain (very tasty). After dinner we played Hand, Knee and Foot under the stars until a sudden shower drove us inside. As we began play a couple stopped by to ask us what game we were playing. They actually stayed to watch a hand and we made a date to teach them the game on Day 4.

As we began to play cards we discovered that Jett failed to pack the scoresheets. We had to make do with a blank sheet of paper. One of my Day 4 chores will be to find a printer where I can print a few copies.

The day ended on a downer as we tried to watch a movie and found the entire DVR operation to be unusable (“connection busy, try again later”). We are praying that this is a temporary situation because doing 24 nights with no movies for late night entertainment would be nearly unbearable

I can see the headlines now: “Passengers Mutiny Over Faulty DVR.” It will go viral.

The process of embarkation – passing through the passport check, filling out health forms, checking in and receiving our on-board “keys” – went very quickly and we were aboard the ship in less than 30 minutes after our bus arrived at the dock (at 12:47 pm, to be precise). But the process contained an element of angst, too, as I realized (actually, Jett realized) that I had printed only one boarding pass. Jett, rather accusingly, said “Where is my boarding pass?” My rather weak response was “this is what the printer gave me.” I had a vision, as we were going through the line, approaching the registration desk, of giving the agent my story, getting a cold “what an idiot” stare and then waiting an interminable time while the agent somehow got the second boarding pass printed. I couldn’t do it myself because a cruise dock is not like an airport – there are no self-service kiosks. Still, I wasn’t too worried as I knew that I had completed all of the online pre-departure tasks and that Jett’s status as a registered passenger was securely recorded online. But I didn’t know how much trouble – and recrimination – awaited me when we reached the desk.

As it turned out, there was no trouble and no recrimination. All we needed to produce at the desk was our passports. The trouble, if there was to be any, would have been earlier in the process when we had to show passports and boarding passes to “security.” But again, the cruise dock is not like an airport. The cruise dock security is not TSA; it is a bunch of hired hands who are mostly concerned with passports. Security here did not care about the details of the boarding pass – there was no checking of names or dates or ship; I just waved my one boarding pass in front of him and that was sufficient.

Makes me wonder whether the boarding pass was needed at all.

Once aboard we went straight to our cabin – a “junior suite”. It isn’t the largest cabin we have ever had, but it is quite nice. The king size bed is very comfortable, with 6 pillows. The TV is the largest we have ever had on a cruise – my estimate is 60 inches. And the bathroom has his-and-her sinks and two showers. We will inevitably contend for its use, but it is very large and very nice.

Oh – a balcony with two very comfortable chaises and a table. If the weather cooperates, I will spend a lot of time out there. Watching the ocean slip by.

A couple of nice extras: bathrobes and a powerful set of binoculars. I can sit on the verandah, dressed in a bathrobe and scan the horizon for approaching pirates. Maybe I can be the first to yell “land ho!” when we reac Madeira.

We freshened up a bit, then walked up one flight to the Lido Deck to grab a quick bite from the never-ending buffet and to find the smoking area. Sadly the “smoking lamp” was extinguished as the refueling of the ship was not finished, but Jett wasted no time finding “smoking buddies”, all of whom were jonesing for a smoke. We bided the time chatting with Jack and Carol, two almost-full-timers (they have a condo in Mexico for the winter but travel the US and Canada the rest of the year in their Class C RV). We also, later, met Mary who reminded us both of Kathy Bates. We took to referring to her afterwards as “Molly Brown” as she was very like the Unsinkable person depicted in Titanic. Of course thinking of the Titanic is exactly the wrong thing to do on embarkation day, but it was unavoidable.

After the required lifeboat drill at 4 pm, we returned to the Lido Deck for the “sailaway party.” On every other cruise this has been an energetic party with dancing and a steel band. No band at this one, just overpriced drinks and lots of people taking photos as we pushed off from the dock. I think we have found the first difference with a transatlantic cruise: more sedate music (chamber music seems to be the big thing, with a blues band being the only “rock” option). I think it is going to be a relatively quiet crossing. Yes, there are a few children on board, but there are absolutely no kids activities. Advice: if you want to cruise with children, steer away from transatlantic itineraries.

It turns out the the one side of the rear deck area is the only smoking area aboard the ship. On other cruises there were typically three: the Lido Deck, one side of the Promenade Deck and a Cigar Bar. Only one area on this ship, which had Jett cursing. And it is outside, so if the weather turns chilly (as I expect it will), she is going to be very unhappy. But that day is not today.

While Jett was chatting with her smoking buddies I was sent in search of a cup of cappuccino. I found it at the coffee bar in the back of the Explorer’s Lounge, a fabulously opulent lounge on the top deck, overlooking the bow. It has a fantastic vista, very comfortable chairs for socializing, tables for playing cards or doing jigsaw puzzles, and current real-time displays of location, speed, wave amplitude and temperature. Time, too, which is more complicated than it sounds. We will be going through five time zone changes and onboard the clocks are adjusted at 1 pm. You need to pay attention or you could be late for an afternoon appointment.

Our dinner companions are Jeff and Judy, Bob and Dave. Jeff and Judy are Canadians, as is Dave, but Dave is also Scottish, with dual citizenship. Bob is from Alabama. The dinner conversation was lively and varied and only briefly skirted into politics and religion – topics which I am careful to avoid. The food and service were also very good. The highlight of the meal for me was dessert – banana crisp which was like apple crisp, but with bananas. Delicious.

Dave and Bob are both single and are not a couple. We have not yet determined whether they are gay, widowed, divorced or simply prefer to travel alone. Mary, who I mentioned earlier, was also traveling alone and in her case she volunteered the reason: she and her husband are taking some “alone time” which she is using to reflect on her marriage.

We did not attend the evening entertainment and instead went to bed after lounging a bit on the Lido Deck. It was a lovely evening. When we returned to our cabin we discovered the wide variety of movies that the ship makes available on demand, including many recent ones, such as this year’s Best Picture, La La Land.

So far, so good.