Tuesday, January 25, 2011

At Sea aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

I can’t believe it’s already Tuesday, time sure does fly by. Let me update you on my video camera battery situation. I met a passenger who uses the same kind of camera and battery who has graciously agreed to let me charge my battery in his charger. Wow! Hopefully I won’t have any further issues. Oh, one more “issue” somehow the battery in my electric shaver is completely dead….I’m assuming it got turned on in the suit case at some point, because I have never seen this battery that dead. Oh well, I’ll have to figure out alternative ways to shave.

We are cruising from Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas to St Maarten, so we will be at sea all day today. I love “sea days” because this is when the ship truly comes alive and is in it’s element. At this very moment it’s rainy and foggy, and there’s a slight chop in the sea, so the ship is movin around a bit. My wife Terri, put on the Sea-Bands and tried some of the ginger gum we got from Sea-Band. Not that she really needs it, she is just trying it out for preventative measures. I enjoy the movement of the ship and it’s fun to see other passengers cope with the movement. We are taking it easy today while our son plays in the pool. I am walking around the ship filming short video clips and taking pictures. There is a lot going through my head as far as what interviews and what clips I’ll need. I do have it written down, but my head still spins as I try and determine locations for video shooting.

The ship is still in “lock-down” mode because there must have been some illness from passengers on the previous voyage. Hopefully this lock-down will be lifted soon. Well, I better get back to work producing video and audio content.

I had a great interview today with maritime historian, cruise industry specialist and journalist, Peter Knego. It’s so fun to talk face-to-face with others who are “into” cruise ships and ocean liners as I am. It’s a unique and rare passion, and before the internet I had no idea there were other cruise ship fanatics like me out there, and Peter is one of those who are passionate about the ships. Mr. Knego has actually made a living visiting the scrap yards on the beaches of India’s Alang. He goes aboard the old classic passenger ships that are ready for scrapping and he rescues bits and pieces of artwork, furniture, blue prints and navigational equipment before the ship is scrapped and lost forever.

This evening we ate in the fancy Pinnacle Grill, a special upscale restaurant extra special attention to fine dinning. Both my wife and I enjoyed the cuisine. My wife had the steak and I had the salmon.

Ok, another note to self….before I set off on another cruise like this, I must make a check list, because tonight I realized I forgot to pack a tie and black socks. What a nightmare. It was formal night and I had a nice suit, but no tie. I went to the purser’s desk to ask advice to see if I could rent or buy a tie somewhere and I saw the cruise director so I talked to him about my situation. I felt like an idiot, but I was also very fortunate because the Cruise Director loaned me a nice tie for the rest of the cruise. Us Cruise Directors and former Cruise Directors must stick together I guess. I ended the evening by walking through the ship to collect some sound for my show and now here I am about to go to bed.

Access America, Sea-Band, Victorinox Swiss Army, The Cruise Web

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