Day 02 - 07/24/23 - At sea to Ketchikan

 After a strenuous day traveling yesterday we were slow waking up, but we made it to the crowded Lido for breakfast.  We then dropped Jakob off at Club HAL which he absolutely loves. We attended the cruise director's. Erin, coffee chat where she answered random questions.  We then booked a couple of shore excursions and I attended a tech session on Tech for Travelers which covered use of Google Maps, WiFi Maps, and Google Translate.  While the class was too basic for me but I've long championed the need for such a class.  It covered use of both Apple & Android devices.  In the afternoon I attended a similar session on the best practices for use of one's phone camera.  Both presentations were given by Erin, Cruise & Travel Director. We also attended a Mariner reception which was pretty sparsely attended. I did, however, got to chat with Albert, an executive Housekeeper, who sailed with us to Australia last year on the Westerdam 

We enjoyed another lunch in the Lido pool area and Jakob quickly chowed down another 1/3 pound hamburger.  After another swim time, he was in the ice cream line where a person squeezed the chocolate sauce which had a loose lid and guess who had chocolate all over his chest?

We also made dinner reservations for the Pinnacle Grill & Canaletto specialty restaurants as we have free dinners there as part of our loyalty status and as part of our travel package.  Reservations are scarce as the proverbial hen's teeth.

In the afternoon there was an excellent presentation by Kristi, the onboard naturalist, on use of binoculars. We also attended a nice wine tasting of Pacific NW & California wines.  I then made my third visit to the front desk to straighten out and remove the erroneous drink charges.  This time I was successful.  I also cancelled a couple Travel With Alan (TWA) excursions as they conflicted with ones that we booked independently that are more suitable for our grandson.

Tonight was gala night, but we elected to eat a nice dinner in the Lido which was pretty empty because it was gala night.  Our grandson ended up swimming in 3 different times in the main pool.  Perhaps he'll get worn out!

Both of us ended up purchasing the additional internet coverage for $30 additional each for the remaining 6 days so that we could have video watching capability.  The internet speeds have been quite decent at 25-30 mpbs download.  Latency is a bit long.

The Captain's toast was tonight followed by a new Step One Dance Company show called Move. It was pretty high energy and it appeared that one male dancer was missing.  Afterwards we listened to 3rd Avenue West, a jazz & easy listening music trio in the Ocean Bar.  It's a new great music venue for us with ocean views and a nice ambiance.  We were seated with another couple who are on their first cruise.  

When we came back to the room, we were surprised by a small gift from HAL for Jakob: chocolate strawberries and a HAL ship stuffie along with a nice note.  Jakob really liked the gifts. I sent a thank you note to acknowledge receipt of the gifts. 

And so ended our first full day at sea.  We arrive at 7am and have two excursions planned.  We also have an early departure at 3pm with onboard at 2:30pm.