June 20, 2014   Sea Day

 Most of the passengers including us were ready for a sea day after four busy port days in a row.

At 10:34am this morning we crossed into the Arctic Circle so we are not expecting the sun to set for several days now until we head south out of the Arctic Circle. The weather is cold, windy and raining at times but we are hopeful for sunshine.

The captain hosted an Indonesian lunch in the dining room for all of those passengers who had booked more than one cruise back-to-back. In our case we had booked a seven days cruise back-to-back with a fourteen-day cruise. Many of the passengers onboard had booked the fourteen days cruise to Norway followed by a fourteen-day cruise to the Baltic. The majority of the lower level of the dining room was filled with guests for this special lunch.

Most everywhere on the ship we meet other guests who are complaining about something. For one thing the price that people paid for the cruise varied greatly so many were upset about that. Some guests received free drinks or other incentives to book the cruise while others did not. It has made for a lot of unhappy passengers. We have heard about several water leaks in people’s cabins and have seen the fans in the hallways drying the carpeting outside of cabin doors. Many complain about the high cost of the shore excursions, while others complain about the recent change in charging for cappuccino and latte’s with your dinner. If it is not one thing it is something else that people are complaining about. The crew is even complaining that the guests are not spending money in the casino, in the shops or at the bars! I guess we all just want to feel like we got a deal.

The entertainment on this night was a variety show featuring Ian Cooper, Petrina Johnson and David Schofield who had each performed solo over the last week.