March 6, 2013 Sea Day
Christopher, who is one of the librarian’s onboard, was the guest this morning at the Good Morning, Amsterdam show. Chris is a 23 year old third generation Floridian from Tampa. He is on his first contract with the cruise line and was transferred from another ship in the fleet to work on the world cruise. He has a twin brother, with whom he enlisted in the military. However, Chris had braces on his teeth and this disqualified him from passing the medical entrance exam. He made an appointment to get the braces off but when the dentists office called his home to confirm his appointment, his mother found out that he was going to have his braces off prematurely and but a stop to that. She said that if he would reimburse her for the $4,000 she spent on the braces he could get them taken off.
Chris and his brother left home the same week, one to boot camp and one to work on the ship. His brother has completed boot camp and is currently serving in Afghanistan. Chris was honored as employee of the month for his exemplary service to a woman and her son who traveled with us from Lima to Auckland. The son was celebrating his 18th birthday although he was wheelchair bound, crippled up and unable to speak from the ravages of a physically debilitating disease. Chris would entertain him in the library and play games with him. He could communicate only by lifting one arm to answer yes. Chris is an incredible young man and does an excellent job with helping guests with most anything they may need onboard.
Barbara, our travel guide, lectured this morning on things to do and see in Hong Kong, while the afternoon featured Adrian Cooper who lectured on Diving in the Deep. Adrian spoke about the amazing creatures that live in the deepest parts of the oceans.
Water temperature/Idioms—During his daily sailing announcements, our ship’s captain mentioned the sea’s water temperature. It has been gradually increasing and is now 84 degrees. Not quite like San Diego. He also shares with us various idioms, which come from sailing, like “toe the line, between the devil and the deep blue sea, hand over fist, as the crow flies,” etc. We are surprised that so many of our idioms and expressions come from sailing ships at sea.
We took in the afternoon movie titled: One for the Money with Katherine Heigl, Debbie Reynolds and John Leguizamo.
The evening’s entertainer was an English comedian by the name of Kevin Devane. He had some interesting one-liners but the guests are getting tired of so many comedians.