Starting the Day off Right
Day 13, Grand Asia 2017
Saturday, Oct. 14, 2017 – At Sea
Mangoes and papayas showed up at breakfast today just as the berries are disappearing. We will reprovision in Yokohama tomorrow, I presume. They say you should eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. On the Amsterdam, you could dine 24 hours a day like a king. But today, we’ll focus on breakfast.
I join the now familiar group of early risers most mornings in the Lido Market before the buffet opens. We are seeking the always-available coffee, which has improved over the years. Shortly after 6 a.m. the fruit and pastries start to make an appearance, and at 6:30 the buffet lines open.
Holland America has numerous serving stations, so you can quickly get to the food you want. There are selections of bread, juices and milk, fruit, yogurt, cheese and smoked meat and fish. The chefs have prepared and are ready to serve scrambled and boiled eggs, pancakes and French toast, bacon and sausage, oatmeal, grits and cream of wheat. At other stations they prepare omelets, toast and dishes such as eggs benedict to your order. Once you sit, servers are quick to bring you coffee, tea and fresh-squeezed orange juice.
I eat every morning in the Lido. But there are other options. The dining room opens at 8 a.m. (too late for me) for sit-down served meals. The Explorations Café offers lattes and other specialty coffees (for a charge) and complimentary pastries. Passengers in the larger suites can have breakfast in the Pinnacle, a specialty restaurant. Room service is available around the clock, and I frequently see orders placed outside cabin doors for morning delivery.
We won’t starve, that’s for sure.
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Day 13: It was nice to leave the clocks alone last night. If you remember your geography lessons regarding longitude and latitude, you understand why the time zone changes come faster the farther north you cross the Pacific. Political time zones aren’t always as exact. The Aleutian Islands stretch west over hundreds of miles, but they all are on Alaska time. So that’s where we stayed for our anticipated stop in Dutch Harbor (skipped due to weather).
After that, we had to quickly catch up, so we set our clocks back one hour each of five nights in a row. On one of those nights we set the clock back two hours and then jumped ahead 24 hours as we crossed the International Date Line. It will be nice to stay on Japanese time for a week.
In watercolor class several passengers brought smartphone photos of cranes from their previous day’s tours. My attempt to sketch and paint one wasn’t perfect, but I think it is recognizable and I enjoyed the time I spent painting it.
Chef Spencer showed us how to decorate cakes. Several dozen members of our Cruise Critic group met in the Crow’s Nest for happy hour and to finalize last-minute details for some of tomorrow’s private tour. The nightly entertainer enthusiastically played the electronic xylophone, imitating a number of musical instruments and styles. Then early to bed in preparation for the first of seven full days in port.
Breakfast for me is always difficult choice.
I really like being waited on in the dining room – a nice quite corner to myself – so I tell the chap at the desk who chooses the table – can’t remember what they call him – but then as others get placed at nearby tables it gets noisy which defeats the purpose.
To me the lido is always a noisy ‘bun fight’ yes even at that time of the morning so I meet up with husband who’s been doing his laps and we eat by the pool. Outside aft if it’s warm enough or by the lido pool – but then there’s all that music they play which makes it noisy ?
On the Noordam this April past they’d cut down on the breakfast room service menu although I did add some things by hand which were delivered. Yes, quiet in the cabin but awkward on that oval table by the couch.
I’ve also been known to claim a lounger on the outside lower prom deck, nip up to the lido and come back with milk cereal toast and coffee then watch the early walkers. Have to bring my own little tray for that though.
Decisions decisions! My husband says if choosing where to eat breakfast is my only worry there’s really nothing to worry about lol. Counting down the days now ?
Thanks for taking me along on the journey through your stories.