January 16 – At sea

January 16, 2017 – At Sea Sailing to Arica, Chile
First I’ll answer what is different about a Grand Cruise on Holland America. So far the main dining room dinners have had a better selection of entrees than the normal cruises. We also have 2 lecturers on board plus bridge, dance, art and crafts, and watercolor classes on sea days. We also have an astronomer on board for a week. There are wine pairing dinners in the Pinnacle Grill on 8 out of 10 weeks. If you book the whole cruise you get a pillow gift every gala night. The first we got gift cards, an umbrella, and a tote bag. Tonight we received a bag with fleece hat, scarf, and gloves inside. The entertainment seems to be better than a normal cruise too.
Today was a busy day. We lost an hour last night so I slept until 7:45am. Linda wasn’t feeling well so I headed to breakfast alone. I went to Good Morning Prinsendam where they interviewed last night’s pianist. She was very good.
At 10:45am I attended the awards ceremony for people who cruise Holland America a lot. This was followed by the Mariner luncheon. I ran from the luncheon to 1pm trivia where we lost because we didn’t know the recipe for 1,2,3,4 Cake which was worth 8 points. The ship has been rolling side to side today so I have put on my Scopolamine patch. 2pm was my first premium wine tasting. We had 4 wines, a Washington State Reisling, a California Chardonnay, an Oregon Pinot Noir, a California Cabernet, and a French Champagne. We tried each alone and then with different foods to see what went best with each. It was great fun.
After wine tasting I played Baggo which is throwing sand filled bags at a slanted board with one hole in it. The wind was really blowing so it was hard to throw. My team won so I now have $17 Grand dollars.
Tonight I went to A Taste of Peru wine pairing dinner. These dinners cost extra but are worth every penny. It was 6 courses with matching wines.
The entertainment tonight was The Fly rights who sing 60’s songs by the Isles brothers, the drifters, Marvin Gaye … They were very good.
Tomorrow is Arica , Chile.