Monday 9 May at Sea

We lost an hour last night so I got up at 7.30 to be ready for the service at 9.00am; this was followed by the Mariner Reception, where I was presented with my Copper Medallion. There were lots of presentations, the highest being over 2,000 days on cruise ships: the President’s Medallion. If I get to 200 days (sometime) I’ll become a 4-Star Mariner, but the Silver medallion isn’t until 500 days, I think. No worries – I had no idea I would be getting my medallion, so that was a nice surprise, plus three kisses on the cheek (Dutch style) from the very nice Captain Chris Turner and then a picture with the Captain and the Hotel Manager.

This was closely followed by the Mariners’ Brunch, which meant I got a free glass of champagne: very nice. The ship is still rocking and rolling quite significantly and I heard today that that’s normal for the Pacific.

The thing is that today’s menu could be:

Breakfast

Reception – champagne and canapés

Brunch – 3 courses full meal, champagne, wine, petit fours

Dutch High Tea – pastries, sandwiches and cakes

Formal Dinner – 3 courses

Yes, that’s why cruises can be heart attack material!

I got my Mariner’s Delft tile to add to our collection as well.

Well, we did it tonight! Everyone was at dinner and we got some formal pictures done as well as some snaps on my camera. This morning’s picture with the Captain was waiting for me on the bed when I got back from dinner: an actual freebie!