Friday – August 4, 2017
The ship’s Fog Horn woke me up at 5:30 AM. We’re off the western coast of Nova Scotia traveling in a Northeasterly direction. It’s still foggy and 63 degrees at 7:38 in the morning. The Rotterdam has traveled 350 nautical miles since leaving Boston and has 265 nm to go to reach Sydney, Nova Scotia, our next port of call. The Atlantic Ocean is calm and 480 feet deep in this location.
We’re getting used to the good ship Rotterdam and are learning where everything is located. Most of the space on the ship is taken up by cabins for passengers. The ship’s crew’s quarters are below the first deck and have no windows or portholes.
Deck 3 has a walk-around “Promenade” and cabins which open directly onto that public space. Most of everything else for passengers is on Deck 4, 5, or 8. In comparison to newer ships, the Rotterdam is relatively small with about 1400 paying guests and a crew of 600.
Everyone moved their clocks ahead one hour last night to Atlantic time, so I woke up early. We enjoyed our buffet breakfasts in the Lido Cafe. I had yogurt with fruit & granola, and assorted herrings and smoked salmon. Unlike other cruise ships we’ve been on, the buffet has servers who dish out passenger’s requests instead of serving yourself.
We walked around the ship before taking the “Galley Tour” of the large commercial kitchen hidden away behind the dining rooms. We had taken a galley tour on a Princess cruise which was interesting however this one was much quicker with very friendly workers. In this huge stainless steel kitchen we saw the storage & dish washing facilities, fresh fruit & vegetable prep areas, the bakery, and meat & poultry section. The master chef stood along our tour path and greeted all the passengers in a friendly manner. It was a very quick tour, but fun.
Then at eleven o’clock we went to a presentation by guest lecturer Jim McParland who talked about Canada’s Atlantic Provinces where the Rotterdam will be going in the next few days. He was a retired Canadian high school geology teacher. The photos in his slide show were good and his talk was very informative. Jeff and I decided it would be fun to explore more of the Maritime Provinces when we have time.
We just had enough time for a quick light lunch at the Taco Bar at the Lido Pool, before rushing to the next lecture: What to See and Do in Sydney, Cornerbrook, and Red Bay. “Location Guide” Barbara talked about and showed slides of our next three ports. She also gave us handy hints about what we might need in these places, like insect spray and Canadian money. She also spoke of what to expect to see at these locations in Nova Scotia, Labrador and Newfoundland.
By mid-day, the sun was shining brightly. There was very little wind and the seas were calm. I wondered what the weather was like in Nova Scotia and at home.
The Rotterdam has many cozy and inviting corners to sit and relax, unlike other ships we traveled on. So, in the late afternoon, we found a comfortable couch up on the ninth deck lounge and stayed for a while listening to our books on tape. We had a light dinner in the Lido Marketplace and afterwards walked once around the Promenade Deck. A thick dense fog closed in around us by nightfall and the ship’s Fog Horn began to blare its gloomy warning sound at regular intervals.