Amenities

This ship can spoil you in some ways. We get up in the morning and head to the workout room. It is reserved for faculty/staff early in the morning, so we do a 6:30 am half hour of something on the machines.  I have NEVER used any workout machines in my life except an exercise bike. Yesterday, I tortured myself with something called a stairmaster.  Before the voyage, my early morning workout was cleaning horse stalls and a walk with the dogs.

Then we head down to breakfast where everything is already prepared, the tables are set, and all we have to do is go through a self-serve line. Then we sit at one of the clean tables and a waiter asks what we would like to drink.  Almost as soon as we are finished eating, a waiter is there to ask if we need more coffee and to take our dirty dishes.  Those dishes get washed somewhere by someone who is not me.  NOT LIKE HOME.

Then, when we get back to our cabin, the bed has been made. This part is great, but it does require us to keep things picked up in our cabin so that the cabin steward can do his job.  A small room does train you to find a place for eveything, and keep things put away. Towels get replaced every few days and the bathroom cleaned.

Repeat the meal thing for lunch and then dinner.  When we return from dinner, our beds have been turned down. No, there is not a mint on our pillow, but the pillow is fluffed up.

Coffee is available 24 hrs a day if you bring your own cup.  The crew is constantly cleaning the ship all day long, and there are hand sanitizers everywhere. There are going to be a lot of spoiled students and faculty when this voyage is over.

On a different note, we are on day 2 of a 10 day stretch at sea.  The faculty are cracking down, and this will be one of the longest unbroken teaching periods on the trip.  Last night we turned our clocks back another hour.

Last evening was a post-port explorer seminar where anyone could tell about a port experience (good or bad), impressions made, relationships established, or anything. The dominant theme for Hawaii was how great the local people were and how welcoming they were to the students.  A lot of personal relationships were made and relationships established with fellow voyagers.