December 25 - Christmas on the Seabourn Quest

Merry Christmas!  As I write this Christmas is nearly over on this side of the world.  Last evening the ship and crew went all out to make Christmas Eve special.  We’ve had Christmas trees, poinsettias and lights around the stairway railings for a while.  On December 20th gingerbread houses, in fact whole villages, made appearances along with a train set around the largest tree.  We have three children on the ship and they got to make some gingerbread houses that were included in the displays. Then a couple of days later trays of Christmas cookies appeared around the ship just in case we wanted a little something sweet now and then.  On Christmas morning German stollen appeared at Seabourn Square and at the buffet.  

Kids having fun making gingerbread houses

In the early evening we gathered to do caroling in the Club.  We had song sheets with lyrics and a couple of hundred of us sang traditional carols as well as more modern ones like Rudolf the Red-nosed reindeer and Frosty the Snowman.  We finished our sing-along with Silent Night which always makes me a little teary-eyed.  After dinner the staff went all out in the Grand Salon with a “Family Christmas Show.”  All the regular crew entertainers along with the guest artists performed.  We were treated to wonderful music and dancing.  The captain closed the show with a lovely speech reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas.  As we left the salon most of the crew members were there to wish us all a merry Christmas and it gave us an opportunity to thank them for the hard work they do every day with such wonderful smiles.  It was a lovely evening.

Christmas morning it was bright, beautiful and warm.  We’re heading southeast, a little off our normal course, in order to try to minimize a pretty strong low-pressure system making its way across the Tasman Sea toward New Zealand’s North Island.  The captain announced at noon that he had speeded up to better position us in relation to the storm as we approach NZ.  Tomorrow, Boxing Day, we are in for some rough seas and perhaps rainy weather later in the day.  But today the sun is out and all is well.  Despite it being Christmas Day since we were at sea we played trivia at noon.  After trivia we started what may be a new Christmas tradition of ordering pizza for lunch.  By ordering, I mean we actually ordered pizzas with the toppings we all liked and they served us out at the patio by the pool.  It’s something I never realized we could do until this cruise.

In the evening we six ladies met in the Club and toasted the day and one another with a nice bottle of champagne.  Then we adjourned to the Colonnade for dinner.  It was formal night and we were all dressed up, but we chose to go to the less formal venue because it would be quieter.  It was lovely.  Not many tables were occupied and we could laugh and enjoy ourselves without disturbing anybody.  After dinner the Bar Manager arranged for us to get our favorite chocolate and coffee drink from the specialty restaurant.  We lingered so long that we missed the show, but that was okay because we had so much fun. Two of our group are leaving in a few days in Auckland and that will be sad, but for now we’re enjoying our time together.