"" Writer's Wanderings: Christmas Cruising

Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Cruising


Christmas Eve, aboard the Eurodam, we sailed away from St. Maarten about 5 p.m. headed north for the Bahamas. We dressed for dinner at the specialty restaurant, the Tamarind. It is an Asian themed restaurant—very elegant looking and absolutely tasty food. Dinner was followed by a wonderful show in the Main Stage Theater featuring the singers and dancers of the Eurodam and all the exciting technological shenanigans of their new stage.

But the best part of the evening came when the three Christmas choirs of the Eurodam staff sang. The first was made up of 30 different nationalities and they sang in English. The next was Filipino and they sang in their native tongue as well as Spanish when they sang Feliz Navidad! The last choir was the Indonesian group who sang a few lively songs and the beautiful O Holy Night in both English and their language.

At the end, it was almost like being home as they all joined in Silent Night, lit candles and walked up the aisles to form a line out the door and wish everyone a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Day at sea began late with waffles in the Lido Deck buffet followed by caroling in the three story atrium mid-ship. People gathered on all three decks as the cruise director, Shane, along with the singers and dancers of the entertainment crew, led the singing and the string quartet played special Christmas songs. Interspersed throughout were announcements from the captain that a blip had been spotted on the radar. The blip grew to be a sleigh with animals pulling it—one with a red nose, that circled the ship and landed. Santa reportedly slid down the smoke stack and appeared at our gathering. He invited all the kids to follow him to the Main Stage where he handed out gifts.

It even snowed!! Only, aboard the ship, they clean it up with a vacuum.

No comments:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...