I slept in till almost six AM. Wow.
There was very little on my to-do list this day. At 10:30 I was invited to a mariner's reception, which was to be followed by a brunch at 11. I arrived at the appointed place and time and was surprised to 1) be handed a glass of champagne (yay, I love free champagne) and 2) have my name called to come up and receive a copper medallion, complete with ceremonial placement of said medallion around my neck, like an Olympic athlete, by the Captain. Another eight or so lucky recipients also received medallions. We got these because we have crossed the 100 day threshold of cruising with Holland America. I was pretty "dam" happy, but maybe that was partly due to the champagne.
The brunch was also quite nice. There was a couple at my table that shared with us a horrific tale of a bus crash they were in just two years ago outside of Cairo, where their driver crashed head on into a sand tractor, killing 6 passengers and wounding nearly all the rest of them. The couple was very lucky and only have a few physical scars to show for it, but they were still very emotional when telling us. They said the accident has not stopped them from traveling, and they wore their medallions with pride and happiness.
I went to a lecture in the afternoon about the "cloud", the Internet closet in the sky. It was actually very informative, and the man who is our floating tech expert is a fountain of knowledge.
After that, there was a wine tasting where a delicious port was being poured and some yummy blue cheese was available as an accompaniment.
Last night was a formal night, so I dressed up in my pretties, and met up with a group of fellow solo cruisers for dinner. I had a good time.
Tomorrow, Vietnam beckons and our first stop is Saigon.
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