One of the things Tom and I enjoy about cruising is the towel animal orgami that greets us when we get back to our stateroom in the evenings.  Tom and I usually head out to supper about 6 and then to the evening show at 7:30.  So we are generally gone from 6 to 8:30.  During that time, our thoughtful stewards come into the room, turn down the beds, and leave us some suprises.

In the past, we have had towel animal orgami every night on the bed.  The towel animals on this cruise are more elaborate and we have only had a few in our room.  I’m sure they take our stewards a long time to make.

To make up for the lack of towel animal orgami in the room, the hospitality department had a Zoordam show on one of our sea days.  They transformed the Lido pool area into a towel animal zoo with lots of whimsical creatures of various sizes.  There were lots of monkeys and swans.  But there were also sea creatures, insects, and even a Baby Yoda.  In addition to white towels, they used the beach towels and the colored pool and spa towels.

It was really fun to walk around and see the creativity of the hospitality staff.  The creatures delighted and amused.

Our stewards take great care of us every day.  Handa and Eko make sure our room is clean, our linens are refreshed, and our towels are changed regularly.  They make sure I have ice every evening and that we have enough pillows and blankets.  When we get back from our days in port, Handa always asks how our day was.

The stewards work on a six month contract.  They work every day for four months, and then have two months completely off.  Sometimes they have time to go ashore to see the places we are exploring.  But more often they take advantage of the quiet ship to get a little extra sleep.  Handa has been working for Holland America for 25 years.

Tom and I like to come back to our room in the evening to see what suprises Handa and Eko have prepared for us.  Sometimes it is a chocolate.  Sometimes a note.  And sometimes it is a carefully crafted towel animal.