DATE JUMP
The International Date Line runs between the two poles of our Earth - right through the Pacific, near the 180th meridian. An invisible line where not only a different time but also a different calendar date applies on each side. When crossing the imaginary line westbound, as we will experience tonight, you enter the next calendar day. We want to celebrate this very special experience together and jump from December 18th to December 20th.
INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE AND TIME ZONES
Every place in the world has its own moment of sunrise and sunset, and therefore its true local time. In order to avoid having to adjust the clock every time you change location, the Earth was divided into 24 time zones in 1884, each 15 degrees apart. They were aligned with the Prime Meridian, which runs through Greenwich and was declared the Zero Meridian. This is where the Royal Observatory was located, which provided English sailors with all the important coordinates for their calculations at sea.
Even during his first circumnavigation of the world from 1519 to 1522, Magellan noticed that the date he recorded in the ship's log did not match the actual date of his arrival. This was because when sailing east (towards the sun), every time zone crossed meant that noon was one hour earlier. The clock had to be adjusted accordingly. In the opposite direction, when crossing each time zone, the clock had to be set back one hour. A natural change of date occurs once a day - always at the meridian where it is currently midnight. Since every point on the Earth is reachable from both directions, there must be a second date line, otherwise the same time would apply at the destination, but not the same day. This date line was established near the 180th meridian as an imaginary line.
On the night of December 19th to 20th, we will cross this imaginary date line with AIDAmar and change the time by moving it forward 22 hours at 2:00 a.m. - to 12:00 a.m. on December 20th. Therefore, December 19th will only exist for two hours and practically disappear from our sense of time. So don't be surprised if you wake up in the morning thinking you slept through an entire day.
THE VOUCHER - CHAOS OUTSIDE THE NORM
Processes outside the norm are clearly not AIDA's strength! We wanted to make Angelika happy for Christmas and give her vouchers for her favorite drink at her favorite bar. Our first attempt to coordinate this with the bar team resulted in shrugs and the statement that no one knows how it works. Our second attempt was the restaurant manager. He took down all the details and promised to take care of it. Then a week passed - nothing happened! When we asked him about it again, he said he would take care of it, but the process had apparently gotten stuck in the "structure". Marion finally couldn't take it anymore and directly approached the F&B Director. He was not familiar with the matter, but promised to take care of it immediately. And indeed, two hours later, he had resolved the issue. The vouchers were supposed to be deposited at the corresponding bar and we could pick them up there the next morning.
At breakfast, I met Angelika, who joyfully told me that she had already received vouchers at the beach bar today. Confused, I asked her who they were from. Angelika didn't know exactly, but was firmly convinced that they were from someone on the crew. Understandably, Marion was not amused and immediately clarified the situation with Angelika. Shortly after, the F&B Director came by and asked if everything had gone as planned. When we told him about the misunderstanding in the morning, he was the only one at the table who couldn't laugh about it. As compensation, we received additional vouchers at the expense of the ship on the same day. A nice gesture.
Conclusion:- For AIDA: There is still much to be learned when it comes to customer requests outside the norm.- For us: In the future, we will make our own vouchers!