Splashdot 2026 - Day 3

Holiday Day (John Scalzi)

Let’s be real here, “Holiday Day” is an easy pick for a themed day on a cruise because most of us have a bunch of holiday stuff already. Halloween is practically the Official Holiday of the JoCo Cruise (a shoutout here for our goth and goth-adjacent cruisers, we see you, especially on the Sea View Deck, under an umbrella. We love you and will see you at the goth dance), and whomst among us does not have an ugly sweater celebrating one or more of the various winter holidays?

That said, I’m personally an aficionado of some, shall we say, more off-brand holidays, the ones that don’t get quite as much love, or have Mariah Carey songs, but still offer something fun for the celebrant. So if you are looking for a holiday to get behind, please consider:

1. ARBOR DAY: Trees! You like trees! You probably wouldn’t be able to breathe without trees! Sure, you might have allergies when they sex each other up every spring, but really, that’s about you, isn’t it? For this one you could dress up as a wood elf or a druid or something, or as a sexy Lorax.

2. PI DAY: Which day is PI Day? March 14 if you’re in the United States, and 22 July in the rest of the world, because the rest of the world weirdly does the sensible thing of putting the day before the month when denoting dates. It’s probably a metric thing. Anyway, celebrate this day by having a square piece of cake because you’re a rebel and math can’t tell you what to do.

3. SCIENCE FICTION DAY: This happens every January 2nd, because who doesn’t want to celebrate on the day when you have to go back to work but are still probably hung over? You can celebrate by locating a science fiction author on the boat and thanking them for their endless imagination, marveling at their boundless wit, complimenting them on their rugged handsomeness, and by sending money to their Venmo at [DELETED BY EDITORS]

4. FIRST OF MAY: The subject of a winsome song by a balladeer whose name is obscured by history, this day is celebrated by having a scone and a small house blend, having a little conversation with one’s squirrel and chipmunk friends, and listening intently to robins, perhaps with a tear in one’s eye. How delightful! There may be other activities associated with the day but they have been lost to time.

5. THE FEAST DAY OF SAINT ANASTASIA OF SIRMIUM: Which falls on December 25. Hell of a day to be double-booked. She’s the patron saint of pharmacists! Celebrate by remembering to take any meds you might require, which, really, is a good idea anyway.

Happy Holidays!

Holidays You MUST Try

What are the Most JoCo-themed Holidays?

In the Spirit of our first-ever Holidays Theme day, we suggest five JoCo appropriate holidays you may not know, — ALL OF WHICH ARE REAL HOLIDAYS OCCURING DURING THIS CRUISE —and how to celebrate them.

Near Miss Day - March 23

In March 1989, a 300-meter wide asteroid called 4581 Asclepius flew past the Earth by a distance of about 450,000 miles (684,000 kms). Whew! We suggest you almost do something dramatic today (but don’t).

World Cocktail Day - March 24

Proposed in 2014, this is a day to celebrate the diversity and creativity of cocktails. To celebrate…. I mean, gee, what could we possibly do.

Tolkien Reading Day - March 25.

Proposed by the Tolkien Society, this is a day to read some more Tolkien. This feels like a bit of a gimme on a JoCo cruise, tbh.

National Science Appreciation Day- March 26

Proposed to celebrate the day that the polio vaccine was announced in 1953, this is a day to celebrate the achievements of modern science. Consider taking special care of your health, or perhaps publishing a peer-reviewed study.

World Cheese Day - March 27

Initially proposed by (who else?) France in 2001, this has become a day to celebrate cheese in all its forms. Order a cheese plate to celebrate.

Can you think of any more JoCo friendly holidays? Let us know in the comments.

Event Spotlight: JoCo Community Archive Scrapbooking

Our dedicated reporter took part in the first-ever JoCo Community Archive Scrapbooking event on Sunday, March 22. This new project aims to preserve the memory, and, equally importantly, the vibes of JoCo Cruise, by inviting any and all cruisers to create a 12” x 12” page with their own unique design

If you’re new to scrapbooking, it’s pretty easy to pick up: each page is a collage of print images cut from magazines, stickers, stamps, and other art. It takes as much time as you want, and the only constraint (apart from the page size) is your own creativity. There are plenty of materials to borrow, and you can also bring your own (as long as they are 2-D, of course. No time crystals, please.)

Our dedicated reporter tried his hand at assembling a page that blended 1950s space age flair, whale evolution, and medieval manuscripts: a pretty standard mix. He also spilled glue on his shirt. Other attendees made pages of colorful tropical fish and stamped letters in varied colored inks.

According to JoCo Staff member Jeanne, who ran the event, the goal is to create a binder full of pages that reflect the individual experiences of Cruise guests, but also the spirit of each JoCo Cruise. At the end of the week, the pages will be digitized and made available as a .pdf, but each binder will also form an important new collection in the evolving JoCo Cruise Archive, and will be made available to future cruises.

If you’d like to make history (in a good way), you are invited to attend the next scrapbooking event, on Thursday May 6 at 12.30. However, you don’t have to wait that long! In the meantime, supplies may also be rented from the Onboard Booking table on Deck 1 in the Atrium.

Caption Contest Day 3

Winner: @davecort Ok, so I blew the popsicle stand. Now what?

Runner Up: @BabuFriky When the deserted island is also a desserted island

Runner Up: @jojobeans "Live fast, die young, and leave a beautiful popsicle stick."

Runner Up: @jennw “Who’s going to split me?”

Important Loreto Logistics

Getting To And From Loreto

• We’ll use the same tendering process in Loreto (Day 4) as in Cabo (Day 3).
• We’ll use the Nieuw Amsterdam’s own tender boats tomorrow and the ship can only load 2 boats at a time.
• If you plan to go to Loreto at peak times (around noon and around the start of each concert) please allow for extra time. Perhaps plan to arrive on land early.
• There is a 0.4mi walk from the tender pier to the town square (concert location). It will be well-marked with signage.
• An accessibility shuttle (golf-cart) is available for people with mobility issues. We have limited capacity with the shuttle, so please help us prioritize its use for people with mobility issues.
• Expect lines for return tenders after each concert.

Mexico Vaping Law

• Mexico has passed a law that makes possession and use of vapes illegal. Please don’t bring them off the ship. Neither JoCo Cruise nor Holland America can help you if you break the law in Mexico.

For Your Comfort

• ⁠Take your sunscreen, hats, and layered clothing. It will probably get chilly after dark!

Concert Accessibility

• There will be chairs along the perimeter and rear of the square, while the area in front of the stage will be "standing only."
• There will also be an accessible seating area near the main sound booth in the middle of the square.
• Assisted listening headphones will be available next to the sound booth as well.

Day 2 JoConnections Answers

LIDO	MAIN	CABO SAN LUCAS	QUASAR
TUNING	VENICE	ROTTERDAM	SAN DIEGO
DEEP	SANDWICH	SWAN-ROAD	BRINE
LORETO	MURANO	JACUZZI	CHIOGGIA

VENICE, CHIOGGIA, LIDO, MURANO: Islands in the Venetian Lagoon

MAIN, DEEP, BRINE, SWAN-ROAD: "Well-known" synonyms for the sea

JACUZZI, LORETO, CABO SAN LUCAS, SAN DIEGO: Places you shouldn’t leave your passport

ROTTERDAM, SANDWICH, QUASAR, TUNING:  Words Paul was thinking about this morning

Book Review: Neptune's Fortune (Jess)

[Community Submission]

Last year I embarked on my first JoCo Cruise. I was eager and in search of adventure (and grog, or suitable substitutes). I’m a voracious reader, so I of course packed many books. One of them was Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst, about newlyweds stranded in the Pacific for 118 days after a whale encounter of Melvillean proportions sank their sailboat. I devoured it in a sitting or two, and then cornered anyone within range to recount its many disasters.

There’s something particularly unsettling about reading a survival-at-sea story while surrounded by nothing but open ocean. Inspired (and perhaps lightly pickled), I decided to make it a tradition: one shipwreck book per cruise, paired with a vitamin C-rich beverage to ward off both scurvy and irony.

This year’s book pick is Neptune’s Fortune: The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire by Julian Sancton. It tells the story of the San José, a Spanish galleon sunk in 1708 during a British ambush off Cartagena, loaded with gold, silver, emeralds, and other stolen goods from Central America now estimated to be worth billions. British accounts from the incident of its sinking claim it spontaneously exploded before quickly disappearing beneath the waves. Considered a “holy grail” of wrecks, its location has long been unknown.

While the shipwreck on its own makes for a compelling story, the real treasure is Roger Dooley, the Cuban American marine archaeologist who dedicated his life to finding the San José. From working for a Castro-backed salvage company to pouring over archival materials in Seville, Dooley is a character so improbable he has to be real. His obsession carries the book.

If you’re not ready to leave the high seas when we dock, I highly recommend you check out Neptune’s Fortune. I’m already looking forward to next year’s shipwreck (book), so in the meantime I’d love to hear about your favorites in the comments.