Sea Day #4

Friday, April 20

My body must have needed extra sleep because I slept soundly for 10 hours…waking around 6 am as it started to get light. During the night I, and everyone else on the ship were awakened by an in-cabin announcement that there was a medical emergency in cabin 7003. The medical response team was summoned to get there ASAP. In my half-alert state, I thought my paramedic husband was going to jump up and run out the door…something that happens regularly at home.

At 7 am, Bob headed to the pickleball court and I went to the buffet. It was just opening as I arrived and I got a muffin and some coffee. As I was eating, I could hear the pickleball game happening on the deck above.

When I finished breakfast, I went up to the court on Deck 9 and found Bob and 4 others, attempting to play pickleball. The crew had hosed down the court earlier, but the water wasn’t draining. One of the guys was trying to squeegee the water in the the gutters on the side, but the drains must have been clogged. As soon as the ship would list slightly, the water would all run back onto the court. A losing battle…and not great playing conditions by any means.

A losing battle against the water.

Knowing the day was going to get much warmer, I put on my walking shoes and did a few laps around the ship. Off to one side I could see a couple of other ships and on the other were hazy mountains in the distant. (I had suspected we weren’t too far from land when I had seen a bird fly by our window earlier.) As I was walking there were about a half dozen birds that were flying alongside the ship, often swooping down to the surface of the water and then back up again.

For the first time on the cruise, I went to one of the computer classes…”Explore the Microsoft Store.” I didn’t really learn anything new, but I may take time to look at the apps available in more detail after I get home.

Bob and I met outside the lower level of the dining room for the galley tour at 10:30. It was interesting and not near as rushed as some kitchen tours we have been on in the past. We were given a detailed handout describing each area that we walked through.

The station where room service trays are assembled.

The route the waiters take to get from the dining room to the galley.

Mmmmm...pies!

We went directly from the galley tour to the main theater for a Q & A session and “virtual bridge tour” with the captain…in other words, a slideshow with photos of the bridge. Captain Smit had a dry, but great sense of humor and answered the questions in an informative yet witty manner. I found it interesting that someone asked about the birds I had seen earlier. From the captain’s explanation, the birds roost on the mast at the bow (making a big mess of the newly painted floor!) and are there to swoop down and grab the flying fish that are churned up as the ship glides through the water. He commented that today that besides the usual mess, they had also dropped three of the flying fish on the deck!

Several people asked questions concerning the medical emergency announcement that was made during the night and why it was broadcast into all passenger cabins. The captain explained that they could have summoned each of the response team members individually, but because of the urgent nature of the problem, they chose to quickly do one call that went out through the whole ship…something that he said would probably not happen in the future. Although we did not feel anything, we spoke to some passengers with cabins in the back of the ship who said they had felt extreme vibrations and they were sure the ship had come to a stop just moments before the announcement was made. Who knows. The captain was not at liberty to share what the emergency was so we will probably never know what happened.

The four of us met in the buffet and the guys all grabbed food from the Asian station…again. Each day the menu varies as to the region…Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, etc. but the selections are always good and it is a popular place.

Trivia is not something Bob or I are good at, but Danny loves to participate and we have gotten into the habit of attending the 1:00 afternoon session with him. The teams are limited to only 6 players so I usually volunteer to just watch. The guys have been joining forces with some of the Australians and also a guy from Portland, OR who has a degree in music history which makes him a valuable asset. There was no win today. A couple of other teams did better, with one team getting a perfect score.

One side mention from the trivia contest…there was a guy onboard with a standard size black poodle that is some sort of a service dog. Well, the guy was at trivia in the Crow’s Nest and after he sat down the dog sort of wandered over to our group and made the rounds enjoying the attention and petting.

Bob and I parted ways for the afternoon. He spent time walking and then attended the movie “The Commander.” I changed and swam for awhile in the aft pool and then worked a sudoku puzzle that is available each day. The skies were overcast all day which made the outside temps more comfortable.

I worked at backing up some of my photos as I was getting ready for dinner…our 2^nd gala night. At dinner, the menu featured a favorite…surf and turf, but the highlight was the sunchoke soup. The menu said it contained chipotle powder, roasted pumpkin seeds, and chive oil and it was delicious. We asked our waiter, Yazzir, if it would be on any future menus and he said all we had to do was give him one day’s notice and he could have it prepared special for us!

 

 MAIN

Surf & Turf

The evening entertainment was an encore performance from the singing group VOXX, but we opted to end the evening early and not attend. Back in the cabin, Bob watched a little of his latest DVD (King Kong) and we gathered up our stuff for our tour in Costa Rica the next day.

Five port days in a row coming up…