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.
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| 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.
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| The station where room service trays are assembled. |
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| The route the waiters take to get from the dining room to the galley. |
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| 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 2nd
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
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| 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…
