At Sea

I was pottering around the cabin this morning while Brian was at the gym and heard the announcement that the fire response team were to go to the Commodore Club pantry. I had visions of my beloved Commodore Club going up in smoke, so tuned the TV to the bridge cam so I could hear all of the information. The Commodore updated us that there was smoke in the Commodore Club pantry, but it was being investigated and that passengers did not need to do anything. Not do anything? OMG if they needed me I would be there to personally put out the fire. Later the Commodore reassured us that there had been an issue with an air conditioner which set off the alarm, but it was all taken care of now, and there was nothing to worry about. Phew! My Commodore Club was safe.

Safe maybe, but hot. I don’t know if it is a coincidence, but when we went there to have a Coke and use our computers before heading to the pool it was certainly very airless and warm. But it was there. I was able to sit by the window and gaze out over the calm blue waters as we head further north. Armed with my newfound knowledge of how to “read the waves’ it was a pity that it was so calm – not a decent wave in sight. Just flat incredibly blue ocean as far as the eye can see. However, it was so very beautiful, I could have gazed out of the windows all day, it is mesmerizing.

They had an end of line clothing clearance sale in ConneXions 2 this afternoon. People were queuing up to get in, and once inside it was a free for all, with angry pushing and shoving going on. There may have been some great bargains, but it was impossible to tell amidst the melee. Brian did find a nice T-shirt. I had been hoping for baseball caps for our float the boat team, but it was impossible to see if there were any there. If this is what goes on over $5 T-shirts I really hope we don’t have to fight our way into the life boats, some people are very determined to get to where they want to be despite the obstacles in front of them.

Today’s talks continued to be very interesting and topical. Denny Whitford spoke on Tropical Cyclones, and John Brinkley spoke on a favourite topic of mine, “Hawaii – Hot Stuff”, about the Hawaiian volcanoes. I could do this cruise for the educational value alone.

The boat building supplies continue to accumulate in our cabin. I received a letter today saying something about part of the float your boat competition being a race. I hastily wrote back to the entertainment department that our boat will be built for safety and not for speed, just like Samuel Cunard wanted, and what was this nonsense about it having to race? It will be classy and elegant, but I can’t see it winning any races. I hope the race bit was a mistake. If not, we will have to have major design changes, and I will need to scrounge more stuff from around the ship. I am not sure where we will be able to store it all.

We decided to use our Diamond vouchers tonight and go for dinner at the Speciality Dining Restaurant, Bamboo. The food and service were excellent. We have enjoyed our dinners at the Speciality Restaurants this cruise, although we do need to try the Verandah one day.

After dinner we went down to the Golden Lion to participate in the quiz. If I had agreed with Brian on one question we would have had an outright win, but 3 of us ended up with the same score. Tiebreaker time again. We won the tiebreaker, and yet another bottle of Contessa sparkling wine. As I still have ample VC left for the final 2 weeks of the journey we are not sure what to do with this one. Maybe consume it at tomorrow’s sail away from Samoa.

We decided to give the show a miss, and go back to the cabin to prepare for our beach day in Samoa. The weather forecast is for showers, but we won’t let that stop us. We will take the beaches no matter what the weather conditions. I want sand.

At his noon announcement the Commodore spoke about the terror attack in London, and reassured us that the ship takes precautions against terrorist activity both on the ship, and in our ports of call. It seems so incongruous that we are here safe and sound in the middle of the peaceful ocean, far, far away from all of the troubles back on land.

When I am in London I always stop by to say hi to the statue of Queen Boadicea near Westminster. I was obsessed with Boadicea when I was in high school. Although things didn’t work out so well for her in the end, she was one gutsy woman. In 2012 we watched the Thames Jubilee Parade from a barge not far from Westminster Bridge. This is a part of London that holds such great memories for me. It is hard to comprehend what happened there today. My heart goes out to all of those whose lives are forever changed.