Saturday, February 8^th, 2020

At Sea

In Trouble on the Sea

Coronavirus. One could have thought that with all of the world’s concerns about Coronavirus there would be more talk about the virus on the ship.

After all, our itinerary has been affected by it already. Personally I have had to change Ruth and Brian’s air tickets – and we had to cancel a dinner date with a friend in Hong Kong. We were asked about recent travel and physical symptoms

On embarkation, and because Ruth had visited the Medical Center, we had to fill out a form covering the same issues before we could visit Sri Lanka.

But really no one on board is talking about it. The news is full of passengers trapped on cruise ships, being turned away from ports, and refused embarkation.

So far, so good. I feel really sorry for those passengers for whom the itinerary change has had significant impact. However, I think everyone is supportive of Cunard’s decision to make this change even before it was obvious that a stop In Hong Kong could have serious consequences.

I suppose it’s early days still, and our voyage may still be forever changed by the virus, but at the moment we keep calm and sail on.

The water around us is calm and a beep blue, the sun is shining. It’s another sea day on Cunard, and all is right in my small world.

I went to the Senior Officers’ Party. It is usually very annoying having to get dressed up at 11:15 in the morning, so we usually have lunch at noon in the Veranda after the party as we feel we should have an elegant sit down lunch once we are all looking so smart.

Today I could not do that – we have a brief rehearsal at 12:30 before the main event at 1:15. So I had to make do with the nibbles provided at the party for my lunch. I contemplated whether the glasses of champagne that I had imbibed would improve or detract from my ability to sing in tune. Only time and the audience will tell.

In his noon announcement the captain did mention the Coronavirus situation. So I was not the only person with this much on my mind.

He informed us that we were following all of the guidelines out there, and it should not impact our plans. Guidelines change in an instant, so I am not sure I was entirely reassured by his announcements, but the show must go on, and I headed down to G32 for our final rehearsal before our big show. I wished I had not drunk quite so much champagne. But it was free………….

The choir performance went well. We got a standing ovation, but that’s probably because everyone was standing already. Now the refrain of “those in trouble on the sea” is stuck in my head.

We decided to spend the afternoon at the Pavilion Pool – or the solarium as Ruth calls it. We found loungers that were in the shade of the funnel, and spent a fabulous afternoon reading, dozing and swimming. The life on the ocean wave is just the life for me. During my snooze I dreamt that a handsome waiter was bringing an ice-cold pina colada to me. And then as I awoke there was a handsome waiter bringing me a glass of ice-cold water. That worked just as well, and not as calorific.

We had not been to a quiz yet, so we decided to give one a try. We headed down to the Golden Lion pub and joined the serious crowd of quiz aficionados. Well, we only scored 10 out of 21, but we had a good time, and it did involve exercising our brains.

Next on our program was the Guest Talent Show. A lot of people had turned up to our choir performance, so I felt that I should support the talent on board. Well, it certainly wasn’t the Crew Talent Show, which never fails to impress me. However, there was a wonderful Swiss pianist who played one of his original compositions. He really was talented, and I enjoyed listening to him.

We stopped by the Tour Office to get some more details on our James Bond Island tour in Phuket tomorrow, and then it was time to get ready for the Cunard Ball tonight. And no, my invitation to dine with the Captain for dinner still has not turned up.

As we were making ourselves beautiful for the ball there was an announcement from the captain. Our stops at Phuket, Penang, and Kuala Lumpur have been cancelled and we are heading straight to Singapore. Disappointing, but safety first.

We had drinks in the Commodore Club before dinner, and the itinerary change was the main topic of conversation in the room. Now everyone was talking about it. Our feeling was that we should skip Asia altogether and head straight to Australia. This would be very disappointing for some, and potentially a logistical nightmare for others, but we were all very concerned that we might be refused entry to Australia and that would be awful.

However, in general it was a keep calm and carry on situation. Yet again everyone I

saw was dressed in their formal gear, and the ship looked lovely, and had quite a festive atmosphere.

There was a choice of chateau briande or lobster for our main course on the menu tonight, and several very tempting desserts. The itinerary change and its implications was the main topic of conversation at all of the tables around us. Our inconvenience is very small compared to many, and we all expressed our concerns for the impact of the coronavirus on the rest of the world.

During the evening I had tried to get on to the internet to cancel our Penang tour – but yet again it was down. This time the server was at fault. A small problem really but annoying!