At Sea

April 6^th, 2024

I finished unpacking and went to explore the ship in search of a lounge/bar with a convenient outlet so I could work and watch the world go by.

Alas Club Fusion didn’t have any really well placed outlets, so I decided to try Skywalkers.

We had given up on Skywalkers on the Sapphire because it was way too cold at all times, but Skywalkers on the Emerald was just the perfect temperature, and I found a convenient outlet.

I plugged in my computer and started to work.

Just as I was getting going I was informed by a woman in the lounge that there was to be a Cruise Critic meeting in Skywalkers and I would have to leave. The meeting wasn’t for another hour, but I thought it best not to argue, so I unplugged and found another corner of the room where I would not be in the way.

Actually the view from my new spot was rather good, but the lack of an outlet was a disadvantage.

Although I don’t think that Skywalkers on the Emerald is as nice as the one on Sapphire, it is still a lovely room, with great views.

The information on the Cruise Critic forum was that the number of attendees for the Cruise Critic meeting had been limited to 100, and I had forgotten to sign up for it, thus I was not one of the chosen 100. When the meet and greet did happen it was good to see that several officers were in attendance, and responded to questions about the ship and the cruise. The bar, which doesn’t usually open until 10:00 PM was also open specifically for the meeting, which I think was another nice touch. All in all it was much more organized than the usual Cruise Critic meetings.

After the meeting, when the crowds dispersed I thought it was safe to return to the place where there was an outlet. It was not safe. No sooner had I plugged in than a woman pointed out to me that I was not a member of her group and she had paid to have a private meeting in Skywalkers so I had to leave.

So much for getting any work done, it was definitely time to try out the buffet for lunch.

The buffet isn’t great, I would just grade it as OK. But it serves it’s purpose. There is only one dining room open for lunch, and there is usually a queue to get a table, so we make do with the buffet. However, there is also the grill where you can get a burger and fries, and a pizza place. I have found the latter to be very useful as they did make a rather tasty vegetarian pizza on Sapphire. I try not to just have fries for lunch, but sometimes it just happens. There are fries on my plate and it would be a waste not to eat them.

Although I certainly would not call the weather hot, it was very pleasant sitting by the aft pool out of the breeze and in the sun in the afternoon. We are all unpacked and settled in to our new home for the next 2 weeks. It was time to relax with a book near the pool.

At the end of the afternoon we tried to return to our cabin to change in to warmer clothes as we were hoping to go back on deck to watch a Starlink launch. The launch had been scheduled for yesterday, but had been cancelled. We had much clearer skies tonight, and we were farther south, so we were feeling good that if the launch happened we would get a good view.

Well, try as we may, we were unable to get our cabin door to unlock. It is meant to magically unlock as you get near to your cabin, thanks to the handy dandy medallions. Nothing we could do would make it unlock.

Brian said we should not blame the app or the medallions this time, he was sure the door needed a new battery.

We went to guest services, and noticed that they were setting up for the champagne waterfall. I think we will give it a miss today.

At guest services they checked our medallions and told us to try again. Brian told them he thought the lock needed a new battery.

We tried the door again, and not surprisingly the door still didn’t open. We went back to guest services and were told to wait until maintenance could come. We pointed out that we needed security to let us in to the cabin while we waited for maintenance to arrive on the scene.

Finally someone from security did arrive. His suggestion was that our room steward should enter the next door cabin, open up the opening between the 2 cabins, and then come in to our cabin and open our door. We pointed out that this would not work as we had locked the door on to our balcony.

Our room steward gave it a try any way, and needless to say failed to gain access to our cabin. He then brought me a chair from another cabin so I didn’t have to stand in the corridor while the issue of how to get into the cabin was discussed.

Nothing seemed to be happening, so I went and got us a gin and tonic and a glass of prosecco to pass the time.

Finally the security man went and got the master key so we could get into the cabin. And then the maintenance man arrived on the scene and diagnosed the problem as being a dead battery in the lock.

Problem solved. So now we could get in to the cabin and dress up warmly, and go to the back to the ship to see if the launch really was going to happen tonight.

When we got to the back of the ship we were surprised to see that there was a crowd other people also hoping to see the launch.

Somebody had the count down on his phone, so we counted down and looked over the wake to the north east. Was it really going to happen?

Suddenly a stream of light appeared in the distance. We were all so excited. I really hadn’t expected that we would see it.

We watched as the light grew bigger and brighter as it streaked across the sky towards us, with an ever expanding tail of bright light illuminating the dusk sky.

It was absolutely amazing.

We were all silent in awe as it passed over us, and went higher and higher, until it gradually faded from view.

Wow! That really was something. Everyone was so excited.

Now let’s hope the eclipse is going to be as amazing as this!