After stops in Auckland and Bay of Islands this is our second sea day as we head to Australia.
In Auckland I only got off the ship to bring visitors on board. One was Kyle Kincaid, who was in the Peace Corps in Samoa a year ahead of me. He flew from Chicago just to see me then headed off to Samoa for a quick visit. He's a flight attendant so the flight was free but that's a couple of very long flights. I appreciated the effort and the hugs.
Ally Miller was in the Peace Corps in Samoa the year after me. She married a Samoan guy named Rob and they now live just outside Auckland. They left their two little girls at home and came onboard for dinner after work. So grateful they came out on a week night to visit.
None of them had been on a cruise ship before and it was fun to see their reactions. Helps me realize how very lucky I am to be having this experience.
We tendered in Bay of Islands. It's a beautiful place but it was raining hard in the morning and since I've been there twice I stayed on the ship.
The big news is about the corona virus. They'd previously announced we were changing our itinerary because of the virus and other security issues. Singapore, Indonesia, Maldives and Kenya are out and instead the plan was to add another port in Sri Lanka and spend three days in Mumbai, India. That didn't sit well with many passengers. Lots of grumbling and yelling at the staff in Guest Services, who have no control over any of this.
Yesterday the Captain announced that because of both the changing dynamics of the spread of the virus and input from passengers they'd changed the itinerary again. Now we're skipping Sri Lanka and India and instead will spend two weeks in Australia then head to Africa. He warned that as the situation changes, the itinerary may change again.
I can't imagine the overtime HAL staff is putting in both on the ship and at headquarters in Seattle. There are a lot of moving parts that need to be considered for any changes.
Last night was the Captain's Gala Dinner. It used to be held for small groups in a private dining room. Now, because there are so many passengers doing the entire world cruise they just had two seatings in the dining room, as on any gala night. I opted not to go for a variety of reasons, including not wanting to get dressed up, the roughness of the seas and not being excited about the menu. I ended up skipping dinner and just having the dessert which was available in the in the Lido.
I talked to a couple this morning who went to the dinner and they said it was lovely. Large floral center pieces, crew in formal attire, and lots of free wine. They also said the food was great. Sorry I missed it but at 7:30 when I was scheduled to dine, I was in my jammies in my cabin with an ice bag on my knee. It doesn't hurt much but is still swollen and bruised from the fall in Tahiti. I walked about five miles while showing guests around the ship the other day and it was really sore the following day so I'm trying to take it a bit easier.
Sadly, there was another announcement this morning calling for medical staff to respond to an emergency on deck seven, which is the deck with the most expensive cabins. There have been several announcements like this. Not surprising when the average passenger age is late 70's. One of my guests commented that I looked like a youngster compared to my fellow passengers.
I'm still loving being on the ship. I miss friends, driving and even am starting to miss cooking. Please remind me of that when I get home and start bitching about not having people serve me a huge variety of food.
And now, some photos. Been trying to load photos but the internet is too slow. Will try again later or worst case, will post them in Sydney.
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