Partly sunny and 71 degrees….we think not. These forecasts must be written without anyone actually looking outside or opening a door to feel how cold it might really be. Try no sun, but very cloudy, occasional showers, and temperatures in the high 50’s. If you add the wind factor, the temps were downright chilling. And for this time of the year, it is to be expected.
Sometime last night, the internet connection had been restored to almost normal. The computer expert in our room woke up at 5am, and found that the system was working, and it was even fast. Hopefully this will last. Later this morning, we had a little chat with Henk M, our hotel director, and mentioned that it would be most helpful if we had the ability to know the amount of megabytes we are using at any given time. When we were on the by-the-minute plan, this helpful info was available. It is not the same with the new system. You would expect 300 or 500 megabytes to last all day, but depending on what you are doing, it is easy to exceed your allowance. So far as we know, no one has been charged extra. Now the digital communications manager can access everyone’s account and tell you exactly how many megabytes you have used, but the customer cannot see that. “We are working on that” is a promising reply, and we certainly hope that means sometime in our lifetime. For those guests that bought the 113 day Premium package for $799 (some couples bought a package for each of them), were extremely unhappy yesterday with the lack of service for the last three days, as well as many other previous problems. Can’t blame them, since that’s is a lot of money to spend. Perhaps the smart folks did not purchase anything through the ship, and decided to wait and use wifi onshore. So many more cafes and restaurants offer it for free these days, that they get by just fine.
The lectures were full of people who stayed inside to keep warm and dry today. Ian gave a talk all about things to do and see in Naples. We are all keeping our fingers crossed for a rain-free day, since the trips to the Amalfi Coast and the island of Capri can be outstanding on a sunny day. We have done both, but during the summer months when the weather is warmer.
A more serious lecture was all about the story of Pompeii and Herculaneum, both cities in ruins after the volcano erupted centuries ago. But the best story has to be the history of pizza….right up our alley. We will catch that on TV later today. One of us has made all types of pizza from scratch over the years, and both of us love to eat it. A win-win.
We met Barb for a dining room lunch today for a change. Sometimes the lunch menu is even better than the dinner selections. And we like the fact that the serving portions are smaller. We intended to have a hot soup, but the appetizer salad and Greek meatballs also sounded good. Two of us ordered the sweet and sour pork, small portions. Really good.
Then……what a surprise we had when we returned to our room, and found that water from the commode had flooded the bathroom floor and was pouring out into the room. That must have been flooding for over 45 minutes. Although we were able to shut off the water and wick up the bathroom water with all of our towels, the carpet was soaked halfway into the room….and perhaps more that we could not see.
Immediately, we called the front desk, and a room steward on duty came with more towels, then reported the problem to the plumbing department. With a little more clean-up, the mess should be cleaned up. Well, not exactly….
By 5pm, we began seeing land as we neared the southern part of Italy, and there was a good chance we would be able to see Sicily on the left, and the mainland of Italy on the right. Sure enough, it was there, and by now, the clouds had mostly blown away and the sun was actually out. So we have to take it back….there was some sun today after all. But it soooo cold and extremely windy, that we went back and got the arctic jackets and gloves before going back to deck three.
We joined the handful of brave folks, including Susie and Eddie, who came out to enjoy the view as well as take tons of photos. At least we would have the sunlight for the best exposures. There was a glitch however, when the deck crew came outside with buckets and the big scrubber to wash the teak decks around 6pm. All of us stayed until the hoses came out, and we had no choice but to leave. A few people were really upset that with scenic cruising, the decks would have to be hosed tonight.
The Sicilian pilot was due to board, although we never saw the boat arrive. We went up to deck six forward, and almost blew off of the deck, but stayed long enough to see the narrowest point between Sicily and Italy. Then we had to leave. At 7pm, we had an invitation to an exclusive cocktail party in the Officer’s Bar on deck A. And it was just for the President’s Club members only. Many of the ship’s officers and staff members joined us. The Captain’s wife, Karen, arrived without her husband, saying he was busy taking the ship through the strait. So she was not sure he would be able to attend this gathering. But most of the officers we knew such as Shiv, Christel, and Philip joined our table for much of the time. During our talk with Christel, we mentioned our “flood”, and she immediately phoned the proper department to have them follow up on the clean-up. Little did we know what that would involve, but we figured the room did need further inspection.
Eventually Jonathon did come to the party, and after making a quick circle around each table, he came and sat with the four of us…..Barb, Karleen, and the two of us. Barb has gotten to know both the Captain and Karen, and also Hazel, so much better this year, since they spend some quality time together in the Crow’s Nest before or after dinnertime. The subject of retirement came up during the conversation, and the Captain shared his feelings about some of the things he will be doing for the last time as Captain now. Sailing through the two canals – the Panama and Suez, are among the last ones he will do, as next year, we will head down the east coast of South America, then sail to Africa. No canals. The Mercers have a bucket list like most couples have. And since he cannot travel any more than two hours away from the ship now on any given sailing, the major sights are off limits to them. Two such destinations for them might be Machu Picchu and a safari in South Africa for starters. Taking a cruise? Maybe not.
The party ended after 8pm, and with all of the tasty appetizers and drinks, we really did not need much for dinner. But before we headed to the table, we wanted to check to see if anything had been done in our room. Looking down the hallway, we could see many workers with equipment ready to go into our room, so we left, figuring it would be done by 10pm. Well, not exactly.
Tonight was a gala evening with Viva Italia as the theme. Our favorite Italian specialties were promised, except no meatballs and spaghetti unfortunately. Arriving a bit late, we found that we had a guest host, Mark, an officer from the engineering department. He was most friendly, and we did remember he had joined us two years ago at a similar dinner. A native from Scotland, he talked about his wife, who he met on a ship several years ago, and his two year old son. They will visit him when we reach the port in Scotland in a few weeks from now. And of course, you could hear the excitement in his voice.
The most Italian dish we had was a bowl of Roma tomato soup and the dessert of limoncello soufflé. Surf and turf and chicken Caesar salad were the regular fare, although maybe “Caesar” salad could be considered Italian? We all stayed until 10pm, despite the fact that the entire lower level of the dining room had cleared out. Mark seemed to have enjoyed his dinnertime as we all did.
Captain Jonathon had mentioned that we should be passing Stromboli around 10pm. So we stopped on deck three to see the volcano, and by golly, it was there. Even in the darkness of night, we were able to see the lights of the shoreline and the peak of the volcano. No activity tonight however.
Now the fun? started, when we went back to our room, which was literally turned upside down. The couch had been pulled from the wall, and everything that had been on the floor was now on the bed and couch. Pieces of wood were under the bed and the couch because we think the room had been shampooed and suctioned. Then they added a very large heater with a blower along with a dehumidifier running full speed with a tube leading into the drain in the bathroom floor. The heat was turned on high. No way could we spend the night in our own bed, let alone even access it.
Oh yes, we had gifts tonight. Under the pile of suitcases and life jackets on the bed, we discovered two pouches with grey neck scarves, matching mittens, and caps with the 2019 world cruise logo embroidered on them. Now that we are headed towards a colder climate soon, we did expect to see these useful items pop up as gifts.
A note had been left outside saying that a room nearby had been reserved for us for one night. Going to the front desk, we were given keys for an outside cabin mid ship, right up the hallway. We packed a few things, changed out of our formalwear, and dressed for tomorrow. Now we hope that by tomorrow morning, we will be able to get back into the cleaned room, depending on what is needed to fix the bathroom. There was a reference to floor damage. And apparently, it must have leaked into the cabin next door to us, since there was a dehumidifier in that room too.
So here we are, in a strange room that is flip-flopped in design. At least there was a vacant room for us to use, but we suspect this is where they house the visiting entertainers. And guess what? This room had a new flat screen TV, which we did not know existed on this floor.
There was a performance by the dancers and singers called Amour, an upbeat, fun, and entertaining show for sure. Too bad we missed it.
Oh well, we are looking forward to exploring Naples tomorrow and finding the best pizza ever…….
Bill & Mary Ann
