Today should have been named “ Scenic Cruising the Strait of Bonafacio”, the passage between the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, since that is where the Amsterdam was taken around 10am today. More about that soon, but first, here’s the latest news with the “leaking cabin”.
After the second night in a different cabin, we checked to see if there was any progress made in our room first thing in the morning. Nope, both the drying units were still running, and no workers were anywhere in sight. But it was early, so we went off for breakfast, followed by a walk outside. Gan surprised us with giant blueberries for our yogurt starter we have every day. Since we were already approaching the strait between the islands around 10am, we went up to deck six forward, and stayed for an hour watching the strait sailing. It was quite scenic with Corsica on the north side and Sardinia on the south end. A few vessels were there too, like row boats for fishing, small and large sailboats, to a couple of sleek cabin cruisers and large cargo ships. It was cool in the shade, but perfect in the sun, while it lasted. Taking photos for an hour, we went back inside when the sun was behind the stacks.
Thinking that the work should be done by now, we were even more surprised to find our room really turned upside down. Now the bed had been taken apart, and the mattresses had been laid up against the wall. Everything we had hanging was covered with sheets, including the bed, the desk, and the couch. The windowsill had been cleared of everything. Where were our potted plants? And the curtains? A good thing….the plants were all in the tub, and the curtains were gone. So we went immediately to Shiv, the executive housekeeper, and said, “What’s going on?” He had no idea what was taking place.
So he phoned the departments involved, and with his assistant, and Christel, who appeared, we all went to our room in an attempt to solve the mystery. The carpenter was taking off the wall enclosure surrounding the window to check for leaks there. If he found nothing, the ceiling might have been next. But we knew the only leak was from the bathroom, and after satisfying themselves that nothing was in the walls, they agreed there were no wall leaks coming from gutters that have a drainpipe in the walls. Shiv told the plumber to change the suspected valve stem behind the toilet button, since it had not been done two days ago, by their own admittance. OK, hopefully this job will be wrapped up this afternoon.
The best place for us was to meet Barb in the dining room for lunch and have a good laugh over the recent events. Barb and the guys had kidded us last night at dinner that we might be flooded out again. How did they know??? Since we still had photos to work with, we went back to room #2, and finished our reports and photos. Sometime after 4pm, our room had been restored to its original order, more or less. So we moved back in and thanked the nice room steward up the hall for his help for two days.
Around 6pm, there was a knock on the door, and here was the plumber asking if he could come in and replace the part in the bathroom wall. Good grief….that should have been the first thing done. And here we thought this had been replaced this afternoon. Lucky for all of us, it did not leak for the third time. Even knowing that this part was new, we still plan on watching for leaks. Every day and every night.
Going up to the atrium to listen to the Ocean Bar Band, we had visitors…..Henk, Christel, and Shiv…all checking to see if we were still staying dry. We were most happy to report all was well and thanked them for their intervention.
So at dinner, we sure got a lot of razzing from our buddies. Greg and Heo said they would be anxious for days, worrying if the leak would appear again. We had been having a discussion about the two little dogs that are onboard as service dogs. That’s when we had the brainstorm that due to extreme flooding anxieties, we might qualify to have a toilet-watcher dog, who would stand guard for sudden leaks, then give us a warning. They all thought that was a great idea. Of course, this was all in good joking, since we do think the service dogs are a wonderful breed and perform such a most needed job for those who need it. Greg suggested that our stories were like following an episode of Faulty Towers, a hilarious British TV show several years.
Today we were due for our President’s Club amenities of flowers and sodas. The flowers were recently shipped to Naples, and were really pretty. We were lucky. Recently talking to Calista, part of the florist team, she said the entire flower order had missed the ship in Aqaba, and had to be re-directed to Naples. By the time they received the boxes after it was held for another 8 hours by the Italian custom’s officials in Naples, much of the quality of the flowers was ruined…..past their lifespan, she said. So now, they will have to replace even more in Barcelona, along with a whole lot of other missing food items and supplies.
We skipped the show of Duo Yalba, the multi-instrumentalists, since we were truly worried about finding our carpet flooded again. So when we went back, all was well. The goodnight card we got a few days ago said “Life is a journey, make the most of it.” Unknown author. Guess this bathroom leak was one of life’s journeys we can live without.
Tomorrow we will be in Barcelona, the first of two stops in Spain. Looking forward to it. And tomorrow will be the end and start of another segment of the world cruise. We were informed that 72 guests were getting off, and 68 new ones were boarding. And during this sailing from Mumbai to Barcelona, we all consumed almost 39,000 eggs. Incredible.
Bill & Mary Ann
Friday, April 19, 2019
Report #89 Day at Sea April 17, 2019 Wednesday Partly sunny & 69 degrees
