It sure was not going to be a pool day, as we began the crossing of the Tasman Sea last night. Just as the Captain mentioned, we began the rolling with the deep swells, a residual affect from a storm very far away. But with the reputation of the Tasman Sea, we would be disappointed not to have some rough sailing. Back in 2000, we made this very same crossing on another cruise line. The winds were so ferocious that a canvas cover of an outdoor patio on the aft deck was ripped to shreds. Anyway, we knew it could have been much worse, since every single lounge on deck three had been removed and lashed to the railings. Even the private ones belonging to the lanai cabins. All of the chaise lounges at the pool had been stacked and lashed under the overhangs on deck eight. They can never be too safe.
Since we had a lot of catching up to do on the computer, we spent some of the morning in our room. Before we knew it, Captain Mercer was delivering his PM talk. It was his usual info, but then he mentioned he would be back with an important message after Hamish did his talk. We sort of guessed what was next…..more cancellations of upcoming ports, and we were correct. Blaming it on travel restrictions and port operations, the following calls to Sri Lanka and India were cancelled. We already knew that Sri Lanka issued a health advisory, because our travel agent informed us yesterday afternoon. Even if the ship was allowed to dock for services, no one would be let off. Even that got cancelled. Two problems happened with India. One was an unsurmountable issue with obtaining visas for those who did not have them. The other reason could be that the coronavirus is there as well., although not advertised.
So we are still good with Australia, thank goodness, and the scheduled ports of Sydney, Townsville, Cairns, and Darwin will remain the same. After Darwin, we will head for Broome, Exmouth, Geraldton, and two days in Freemantle (Perth), all in Western Australia. Then we will have a 7 day at sea sailing to reach Reunion on April 2nd. The rest of the trip will remain the same, unless, things change again. The end of the segment will be in Freemantle instead of Colombo, for those few segment folks. And we assume the crew members that are due to go home, will leave from there also.
And with all of this news, we can firmly say that this has been the craziest world cruise ever. And with that said, we can be thankful we are still free of the dreaded virus, and hope that continues. Every day there seems to be a new cruise ship with cases of the virus. Today the Grand Princess revealed a few possible cases of the virus with guests that just got back from a short Mexico trip. Of all places, the ship was denied docking in our hometown of San Francisco. Currently, we heard the ship is out at sea, waiting it out.
The Captain's Gala Dinner was held in the dining room this evening. For the first time since 2008, there were two fixed seatings for the guests that chose to attend. The first seating was at 5:15pm, earlier than usual. Curious to see the folks going to the dining room, we hung out at the Ocean Bar, while listening to the tunes of Diane Slagle playing the piano. She also sings, and we found her performance a nice change from the four person band. There were few people there, but perhaps that was due to the rolling seas, making dancing difficult. By the way the Ocean Quartet was playing in the orchestra pit in the upper dining room at both dinner seatings.
The only alternate restaurant opened was the Lido, but that closed at 8pm. Only one side of that restaurant was opened this evening. Apparently, half of their staff was needed for the main dining room.
Our time slot was at 7:30pm, and our entire table was intact, meaning that none of us got moved to a different table. But there was a huge problem when we tried to get out of the elevator on deck four outside the lower dining room. The lobby was jammed full of waiting guests to enter the room. We had to wait 15 minutes for the remainder of the early diners to clear the room. The longer that took, the more backed up the guests got. No one was getting out of any elevator, and with the rolling of the ship, we thought some folks would keel over. Barb found us, and we went in together, eventually to be joined by Woody. No Susie , Greg and Heo. They were trying to get in on deck five, but they kept the doors closed even longer up there.
We did have an officer as our host, Harry Drabbe, the Chief Engineer. He greeted us as we were seated, then we invited him to sit with us, as we did not know when the other three were coming. By 8pm, we were all present and accounted for. Greg remarked that most everyone was dressed to the nines for this special occasion, much like what they would see on a Cunard sailing. Much more formal there.
At each place setting, we had a trio of amuses. They consisted of tiny servings with cucumber, mousse, crab, and a mystery mojito grape-look alike clump. Still not sure what was in the gelatin clump…some kind of alcohol? A drink of a pear-infused vodka topped off with a splash of sparkling wine was at each person place setting. We are not fond of vodka, so we donated ours to Greg and Heo. And since we did not drink the wine, Edmond, the beverage manager, automatically brought us cocktails of Jack Daniels and one rum and Coke. That was so nice of him. Of course with that, two of our tablemates also asked for a cocktail as well. It helps to be President's Club members, as this was not questioned at all.
Starters were tiger prawns or a very small beet salad. Individual French bread baguettes were served on the side. They were the best. A soup of edamame and pea was served to those who ordered it, then the mains followed. There were three choices….one was a fish plate, the second was the lamb plate, and the third a vegetarian choice. Everyone by us ordered the fish. We can say the lamb was good, although the cuts were unusual. Desserts were a choice of a meringue custard and something else, we cannot recall. If that was not sweet enough, they followed up with trays of chocolate gormandizes, like we used to get every formal night many years ago. Red and white wines flowed throughout the dinner and well afterwards.
So we asked our waiters what held up the first dinner. Apparently, the dinner plates they used for the first seating came from the Pinnacle Grill, but the stainless steel covers did not fit. So therefore, every dinner had to brought in one at a time, as they could not be stacked. And for that reason, our entrees were served on the regular white plates with no hold-ups. Funny that glitch was not figured out ahead of time.
When the Captain greeted everyone from the orchestra pit, he sort of explained why this dinner was done this way instead of having smaller groups in the Pinnacle Grill. He said that to accommodate the full world cruisers, around 30 dinners had to be held. With just so many officers to host tables, the repetitive dinners were getting to be too much for them. And with the Pinnacle Grill tied up so many evenings, the chance for them to make money was gone. Now they were free to add more specialty evenings that attract more customers. Can't say we blame them.
So back at our room, we found two gifts. They were ceramics boxes, suitable for jewelry or small change on a dresser perhaps. Resembling a gift box with a blue ribbon, they are from Royal Goedewaagen, matching many other similar items we have at home. They will have to be packed very carefully to make it home in one piece.
We are counting on the seas to behave better, but so far, we are still rolling quite a bit. And the clocks went back one hour again.
Bill & Mary Ann
Thursday, March 5, 2020
Report #119 Day at Sea March 5, 2020 Thursday Mostly cloudy & 65 degrees
