Today begins the start of a seven day crossing of the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. And it was not exactly like we thought it would be. The Indian Ocean conjures up thoughts of hot and steamy weather. But today, we found that our veranda thermometer was not even at 70 degrees. The winds and waves had picked up over night, and we were greeted with rocking and rolling along with gale force winds. Yesterday we could tell there may be some rough seas when Captain Friso gave his pm talk before leaving Fremantle. Now that we are sailing in open waters, we expect things to get even rougher. And this is just day one…..
It appears that we have lost the Culinary operations Manager, Stephen. The story has it that he received a yellow fever vaccination, and had an allergic reaction to it. So far, he has not been replaced, but a decision has to be done soon. He left the ship in Fremantle and headed home from what we understand. For some unknown reason, we have been running low on several popular items such as assorted fresh berries and even Greek yogurt. Fresh produce seems to be stretched in some instances, and we are sure there is a list of things missing. Could be shortages when it is delivered, or the ordering has been cutting it too close.
Our day was another lazy one with a couple of exciting walks on the promenade deck. In the afternoon around 5pm, we crossed the bow of the promenade deck and actually levitated off of the deck. The pitch was that extreme, and the listing just as bad. No wonder there were no walkers at all, but us. The mist was picking up off of the waves and washing across the starboard deck. It was soaked, as well as our clothes and hair. By the time we finished our hike, we felt salty. Even the teak decks showed piles of salt. Bet there will a lot of hosing if this keeps up for several days. So far, things have not gotten bad enough to close the deck to walkers, but that could change at anytime.
We noticed a new activity that popped up on the Daily Program. Ww saw this on the Tales of the South Pacific last fall. It is a painting class for $25 where the class is taught to use acrylic art on canvas. The class time is only 90 minutes…barely enough time to learn to clean brushes properly. This session was held in what is the Library now, so it had to be moved to the Art Studio deck 10.
We took the time to give our personal crew members a thank you by going on the Navigator site on the computer. We are referring to our room attendants, dining room waiters, and room service staff. Our comments go a long way for these fellows, and they instantly thanked us after they were informed.
Dinnertime found that we had company. A mutual friend, Rich, joined us , since his wife is still in quarantine due to Covid. He recently got released, actually today, after an 8 day lock-up. Since she is confined to their suite, he will continue to stay in his lock-up room, even though he is free to go about the ship. For the first time on this trip Bill and Heo ordered a cod dish that was horrible….full of bones and scales and tough. Yuck. They did let our waiter know, as well as the assistant dining room manager. Not sure what it means, but the head waiter took both room numbers. And that's why I love spaghetti entrees. No bones, no smell, no scales, etc.
Oh well, desserts were OK, although the fruit plates had no watermelon or pineapple. Even after our large delivery yesterday. Shorted again?
During the conversation at dinnertime, it came to our attention that on Mardi Gras night, only the first dinner seating guests got the assorted beads. When we arrived at 7:30pm, there were no necklaces to be seen, at least on deck three. We had promised to save some for Susie's projects, but came up empty. First time ever to run out of those fun things. Also…….no eye masks or silly hats.
The entertainment in the World Stage was the Dance Band's jazzed up Beatles.
And as we are sailing in a westerly direction, the clocks went back another hour last night. We expect there will be a few more before we get to our next port. And although nothing has been said yet, but we think there may be internet problems. If you do not hear from us, you will know why.
Bill & Mary Ann
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