It was wonderful to have a day at sea. Even being late to breakfast did not matter, since we were the first ones there. To be fair, there was another Sunday Brunch at 11am, and many guests will attend that instead. Barb, Susie, and Woody were the only ones to sign up at our table last night, as Greg and Heo seem to be tiring of the same offerings. As it turned out, Susie and Woody were no-shows, and Barb was mad. She recovered quickly when she found some other friends who invited her to join their table.
We worked on photos, while one of us was keeping up with daily reports. Obviously, this will be repeated from here on out. It keeps us busy with something we love to do, much the same as knitting and crocheting occupies many ladies time (some men also). We took a couple of walks to get some exercise, and dined in room, keeping it light. We have noticed that the further north we go, the warmer the temperature has gotten. We are even seeing flying fish again, so that means the waters are warming up as well.
Ian and Nyron had questions and answers on the upcoming ports, while the guest speaker spoke on rebranding Africa. Team trivia is going strong at 1pm on sea days. On the Amsterdam, we often took the outside chairs to listen to the trivia game being played. It was fun trying to come up with some answers. We also enjoyed the dance time in the Ocean Bar before early dinner seating. It was a much more social setting where we ran into more folks we knew. We miss that here.
Anyway, dinner was different. Our entire table had been invited to a special Pinnacle Grill meal with Martha and Bob to celebrate Bob's first circumnavigation of the world. Previous years, Martha often did these trips alone or with her daughter Hannah. Bob would join a segment or two quite often. Now that he is retired, he can do the full voyage, and seems to be enjoying every minute of it. However, that was not so tonight, as he was under the weather, and Martha said he may not make it to dinner. As it turned out, neither of them were present. Wish they would have told us, we all could have taken a raincheck. Greg and Heo were missing….they had come down with a mystery illness suddenly and cancelled. So there were six of us…..which included Cecile, a friend of Barb's that we all knew. Now we were concerned about the source of this illness. Our guess was a gastrointestinal outbreak, God-forbid, which has taken down many people we know.
Although nothing was mentioned, the method of serving dinner tonight was changed to serving each of us – nothing was commonly shared such as the bread or salt and pepper shakers. We knew this had happened shipwide, and it spoke volumes to us. This was definitely a virus that has infiltrated the ship's population. We expected a letter delivered to our rooms tonight explaining what happened and what we can do about it.
Anyway, we had one wedge salad, but the dressing was not the same. No one mentioned it though. One of us had the shrimp cocktail, followed by a tenderloin steak, half-baked potato, and onion rings. The other main was halibut, cooked perfectly and tasty. Wines flowed for half of our group. Desserts were five crème brulees and one slice of Key lime pie. Thanks to Bob and Martha for such a nice evening, it was too bad they could not have been here.
Looking forward to another day at sea. And by the way, we did indeed have a health advisory letter waiting for us when we returned to our room. It was strongly suggested that this was a type of Norovirus, and the crew was into super-sanitizing mode. Of course, we need to do our part with frequent handwashing and personal hygiene used wisely. Now we know our friends will be quarantined for a few days.
Bill & Mary Ann
