It sure felt a lot warmer and humid early this morning when the early riser among us went out on the veranda to film a couple of masked boobys. They seemed to have appeared from out of nowhere and were flying past our room on the hunt for their breakfast. And that would be the flying fish of course.
Before we left for our breakfast, we told our room steward that the leak had re-appeared outside the bathroom door. We noticed it last night because the dampness in the carpet makes our shoes squeak. Obviously they did not get to the root of the problem last week. So we were stuck with the fan blowing all day to dry it out. It is not a quiet fan either, but it works.
We had several visits from the fix-it guys, a front desk rep, and a housekeeping officer checking this leak out once again. They all looked at it, then took notes, and left. Sometime during the morning, Kumar called and left a message offering us another room to use during the day. If the entire carpet was wet, then maybe we would have taken him up on the offer, but we decided to stay. At one point, the ceiling out in the hallway was dropped and inspected. If anything was found, no one chose to tell us. Anyway, the story continues…..
Captain Rens came on with his noon talk and said the Volendam was doing 16 knots. We still have 300 nautical miles to reach Rio, The air and sea temps were about the same at 82 degrees. Much the same is expected for tomorrow along with some sudden rain showers. He added that we have confused sea swells of 3 to 4 feet. He will be picking up the pilot around 7am and intends to open the bow around 6:30am for scenic cruising. Quite often, it is foggy, so we hope for sun tomorrow. Bet they serve "Rio Rolls", a knock-off of their delicious Panama Rolls.
Today was the start of another 2 week delivery of our President's Club perks. We should have gotten 20 Coke Zeros each, but they were short a total of 16 sodas. The same amount that they got wrong on boarding day. The waiter said he would straighten this out with his boss, and bring the difference later. Later was 9pm when we got back from dinner. Better late, than never we say.
There was a notice in the Daily newsletter stating that the internet speed may be slower and the connection could be lost due to satellite interruptions from the entrance into Rio. Do seem to remember that happening in 2020 as well.
There was a port talk on Rio de Janeiro at 2pm today. Nothing like waiting until the last minute before our arrival. Usually these lectures take place a few days ahead of time so people have a chance to book tours.
We spent some time at the Sea View pool until it got too hot for comfort. Even with sunscreen, we are being more careful of getting burned. Once again, there was no wait service at the tables. Maybe the size of the crew has been reduced since we only have about 1050 guests right now. We sure miss Presty since he had the numbers down to a science when it came to guests onboard, guests that were leaving, and new ones boarding. So far, we have not even met the Head Matre'd in the dining room.
Dinner looked good tonight, so we kept lunch minimal. We had hoped to have the leak fixed by now, but nothing happened the rest of the day.
There was a little bit of everything on the dinner menu. Starters were a calypso shrimp cocktail, spring rolls, and a bowl of smoked chicken/corn soup. One entrée was the turkey dinner complete with cranberry sauce. The other was chicken parmigiana with spaghetti. Both were very good. Dessert for each of us was an apple fritter with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side. Many of the guests left the dining room by 8:30pm, saying they were turning in early due to long tours tomorrow in Rio. Sounds like a good plan.
The entertainment this evening was the World Stage Cast with Rock Britannia – hits from across the pond.
Looking forward to two days in Rio de Janeiro.
Bill & Mary Ann
