SHUTTING IT DOWN HERE, BOSS

February 8, 2012


Where are my pants?  We have packed our suitcases and are waiting for our luggage tags so we can set our suitcases out for delivery to the dockside.  Somewhere in my pea brain is the thought that I wore a lavender shirt and grey slacks to Fort Lauderdale.  If my memory is correct, and my traveling companion can neither confirm or deny my version, I have lost the grey slacks.  We moved last week from Aloha 237 to Dolphin 230, and if I had them at that point, I no longer do.  Now ain’t that a fine howdy do?  I guess when we get back to Woodland 233, I’ll know for sure.  Maybe.

The line at the Purser’s Desk has been 45 minutes long all day long with people cued up to get their bills, inquire about travel arrangements, and so forth.  The end of the line never seems to change.  We wanted some small envelopes so we can give a special gratuity to our waiter and junior waiter tonight, and Bonnie stood in the line for 45 minutes.  We went down to do some last minute shopping and take a few photographs about 4 o’clock, and the end of the line was right where Bonnie had started her adventure at 10:30 this morning.

I cannot begin to imagine what a job this is for Princess to get all of the details arranged to end the cruise early, and get people home.  They have made airplane arrangements, booked hotel rooms for those who are staying over to sail on Saturday, adjusted charge accounts and on and on.  My hat is really off to them for the way they’ve handled this, and especially for doing the right thing.  It would have been easy to sail on to Curacao and then Aruba because the number of new cases is decreasing.  There are new cases, but fewer in number than earlier in the week, so they could have justified sailing on.  The cost to the cruise line must be enormous.

Rumors abound all over the ship.  There are three ships in Fort Lauderdale carrying the norovirus.  No, there are five.  No, there are ten.  The outbreak began last Thursday when the restaurants served lobster (but if it caused the outbreak on the Crown Princess, how did it get to the other ships, because our cooks did not feed their passengers).  There have been 200 people sick.  No 400.  No half the ship’s compliment including crew! Anyway I know it is true because I got it from Billy Bob who looked it up on Snopes!

The folks we’ve fellowshipped with seem to be rather stoic about it.  One gal said, “I’ve gotten a free five day vacation.  I’ve been fed and taken care of, and it hasn’t cost me a penny.”  That seems to be the general attitude.

When all is said and done – and more is usually said than done – Bonnie and I have had a good time, but we will be glad to get back to Woodland Drive.  This will be the last blog entry.  See you at the house, or in church.

TTFN!

SAILING NORTH

February 7, 2012, Part 2

A brief report tonight, because we did a whole lot of nothing.

The highlight of the afternoon for yours truly was attending Afternoon Tea where I consumed tea, and small sandwiches, and scones with jam and clotted cream, and one peanut butter cookie.

For supper tonight we had skirt steak fajitas. Almost like being at Mi Rancho, with Slobodon taking the place of Wally, and Olena filling in for Fabiola.

The mood around the ship today has been subdued, as expected. None of us wanted our cruise cut short, but once the Captain relayed the conditions to the home office in California, the decision was made to get back home as quickly as possible. There are still new cases of the gastrointestinal distress being reported, but the outbreaks are slowing down. Regardless, both passengers and crew are being affected, and the decision was a wise one. Word is that after two full days of disinfecting, the Crown Princess will sail for the Western Caribbean on Saturday. To sum it up, this stuff has been bad juju. Thankfully, Bonnie and I remain well.

After supper we went to the Fusion Lounge where we took part in movie music trivia. The DJ played clips of music from 20 films and we had to identify the movie. We got three right (Titanic, Grease, and Beverly Hills Cop). I am embarrassed to report that we missed Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The winners had 15. I think they cheated.

I give my last talk for this cruise tomorrow at 11:45 on Fort Lauderdale. With passengers who are sailing next week being housed in the area, there might be a bigger than normal crowd, looking for things to do while ashore.

We will get our luggage tags tomorrow afternoon, pack and set our suitcases out for the porters to carry them to the baggage area, ready for disembarkation. We will leave the ship around 9 a.m., retrieve the Red Hot Chili Pepper and point it in the direction of Augusta. Home again, home again, jiggity jig.

TTFN

TURN TURN TURN

February 7, 2012

Which line (from music or movie) best describes the rest of this cruise?

1.    I’m coming home.  I’ve done my time (from Tie a Yellow Ribbon).

2.    There’s just a few more hours, that’s all the time we’ve got (from My Fair Lady).

3.    Well, this is another fine mess you’ve gotten us into Stanley (said by Oliver Hardy)

4.    All of the above.

The Captain came on the ship wide intercom system at 7:55 this morning, and said, “Please stand by.  I will be back in 5 minutes with an important announcement.”  Bonnie and I looked at each other and said, “He’s turning around and heading back to Fort Lauderdale because of continued outbreaks of the norovirus.”  And we were right.

The last two stops, Curacao and Aruba, are cancelled and we will dock in Fort Lauderdale Thursday morning at 7 a.m.  Even after a thorough disinfection on Saturday, and approval to sail by the Centers for Disease Control, people continue to get sick (we are well).  And it’s not only passengers, the crew is getting sick as well.  So the Crown Princess is on her way back, two days early.  She’s supposed to sail again on Saturday, so they will have two full days to super clean the vessel.

Princess is taking a huge hit on this, but it shows that they care about the safety of their customers.  The full fare for the cruise will be refunded to the paying passengers (that does not include us).  All shore excursions will be refunded.  And for those who flew into Fort Lauderdale, the cruise line is changing their plane tickets and paying the change fares, and if necessary, putting people up in hotels, until they can fly.

We haven’t decided yet whether we are going to drive home in one day, or two.  But – and somebody from Macedonia, please tell Bird we’ll be there for breakfast, and I’ll make gravy.

TTFN

WE ALL LIVE IN A YELLOW SUBMARINE!

February 6, 2012

Another lazy day at sea.  I did my Curacao talk at 1:00, Bonnie did line dancing and Zumba, we drank coffee and coke, and did a whole lot of nothing.  Tonight was formal night, so we dressed in our finest finery and paraded around the ship.  I am glad we weren’t on Deck 5 for the Captain’s Champagne Waterfall, because just as the captain and one of the guests began to pour, someone threw up on the waterfall.  Well, that’s over for the night!

After supper we went to the Explorer’s Lounge where we heard a comedian and then played Beatles Music Trivia.  Chris, the deputy cruise director, played clips to 25 songs and we had to guess the names of the songs.  Bonnie and I were joined in the game by Lori, a retired teacher from Pittsburgh!  She and I reminisced about KDKA, Reg Cordic, and other long ago memories.  Our team got 21 out of 25.  Another team got 22, and the winners had a perfect paper.  It was fun guessing, and then as the answers were revealed we had a sing-along.  It was largely out of tune, and countless key changes, and it was great!

We dock at 9 a.m. and head off for a 3 hour tour to the western part of the island, returning to Willemstad around noon.  We’ll stay in town and visit a few museums we missed last week.

Hopefully some good pictures to post tomorrow night.

TTFN!

SAILING SAILING OVER THE BOUNDING MAIN

February 5, 2012

A day without the dry land gout, the belly belly vinges and jerking at the naval is a good day!  Shipboard scuttlebutt – excuse me, scuttleboat – put the number of people struck down by the norovirus at between 80 and 400.  Mercifully, we did not number in that throng.  We did learn that while the ship was being sanitized yesterday, all of the food that was onboard was disposed of and all new food stocked in – even though the very likely cause of the illness was a virus.  And there were two other ships in port yesterday that were disembarking sick passengers, so the virus cause is strengthened.

Any way, a good day at sea – our favorite.  I did my “Pirates of the Caribbean” talk today to a good-sized audience, and it was received very well.  The “Curacao” talk is tomorrow, and if this week is like last week, it will be the largest attended of my talks.

I had an interesting discussion with Lisa Ball, the cruise director, this evening.  She said it is unusual for a 7 day cruise to have guest speakers, even though passengers frequently ask for them.  She asked me to encourage my audiences to respond favorably to the end of cruise survey so that they will be able to book more folk like me on future cruises.  And it is very gratifying to be told by the staff that they wish we could stay on longer.

We have booked an excursion for Curacao that explores that western part of the island, including a national park, and other photo op places, so in the Tuesday blog, I hope to have some pictures to share.

We weren’t going to take any more shore excursions, but the Princess Cruise Line, as a way to apologize for the delay in leaving Fort Lauderdale, which meant we missed our stop today at Princess Cays, gave every passenger a $50 credit to his or her shipboard account, and so we are using ours for this excursion.  They also gave everyone a $20 credit for having to buy lunch ashore yesterday waiting to get on the ship.  All together, the credits will cost Princess more than $200,000 – demonstrating that they are concerned about the well-being and the happiness of their guests.

Well, we set our clocks ahead one hour onboard tonight, so it is getting close to bed time.  Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite!

TTFN!

HURRY UP AND WAIT

February 4, 2012


What a day! This is a day that saw the best laid plans of mice and men and cruise ships go astray.

Some 150 of our fellow passengers came down with gastrointestinal crud. One rumor circulating is that a helicopter landed on the ship in the night and took two severely ill people off and flew them to a local hospital. However it played out, all of the well people were disembarked first, and the sickos last. Then the entire ship at to be sterilized – CDC rules. At first we were told, “You’ll be able to reboard at 2 o’clock.” Then it was 4. Finally it was 5:45. As a result, we will not sail until 10:30 tonight, which means we will miss our stop at Princess Cays. I’m not sure what that will mean for my talk schedule, but I do have an extra talk with me.

We relocated to Dolphin 230, having spent last week in Aloha 237. This stateroom seems a little smaller, but it is very adequate, since we don’t spend a lot of time in it.

The emergency life jacket drill is at 10:00 p.m. Regulations require it before we sail. Immediately thereafter, it will be bed time for we two (Bonnie is already napping – I got four naps sitting in the Broward County Convention Center for 8 hours).

We had supper with Buddy and Jan from St. Louis and Ken and Larry from Idaho. Again because of the delays in getting onboard, the dining room arrangements for tonight were discarded and every dining room was open for any time dining.

Well, that’s all folks.

TTFN!

THE DAY OF THE NORO

February 3, 2012


Well ain’t that a fine Howdy Do?  Norovirus is attacking the Crown Princess.  Your humble scribe and the wife of his youth are well, but evidently there are a lot of people worshiping the Great White Buddha, or chasing alligators, or ... you get the picture.

Seriously, the Captain has been on the intercom three times already today telling folks to wash their hands, and if they feel sick, call the infirmary and stay in their staterooms until the infirmary calls them back. 

The Captain said he will have the ship in early tomorrow to allow for extra time to clean before new folk come on board.  The dinner table gossip has the ship getting in at 4 a.m. instead of 7 a.m.  And for reasons that are not made known to lowly Guest Speakers, we are being assigned a new stateroom, so we have to pack tonight, and the Accommodations Department will move our luggage in the morning. 

Because of the virus, the entire ship has to be sanitized, and as passengers in transit we will go through customs and then go to the Broward County Convention Center to wait for the all clear.  Embarkation will be at 4 p.m.  I don’t know if that means we don’t start till 4, or we will be on board and sale at 4.  Either way it promises to be a stressful day (see Sisler, Bonnie Belle, wife of my youth).  So pray saints!

A LAZY DAY AT SEA

February 2, 2012


A lazy day at sea.  I did my “Famous And Not So Famous Pirates and other Pirate Stuff” today.  There was a good crowd on hand, and a lively time of questions and answers afterwards.  Probably the most questions I’ve ever been asked at one of these talks.  A couple of the questions were outside my “area of expertise” – like the pirates of the Barbary Coast, and the Somali pirates – and I said so, although I was able to contribute a little bit to the questions.

When asked who my favorite pirate was, I immediately answered, “Roberto Clemente!”  That answer got a round of applause – must be more than one Bucco fan onboard – or more than one person who recognizes a great baseball player and great humanitarian.  Then someone followed up with, “Who is your favorite pirate from the Golden Age of piracy?”  I answered “Black Bart,” because he took more ships and more treasure than all of the others we’ve been talking about combined.

Actually, I have a sneaking admiration for Ching I Sao, a female pirate from China, who at one time had 1500 ships and 80,000 men under her flag.  She is technically outside the Golden Age, but her influence was so great that the Chinese government sued for peace, and gave in to all of her terms.

I have been going to “High Tea” each day.  Bonnie allows as how she doesn’t like tea, so she won’t go.  The tea is nothing spectacular – it is Lipton’s.  I’d rather they have Earl Grey, hot, but when in Rome ... The main reason I go is for the little scones, biscuit like creations, that you slather in clotted cream and jam.  Yum!  They also have cookies and small sandwiches, but I usually stick to the scones.

Several of my table mates today had attended one or another of my talks, and they gave me a big head complimenting me.  I’ve done some small changes in the Pirates talks, and a major overhaul of Curacao and Fort Lauderdale.  So far, I’ve been pleased, but as long as the audience is happy, it must be going ok.

The photograph is of the Crown Princess (to the right) and a ship of the Holland America line, the Zuiderdam.  The Zuiderdam was literally backing out of Santa Anna Bay in Curacao, and I liked the composition of the two ships.  The color isn’t natural.  I played with a Photoshop like program.

Tomorrow sometime will be the Fort Lauderdale talk, and then the next day, we will be back in Fort Lauderdale, our journey half completed.

This is formal night, and we are going to go to a couple of shows after dinner, so I will post this edition early, and catch up on any new doings tomorrow.

TTFN!

ROLLY POLLY

February 1, 2012


If the islands we visit, depend on Bonnie and I for their livelihood, they will be bankrupt by noon tomorrow.  We walked off the ship after breakfast and spent all of an hour in Oranjestad, Aruba.  Bonnie bought 10 post cards and two refrigerator magnets.  I bought three bottles of Coca Cola, the small 237 ml bottle, consumed one and the other two will journey back to 233 (they are labled Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao).  All together, we spent less than $20.  So, like I said, bankrupt by noon tomorrow.

This fellow was positioned above one of the in-town shops, to attract visitors.

Back onboard, we played movie triva.  We teamed up with four other folks and finished next to last.  Actually, there were only two teams, and the other team won first place.  The last time we played trivia, it was against a half-dozen teams, and we came in first.  The winner’s prize for that one was a flashlight/keychain.  A lanaird was the consolation prize today.

You’ve all heard the old saying, “That was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”  Well, in Curacao yesterday our guide, Loraine, had a new one: “That was the drop that filled the bucket!”  Feel free to use it.

We chose not to go into any of the three dining rooms today for lunch, because I want to go to afternoon tea, and they always have a variety of sweets and small sandwiches.  Bonnie had a hamburger, and catsup with French fries.  No, I did not say that wrong.  She covered her fries about two inches deep in catsup.  I chose a slice of pepperoni pizza, and it reminded me very much of Roma’s pizza back home – greasy and undercooked (but there are folks reading this blog who think that’s the best pizza known to humankind).

Supper is served in the Botticelli in a few minutes.  The Captain just broadcast a shipwide message: we are heading for some rough seas.  Winds will pick up to 35-40 knots and the seas will be 8-10 feet.  He said we would be experiencing “Rolly Polly” which means instead of bobbing up and down, we will be rolling side to side.  That he said is easier on us all that plowing into the seas and going up and down.  Your friendly neighborhood cruisers put on fresh sea-sick patches today, so we are ready.