Post # 12 Surprise On Day 1 At Sea September 18, 2015

    After a late sailing yesterday we had a nice surprise when we got to our cabin. We gained an hour of sleep by turning back the clock. A great way to end the pace of so many ports.

 

Feeling Better

We were up early enough for a nice light breakfast before the zumba class. The Atrium is full of people doing the 45 minute work out. We had a different instructor today and I didn't think it was as hard as the other day. Now if I could just get my arms to follow the legs! Judy is still under the weather but feeling a lot better. I think that the zumba helped out a bit. After a short rest, it was time for line dancing. She did 4 songs and moved it right along. 2 were things we had seen before but it is good to see that they are finally moving along to some new things. Still very easy but at least different.

   We did go to a talk in the Princess Live venue, a new feature on this ship. It is a cozy(?) theatre with good seating. They usually hold trivia, small seminars, etc. there.

Martyn Moss the cruise director was holding a Q and A session. He was on the |Ruby last summer when we did the |British Isles. He talked about where and what he had done on cruise ships and how he got the job. He then took questions which led to stories on all sorts of topics like rough weather, spring break cruises, entertainers, pirates, etc. He is a good story teller so it was an interesting session.

Medivac Assistant

    The captain did make a SURPRISE announcement. Because of a weather system that is along the track that he was taking, he decided to divert to the south until it passed. He expected the weather to be active tomorrow night. The new path is about 300 miles further than the original one.

   During lunch in the International Cafe, he made another

announcement. REAL SURPRISE! The ship had turned 180 degrees and we are headed

Irish Coast Guard

back to Land's End in England. No not the engine trouble of 3 days ago but rather a very ill passenger that had to be medivaced from the ship. He is currently steaming about 5 hours east to get withing the range of the copter. So that will be at least 10-12 hours added to the 300 extra miles already planned. Unless this ship can fly, we suspect that we will probably miss Newfoundland. Pure speculation at this time.

    This afternoon we had a wine tasting that we receive because we are Elite. They rattle on about the wines and then give you a taste. They even cut out the free wine glasses that we always gave away at these things. Anyway we did have the 5 sips.

     At about 4:30 this afternoon the captain announced that the helicopter pick up was about to start and closed the upper decks. A big copter approach the stern , connected a tether and a jumper slid down to the deck. At that point the copter disappeared for about 15 minutes and then pulled away and took off down the port (our) side of the ship on the way back to Ireland. All this time another plane circled the ship. Could have been a tanker or a controller. In any case at about 5 pm the captain made an announcement that we were back on our way to Newfoundland. He also mentioned that he needed to make close to 20 knots the next 3 days to get there . Seems he had some doubts especially with the heavier seas that he expects. We should see by tomorrow.

Dessert

 

At Wine tasting

   Tonight is the second of 3 formal nights. We do have the elite reception but it is tomorrow night which is rather unusual. It was lobster night for dinner which is always nice. The special 50^th anniversary dessert was very good as well. After we did take in the main show. Another turn back the clock night. Yea!