128 Days Around the World

March 20, 2020

At Sea

Today was a “feast or famine” day. At midnight I had no flight home and by 6:30 pm, I had two! Once again, I woke up early – just after 4 am. I had left my computer on when I went to bed, so I logged in to see if I had received an e-mail from my travel agent. Two had come in. In the first she was still looking and in the second she had a confirmed and paid for flight. I take the red-eye from Perth to Sydney on Sunday night, then fly to Dallas mid-day on Monday arriving mid-day Monday in Dallas. Then from Dallas to Richmond arriving just after 10 pm.

I went by Guest Services just after lunch to let them know I had a flight. However, I did not do it fast enough because when I returned from dinner, HAL had arranged a flight for me. It was very similar (the Sydney-Dallas and Dallas-Richmond parts were the same but the flight to Sydney was early in the morning with only an hour between arrival and departure in Sydney).

Once I had confirmation at 4:30 I still could not get back to sleep so I took half an Ambien and slept until just after 9.

We only had a handful for Sit and Stitch.

In our last morning trivia we had 9 out of 15. The winners had 11.

1.What creature has its heart in its head?

2.What band had members Roger, Andy, and John Taylor?

3.How many digits in 10 to the 100^th power?

4.Where in Scotland would you find the ship Discovery?

5.Burning potassium produces what color flame?

I did some more packing before lunch. I went to lunch early because there was no Arts & Crafts today. Sherita sat with me and later Janet and Judy (Margaret) came by and we talked for a while. As we were leaving the Lido a medical emergency announcement was made.

Sherita and I then went to see the crew show. Because of the abbreviated cruise, the Filipino and Indonesian shows were combined. As usual, the crew did a fantastic job.

Captain Mercer made an announcement that we had changed course because the person with the medical emergency had to be airlifted to a hospital.

Back for more packing and then changed for dinner because I was eating early with my other table. Then up to the Crow’s Nest for trivia. We had 18 out of 23 and the winners had 21.

1.What city in the Bible is known as the city of David?

2.What does a lungless salamander keep moist so it can breathe?

3.What company made the first Jeep in 1943?

4.What was the name of Hitler’s dog?

5.What was the first international airline to fly to New Zealand?

We watched for the helicopter in the Crow’s Nest after trivia but it did not come before I had to leave for dinner.

With the help of a dinner companion, we emptied my last bottle of wine in my package. During dinner there was a nice tribute to Captain Mercer (this is his last cruise before retirement – what a way to go). One of the passengers, Jeri, put new lyrics to a couple of songs for the captain. Everyone toasted Captain Mercer with wine provided by the ship (I used my Muscato).

Shortly afterwards the announcement was made that there could be no people out on an open deck, on their balconies, or even in the Crow’s Nest while the helicopter was near the ship. We saw it fly by a couple of times while in the dining room.

When I returned to my cabin before heading to The Mainstage, I found the information for the second flight. I took it with me so I could go to Guest Services (along with half the ship) after the show. Tonight was a variety show with the Shamrock Tenors and Chantelle Delaney.

Sherita had finally gotten her flight but had a problem with it so we stood in line together. The line went fairly quickly because besides the people behind the desk they also had some of the exc people helping out. I was able to have my second flight cancelled easily but when I returned to my cabin, I found another letter saying that a room had been reserved for me at a hotel because of the 5 am flight they had booked. So, back to Guest Services to get that cancelled.

We were supposed to get into Fremantle early tomorrow but not sure if our medical detour may make that a little later.

Morning trivia

1.shrimp

2.Duran Duran (thanks, Betsy!)

3.101

4.Dundee

5.purple

Afternoon trivia

1.Jerusalem

2.its skin

3.Willis

4.Blondie

5.PanAm

Some views of the Crew Show