At Sea
Trip Start
Jan 14, 2009
1
6
47
Trip End
May 02, 2009
Panama City,
Panama
Monday, January 19, 2009
I said I had started as I mean to go on so once again I was up early and off to the gym - I am determined to depart this cruise ship in the same clothes that I boarded with. After having completed my hour long routine it was time for breakfast, a shower followed by another talk by the bridge lecturer this time on the 'Drury' Convention. This completed, we then had another Cruise Critic meeting where as a group we were going to visit an example of every type of 'state room' on the ship. There was a group of approx 20 people who then passed through the ship visiting an outside cabin with port hole, an outside cabin with obstructed view, an outside cabin with balcony, the 'Penthouse Suite' and the 'Owners Suite' (it had been the intention of the organizers to also visit a mini suite, however the people who had volunteered there cabin had been confined to their room for 24 hours due to 'intestinal distress'). We also played a game of 'Poker' whilst passing through each of the cabins, by picking a playing card at random from a bag, at the end the best poker hand won a sum of money which each person had contributed to participate in this bit of fun. This completed it was once again time to eat and it had been organized for the group to go to the dining room and dine together. The afternoon was to be action packed as there was another lecture by the guest speaker the 'United Nations Chief Weapons Inspector' which was followed by the 'Crossing the Line' ceremony. At approx 4.30pm there was an announcement by the Captain over the speaker system on the ship, broadcasting not only in the public areas but also into the cabins (this indicated something of great importance) to say that there had been an outbreak of the 'Norwalk Virus' on board and that a number of people had been confined to their cabins and the remainder of us should take extra care with hand washing etc., in order to eradicate the problem. Nick and I had decided to go to Sabatinis (the Italian restaurant) to dine this evening, where because of the problems on board the condiments had been removed from the tables, bread was now being served by the waitress instead of helping ourselves along with milk and sugar at coffee time. Having consumed far too much food it was then time to retire.
