Around the World Again

At Sea – April 12, 2018

The day started early - 3:55 a.m. to be exact when the first stage emergency alarm sounded. An announcement stated that there was a problem in the incinerator (we had one before). At 4:02 the captain announced that there had been a fire in the incinerator room but the fire retardant system had worked as it was supposed to and all was well. He told us to go back to sleep. I did.

Even with the interruption I was up in time for water aerobics. Amanda (who teaches the water aerobics) said that we would not have class tomorrow because of the King Neptune Ceremony. She is one of the polliwogs that would go through the initiation and become a shellback – something she was not really looking forward to.

Picked up my juice and a muffin then headed back to change. Instead of my usual Sit and Stitch next, I had a tour of the laundry. My travel agency scheduled the tour and there had been a number of them over the past week or so.

We traveled down to “B” deck in the elevator that our guide controlled with a remote control (there is no button for that deck on the panel in the elevator). We were guided through a watertight door that remains closed because B deck is below the water line. It was explained that clothes are tagged and sorted before going into the wash. I always thought all my things were put into a mesh laundry bag and sent through together. We saw the large washers and dryers (one of the washers for sheets holds 400 pounds). The steamers for taking wrinkles out were very interesting. There are also iron presses for some items that require them. All in all it was a very interesting tour.

I had about 35 minutes to join the stitchers before going to trivia. Another day that was not our best. We had 12 and two teams tied with 14.

1)How many fillers in a Hungarian florint?

2)What creature is on Germany’s coat of arms?

3)What New York location is known as “the crossroads of the world”?

4)What organization replaced the League of Nations?

5)Where are the “Southern Alps”?

During the captain’s “Voice from the Bridge” at 12:45 he explained more about the fire. When items are burned in the incinerator the ash is put in bags and removed from the ship at various ports. There was a piece of ash in one of the bags that was still smoldering which set off the sprinkler system and that ended the nighttime drama.

In Arts and Crafts we made a leather luggage tag.

Another enjoyable afternoon by the pool reading and knitting.

We did even worse in afternoon trivia with only 10 correct. The winners had 16 (out of 17).

1)Who discovered the rings of Saturn?

2)Which city’s first subway line was the Metropolitan Line?

3)Which color is displayed on the starboard side of a ship?

4)What Broadway smash hit has lyrics by poet T.S. Elliott?

5)In what country would you find the 1300 mile long Orange River?

I sat by the pool a little longer after trivia and found a notice from the IT Officer when I returned to my cabin. Here is part of it.

“Due to a malfunctioning power supply to the antenna dome earlier today, we are experiencing delays/outages in sending and receiving email. Moreover, internet reception is negatively affected and will not work, presumably not until Dakar.”

I was unable to get on-line last night starting around 11:30 and tried all day until the notice arrived.

America’s Test Kitchen featured Czech recipes, some of which were on the menu tonight. I had a salad, cheese filled boureka, Czech Wedding Braised Beef, and a blueberry sundae for dessert.

The big excitement for tonight was 0/0. We crossed the Equator and the Prime Meridian at the same time so we were at 0° latitude and 0°longitude at about 11:23 p.m. There was a big party (Happy Hour – I had two margaritas) in the Crow’s Nest billed as a pajama party although very few actually wore pajamas. Ed thanked the captain for taking the route that would put us in this position. The captain said it was his first time ever sailing at 0/0.