World Cruise Day 51/152 - Sea Day - Pushers, Crises, and with apologies to David Bowie...Ch...ch...ch...ch...changes

Cruise day: 51/152

Ports days: 16
Sea days: 35
Countries: 5
Continents: 2
Ports: 10

Every addictive substance has an agent - someone that promotes its use and enables the supply chain from product creator to the addict.  These people are known as "pushers". This ship with its close quarters is no exception and I want to alert you to just such a situation for your own safety.  Here is just such a "pusher" creating an army of captive addicts on this ship. Meet Danielle.

Danielle disarms the potential victim with her pleasant tone and smile that is obvious, even from behind her mask.  She temps the helpless soul with the chocolate fountain, fresh fruit desserts, untold baked treats, cakes, pies, and perfectly scooped balls of gelato or sorbet.  Before you know it, you're addicted.  You want more.  You can't say no.  It's a vicious, albeit extremely delicious cycle.  I thought that we all might be safe because change happens, and Danielle is leaving us tomorrow, on February 13, to head home to Cape Town, South Africa.  I rejoiced that I might be able to escape the evil clutches of chocolate cake, chocolate gelato, fudge tortes, and more. Two factors leave me helpless.  First, there are many others just waiting to take over Danielle's empire, all equally as delightful, and equally as deadly - to our waistlines.  Do you see Ruth in the background in the photo above, plotting her takeover?

And second...Danielle is only gone for eight weeks and will be rejoining us in Athens to once again rule over our bulging midsections. <queue evil laughter here>

It seems like the only constant on this cruise is change.  The itinerary changed before we boarded.  Then, we canceled a port (Leon, Nicaragua) due to local issues. Then, we missed a port (Cartagena, Colombia) due to COVID.  Then, we had wholesale itinerary revisions as half the world was closed.  Then, we had to pivot in South America due to weather (and get to see the beauty of the Chilean fjords - a win). Still, through it all, Viking has taken great care of us and continues to provide a quality cruise experience.

But...the changes continue.  

This time, it's Punta del Este, Uruguay.  We are supposed to be there in two days, on February 14.  But, the weather not only doesn't look promising but it also looks objectively bad.  Since it is an anchor/tender port, we rely on small boats to transport us from the ship to shore.  The weather is expected to be so bad that the tenders are already shutting down and won't run.  So...we pivot again.  Tomorrow, we dock in Montevideo, Uruguay at 8AM.  We will now stay docked there until 3PM the following day.  Viking has arranged a few additional excursions for that second day and we're trying to decide what, if anything, we want to do.  We're bummed because we had a really exciting excursion to Sea Wolf Island booked in Punta del Este.  We looked at booking something else for tomorrow and moving the included excursion to the next day but everything is sold out, so it is what it is.

Oh well, it's sunny and in the 60s and a beautiful day, so we keep our attitudes up and sail on.

Something that didn't change today was our morning routine of bridge lessons, some friendly bridge play after the lessons, and then losing woefully in trivia. Our near (or not so near) misses today:

• What French author wrote Phantom of the Opera?
• Gaston Leroux
• What is the name of someone that plays marbles?
• Mibster (not shooter as we guessed)
• Who was the ruler of England during the revolutionary war?
• King George III (not VI - missed it by <that> much)
• What is the rock debris deposited by glaciers called?
• Moraine

Another interesting activity today was a massive ship-wide emergency that required the entire complement of the ship's emergency personnel to spring to action and ensure passenger safety.  Lucky for the passengers, it was just a full-scale emergency drill.

Ships regularly run small drills on specific items.  This one was different.  First, the ship's emergency signal sounded - seven short blasts followed by one long blast. For the uninformed, that's never a good thing.  Then the announcements came fast and furious.  Codes were called, teams were summoned to various places on the ship, there were fires, injured people - it was a real (simulated) disaster unfolding before our eyes.

The emergency lighting activated in all the stairwells and hallways.

Emergency crews were located in all stairwells and on all floors to direct passengers to proper locations.

Because there was a "fire", the fire support crew was fully equipped, including working oxygen tanks.

Officers, maintenance crew - everyone has a role in an emergency.

One of the entertainment staff was "injured" and required assistance evacuating.

The ship's schematics were deployed for review and all crew stood ready to assist.

Fire hoses were connected to available fire spigots and were deployed to the "fire".

An unconscious safety dummy was evacuated down the stairs. 

It was an amazing show to watch.  Seeing crew running, not walking, up and down the stairs and halls to get to their assigned service stations, and getting prepped to fulfill the emergency roles they have been trained to do was impressive.  Seeing the speed at which the crew responded to the various situations really showed that if such an emergency ever did occur, our crew stands ready to manage that situation and keep all of us safe.  Kudos to the well-training Viking crew and their leaders for being so capable.

As passengers, we did not have to participate in the simulation today.  But, as people that believe in always doing more than is asked of us, we did our part taking on the traditional role of the passenger during an emergency.

On the food front today, the line for the lobster cobb salad was too long for me. Combining that with the fact that I've eaten more lobster in the last 50 days than in the last 50 years, I decided on ribs, spring rolls, and a little spaghetti carbonara instead.  Arlona was in the mood for a salad.  We enjoyed a nice lunch with friends and the spectacular views of the ocean.

We sat on the veranda for a while and looked at the postcard-like sky.

I always find a cloud's shadow on the water interesting.  It's no different than on land, but I find the dark spot cast by a cloud on the water to be visually intriguing.  You can see the shadow of that sole cloud right in the middle, and a little toward the ship from the horizon line.

We popped up to the Explorer's Bar for a pre-dinner drink with the intent of heading to the World Cafe around 6pm or so.  Enter Cheryl, John, Joan, and Tom.  We sat there chewing the fat until well after 7PM.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, that's the beauty of this cruise.  You get to meet really interesting people and actually get to spend time with them.  It's awesome.

Dinner in the World Cafe was its usual great.  Arlona had sweet & sour pork and I had the crab leg & fish combo with fries.  The chocolate torte cake with chocolate gelato topped it off.  (See above for justification...it's not our fault.)

The sun provided the dinner theater tonight and a passing ship stepped in as the supporting cast.

For the final change, tomorrow, we lose our lead cabin steward, Mohammed.  He is taking a well-deserved break and returning home to Indonesia to spend time with his family.  We are thrilled that Nestor will continue to maintain our cabin and are confident that Mohammed's replacement will do an amazing job as well.

Tomorrow and the next day, we're in Montevideo, Uruguay.  Then, we start the long nine-day haul to the Cape Verde Islands and our stop at Sao Vicente Island.