40 Day Thoughts

          Well, we’ve been aboard now for about 40 days, only 71 more to go! So far it has been just fine. No real issues to report, the small glitches with the Dining Room at the beginning of the cruise were all washed overboard with just a little time and patience. It took us about a nanosecond to adjust to our tiny inside cabin. I am sure that first having downsized to the Motorhome made the adjustment fairly easy.

Do we miss having a balcony?

Not really.

Would it be nice to have a balcony?

Sure it would!

But it kind of came down to ‘World Cruise without balcony’ or ‘No World Cruise with balcony’….. if you get my meaning!

          Maybe the best part so far is really the people that we’ve met and become friends with. Don’t get me wrong, seeing all of these incredible places is a total hoot, and in away, to be the expected aspect of this kind of trip. But meeting these other folks has been the proverbial ‘icing on the cake’ (of which there has been a significant amount consumed so far!)

          We have learned now that when taking a cruise like this one there are certain things that can be expected, like us being on the younger side of the average age of our fellow passengers, and we turn 69 this year! Along with that higher average age comes all of the accoutrements that accompany “Mobile Deficient Persons of Age”. We declined an invitation today to join an elevator that had two motorized scooters in it…… just not enough room!

          I have mentioned this one before, but it bears revisiting. We also find ourselves on the lower tiers of the Cruise and Travel Experience shelves. We have met multiple people that are not only on their second or third world cruise, but in fact there are many aboard who are over double that number and that doesn’t include all of the other cruises, safaris, and country visits that they seem to be endlessly pursuing! Don’t get me wrong here, we are in no way jealous or anything like that, we just wonder how they do it! Well, I guess when I put it like that, we are a tad jealous of someone being able to do that, just not jealous of the fine folks themselves!

                             Observing randomly around the ship one would come to admire the seemingly affectionate habit of couples holding hands, even at our age!

In this ‘Vacation Situation’ it is possibly true.

In reality it is totally true that we are just trying to hold each other up while walking on a rolling deck!

          This theory will be tested to the max as we are possibly going to encounter a typhoon, (or the effects of one) in the next few days. There is a system off the northwest coast of Australia and it seems to be in our way. The Captain has taken certain liberties in order to keep us safe. Itinerary changes, port cancellations, and additions are all on the table. This situation is nothing new to the Cruise Industry. There are many, many, stories, and videos now of “Cruise Ships Gone Wild” when caught in unpleasant weather. Sometimes it is just unavoidable. I have heard stories of times that ropes needed to be strung in dining rooms and other areas of the ship to give passengers something to hold on to as they attempted to walk from one side to the other.

                   All these events have taken place without me aboard.

                   It’s not that I’m looking for trouble, it’s just that a little Meteorological Mayhem would not be lost on me!

                   In the beginning of the cruise when the Dining Room was in disarray, I sent a note to the Maître d’ letting him know that as former foodservice operators, we commiserated with him and understood his problems. My note was met with a certain amount of appreciation from him, he was glad that someone understood his predicament. We had a very nice conversation.

                             This led to him asking us if there was anything that he could do for us. Initially we said, “No, thank you, we’re ok”, then after thinking about it we decided that we would like to have what we asked for in the beginning, and that was to have a table at a dedicated time every night instead of the “Anytime Dining” that is prevalent now. He granted that wish without any hesitation. At the same time, we asked for it to be a table for four and we would either handle filling the other two seats, or let Nancy the Hostess know, and she could find another couple that was willing to “share” a table.

                             This is possibly the best thing that we did! We have met some of the nicest folks with the sharing part. This in turn has led to filling the seats with these same people as we got to know them better and invited them back again and again.

                             As I said before, this has been maybe the best aspect of this trip so far! You can’t spend four months with nice people and not develop a relationship with them.

 We are all in the same boat 😊.

                             This is our home.

                             This is our neighborhood.

                             This is our kitchen table.

                             This is our living room.

          All of these places are the places where you enjoy time with your friends.