Two exciting
events occurred during this ‘at sea’ portion of the trip. First, and not really too exciting, Steve had
a strategically important crown (one in the hillbilly position at the front of
his mouth) become detached and he had to visit the onboard doctor. Into the
caverns of the ship he descended where the doctor pulled out “dental repair kit
no.1”, which fortunately had the right kind of cement to re-affix the crown,
which hopefully will last a month. Can
you imagine what it must be like to be a shipboard doctor, having to treat any
and all who crawl through the door each morning? Second, on April 8 about 8
miles off the port side at 10 am, Queen Elizabeth witnessed a possible pirate
event and was requested to assist the Advance II tanker that believed it
might be under attack by pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The coalition forces
patrolling this area were alerted by the QE of the threat to the tanker. It won’t make the national news but it will be
publically reported on a website that all maritime personnel follow. Queen Elizabeth altered her course and her
open-air lower decks were cleared and closed to passengers while this event was
occurring. Meanwhile, we were on the 9th
deck, looking out the window enjoying a cup of coffee after Easter church
service. We saw the tanker, which had deployed
and activated its water cannons, and commented to each other, “Gee that tanker
must be testing its pirate defenses.”
Duh! We do feel, and are, very safe
on this ship in this part of the world as we travel at a full-speed-ahead 23
knots, with armed guards, razor wire and other defensive measures deployed!
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| Happy Easter from the Chefs! |
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| Yummy Chocolate! |
We have
noticed a slight change in attitude on the ship. This is the last segment of the world
cruise. New passengers got on board in
Dubai and they seem to be joyfully looking forward to the various ports while
lazily basking in the sun. However, the
world cruisers are beginning to look long in the tooth, and some are getting
downright rude. The other day an
elevator opened and there were about 8 of us waiting to get on. A server with a cart came off and the one man
on the elevator just stood in the back while the door closed in a women’s
face. I recognize him as a world
cruiser!
People also
seem to be moaning more – about the food, the ports, the internet (that’s me)
and the orchestra/entertainment. Many
people have expressed they are missing family (like us) and friends (also us) and
not looking forward to packing everything they have stuffed in their rooms from
all the ports, not to mention clothes! We’re all just a bit spoiled, and
perhaps sensing that this wonderful experience is near its end. Time to book the next cruise!
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| Royal Theatre before show starts |
The
entertainment, which has always been good, has been improving from our point of
view. The classical music in the
afternoon has been outstanding, as well as the quality and diversity of the evening
entertainment. Saturday a man and woman
did amazing feats of balance and strength with their strong yet graceful bodies,
like a Cirque show (Alesia and Massimo in Incanto). Sunday we attended an excellent one woman
show – Bed Among the Lentils from
Talking Heads by Alan Bennett, starring Dorothy Lawrence.
The
lecturers also have been interesting.
Eamonn Gearon spoke to us about Saudi Arabia and the Sahara. Tom Ecker humored us with stories about the
Olympics and the athletes who participated (exciting the Brits for their
upcoming Olympics). There was another
talk on piracy by Commander O’Flaherty of the Royal Navy as we traverse the
Gulf of Aden (with coalition forces watching) and into the Red Sea. Another onboard speaker was a Concorde pilot,
and before that a Harrier, test and 747 pilot, and will be talking to us about
his experiences.
We had an
Easter Dinner at The Verandah restaurant on board with a couple who sit next to
us at our regular dinner time. They live
in Arizona and have done 10 world cruises!
We all enjoyed this very nice dining experience – especially the Kaluha mousse
dessert.
This
morning (April 9 at 8:15 am) the ship is sailing through the Straits of Bab El
Mandeb, passing by the Port of Gizan in Yemen and the city of Massawa in
Eritrea (who’s heard of this country in Africa?? How ‘bout its neighbor, Djibouti?). Since this is a known high-risk pirate area,
everyone is to be off the outdoor decks.
As we perform pirate watch from our window in our room, we see a ship on
the port side and wonder if it is just a fishing ship or a pirate ship - avast! The QE is speeding along at 21.1 knots –
fast! Still 1000 miles to the port of
Safaga, Egypt – will we get there, at last? Speaking of poems, the shortest in the English
language is “Fleas” – Adam had’m. Steve’s
culture moment over.
There are
lectures today and an independent film “The Magical Mountain of Tibet” is being
shown. Reminds me that the Sarasota Film
Festival is happening back home!
Back to Pirate Watch!!
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