How to Survive a 28 Day Cruise

Survive?? I learned the headline teaser from the news media. The only hardship Christine suffered was that she had to eat unpeeled grapes--supplied fresh with other fruits in our room daily.

Living room.

Bedroom

M' lady's boudoir

Bathroom. Two sink counter. Shower, bathtub, jacuzzi combination. Small shower stall adjacent to bathtub.  

Two sink counter.

From this angle, right in the center by the desk lamp is a coffee maker. Forgot to take pics of the ample closet and drawer space.

Balcony. Pads were available for the chairs (brought in every night and during inclement weather).

Just across the hall were Inga and Luigi always ready and eager to assist. They operate from the Neptune Lounge but take care of any ship board problems or needs. 

Small but adequate buffet in the Lounge available to Neptune Suite passengers only. To the far right was another counter with snacks. One could eat all meals here or in one's cabin if you wanted to be a hermit or not fight crowds. We frequently ate lunch in the lounge as we would have a big breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill and a big dinner in the main dining room. Oh yes, the buffet also had cookies and candy. If they just had an ice cream dispenser (sigh)...

Tea time.

Plenty of space. Never too crowded.

All the comforts of home. 

And Christine made herself at home. Somehow we survived.

From Pollywog to Order of the Purple Porpoise Golden Shellback

 Pollywog to Shellback Proclamation

March 2019

South Pacific

If one has never crossed the equator, he is a Pollywog. 

When you cross the equator, you are a Shellback.

If you cross the equator and the international date line you are a Golden Shellback.

The Order of Purple Porpoise is when you cross the junction of the equator and the international date line and the vernal equinox on the same day.

The Purple Porpoise designation is a rare occurrence, but Christine and I were among the ones who sailed across all three on March 20, 2019.

In the previous "update" blog, I mentioned that due to previous plans, we would not start cycling until April. March 9, we began a wonderful 28 day cruise to Hawaii and the French Polynesian Islands.

As always, I had my trusty camera with me and took the momentous picture when we accomplished the above.

 This is what the crossing of the equator looked like.

 The crossing of the international date line.

  And the Spring Equinox. 

Traditionally there is a ceremony for sailors or mariners who cross the equator for the first time. And so the crew members of the MS Eurodam were summoned by King Neptune and her Highness Amphitrite to undergo the "hazing" to become Shellbacks. During the ceremony, the Pollywogs undergo a number of increasingly embarrassing ordeals. (However the ordeals were tamed down as it was witnessed by the whole ship's crew and passengers). 

King Neptune and her Highness Amphitrite

King Neptune or her Highness Amphitrite would read a Pollywog's "offense," then the Shellback assistants would drag him over to Davey Jones.

 Davey Jones (ship's captain John Scott) and his assistants (ship officers) would pronounce the sentence.

They could be slimed.

 They could be operated upon. Then dumped into the pool. All of the pollywogs were dumped into the pool after their sentencing procedure. The pool was a mess. 

 The "tamest" procedure was  a terrible haircut by the person sitting on the right in a white coat. However, the haircut was generally in conjunction with another ordeal.

It was a fun day. A historic day. And another day at sea,.

Update

If it "ain't" one thing it is another. Just as Christine's shoulder replacement was getting better, I had a recurrent hernia repair operation. Doing much better but still limited to lifting about 20 pounds. As some may recall, Christine and I have electric bikes now. They weight about 40 pounds each. Small problem.

While the northeast was snowed in, we in San Angelo got a break in weather and it hit 80 on Tuesday. We wanted to try to get in a ride before the weather closed back in, so with teamwork, Christine and I lifted the bikes onto the rack, and we took off. I was uncomfortable with parts of my body and Christine discovered she wasn't as recovered as she would have liked with her left shoulder/arm. At about 5 miles she said let's turn around. Wasn't a total loss. We now have ridden 10 miles this year!

With confidence that our bodies will continue to heal and improve, I am in the process of signing up for 2019 tours. Due to previous plans, our first formal tour will be all the way into April. I am hoping to schedule at least one tour per month through September. Eager to get started.