Bits and Pieces

As we set out for a three day series of sea days (yep, we have a lot of those on this journey; only nine port days out of 27 days), I thought I would make note of some observations that probably are not worthy of a full blog post, but are nonetheless things we have taken note of. So, in no particular order:

We think the tour we had yesterday in India was probably one of the best shore excursions we have ever done. It was long-eight hours-and it became quite hot later in the day, and we would have liked more than one bathroom break, but the visit to the village on the river and the river cruise on the non-motorized poled boat was a real treat. I definitely will have to come back after the trip and add photos to the post.

Speaking of which, it took over 30 minutes to upload that one photo yesterday, so pictures and high-data items are just going to have to wait. I am just thankful we have texting and basic WiFi available.

Today we have a Pirate Drill. Seriously. We are crossing close to Somalia in two days, so we must perform a drill in case of attack. The ship has begun rigging fire hoses, closed off the lower aft open areas with locked metal panels, and posted warning banners usually only seen while docked. We are told we must all return to our cabins and close our curtains and turn off all lights; further details to be given at the time of the drill. So far in 2019 there have only been two piracy attempts, both thwarted and neither on a cruise ship. Both have been near the entry to the Red Sea, which is still several days off.

Tom noticed we have three distinct geographical and climatic destinations on this cruise. The first was Asia-Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and the Indian Ocean. Tropical, lush, hot, humid and green. Now we transition to desert-Dubai, Oman, Petra, the Straights of Hormuz, the Red Sea. Last will come the Mediterranean-Greece, Malta, Sicily, Italy.

Trivia is so popular that that one must arrive early to get a seat in the Club Fusion. The Cruise Director has added further sessions, including some specialized subjects, such as “What was the Verdict?” where teams of twelve must revisit actual legal cases. We got 4of5 cases right. And in tonight’s trivia, called Sherlock Holmes, our team won with 43 out of 45 points on observational, logic and deductive reasoning.

OSHA does not exist in India. We visited two ‘factories’ which were both poorly lit, had crowded and narrow makeshift walkways, had whirling machinery fan-belts which could easily ensnare anyone walking by (no covers or barriers), had cobbled floors with random boards laid over holes and rocks, and generally would never been seen in our country, even in a makeshift garage endeavor. The factories made fine woven cotton cloth and coconut products-oil, coir, and rope. And the workers were happy to have their jobs and welcomed us to their workplaces. You won’t believe the pictures when they get posted.

The ship is full of Australians, and some of them have nearly unintelligible accents. We’ve sat at dinner a few times and had total blank looks on our faces at some of the conversations, which made absolutely no sense to either of us. We just smile and hope the next subject is something we can figure out.

Only Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with green clothing and/or blingy plastic necklaces. The rest of the ship passengers think this is rather odd behavior.