Steve and Cathy's Blog

Insignia Lounge

This is our fourth Sea Day in a row.  Every day, the Captain gets on the ship’s public address system at noon and gives our position, course and speed, sea state and depth, weather, and an estimate as to our arrival at our next port.  Then he signs off: “So see you around the ship.”  Which we won”t, of course.  I really get the impression that the bridge officers aren’t into dealing with us guests.  It’s an obligation that’s part of their job, but most of them want to run the ship, not play nice-nice with the passengers.

The position of the ship is 1,790 miles from Recife, and 750 or so miles to Lome’, Togo.  Room Service calls at 5:40, delivers our coffee, etc. at 5:45.  I open the door.  Cathy pulls the covers over her head as the steward comes in and drops off the tray.   This is a good way to start the day.

Cath gets up and we both enjoy our croissant and beverages.  No personal training session today, and it has rained, so the fitness track won’t yet be open, so we just mess around in the stateroom, somehow managing to kill an hour.  The new goodies are altering our schedule, so we don’t head up for breakfast until 7:30, and we opt for sitting at the stern of the ship out in the open at Terrace Cafe.  Cathy had a ratatouille frittata and (her usual) smoked salmon with onions and capers.  Steve has two hard boiled eggs, corned beef hash and bacon.  Another commitment – this one to eat a light breakfast – goes by the board.

Steve takes a 2-mile walk on the fitness track and goes to Horizons to check email and write and Cathy goes to Bible study and Needlepoint.  We meet back at the room around 10:00.  Steve has returned and is prone,  Cathy reads.  Went to lunch early at Waves.  Back for a nap.  Cathy gets a haircut.  Steve completes the post for yesterday.  By 4:00pm, we are both ready to join the rest of the ship, so we hit Baristas for cappuccino (Cathy) and cookies (Steve).

Then Cathy suggests that we look in on the Team Trivia activity in Insignia Lounge (the picture at the beginning of this post)  that is to begin at 4:30 which is hosted by Cruise Director Leslie Jon.  We are going to be spectators, not participants.  There must be at least ten teams, each with six to eight members and each with a clever name for their team that they made up.  One is named Around the World Babes, and our friends Paula and Margie are on that one.  Leslie explains that he has moved Team Trivia, which is played every day, from 4:15 to 4:30, so that people don’t have to rush from Afternoon Tea to attend.  Hmmm, such conflicts would not present themselves to Steve and Cathy, I’m afraid.  At any rate, Leslie gives fifteen questions.  Sitting in the back, Cathy and Steve get 10 of them correct, although we sorta kinda might have fudged a bit on a couple of the questions.

At 5:45, there is the Oceania Club Cocktail Party Part II that we decide to skip.  We are waiting for dinner.  Cathy finishes her second needlepoint project, and Steve is writing this post. Yes, I am now writing about the day on the same day.  Probably because it’s the quietest day we have had so far.

As you can see, this will be a short post, so let’s have an update on the continuing Saga of Togo Yellow Fever Protection.  When we last visited this subject, your humble correspondents had spoken with the Concierge and declined his offer of shots for $124 each in favor of just sitting the day out on the ship while it is in Togo.  No shot, no able to visit Togo.  That’s the end of it.  But no, that isn’t the end of it!  After more communication with the officials of Togo, a deal is in the offing.  If you have a letter of exemption from your doctor, you can go.  Check.  If you have a yellow vaccination certificate, you can go.  Check.  But now there’s more.  If you are willing to pay the government of Togo a $50 penalty, they will overlook the fact that you may have acquired yellow fever and will allow you to visit their country.  So when it’s all said and done, the fact is that Togo perhaps hopes to pick up a few bucks because yellow fever is not as prevalent as all of this confusion would lead one to believe.

We head for dinner in the Grand Dining Room and get in line right behind Catherine and George.  Cathy met Catherine at the daily needlepoint event.  She and George are originally from Scotland, lived in Tasmania (island off the coast of Australia) for thirty years where she taught primary school children and George was a contractor, and now live back in Scotland in a retirement community.  They are very pleasant and interesting people, so we join them for dinner.

As we dine, we learn about how extensive their travels have been.  The one Steve is most interested in is a two-week trip on the Trans-Siberian Express from Moscow to Vladivostok.  Actually, it is a set of five railroad cars attached to the end of the Trans-Siberian, and the cars are dropped off at various stations enroute.  The tour is arranged by an outfit named Golden Eagle (I’m writing all this so I can remember to check this out).

So we have a very entertaining dinner.  They head off to the entertainment available in Insignia Lounge pictured in the photo that heads up this post).  We head off to bed, as we have to move the clocks ahead an hour yet again.  At least, that’s today’s excuse for our skipping the activities that will continue until midnight.