Tuesday, November 8, 2016
At Sea
Forecast for today is a chance of rain with a high of 66 degrees.
Sunrise was at 7:00 am and sunset was at 5:44 pm
We are preparing for our transatlantic crossing as the ship’s clocks were set back one hour at 2:00 am this morning. It was nice to gain an hour’s sleep.
We receive live television from several stations that feature news: Fox News, CNN, CNBC, and BBC. It has been easy to keep up with the news about the election in the United States. People on board ship have been been pretty quiet about the election up until now. We imagine that the elections will come into conversations today and tomorrow when the results are known.
The Captain has reminded passengers to wash their hands regularly with soap and water, but it seems that over the last two days, there has been an increase in the number of reported cases of gastrointestinal illness which are strongly suggestive of norovirus. The ship is now on Code Red which means more work for the crew as they have to thoroughly disinfect surfaces on the ship several times a day. Plastic wrap is now wrapped around any opening in the Lido Market so that passengers can not touch any food items. Crew members have been commissioned to work additional hours in the Lido Market handing out food items. Lilly, one of the hostesses in the Pinnacle Grill is now using tongs to put pieces of pizza on passengers’ plates. The salt and pepper shakers have disappeared as well as the cream and sugar, butter, and bread baskets. Waiters in the Lido can not bring drinks to the tables. Passengers in the Lido must line up for water, coffee, ice tea, and lemonade. After the last 10 o’clock show, we even saw the singers and dancers helping to disinfect by washing down the walls in the Mainstage Theatre. Crew taking trays to staterooms where ill passengers have been confined wear protective outfits that make them look like they are about to go through a hatch in an orbiting spacecraft. Our Captain and Chief Medical Office Dr. Grant Tarling are seriously tying to keep any GI illness from spreading and get us out of Code Red as soon as possible. We ate all three meals today in the Vista Dining Room. It seems safer and a lot easier to be served than try to navigate the Lido Market. Of course, we prefer the dining room to the Lido Market even without a Code Red..
There is lots going on today on board the Oosterdam. We had two lectures in the Mainstage Theatre this morning. Dr. Stephen Mings continued with his topic of Portuguese Discovery & Settlement and Dr. Stephen Sloan talked about the challenges created as a result of mass migration. There is a cooking show and a navigational chart update with the Navigation Officers who will be charting our progress across the Atlantic Ocean. There is a sign up for a shipbuilding competition, several digital workshops, an art auction, Bridge, Mah Jongg, and tie tying as a creative craft. Linda, our Location Guide gave a presentation on our next port of call.
We had a lazy day and watched a movie in our stateroom. Elvis & Nixon was pretty entertaining. We also managed some time out on the balcony. This morning we watched the sun rise. Before we showered and dressed for dinner, we saw the sun set from our balcony. The sky and ocean are ever changing when viewed from a cruise ship and fascinating to watch.
Clue for tomorrow’s port of call: This capital city is on an island in an archipelago in the north Atlantic Ocean located 540 miles southwest of Lisbon, Portugal and about 360 miles directly west of Morocco, Africa.
Granbytravels 