At Sea

 Friday, 16 Dec 2011 – This morning, we shared breakfast with fellow Cruise Critics, Becky and Larry, from Council Bluffs, IA.   They gave us a few tips on possibly reducing airline flight costs.  They also stayed in Tuscany (Italy) for a week before the cruise. 

During lunch, the ship’s captain announced that he had turned the ship back to search for a missing crew member.  Recordings from the ship’s security cameras showed the young man jumping from the rear of the ship.  Maritime law required the ship to return to the location of the incident and search for the crew member.  The Captain informed us that we would not be allowed to return to our voyage until we were released by the local Maritime Rescue Coordination Center.  Incidentally, the story is being told that the young man was involved in a love triangle – and apparently lost – which was enough to trigger his jump.

At 1:30 pm, we attended a Cruise Critic’s “Meet & Greet” with an optional gift exchange.  Although we did not participate in the exchange, it was fun watching the others “fight over” the gifts.  The most sought after (& fought over) gifts were those provided by a couple from Israel.

Tonight, we enjoyed our second formal dinner and, afterwards, more dancing with the Grooveline.

At 10:00 pm, the ship’s captain announced that they had completed their search for the missing crew member and had failed to find any sign of the ship’s “casualty.”  He also stated that the ship had been released by the local maritime rescue authorities, and that we would be resuming our voyage to Recife, Brazil.  The captain also asked that we keep the missing crew member in our thoughts and prayers.   Sally and I would have been very surprised if they had found the young man alive, or his body.

 

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            Thursday, 15 Dec 2011 – We crossed into another time zone last night, so we got an extra hour of sleep.   We shared breakfast with a fellow Cruise Critic, Marilyn, from upper New York State (but recently moved to Cape Cod, Mass.).   She demonstrated her I-pad to us, which we found very informative; however, at least for now, we plan to stick with out laptop for travel.   Marilyn also gave us information on river cruise lines that we might be interested in investigating.   After breakfast, we attended a lecture on “Restless Oceans,” by marine geologist, Randy Ashley.   Sally found it very interesting, but Jesse slept through the entire lecture.   After dinner, we enjoyed more dancing with the Grooveline.