Saturday, 17 Feb 2018 – Since
we slept so late this morning, the café was closed and we ate breakfast at the
Waves Grill. After swimming, we went for
lunch at the café, where we sat with Brenda and Bob.
Later,
as we were getting ready to go to dinner, the captain announced that sea
conditions wouldn’t be good for our docking at Nosy Be, Madagascar. Therefore, we would be skipping that port and
would proceed to the next one, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Meanwhile, we would be having another sea
day. Sally danced for joy, rejoicing in
having another day to relax before rising early! In our case, we would have had a 4.5-hour
tour, “A Glimpse of Nosy Be,” a very small island off the coast of Madagascar –
which didn’t really sound that exciting.
In the middle of the
day, we swam. And this evening we ate in
the Toscana Dining room with Canute and Julie, plus two other friends, Will and
Clyde, as pre-arranged. At least we
didn’t overeat as much as we did the last time we ate there!
Sunday, 18 Feb 2018 – We
had such a leisurely day that we barely made it to breakfast before the café
closed, and we didn’t do much better than that for lunch. However, we swam at about noon, when the deck
was extremely hot and several “standers” were in the pool, keeping cool while
they talked. (This was also only
possible because the sea was extremely calm.)
Somehow we managed to swim back & forth, using only as small a space
as possible. Except for some dancing
after dinner, that was our day.
The Insignia has stepped up its
sanitation procedures during the past week, and today made further changes in
the café. A third hand sanitizer was
added, and one staff member stands at the entrance reminding people to use the
sanitizer as they enter. Tablecloths are
no longer used; instead, the table is totally sanitized between guests. Although a smaller cream pitcher had sat on
each table in the morning, now it is poured by a server – who also asks if the
guest wishes sweetener, and if so, which kind, which is then brought to that
guest. It was reported that 1.9 percent
of passengers complained of virus-type symptoms (vomiting, diarrhea, etc.), and
we are all encouraged to use extra care.
Monday, 19 Feb 2018 – This morning we set our clocks early in preparation for going out on
our excursion today in Tanzania. As we
arrived back at our cabin after our early breakfast, we told our cabin
stewardess that we would be going out for an 8-hour excursion. She looked confused. Then she explained that this was going to be
an at-sea day as originally planned, and that we would be in Tanzania
tomorrow. Wow! Although we felt rather stupid (it would have
been a long swim today because the ship would not be docking!), Sally took it
in stride and crawled back under the covers and napped for two hours!
However, she had to get out of
bed by 10:15 to be in the hallway with other passengers for a second pirate
drill. We swam for a half hour before
enjoying lobster for dinner; then we danced for a half hour before retiring.
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