Vancouver Eh 2014: Sth Pacific

Sea Days. Days 23 to 28.

5 Sea days were lovely!!!! As they always are.

Lots of food, sleep, plenty to drink, shopping, lots of towel animals.

This one is the best!

These are not the fastest nor most focused barmen we have ever had in the Concierge Lounge. At times we decided that it must have been a self serve bar. Carlos was our designated pourer that night.

They had a really good deal on Michael Kors watches. The CL girls all supported this deal well. We were the loosers with only two new watches each!.

And there is always lots o Deep and Meaningful conversation in the lounge.

And many great dinners. Our group was fun. Every night at about 8.25pm someone would say "so....Where are we going for dinner?" We usually made it there by about 8.45!!!

The Crab Shack got a few more nights.

And Sarah was back to herself.

Liar's Club is a fun late night activity. A panel of 4 - all senior officers are given a word from the dictionary. They give us their' definition and we vote on the correct one.

The Panel......

The Captain

Terrence, the Head of Inventory

Marius, the Head of Hotel

And of course Juan Diego!!!!

Sounds all very straight forward - but these guys have a flair for stretching, twisting and outright lying. There is usually a fair bit of smut and connotation thrown in.

And where else can you boo, cheer and call the Captain a Liar?

Of course we were a very quiet and well behaved section f the audience.

The seas began to get a bit rough. That lovely calm sea was not as lovely. Only about 5 metres but still enough to worry some.

The people who paid for ocean view rooms on Deck 2 sure got an ocean view. I think they saw fish! Storm covers went on not long after. Huge metal plates that are bolted on!

In A discussion with Andrew and Judy from Bundaberg, it came up that he had been an Ambo. "Gee, do you know Matt Steer?" "Yes he was my training officer."

How funny. Half way across the word - in the middle of nowhere - we have mutual friends!

Pierre the barman calls these my 'Kiddie Cocktails' as I said I wanted my soft rink to look like a grownups drink.

Another Lunch with the Officers was fun. We sat with Marius and his best-y (who was off on medical leave and cruising). we talked about travelling mainly and shared adventures. Their South America stories won - must have been the Tarantula ones.

During lunch the seas got bigger and bigger. And the winds stronger and stronger.

By mid afternoon (the time we had scheduled for our 'champagne in a someones cabin each day time) we had winds of 100 knots (Hurricane is 75) and seas of up to 20-30 feet (7-10 metres). All the decks were closed so we had to take photos on the Bridge Cam TV. We played 'WaveCam'. We would watch the wave on the TV as the wave hit then turn around and watch it white out pst our windows at mid ship. Much fun. Some waves were hitting the camera - on top of the bridge so deck 11.

When a second big wave hit the bridge window - they cancelled the bridge tour and sent everyone out!!!!

The sea even knocked the internet out by doing something to the antenna The giant white balls on top of the ship!

Decks 5, 12 and 13 were closed. You could still walk around on 11 near the pool (that of course was empty. Anything not roped down was sliding around.

I went for a wander around on deck 11 - between the two pool area. The noise was amazing. I have never heard it like that before. Absolutly screaming around all the super structures. The next day there were people up ladders tightening bolts that had wiggled!

I ventured up the staircase towards deck 12 and stuck my head up, but when I saw the wind (cause you COULD SEE the wind) and saw that no one else was there, I stuck my head back down very quickly! it was amazing.

I walked inside and hard a huge bang!. Nothing much - just a lift jumping it's tracks. but no drama. It was only 300mm off the floor.