14 April, 2018 En route to Port-Louis, Mauritius

Good afternoon to all our friends who have endured the lengthy time between postings in this blog. Thank you for persisting! It is just that our days are so full, whether in port or at sea. That's a good thing, right?

It's been a busy week, with a bit of drama, which I will explain in a bit.

7 April, en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka. This represented the first day without any internet. Evidently, Carnival House UK had a massive outage, and whether it was from a Microsoft upgrade that was installed without testing, or malware, all the ships and booking capabilities in the UK were affected. We have become so dependent upon internet to keep in touch and to do business, that it really was anxiety producing. I couldn't check if any clients had emailed with questions or concerns, and I wasn't able to touch base with friends and family. Needless to say, we were eagerly looking forward to Sri Lanka for many reasons. One of the primary reasons was a planned visit with our dear friend, Anne Fasfous, who was flying from Dubai to join Crystal Serenity in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She had invited us onboard and we were very excited to see Anne and other friends among the guests, staff and crew on our favorite ship. As you can see, when you make plans, God laughs. The highlight of this day was lunch with new friends, Lesley and Brian. Lesley is “Safari Girl” on the Cruise Critic Website, and they joined the ship in Singapore. We had planned to get together earlier, but I was sick with the Cunard Crud and we had to postpone it. We had a lovely lunch and lots of great conversation. Lesley and Brian grew up in Africa, and are experts in the safari experience, and I had lots of questions. We began talking about our careers, and in the small world department, Brian knows our good friend, Lee in Memphis. Both Lesley and Brian are physicians, with Brian specializing in oncology. Lee is an oncologist and they knew each other through their field. (when we were in Sri Lanka, I had email through T-Mobile and immediately emailed Lee, who sent big regards to Brian.

8 April, en route to Colombo, Sri Lanka. Sundays there are always interdenominational maritime church services conducted by the Captain. Although we haven't attended, the feedback is positive. Tonight's entertainment was Welsh comedian, Ivor Richards. He was dreadful, and it just wasn't the difference between US and British humor. Entertainment is one of the weak points on this Cunard World Cruise. There are no name entertainers, and many repeats of acts that transcend language since we have so many guests who do not speak English. I've never seen so many acrobat acts! Just to give you a sampling of the different nationalities represented among the guests on board on this segment:

Argentina 2

Australia 508

Austria 7

Bahamas 2

Belgium 2

Brazil 63

Canada 61

China 2

Egypt 2

France 15

Germany 67

Hong Kong 9

Iceland 4

Ireland 10

Italy 3

Japan 14

Malaysia 10

Netherlands 8

New Zealand 18

Norway 1

Philippines 1

Poland 2

Portugal 3

Romania 1

Russian Federation 4

Singapore 7

South Africa 52

Spain 14

Sri Lanka 4

Sweden 2

Switzerland 20

Thailand 2

Ukraine 1

United Kingdom 775

United States 185

Of course, this varies segment to segment. During our time in Asia, there were many more guests from Japan, Korea and China. I love the mix! The US population onboard has always remained under 200.

Monday, 9 April Colombo, Sri Lanka. Wow! This city is one of amazing contrasts, and a variety of religions, cultures, fragrances and smells, wealth and poverty, old and new. We had a private Tuk Tuk tour arranged by our friend Evana (thank you, Evana!) It was a Tuk Tuk safari of the main sites in Sri Lanka. For those of you unfamiliar with a Tuk Tuk, please google it to see how exposed and vulnerable one is! We were to take a taxi to the Galle Face Hotel, where the tour would begin. The hotel was gorgeous! It was an extremely elegant old hotel with spreading lawns down to the beach. One hour in the lobby and use their internet. There were about 14 of us on the tour, 2 per Tuk Tuk. The plan was for us to take the tour until 12:30 and then take a taxi to Crystal Serenity. That did not happen. Our Tuk Tuk tour began on time, with our driver/guide slicing off the top of a coconut and giving us a straw to savor fresh coconut milk. He also presented me with a beautiful lei---and then we were off. It was rather like the old US cartoon show “Wacky Races.” We hung on to the bar in front off us and our driver wove in and out of traffic. Just a word: nobody stays in a lane or on their side of the road. There are no traffic rules. There are much larger vehicles on the road, too. Trucks, cars, vans and other Tuk Tuks, and an occasional oxcart! At some point I stopped praying and went into an acceptance state. I am very glad that I did not know that over 1000 people die in road traffic accidents in Colombo every year until we returned to the ship. We had a great tour of the city: a beautiful Hindu temple, a huge Hindu temple (a woman from the ship was complaining that we had to remove our shoes in the temples—jeez!) We went to the spice market, the vegetable market and the busiest market street in Colombo, where what appeared to be thousands of people shopping with merchandise piled on the streets or spilling out of little shops. The spices and fresh vegetables had tantalizing odors, the garbage did not. We saw sleek, modern trains and commuter trains that looked like boxcars with windows with people hanging off the sides. Our guide said that Sri Lanka is very much like India, and indeed, it is only 18 miles from India at its closest point. This has only made me want to see and experience India even more. Two interesting points: one---it was hot. No, it was hotter than hot, with 100% humidity and a real feel of 103 degrees! Two, the Buddhist temple was very interesting on a lot of levels. There was a huge, old bodhi tree, and we were encouraged to water its roots after walking around it three times. The faithful give gifts to the temple, but the gifts are displayed, not turned into funds. We saw thousands of donated watches, old cars including a Rolls Royce, ivory, ornate carved furniture, gemstones: diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, semi precious stones and one lone Snoopy oornament

Our tour was shorter than the others so that we could go to Serenity and see Anne. However, Anne's flight arrived at 8:30 am and she did not board the ship until almost 1 pm. Serenity was docked at a different port. The gate her driver was given was incorrect and they lost almost an hour at the gate. When they finally reached the correct dock and gate, the driver was not allowed in and Anne had to wait with her luggage for a port shuttle bus. We were told that there was a shuttle to Crystal Serenity from the same spot that Cunard's shuttle drop off was---wrong! We waiting 45 minutes only to find out that was incorrect information. Meanwhile, Anne and I are texting each other. Anne finally made it on board and told us that all ashore was 3 pm. We were at least 30 minutes from the ship, and it was after 1:30. Sadly, we had to forgo our visit. Poor Anne traveled all that way to meet us, because, although we are great friends and message each other almost every day, we have not met in person. We were all terribly disappointed...

10 April En route to Port Victoria Seychelles. Today was the “Night of the Raj Ball” and the Queens Room was decorated with banners depicting elephants and temples. Quite a few people were dressed in sari's or turbans. One of Cunard's traditions is themed balls. I thought I would give you an idea of the schedule on this segment (all the theme nights are formal, black tie for the men and long gowns or cocktail dresses for the women):

April 4, 5, 6 informal (jacket for the gentlemen and dressy outfits for the ladies)

April 7 Cunard Ball

April 8, 9 informal

April 10 Night of the Raj

April 11, 12, 13 informal

April 14 Big Band Night

April 15, 16, 17 informal

April 18 Roaring 20's Night

April 19 informal

April 20 African Ball

April 21, 22, 23 informal

Formal, themed nights are almost always on sea days. Not as many people as I hoped dress up in themed outfits, but some do and it is great to see them.

Meanwhile, we have dined twice in this segment at the pop-up specialty restaurants. This is our second time for each restaurant, and the Lido is transformed into an intimate upscale dining area. Service is exceptional and the food is very good. It is reasonable priced at $19.95 per couple. My favorite is Coriander, which is Indian. We dined there again with our dear friends Lin and Bryan. Our second evening was again at La Piazza, the Italian restaurant, and this time our Trivia partners, Michael and Pat joined the four of us. Speaking of Trivia. We continue to miss by one point!! Always a bridesmaid, never a bride!!

11 April, en route to Port Victoria. The Captain's noon announcement was sobering. We were transiing an area of the Indian Ocean known to be an elevated risk of pirate activity. Cunard had taken precautions to ensure our safety, and we were given instructions of what to do if there was any actual piracy activity:

Between the 11^th of April and the 13^th of April, the ship would require all outer decks to be closed to guests after dark. All windows should have their drapes closed, all balcony doors locked.. Unnecessary cabin lights should be extinguished. What we noticed: security personnel patrolled all the open decks, both day and night with binoculars. Other equipment was at the ready.

In the event of actual piracy activity, an announcement would be made from the bridge and guests in window or balcony cabins were to leave their cabins, closing the doors behind them and sit on the floor or a chair away from the door. Cabin stewards were to lock the cabin doors from the outside. Those guests in inside cabins were to remain in their cabins.

A Royal Navy Liaison Officer was on board to assist the Captain. Fortunately, we cleared the area without any incidents, but it was comforting to know that Cunard took this very seriously.

12 April, en route to Port Victoria. This was a relaxing day. I finished another book and David finished his. We played Trivia and met Brian and Lin for cocktails in the Commodore Club. One of the highlight lecturers was Jennie Bond, Royal broadcaster, who was a reporter assigned to the Royal Family. Lots of insight and bit of dishy gossip!

13 April Port Victoria, Seychelles. We all know who is in charge—Mother Nature! We booked a tour “Beach Break” which was to take us to a hotel to use their pool and beach. This was not to be. Our guide and driver decided to give us an extended drive to the hotel to see Seychelles scenery. Unfortunately, the trip was one hour and ten minutes, while all the other buses on this tour went directly to the hotel in ten minutes. When we arrived at the hotel, the beach chairs were all taken already and the sky looked ominous. We had 5 minutes to stand in the water before the skies opened up and the rain bucketed down. This was no tropical shower—it was a deluge, that lasted over 2 hours. Everything was flooded at the hotel! Our friends, Randall and Bobby sat in the sand holding small black umbrellas over their heads. By the time we got back to the ship, it had cleared a bit, and we did go out to walk around. Hopefully, Mauritius and Reunion will be better.

Signing off for now—it's formal night and Lin and Bryan are coming for drinks before dinner!