Tuesday, January 25, 2011

@Sea–Another Down Day and a Code-Red Alert

We went to sleep early last night…like 9:30pm and didn’t wake up until around 8am.  Wow!!!!  That’s unheard of for us.  It was probably the slight rocking and rolling from the ship.  It makes one very sleepy. 

We received an announcement from the Captain.  I knew it wasn’t good news as they broadcasted right into our cabins.  Loud and clear.  Apparently, there was an increase in passengers developing the noro-virus symptoms.  Not good.  Typically, when they make an announcement like this, it’s affected at least 10% of the passengers.  So, “code-red” went into effect early this morning.  The crew was out in full force, washing and wiping down the handrails, bannisters, door handles, elevator buttons, etc.  In the Horizon Court buffet, the crew was handling the serving spoons and dishing out the food for us.  We were told “do not touch anything in the buffet line”!  Of course, a few elderly folks disobeyed and proceeded to grab the serving spoons.  Dear hubby caught an elderly lady in the act and gave her a lecture.  She walked away in a rush…guilty of course.

The buffet dining tables were bare.  No salt and pepper shakers.  No utensils, no mugs, and no glassware on the tables.  This is how the cruise line handles and controls the spread of the virus.  Salt and pepper packets were out in baskets.  When we approached the buffet food area, we were handed a plate and utensils.  At the table, the crew took our drink orders.  Once we were done eating, the crew removes everything from the table and wipes it down. 

I’m sure we’ll be in “code-red” until we get off the ship on Thursday.  I’m also sure that the crew will be doing a thorough scrub down of “everything” before the next cruisers come on board.

I really feel for the crew members when “code-red” goes into effect for them.  They are already tired and many have dual duties/tasks and now have to do extra work to scrub everything or to work extra shifts in the food areas. 

It was a sunny day and we spent some time on our balcony.  It was hot, like Caribbean hot.  We also spent time on the Promenade deck watching the waves go by. 

Tonight was formal night in the dining rooms.  There were lots of folks dressed to the nines and some dressed casually.  That would be us, casual folks.  We ate dinner in Caribe Café and then headed down to Plaza-Deck 5 to get some desserts at the International Café.  Then we headed all the way up to the Lido-Deck 15 to catch a movie at MUTS. 

BTW, we’ve been getting a good workout using the stairs. 

Around 10pm, we headed back to our cabin to find that our cruise card didn’t work.  The light would turn from green to red.  Déjà vu for us.  On our last cruise (2 years ago), we ran into the same problem the last night of our cruise.  The battery to the cabin lock had died.  So, I ran down to Promenade-Deck 7 to visit the Purser’s Desk and let them know of our issue. 

Instead of waiting around for the night service manager to show up and fix our door, we ran up to Lido-Deck 15 to get a slice of pizza. 

We were back in our cabin by 10:30pm. 

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