VALENTINE’S DAY
Woke a little after 6 and went outside where it was very
windy but with a mild humid temperature. There is no Princess flag (the sea
witch) on the pole on the front. I wonder if they take it down when we are out
of port.
Destination Lecture
Cairns (pronounced Kanz) is our next port day after
tomorrow. The speaker gave a good overview of the place and it brought back
many temporarily lost memories of the park, train, cable car and such.
Documentary
At various points, the staff who us documentaries they have
prepared about the areas we are travelling through. Today it was on this are of
Australia. The interviewees are very knowledgeable and I believe you see things
you would otherwise not know about.
Renewal of Vows
The Princess Harmony Choir (all passengers) sang Love me
Tender and then the Captain did the renewal of vows for the couples on board.
It was cute and nicely done. Most people wore red, white or pink.
Dining Room
Is festooned with lots of red, pink and white balloons, and
the other customary plentiful Valentine’s Day decorations. There is a pastry
display in the bar near the dining room with the most elaborate hearts, cakes
and such decorated with clearly hours of detailed chef’s time. So gorgeous.
At lunch Oscar came around dressed as a huge puffy heart
giving everyone big hugs.
Reef Pilot
We always enjoy these guys. The ship must have pilots when
going through many areas of the world and each port. Each one’s talks are
different and cover different topics. The speaker today is originally from
Scotland and attended maritime school with our current captain 27 years ago.
The presentation including much information with photos of
how being a reef pilot works. Their hours are limited. They are under close scrutiny
by the Australian government. They travel by small ship, helicopter, small
planes, etc. they serve all kinds of sea vessels. Some of their stations are as
much as 10 miles off shore where they live on small islands with many bedrooms
and pets that everyone enjoys. One dog, Marley, likes to take on sharks and
sting rays and has the scars to prove it. Another station has a cat named
George who has his own captain’s hat.
When on a ship for a long period of time, they have regular
sleep breaks and he showed us some photos of the “accommodations” which
appeared to be a broom closet, hospital bed, all the way to a nice cabin. The
chefs in all instances want to be hospitable so they outdo themselves to feed
the pilots while they are on board. They serve ships that have staff from 12 to
several hundred, and bridges that will barely hold two people, to large ships
with a huge (by comparison) bridge.
Getting onto the vessels can be ridiculous as they must
climb a ladder and the maintenance on some of these ladders is questionable. He
shared some photos of many of them including one being held by two Chinese sailors!
In the future they required the end of the ladder to be shackled to the deck.
When climbing up in the dark, it can be very dicey.
All in all it was fascinating and a view of an area of work
about which we knew very little.
Trivia
Was miserable! The staff who did it today is leaving us in
Cairns and this was her revenge: everything being said in a sweet voice. She
read a quote from a movie and we had to guess the movie and the name of the
actor who said it. We got 8 out of 40 but the winners only got 11. They damned
well earned it. Everyone was sitting there with a basset hound face. Ha.
Formal night
Ed ordered a corsage and buttoner. They said they couldn’t
do it but they did pull something together. It is our 33rd wedding anniversary
so the Ship put a sign and balloons on our door, and left a greeting card for
us. At dinner, Lucian brought over a special dessert (we were already full) and
had a cute way of presenting it. Then he told us he’d have it sent to our
cabin. Thank goodness but I need no more sweets.
We had formal photos taken again as well. Just as well, they
are paid for and we had all our finery on.
We passed on the entertainment however, it is the nice young
man from the other evening. If it was his cousin we would have shown up.
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