Another warm day (as is to be expected) but a shock to the system. A Dawn Nomad’s breakfast at 8:15am! We also celebrated Norm’s 75th birthday. I think this is the first time we have ever had a breakfast in the main dining room. Apart from the company, which was of course excellent, you are battling a limited menu compared to the buffet and the quantities are carefully controlled (meaning, too small for me!). I had a portion of papaya, that was small, a very small glass of tomato juice, two small blueberry pancakes with maple syrup and a dab of cream, plus a small cup of the terrible ship’s coffee. In a nutshell, it held few attractions for us and our allegiance to the breakfast buffet has not been swayed one iota!
Just two of us for trivia so by now you should be able to guess the result.
We managed coffee in the atrium with Norm, Marion, Trevor and Tina, to keep us going until what turned out to be more of an afternoon tea than late lunch. I managed to shun the waffles (yes, they are around at afternoon tea) in favour of what was a very nice toasted sandwich. Choose your own bread and fillings and a few minutes later, there it is. This may have been our first time availing ourselves of this service, but it won’t be the last.
Afternoon trivia followed the usual pattern - then we had the ships announcement. Each time Captain Pickford picks up the mike, it appears to be bad news. Now Israel has been declared unsafe, so the recently substituted Ashdod stop has been cancelled, but instead, we get Athens (again – as we call there on the return).
Table seven are planning a sit in protest in the atrium, demanding Cyprus instead!
As was to be expected, one or two people were jumping up and down, accusing Princess of being a “Mickey Mouse” outfit and “why don’t they change the route?…” Maybe they need to consult an atlas. We certainly wouldn’t want to go right around Africa! We were all well aware of the situation in Egypt before we left so most of these changes weren’t at all unexpected.
Talk amongst several is that on the return, Salalah could also be canned, but there is then speculation about adding another Indian port, just to annoy me!
After dinner, off to another production show “Best of British”. As usual, very well done, even though we have now seen it about three or four times. Then Mark made the announcement that we’d be proceeding through the Suez Canal immediately, as a tug had sunk at the top end of the canal and if we didn’t get a move on and go straight through, there was a danger we’d be delayed, so the company had no option.
Afterwards, several irate passengers seemed to have cruise director Mark baled up, but his trusty assistants were close by – Corey, Marcus, Tom and Nando! You have to feel very sorry for Mark as dumb passengers were wanting to know why the captain wasn’t standing outside the theatre fronting up. The fact that his place is on the bridge steering this floating hotel, seemed to have passed them by.
It is times like these when you realise how dumb, illogical, rude and downright stupid some passengers really are. In 2011, Captain Todd came on the PA the day after this sort of hiccup and said that if any passengers were confrontational with his staff again, he’d have no hesitation whatever in putting them off the ship at the next port. This announcement was met by thunderous applause and cheers and maybe Captain Pickford needs to do the same.
Out on deck seven and also up on 12, 14 and 15, there were hundreds of passengers outside at midnight as we entered the lower end of the canal. A great atmosphere and hopefully the grumpy ones were tucked up in bed, seething to themselves or more than likely, composing letters of complaint to Princess. Maybe they need to look at where the real problems are and count their blessings. Whilst they are swanning along in well fed luxury, others are fearing for their lives or starving to death.
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