December 6 - Western Atlantic

The boat is starting take a slightly more northerly course.  We’re about 2/3 of the way between the Canary Islands and Fort Lauderdale.  The waves are about 3 meters in height but the ride has not been too rough.  Today I saw our first form of civilization, outside of the ship, in three days.  I saw a jet contrail heading towards the southwest.  We are not alone.

Captain Tasos is a becoming a rock star.  He is easily the most accessible and entertaining captain of any cruise ship we’ve been on.  His approach is also reflected in how his staff perform their jobs.

Each day there is a lecture by various speakers on topics as diverse as the daily life in the White House or ancient history.  Usually the theater is about ¼ full but today the Captain held a Q&A session on how the ship is run and the auditorium was packed with 1,000 people to hear his explanations, which he delivered with his usual mix of intelligence and humour.

After the lecture, the staff held their talent show.  As usual with these types of shows it was a mix of good singers and bad comedy.  At the end several members of the bridge came out and danced a Greek folk dance.  About half way through Captain Tasos joined them on stage and brought the house down.  The loyalty of his passengers is amazing to see.

In the trivia challenge today we finished 3^rd  but we are too far behind the leaders to catch up with only two rounds left.  Maybe next time.

Marg passed on dinner tonight.  She still is feeling ill and didn’t feel up to leaving the room and instead order in room service.

I went to the evening show, which was a London West end musical theatre star named Lindsey Hamilton.  You have to remember that they use the term star very loosely.  She had a good voice but her selection of songs was very predictable.

Sometimes reality has a way of interjecting itself into the present.  At dinner tonight there was a group of passengers sitting next to us, who were dressed up in bizarre / fancy hats and costumes.  They were having a good time.  During dessert we heard a distress call over the ship’s intercom for an emergency in the dining room.  It turned out one of the passengers in that group was having a heart attack.  We have no idea what his condition is but it didn’t look promising.


More photos from Celebrity Constellation