Usually my ramblings begin midmorning or breakfast time at the earliest. Today I must start shortly after midnight. There is the first Alpha call heard throughout the ship. Alpha is the code word for medical emergency on Royal and most other cruise ships. No details, there seldom are.
At 3:00 AM the ships speed changes, and we make a sharp turn. Shortly it is announced we are headed back to Bermuda.
This time it is a passenger needing hospital attention. The process will be different. The parties will be loaded into a lifeboat and transferred to shore. The operation is completed by about 8:00 AM and again we resume our course to the Azores.
The ship is now travelling in excess of 21 knots, very near the top speed for the vessel. The captain is still confident we will arrive on time.
By mid day the seas have grown to 12 to 15 feet. The stabilizers are out, and the ship is rolling about +/- 2 degrees as the waves are directly on the the side of the ship. The worst direction for a smooth ride.
It appears there was a last minute substitution for the presenters of the enrichment program. They have advertised one person, but another has been giving talks. Public speaking is definitely not in the tool box of the presenter.
A murder mystery movie in the theater turns out to be a good choice for the afternoon.
Yesterday I noticed my account was blocked from making any reservations. I have been thinking about "The Book", but haven't booked it yet. Most likely I won't. But I digress. Even the usual of logging out and logging back in wouldn't fix my blocked account. Guest relations wasn't busy, and they were able to quickly fix the problem.
Speaking of "the system" we had received several notices on our door from security and houskeeping about leaving our scooter in the hallway. A definite safety hazard as the hallways are barely wide enough for two passing people. The problem with this is that we don't have a scooter, but the system says we did. Turns out the scotter belongs with a cabin several doors down the hall. Our cabin steward was able to rectify it. We stopped getting messages, and the scooter wasn't being left in the hall any more.
The entertainer tonight was Kevin Johnson a ventriloquist. A delightful show. I had seen him several years ago, and without a doubt he is probably the most entertaining ventriloquist I have ever seen.
By the end of the day the seas are beginnning to subside some. The skies are partly cloudy with no rain forecast. Hopefully tonight we can continue on our course without any further emergencies.
I you are believer in the myths of the Bermuda Triangle, maybe that is why we had to stop in St. George's twice.