Day 09 - Sun - 10/05/2025 - At sea to . . .

 Some days go different than planned.  And some of those go way off track.  Today was in the latter category.


I was awakened by the sound of helicopter blades beating their circular path through the air.  That generally means one thing:  there's a medical evacuation occurring.  Soon the throbbing of the rotor blades went away.  Shortly they were back and a man with a backpack (probably the pilot) was seen being hoisted up to the chopper and it left its position above us heading for a shoreside destination.  All of this occurred while the strong winds were blowing and the sea was churning.  We had slowed down to around 12 knots but gradually the ship picked up speed as we headed south along the Norwegian coast.  


We ate a quick breakfast and went to the interdenominational Sunday service.  These generally are led by someone in the congregation and about 8:10am a lady from Houston led us in a hymn and suggested that we volunteer to read our favorite scripture.  A number of people volunteered.  The ship also provided communion elements in the form of fresh baked crackers and grape juice.  One fellow recited from memory the communion instructions and a couple of us volunteered to serve and people came up to receive the symbols we cherish.


Our Destination Specialist, Debbie, then presented her talk on the Lofoten Islands which is our next stop.  Near the end of her excellent presentation, she was interrupted by Pauline, our Cruise Director, who announced that due to the weather our next port was cancelled and that we would be going to a more secure port which did not require tendering: Narvik.  Debbie then volunteered to put together a presentation in this new port and put it up on our stateroom TV's.  


Leaving the theater I went to use the restroom which is located through a set of doors to the outside deck which I observed to be wet and blustery.  After I took care of business, I came out of the restroom and found the door into the ship locked and nobody seemed to know how to open it, and no crew were around.  So another fellow and I disobeyed the "do not exit" strap across the outside door and made our way along the very wet and blustery deck aft to the next door which we had to pry open to get inside.  Yes, some days are very different.


Before lunch I went up to our room to work on my blog.  Lunch was once again in the Lido and we then went down to the Theater to watch the Deal or No Deal game show.  Today's players won a bit more money than the previous pair.  Afterwards I watched a presentation on Cruising Princess tips which turned out to be a sales pitch.  I then returned to the stateroom to read more of my book about the formation of the cruise industry.  I'm finding it very fascinating.  


Tonight was dress to impress night which we don't participate in.   We also declined to attend the Captain's Circle cocktail party.  After dinner we attended Nate Simpson's excellent Motown song show in the Princess Theatre.  Following this, I took in the music in O'Malley's Irish Pub and composed this day's blog. The Irish group Emerald Tide was first and they were followed by Rob Terry, rock 'n roll guitarist and singer.  

Nate Simpson


Given we couldn't get outside today, it was hard to get in my steps so I ventured out to walk inside on decks 7 & 8 to get them in before bedtime.

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