Turnover day

We just docked in Dubai; end of segment 3 and the beginning of seg 4. Less than a month to go… I don’t want to go back to real life! Who will cook? Who will make the bed? I’ll report on Dubai after we return.

I won the Segment 3 photo contest with a shot taken earlier in the cruise in Callao, Peru. Now I’m ahead… then again, Jim didn’t enter one this time. The category was architecture, buildings and towns. The next category is open and artistic… should make for interesting entries.

They are beginning to make noticable preparations onboard for our transit of the Gulf of Aden. Yesterday they ran a test of the ‘anti-pirate drenching system’. It is a setup of firehoses connected to some mounted nozzles on deck 5 (the open deck). They also will behaving crew members standing watch on all open decks… that also started yesterday. They are going to use all crewmembers for these watch positions in 2 or 4 hour blocks. Yesterday the one we saw was an attendant in the buffet. He was wearing the Orange security vest (and looked a bit uncomfortable or bewildered). I had a report from my friend on Tahitian Princess about the procedures they had in place; much like ours. She also reported that nothing interesting has happened so far except for some military ships and aircraft.

We are docked two berths away from QE2, Costa is between. I am happy I have this last chance to say goodbye to her and was particularly happy that the red funnel is still in place. I’ve taken a number of pictures of her.

John Maxtone Graham - Hi John, I hope you get the google alert on this. I wanted you to read the part about QE2. We miss you and Mary!
Sue