JANUARY 22-25 – AT SEA
We successfully outran the pirates and are cruising along the placid coast of Oman today (25th) in the Arabian Sea on our way to Muscat. Quite frankly, I was looking for a little more drama. At least a sighting, something. Steve calls me an action junkie. I call it “a good read”. Steve was much more concerned about the Yemen terrorists shooting a missile at us. A gapping hole in the ship followed by a life boat adventure and rescue? Nah. There is too much winter left in Maine to go home just yet.
Yesterday, we were checked out by 3 war ships from Turkey, Canada, and Saudi Arabia during our transit through the Gulf of Aden. We were buzzed by a Japanese fighter jet. But guess who was a “no show”, at great embarrassment to the 1,800 british passengers and “upper echelon” officers? The Royal Navy was conspicuously absent. We must assume they were tied up drinking tea or watching cricket… but still, no visit to The Queen? How lame is that? Especially after the Royal treatment from the US Warship! I will make a snide comment to the Commodore and that Royal Navy Officer the next time I see them, you can count on it.
Let’s talk food. We went on a Galley Tour this morning and learned how much our ship consumes. The numbers are mind boggling. As a collective whole, we consume 16,000 meals a day (guests and crew). Below are the daily quantities.
4,000 pounds of meat
3,000 pounds of poultry
5,000 pounds of fish and seafood
100,000 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies
400 pounds of cheese
380 pounds of sugar
900 gallons of milk
6,500 eggs
8,000 cups of tea are served each day. The coffee is retched, and clearly part of the Brits devious master plan to convert the World to tea drinkers. Its working. I’ll need to wait for South America to get a good cuppah Joe.
87,000 pieces of china and glassware are used and washed each day along with 8,000 linen napkins. The main restaurant serves over 1,000 three course meals in one hour at dinnertime. That’s impressive.
We will be away from the ship for 4 nights coming up on a “Cunard Overland Trip” – to explore more of India including the Taj Mahal, Agra, Dehli, and Mumbai. We will depart in Dubai on January 27th and rejoin the ship on January 31st in Cochin, India. We have several flights and need to travel light, so the laptop is staying behind. No travelogues until after we return from our journey. I promise to keep notes the old fashioned way.
Oh, I haven’t mentioned waves lately. There are none. It’s been calm since half way through the Mediterranean Sea. The Dramamine has been tucked safely away… for now.
