Day One sailing across the Pacific

As promised, we have sailed almost due south overnight and the swells are probably in the 8 to 12 foot range. If this is our roughest sailing, we'll feel quite lucky. I feel unwell, headachy and upset stomach but not quite full-blown seasickness. Fingers crossed. I am taking it easy.

Yesterday we had a lunch conversation with a couple who just boarded about canceled tour reservations. It made me double check ours and we were missing our Fiji tickets for this segment. We went to the tour desk and it wasn't booked. No idea if this is our error or Crystal's. Fortunately, Clay and I had each documented what we booked online as we did it so we knew what to be looking for. After we got the Fiji tickets, I double checked our booking notes vs. Crystal's and we are missing another excursion in Reunion. We haven't done anything about that one yet maybe we can yet book it online without making another trip to the desk. Back again from the shore excursions desk. Since it is another segment, not this one the guy had to take my request but suggested it should be able to be confirmed and he'd send a note to the cabin. We'll have to stay on top of that. Hopefully 3rd times the charm and that was our last visit down there. Bonus: picked up Portuguese tarts!

Last night I was delivered a letter from the Captain noting that my lack of attendance at the muster yesterday was noted and why it was frowned upon. Crystal evidently believes Clay attended alone, even as he noted that he never spoke to the attendance taker, only I did. We noted that the muster drill was not diligently conducted as we were accustomed to over many years and cruise lines including this very ship in 2016. Anyway, they did not require life jackets, they were slipshod about taking attendance and a good 30 cabins were originally called out as not in attendance and they never called us so they thought we were there at the meeting time and place. The final paragraph of the Captain's letter asked me to disregard all the above if the letter had been sent in error and offered advance apologies. Really? Since there was an entire paragraph about error and apology, I just tossed the letter and let it go but it really makes me question my safety in the event of an actual emergency. In the past on our cruises, people who did not attend mandatory muster drills were required to attend a make up muster within 24 hours. There was no mention of that.

Last night we also received a welcome packet from Signatures, our TA Keene Luxury Travel's consortium. I had a gift of a keychain-sized flashlight for us. We had earlier signed up for their special lunch at Mt. Nelson Hotel in Cape Town and opted for the $2400 shipboard credit instead of 4 cities private car and driver.

We had another packet delivered last night from Stacey Huston, WC Social Hostess. It was about a meet & greet this morning for full WCers. It was to sign up for a WC Olympics at the same time with a list of events and a schedule. We weren't interested in any of that and I trashed all the paper. We happened to be in the atrium lobby waiting for the shore excursions desk to open when I noticed the Olympics sign up guy was handing out WC map t-shirts. I told Clay he should go sign up whether he participated or not. He got behind the next couple in line and they just gave their cabin # and got shirts without signing up at all. Clay did the same and got 2 shirts for our cabin. They look like t-shirts but are all nylon and pretty see through. It is not clear we'd ever wear them. Clay's doesn't even look like it would fit him. He got me a large and it fits though it hangs below my butt.

We had plans for returning to Silk at lunch today. Reflections said it started serving lunch at 1pm. So I did an hour of yoga in the cabin and we went up. We were there before 1:05pm and there was not a single table available! It was nearly empty last night. Most of the people in the seats were already eating so it is not clear if they carried in plates from Marketplace or Trident Grill or the program was wrong and Silk opened at noon. If we decide to try for lunch there again, we'll head up between noon and 12:30 and just seat ourselves and wait it out. We wandered back to Marketplace for their last half hour. Clay had sausages and sauerkraut and I found a big bowl of iceberg lettuce and had a salad only before time was up. We went back to Ben & Jerry's for dessert. Clay learned that Chunky Monkey is banana flavored and he doesn't like it!

I got a needlepoint kit this afternoon. I there early and still wound up about number 30 in line. By the time I left Palm Court the line was out to the elevator lobby! I had thought it was cheap of Crystal to publish their policy of 1 kit per guest but with all the couples in line, I guess they have to. Weirdly, Oceania has a pretty free giveaway policy and I have never seen a line up like that. Anyway, I got an 8.5x10 inch case for my new Surface! I started it right away as we watched a movie on demand in the cabin. This is a new Serenity feature since the Oct/Nov dry dock. The TV is big and a crisp picture. The bridge and port and aft camera views are perfectly clear. I guess we'll see how long that lasts as I suspect it is a function of the cleanliness of the camera lens. After the movie, which we watched from the bed since the TV is at the foot, Clay said, I don't think I can spend 3 months in bed. We'll see. He did walk 7 laps on the Promenade Deck today! I don't know how far that is.

We are sailing due west now. Our speed has dropped with the head wind and swells. It is rougher than it was this am and looks like it might be raining. Tonight is formal night was a special menu so we expect to dress and go to Waterside. They have a trio of oysters on the half shell.

In other news, Crystal has an Astronomy Lecturer onboard and at 5pm he talked about the total lunar eclipse happening around 7pm or so in Honolulu on January 20 when we'll be docked there. Very exciting! We watched the lecture live on TV. I am typing this at the desk, but Clay is still on the bed.

I don't know if Clay will have any photos today, so I'll post now. If he has some photos he wants to share, one of us will be back to update this post.