Cruise: Day Nine

Monday, 13 December

Day Nine – At Sea

The day at sea after ‘the incident’ was really quite boring. There were still many things that weren’t open, areas where there wasn’t power, and the kitchens had really taken a hit, impacting food service throughout the day. Our day started quite late, since we took advantage of the calmer sea to get extra sleep in. On our stateroom door, we found a letter stating that we would receive a $200 credit to the stateroom to compensate for our troubles. That seemed quite insufficient, though I was glad to see that there was quick response and action taken to address the inconvenience and the fear that we all endured. A little miffed at the paltry compensation, we proceeded to the lunch buffet. The lunch buffet was pretty meager and not that great. The afternoon was fairly uneventful, though there was supposed to be a meeting with the hotel manager in the afternoon to discuss the compensation. Apparently, the Spanish-speaking guests got out of hand and ‘revolted’, screaming at the hotel manager. The meeting was canceled and an announcement was made letting everyone know that a shipwide announcement would be made at 7:00, during our dinner. Dinner service was much better , with full service, though the pre-planned menu was missing many items. The highlight of the dinner was the 7:00 announcement, which informed us all that in addition to the $200 credit, we would each receive a full refund for our cruise! Wow…that was completely unexpected and very generous and went a long way in lifting spirits. Of course, there are still people griping, but those people will never be happy. After dinner, we went to the evening’s musical production, which was quite enjoyable, especially the swing number. After that, I hit the casino and turned $20 into $60, setting me ahead $70 on this trip…woohoo! While I played the slots, Jerry took advantage of the free internet service being provided for the day. I followed suit and e-mailed my family to let them know we were okay.

Then it was time for bed since we had an excursion scheduled the next morning in Malta.

Dinner:

Hev – Maryland crab cakes, Rack of lamb, Apple crunch

Jerry – Shrimp Cocktail, Rack of Lamb, Cappucino cake?

Fourth bottle of wine – Castle Rock Cab