Day Two

Our first sea day originally scheduled to sail to San Francisco was changed as the authorities in the port of San Francisco decided that everyone on board needed to have a PCR test before leaving the ship. This would have been very time consuming so the decision to sail here was cancelled and the ship sailed south to San Diego.

Cool and cloudy temperatures were the norm for the day.

I joined a Trivia team that includes four Americans, a transplated Parisian living in New Jersey and three Canadians. Two of the Canadians will be leaving us when the ship docks in Tahiti at the end of the first segment. Team names include Ships for Brains, Harlem Globetrotters, La Triviata, Better Late than Never, The Southerwesters and ABBA-all the people on this team have names starting with the letters A or B. Our team name is New York or Bust hoping that we can make it safely to New York on July 5. Trivia on board happens pretty much daily except on overnight ports. It is also very sacriligous and you would never dare not show up and let your team down. While I'm at Trivia Janice is usually at the gym or the artist Loft. More on that later in another blog.

We feel very safe on board. Everyone is required to social distance and wear masks indoors and the masks can only be taken off while actively eating or drinking. 100% of the passengers and crew are at least double vaxed. The crew was all boosted in Miami but unfortunately cannot disembark the ship at this time. They have however been given some free wifi so they can at least keep in touch with their families. So it's pretty much normal on board although social gatherings have been cancelled like the Captain's reception. But there are still nightly shows. In order to limit contacts, there is no bar service although you can bring your drink purchased from another bar or from your room. In essence, we feel likt we are in a big bubble.

Our cruise director Ray indicated there was only 377 passengers on the ship with 233 doing the entire ATW and 422 crew. That's only 54% of capacity which is great for us but not for the crew as their tips will be negatively impacted.