Mid-Atlantic

Hello Everybody, in the middle of the Atlantic, I have plenty of time to catch up.  We are on our 4th sea day, and so far I have been busy. 
The Spa
I have not used the spa for massages, but I've had my nails done twice and yesterday I had my hair done, even my roots colored so I look like normal if I turn sideways!  The girl who did my hair, finished the color and said, "Now, we have removed all the wisdom from your head!"  Nice way of saying, white hair!!!  I also had a facial.  In the midst of this I asked many questions and learned that the spas on Holland America, Princess, Carnival, Etc-all those who are in the Carnival family-use the same spa company.  They recruit all over the world.  One girl told me they came to South Africa to her school and talked about working for the cruise lines.  There is a rigorous interview and training program, and if you work for Disney, it is really a big deal for education because they include all the famous Disney happiness as part of their training.  The main headquarters for the company is in London, so they fly everyone there and do training and then out to the ships.  The hairdresser was going to be in Alaska in the fall, and she had been on four different cruise lines in three years, with short visits to Disney.  She will be going out on the Royal Princess, the latest liner to launch, because she has been invited by her boss who will be running the spa on that ship.  She did a good job except for the hair color in my ears, so I think she is being rewarded.  They also told me the head of each department gets to hire his or her own crew, so if the Housekeeping guy is Phillipino, he will hire from that country, making it easier to communicate with his crew.  Interesting.  We have a Scottish captain and an Italian first mate.  ??

Noro Virus
The ship is on red alert for the noro virus.  We are not allowed to handle any food, everything is served to us.  Makes the lines at the buffet go slower, and we see fewer servers.  There is some complaining about that.  It takes a while to get your coffee when you sit down for breakfast.  We are eating breakfast in the buffet with all the variety, and that has slowed down the process. With the weather iffy outside, we don't have many people on deck, so we are all squashed inside.  This is a huge ship, but finding a table with a view is a premium.  We find people camping out in the buffet area, just sitting at tables reading their ipads or a book while people troll the aisles hoping someone will leave.  That causes irritation.  Sometimes the dining rooms are empty and other times they seem full.  We can't tell if the virus has any impact on that or not.  If you have symptoms, they demand you call 911 and get treatment from the ship's doc, and then you are quaranteened for 72 hours.  I asked the girl at the spa and she said she has not heard of any crew members sick with the virus, but people refuse to call the clinic and spread it around to passengers.  No one on our floor has appeared to be ill, but it is pretty quiet. 

Entertainment.
We have this very old gentleman author who speaks everyday about ocean liners.  He has written numerous books on ocean travel, including a book on the Titanic.  He is entertaining, a great story teller and very popular.  We also had lunch with the Bridge expert who gives a lecture every day or so and then runs a duplicate bridge game for passengers.  He was very nice and told us Holland American does not pay for a Bridge expert, so he does get something from Princess, a room and other stuff?  The floor shows in the theater are better than HAL, but the comics and others are equal.  Good singers, violinists, etc.  They have the equivalent of three bands on this ship, because they are playing all over every night.  The library is a tiny room with only a few books.  Wow, HAL excells there.

Photos
We are going to put together a video of slides and video I took on the trip to share with others.  We have so  manty photos and so many memories.  The Med is filled with wonderful cities, and more antiquities than anyone can even grasp. The Acropolis is a highlight. Venice was magical.  Barcelona is a redo-I fell in love with Gaudi (his church is inspired!)-a very different view than how many others feel. We learned lots  about Portugal, and I would like to visit there again.  Of course, Italy is on the list for another visit.  I was disappointed we did not get to eat a real meal there.  We had our lunch in Positano, but we didn't go to a restaurant because we did not have time.  We ate pizza every time we had a quick lunch.  The same was true for Greece. We ate the same thing everywhere.  It was good but not as adventurous as I would have liked to have been.  We did take photos of the food we ate, so you can all see what I am talking about.

The ship is rolling a little today, but not as bad as the first day at sea.  It is warm, almost 70 degrees, and windy.  Off to a lecture and then we will be reading, knitting and having another great meal!  Think of us as we suffer through this.  The Whidbey Wagners