World Cruise - Day 93 - Apr 14 - At Sea

Sunrise was rather unspectacular this morning:

The sun didn’t appear until it got several degrees up in the sky, since there are apparently low lying clouds on the horizon again.  Note also the ship on the horizon at 8:00 from the sun.

There are some secrets about the security on the ship that I won’t post until we are past pirate territory, but here is one that I don’t mind pirates knowing about:

It’s a directional sound blaster.  Anyone gets too close and they get their eardrums blasted.  Apparently we already used it once while in the Persian Gulf with a boat that was approaching us at a fast speed.  They stopped immediately when they got hit with the sound blast.  Pirates beware, we’re gonna get you if you get anywhere near us.  And we have more than just that up our collective sleeves.

We’re really getting into the home stretch with this cruise.  16 more days and we will be arriving in Venice.  One more day after that and we will be arriving home.  Six more ports (plus Venice) before the end of the cruise.  I’m ready to go home, not now, not yet (so much more left to see and do), but I will be ready in 16 days.  It’s been a great cruise and it hasn’t been too long, which was our initial fear in booking a cruise of this length.  But we do miss our family and friends back home and are very much looking forward to seeing them!

Krissie and I were talking about Dubai and it occurred to us that we didn’t really see any children in the two days we were there.  Many of the people there are expats with their families back in their home country.  Yet even at the mall, where you would expect to see some children, there were very, very few.  The only place we really saw kids was at Atlantis resort, but those where families there on vacation, not locals.

I asked Krissie is this cruise makes her want to spend more or less time on our boat.  She said she’s neutral about it.  It makes me want to spend more time on our boat.  Sitting 40 feet above the sea on balcony is like viewing the world from the comfort of a touring bus—certainly very comfortable and stable, but you feel like you’re just an observer rather than a participant.  Same thing with a cruise ship—you’re not really boating, you’re just moving through the water, not really experiencing the water or waves or the spray.  On our boat, you are really experiencing the water.  So I am looking forward to getting back and getting the boat ready for boating season this summer.

That said, we probably will only keep the boat for another two seasons, then sell it.  I’m more of a been-there-done-that person who likes to do something for a season, then move on to the next adventure in life.  Same with this world cruise.  We totally enjoyed it, but I don’t think I would do it again.  Too much more of the world to see than to be going back to places we’ve already been.  I don’t think I would revisit any of the ports on vacation, although we are planning to go to other parts of Thailand and India on a separate trip.

Today is a relaxing Sabbath day.  We did a Bible study and video sermon in our cabin.  Tonight we will be going to Sabatini’s (the Italian specialty restaurant onboard) for dinner.

Tab Hunter is onboard for the remainder of the cruise.  Tab was a teen idol in the 1960s for his song Young Love and his starring role in films such as Damn Yankees.  He is going to be speaking about Hollywood and his movies on the 18^th.  He also came to our Cruise Critic meeting this morning.  I got a pic with him at lunch on the back deck:

We had a thunderstorm roll through while at sea during dinner this evening.  It was interesting to hear thunder again, haven’t heard that in quite awhile.  Especially considering that we are surrounded on land by the Arabian Peninsula, which is mainly desert.  Although apparently Salalah does get some rain during the rainy season of June to September, which is why it is more green than other areas around.  But definitely a gulley washer at sea, not sure if any of it made landfall.

The entertainment tonight was Seonaid Aiken:

Tomorrow is sea day #2 of 2 on our way to Salalah, Oman.