HELP ... FIRE DOWN BELOW!

We have had a couple of pretty normal sea days. The sea has been rough, but that is to be expected when you are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

Last night was the final formal night on board so we all got "gussied up" and enjoyed a great evening together with new found friends.

Our waiters on this leg of the trip have been a delight and we are really going to miss them when we have to return to the realities of our own kitchens and waiting on ourselves. I'd love to bring these two home with us!

I have taken several formal night photographs but have neglected to say anything about our favorite little server who greets us every evening when we leave the main dining room. He reminds me of the Phillip Morris Cigarette boy from long ago except our young man was much taller.

He had butter mints and candied ginger and a very special way of wrapping them in a paper napkin when he served you. As he would hand you what he called "Happy Pills", he would pretend to drop them but the fold in the napkin would catch them and nothing would spill. He would get so tickled when he played this little trick on the guests that everyone stopped for a Happy Pill on their way to bed.

I opted for the ginger as it's great both for the digestive system as well as mal de mer! Plus .. I love Ginger, but then so did Fred ;-)
When we first boarded this ship, we had the usual lifeboat drill which is mandatory on every cruise. We never dreamed that we might have to participate in this activity in reality!

We had heard that the two most dreaded incidents on a ship were illness and fire. In fact, the crew participates in a lifeboat drill every week while we are at sea. There is an infirmary on board, but no fire station around the corner!

About 4:00 a.m. we were awakened by an alarm going off in our suite. There is a speaker in the headboard so there's no missing this! We learned at our drill at the beginning of the voyage that if you heard 7 short blasts followed by 1 long one you were to report to your lifeboat stations immediately and prepare to abandon ship.
I started counting and when the short blasts got to 6, they stopped. Frank sat straight up in bed and said "Fire alarm!" Had been dreaming and thought he was at home in his own bed and the smoke alarm had gone off. A few minutes later, the Captain came on the loudspeaker and announced that a fire had been detected on board and certain areas of the ship were restricted. I told Frank that we'd better get dressed and get out of there but he insisted that we wait for another announcement. The wait seemed like an eternity, but about 2 or 3 minutes later, the Captain came back on over the loudspeaker and told the crew to man the lifeboat stations. This sounded more serious than I wanted to think about and I was getting really concerned. All I could think about was the fact that the seas were extremely rough,

it was pitch black outside with 12 ft. waves and we were in the middle of the Atlantic.

I was wondering how in the world I was going to be able to climb into a lifeboat when I could barely walk without a cane. It would certainly be no easy feat!

At this point I told Frank I didn't really care what he did, but I was getting dressed. I didn't want to be seen on a lifeboat in my nightgown when I was rescued!
There I was, sitting on the bed with my cameras along with my memory chips in my hand so I would remember the trip when the third announcement came and the Captain said that everything was under control, he was sorry for the inconvenience, and to go back to bed and go to sleep. Well .... sleep after that .... I don't THINK so!
The next morning we were talking to John and he said that all Cathy was concerned about was how she was going to save her Leiber purses. Frank suggested that she have a special life jacket made with pockets in it for her purses, and she could carry it like a baby. After all, the old saying is "Women and children first!"

We found out from our waiter at breakfast that someone had left a deep fat fryer on in the galley on the second deck and that had been the problem. Since we were on the eighth deck when this incident occurred, we couldn't really see or hear what was happening below us.

Do you suppose that this guy might have possibly been the culprit ??

Our waiter said that he was scared to death when this happened. He decided that he would jump overboard because he'd rather drown than burn up. Never a dull moment when you are a so-called world traveler. I hope to never experience this again, but we survived and all's well that ends well!
We have one last port in a few days. Until then.....

XOXO, Pcasso