"Alert from Remote Weather Service"

We thought it was going to be another day at sea with all the usual activities. Sometime before 9am the Captain came on the PA with a special announcement ( not a good sign). He talked about a gale storm forming behind us with high winds and seas and ,following consultation with multiple weather services and HQ in Seattle , they decided we would be best off to speed up and stay ahead of the storm. This meant skipping Nanortalik and the scenic cruising of Prins Christian Sund and instead head straight to Reykavik arriving there early on Saturday evening and staying for 2 nights. They also decided to add an extra stop in Molde, Norway. So a somewhat revised itinerary.

The Captain called a general information session for 10am and explained what is happening, why, and what they are doing about it. The Chief Officer showed us all the weather maps they use. Then open for questions. A light but informative touch and people were greatly reassured. As one passenger said " Captain where you go, we'll follow". In response to a question about missing the two small ports the Cruise Director said the people there were sending the t-shirts ahead to Molde.





Pictured above the Chief Engineer, the Captain, the Hotel Manager, and the Chief Officer at the information session. Also the opening slide from the presentation. We were told we'd get to Greenland on the way back.

So the rest of the day we did sea day stuff. I went to meeting of an informal photo club while Deen went to a cooking class. After lunch I saw the computer lady expert who gave me some upgraded photo software for the Netbook and Deen went flower arranging. I also stopped by Club HAL , the area for kids so I could see what it is like for our grand kids. We' ll be with them on a bigger ship next year for an Alaska cruise and it has a bigger Club HAL including The Loft for the teenagers (Casey will be 13 by then). Club HAL below.

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Later on I went to a Mixology Class - lots of fun and as you can see below I now have a new career as a ship's bartender.



Like other major cruise lines HAL has it's own rewards program for repeat customers. In this case every day at sea plus some bonus formula goes towards your Mariner status. After a first cruise of any length people become one star Mariners. Deen and I are now two star Mariners and by the end of this cruise will be three star Mariners -generally speaking 75 days. Now we happen to think that's a lot but it turns out we are mere rookies. This evening there was another special party for 4 (200+ days) and 5 star (1200+ days) Mariners. There were over 350 people at this event with an equivalent of over 128,000 days at sea.

This evening was also a formal night so again a tux for me and nice dress for Deen. As I rarely dress up anymore it feels somewhat strange to do so. As we have an extra spot at our table we were joined for dinner by one of the Dance Hosts, a very pleasant man named Bobby from North Carolina. As part of this they also provide the wine for dinner.... We told Bobby he is welcome to join us anytime. Bobby is obviously a very good dancer and he has 6 basic steps he uses and regularly teaches. After he retired from a regular job at home he has discovered this new world of cruising and dancing and quite enjoys it.

We now have our revised itinerary showing arrival in Reykavjik on Saturday evening staying until Monday 1pm. So we'll be doing the 2 tours we had planned for there on the Sunday and Monday morning. Still at sea until we arrive in Iceland.
From RCD's iPad

Location:Somewhere in the Labrador Sea