Everybody Loves Sea Days…..

 ….but not too many!

We began our second World Cruise segment in Los Angeles, expecting a six-day run into Nuku Hiva, one of the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia.

Unfortunately, once we were just over 24 hours out, there was a medical emergency onboard that resulted in a deviation to get the ailing guest to proper shoreside medical care. So the captain turned the ship 90 degrees to port and headed back toward land - in this case Cabo San Lucas, one of our port stops from Segment 1. It took about 36 hours to get back to Cabo, where the original guest and one other who needed shoreside care, were disembarked by tender, and we set off again. This all happened quite early in the morning, and by the time most of us got up for breakfast, we were well out at sea again.

But, of course, this now meant some finagling had to be done with the itinerary. We ended up missing the island of Rangiroa altogether so we could get to Nuku Hiva one day later than originally expected. So we had a week at sea to start this segment. Not a real issue for the entertainment staff, as one annual highlight of the World Cruise is the World Cruise Games, a mini-Olympics that is held for both the staff and the crew.

Here are some of the photos from the week…with a couple of days missing as we were in isolation in our stateroom for two days out of the week because of the noro-virus. Very uncomfortable for a few hours, and requiring the better part of a day’s rest to get over it, but eventually it passes and all goes back to normal.

While in Los Angeles, we only took the shuttle in to Long Beach to get a couple of things, and were back on the ship before lunch.

From the shuttle; Serenity taking on a fuel top-up

The USS Iowa, on permanent display at San Pedro, just ahead
of where we were docked

Sunset as we sailed out of the harbour.

The official start of the World Cruise is usually in LA, and the balloon drop took place in the evening…

…followed closely by the Opening Ceremony of the World Cruise Games the next day.

 With this many sea days, there had to be some special food event, so the gala Sunday Brunch took over the Crystal Plaza.

World Cruise Games Eating Competition???

And you would certainly have to try hard to get bored around here – this is the activities schedule from one issue of Reflections, the onboard program of ‘everything you need to know’:

And through it all, Crystal Serenity kept up her maximum speed of around 23 knots. As the captain put it one day during his noon announcement, ‘We’re driving the ship like we just stole it!’ As he later told us, this is the longest continuous period that the ship has ever had to run flat out in her 17 years. And she did a great job of it, too.

Monica took part in the knitting group again. Cruise Director Rick always would kid about the knitting, but he had been up in Palm Court one morning while the group was in session, and said he couldn’t believe the number of ladies up there!

Each segment of the World Cruise brings another little gift from Crystal. This time it was this set of wood coasters with the world cruise map burned into them.

In between our bouts of noro-virus we did manage to celebrate Australia Day with our friends Terry and Kerry and others, including a couple of true Aussies they brought along.

Kerry and Terry and their friend 'Roo

And we can't forget the koala!

The sea days were great for at least watching the water splash around in the pool, and some very beautiful sunsets. We’re hoping to finally get to use the ‘Planets’ app that Monica put on the phone to identify planets and constellations here in the southern hemisphere. Oh, yes, we did cross the equator this week as well, moving from winter to summer.

These are the last 2 waves in a series that got ever
and ever higher. Amazingly, the deck was not
covered in water!

The Equator Crossing Party

Of course, the 'Pollywogs' who had never crossed
before, had to "kiss" the fish...and it was a real fish, too!

And here are some photos of the World Cruise Games.

Monica taking part in the Deck Walking competition.

All of the mini-putt structures were built by the
Deck Department guys. The Coloseum....

....Bora Bora......

...and even the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore,
complete with a mock-up of the pool on the 57th floor!

The Crew Tug-of-War, highlight of their year! The Engine Dept.
team

The Bar Department

The 'guyals' of the Housekeeping Department,

The Disco Dozen in the midst of competition

And the Specialty Restaurant team, those who work in Prego,
Umi Uma, Silk and Churrascaria, the eventual Winners
of the Competition

All in all a fun week, but pretty much everyone was more than ready for some solid ground. Not that we had really rough weather, but with the swells coming from the quarter most of the time, the ship always seemed to be rolling a bit, so it was impossible to walk straight down the middle of the hallway, or stand still in our stateroom.