First off, let me say “Happy Cinco de Mayo!” (we will have a belated celebration when we return next week).
During lunch today Captain “Speaking” announced to the entire ship that he was sorry to interrupt but that the ship’s doctor was reporting an increased number of “gastro-” something or other (or as he called then called it “a tummy bug”) - nothing alarming at this point but there would be heightened precautions taken.
Basically he was taking the ship to “Barf-con 3.” This involves greater alcohol consumption (at the entrance to each restaurant not only are there wall mounted hand-sanitizers but now there are numerous crew members armed with dispensing bottles of “goo.”) Everyone entering one of the restaurants look like they have just scrubbed for surgery. (“Barf-con 2 would result in face masks being issued!) At the buffet, people are no longer able to serve ANYTHING themselves (including beverages) - and as a caterer who’s watched many, many children & adults go thru a buffet line, frankly I don’t have a problem with this at all (unless I’m assured that I am the first thru the line!)
Having experienced this before, I’ve taken it another step (about “Barf-con 2.5”) - of course we are avoiding handrails everywhere and I tried punching the elevator buttons with my elbow (Gerry rolls his eyes and I think I’ve bruised both my elbows now so I may have to reconsider that step). We also are restricting ourselves to just using our cabin’s bathroom facilities (which have the added benefit of increasing the amount of walking we’re doing since our cabin is never in the vicinity of anything we want to do so we’re getting some additional exercise with this).
At dinner last night changes were also evident in the main dining rooms - no more basket of rolls on the table, nor butter, salt or pepper either. (Okay…another “benefit” here since the fresh baked bread and rolls on the ship are some of the best food I’m now limited to only what they will serve me on the first round - no more sneaking an additional roll while waiting for my soup!) And any bar service no longer includes garnish (not too bad for me - I like the thought but don’t really know what to do with it in my drink - but those ordering vodka or gin martinis were very disappointed that there were no longer olives or onions in their drinks).
Those who suffered with me on the first Ebola/Disney boat will remember (fondly, no doubt) these steps and realize with me that we are no where near “Barf-con 1” - additional steps that could be taken and I figure we’re good until I see all the crew members donning gloves (either plastic or dress white depending on their position) or quarantining us completely to our cabins (good thing I brought plenty of books). It will be interesting when we arrive in LA (remember how quickly we made it through customs/immigration when we returned to Florida - gloved/masked individuals practically standing in a separate room pointing us to a box where we could just drop off our forms, no questions asked (personally I think they incinerated the batch without ever looking at them!!!)
Terri’s Travel Tip: Okay people, let’s review here…ICE is made from WHAT? When going ashore in a country where you’ve been advised NOT to drink the water, it would be in your best interests to avoid drinks (even alcoholic ones) containing ICE, which I can pretty much guarantee you is made from local WATER. Apparently some people on this ship were unable to draw a line from A to B to make that connection (or they figured the alcohol in the drink would take care of the situation…it won’t). (In the interest of fair disclosure, I must admit that I learned this lesson the hard way myself…at least I’m not into repeating it though!)
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