Day 30 – Sail the South Pacific Ocean

One of my biggest regrets about remaining in my room and ordering room service is missing out on all the special culinary events in the World Café. Yesterday, for example, I missed the Surf and Turf and Cherries Jubilee and Bananas Foster stations. It did make me smile to view photos of the event and note that Pastry Chef Tony had successfully created a pineapple made of sugar, a goal he had mentioned to us a few days ago.

Today, I missed the Fajita Station at lunch and A Taste of the Caribbean at dinner. Since I’m still experiencing bouts of coughing fits, I decided to stay in the room for one more day. I hope to be able to go ashore tomorrow in Papeete, Tahiti.

This morning, Captain Markus announced that he and his team had successfully rearranged the itinerary to reinstate the visit to Bora Bora, thereby skipping Moorea instead. It seems that while I was isolating in my room, many guests had loudly complained about missing Bora Bora. During his announcement, the Captain asked those who had complained how they would feel if they were the ones with a medical emergency and the ship made a stop before reaching a port where they could receive the care they required. I applaud the Captain for saying that. It’s just too bad that the way some passengers act prompted him to do so.

Since I didn’t do much today, I thought I would look back at the journaling workshop I attended and think about some of the things I’m grateful for. Here are just a very few, some big and some small:

• The fact that Tim and I can travel on this World Cruise.
• The genuine smiles of every crew member and their kindness to me and others.
• The fact that not one World Cruise passenger has broached the subject of politics with me.
• The fact that I can mostly isolate myself from U.S. and world news, despite Tim’s need to keep up to date.
• Stopping by Guest Services just to say hello and ask how these hardworking folks are doing.
• The many carved watermelons and sugar flowers and creatures, which make me smile.

These Always Make Me Smile!