Ships’s Position 1:40 pm Local Time (UTC +00:00)

36°19′14″ N 31°56′33″ W

We have now traveled 2,570 nautical miles & the ocean is getting shallower – “only” 8,800 feet now.

The weather is very nice today. The sun is shining warmly & the seas are much calmer, deep blue in colour & there are no whitecaps in sight.

The time changed again last night. We’re now on UTC +00:00 & moved a total of 5 hours forward since leaving Florida. I’m hoping that’s the end of the time zone changes until we head home. A fellow passenger was commenting that the repositioning cruises from Europe back to North America are much easier on your body because you gain time along the way – rather than losing it – as we are on this trip.

A couple of other interesting statistics:

FIRES

So far we have “only” had two small fires on board. The first one was in a crew level restricted area inside a special waste incinerator. (I thought that that was what an incinerator was supposed to do.)

The second one was a small grease fire at one of the food concession grills on the Lido Deck.

In each instance the fire was quickly extinguished before a general alarm was required & the Ship’s Captain calmly & clearly explained over the ship wide PA system what was going on. None of the crew or passengers (myself included) seemed to be upset by either of these incidents. I think everything was handled very professionally & I appreciated that we were quickly given reliable information – as opposed to hearing stories created by passengers & then embellished by others as the information spread around the ship by gossip.

MINOR INJURIES

I have seen several people walking around with slings on their arms. I never saw anyone fall but the ship has been pitching about quite a bit for the past 3 days so it would be pretty easy to take a tumble.

I have also seen a lot of people walking around like this (see below)

This could well be the cause of some of these injuries.

In addition to paid access to the internet, Princess is broadcasting the ship’s own intranet website (for free) to all passengers with a smartphone or a tablet. This is pretty handy because you can access the full cruise itinerary, see all of each day’s activities, book excursions, send instant messages to other passengers & do many other things. But, the downside is that many people are walking around entranced by their devices & not paying attention to where they are. Heads up & eyes forward everyone!

Last night I went to see the headliner act with comedian Tom Briscoe in the Princess Theatre.

Visit: www.tombriscoe.com

This fellow is really funny & had the entire audience in stitches through his entire performance. A lot of his material was based on a man’s perspective of married life & it was pretty easy for all men (& women) in the audience to relate. He skated close to the blue line a few times but never used an four letter words & you would have to be overly sensitive to be offended. Goes to show that you don’t have to cuss to be funny!

If you ever get a chance to see this fellow in a local comedy nightclub, in Las Vegas or somewhere else I encourage you to go. Be sure to bring a hanky to wipe the tears (of laughter) from your eyes.

Gotta go for now, they’re replenishing the desert section at the buffet & I need a little something to hold me over until dinner time.

Cheers!