Well, I was serving port manning duty today, so I didn’t get off the ship in port today. I was really looking forward to tomorrow though, since we’ll be in the port of Georgetown, Grand Cayman with Carnival’s Conquest and Carnival Victory (as well as four other big ships), and a few of my friends from the Fasc were going to meet me at the bakery there for lunch.
Unfortunately, the weather in Ocho Rios was sort of overcast and bleak. And as we sailed away, the captain came over the loudspeaker with a very important announcement. The port of Georgetown had announced that it would officially be closed to all cruise ships tomorrow due to inclement weather. You know that this has to be bad news, as the Cayman Islands are supported almost 90% by tourism, and denying all seven ships means losing the revenue of 17,000 passengers!
The reports say that winds there are very bad, and the waves are crashing up over the pier and flooding the streets in Georgetown. Three ships will be allowed to port at another pier in Grand Cayman, but as Veendam is one of the smallest of the seven, we were not chosen as one of the three. So, we will be sailing for the next two days to arrive back in Tampa on time on Saturday. In a way this is good, because sailing at a much slower speed means a smoother journey while the seas are very swollen.
But it means that the entertainment department is now scrambling for ways to stretch the shows we have left to cover all of the next 48 hours. Hooray! This is the sort of excitement I live for! Flying by the seat of our pants, never knowing what’s coming next. It’s a little harrowing, but a lot thrilling!
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