Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Napoli interruptus

Travel Diary Day 12
Tuesday, November 3

Today was a sea day, and it was a rough one. Lots of wind. We couldn't go up on the walking track to do our mile walk, because the outer decks were closed on account of the weather. I even had to hold onto the grab bar when I was showering. Both girls were wearing those acu-pressure wrist bands to try to avoid seasickness.

We went to Chops Grille, one of the specialty restaurants on the ship. Filet mignon, rack of lamb, and extra special food, better than the main dining room.

While we were in the middle of dinner the captain came on the PA system. The weather is so bad that we weren't able to go through the Strait of Messina, so we're now out in the middle of the Med, trying to avoid heavy winds. This means our last port of call, Naples, is canceled. The captain isn't even positive we're going to make it back to Barcelona on time. Instead of the usual 20 knots, the ship can only manage 15.

They keep publishing these colored maps to show us how bad the weather is. According to the captain, there are hurricane-force winds, 80 mph, that are slowing us down and forcing us to circle around Sicily. So we're looking at two more sea days to get back. At least.

Disappointing. Four of our eight stops have been canceled, so we haven't seen nearly as much of Europe as we'd hoped to. Two bottles of wine with dinner (Robert Mondavi, one of my sister's companies) helped a little, but we're still pouting.

Mother Nature hates us.