Meet The Vista

Today, March 27 is the 21st day of this 120 day "Around The World" cruise aboard The Vista, one of the newer ships in Oceania's fleet. The Vista is larger than The Insignia on which we made the 2023 journey, and therefore can accommodate 1,200 passengers with a crew of 800. It is, therefore, larger overall than The Insignia, providing: more restaurants from which to choose, a larger lounge for entertainment, an actual person acting as concierge, a larger stateroom on the concierge level, and - the most appreciated of all - a much larger shower. On The Insignia, as much as I loved it, one had to be a contortionist to enter the shower. And after six months of sticky buns for breakfast each morning, entering was a challenge. ( I am proud to report that on this trip I have thus far refrained from partaking of those delicious treats.)

Roomy! (Just in case I do end up partaking in the sticky buns...)

During these past three weeks, I have: reunited with many friends, made new friends, seen some awesome sites, really fallen in love with some of the staff, knitted a bit on a scarf which is capturing a lot of attention from my fellow crafters, learned a great deal from our on board lecturer, had four lobster dinners, observed a Hula Dance lesson, attended at least 16 cocktail parties, won a few Big-O points at Trivia, seen six or eight of the shows and - at tonight's Comedy Magician Show - was an assistant for one of his "tricks". Even learned a magic trick which I will be delighted to teach my "greats". The majority of this onboard activity has been necessitated by the fact that we have had a disproportionate number of "sea days".

Winner, winner, Lobster Dinner!

Part of the infamous Trivia team at one of many cocktail parties!

Yesterday we dropped anchor at Rarotonga, Cook Island which has no port large enough to accommodate our ship necessitating the tendering process to go ashore. Two tender vessels were lowered into the sea just below my veranda on which I happened to be standing at the time, they were tossed around like plastic toy boats in a bathtub with an energetic child. At that point, the Captain and I came to the same conclusion - no excursion today! Some five minutes later, he announced, "In the interest of safety" the ship would be moving on to our next destination, Pago Pago, American Samoa, thereby squeezing a 42 hour trip into 51 hours. No argument from me! The result of this decision however, as is the case for me with Portugal, I've been to the Cook Islands but have not seen the Cook Islands. Added result, those of us in the Terrace Cafe this morning at about 8 am were more than a little excited to see a faint, but beautiful rainbow in the sky. At which all the sun worshippers took to the pool deck like flies to honey.

Also in the interest of our safety, or as they like to say, "In an abundance of caution. . ." our itinerary has been drastically changed. We will not be going to: India (I need to watch what I say about "never" doing this or that), Oman, Saudi Arabia, thru the Suez Cannel, Greece, UAE, Italy, Spain, France and probably some other stops I can't remember at the moment, BUT look out Seychelles and Cape Town! Here I come again!

Today is Someday! Embrace Change!