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Published: January 11th 2019
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Breakfast as normal was in the buffet and we met some more staff members that we remember from previous cruises.
Today we have the Cruise Critic meet and greet in the Bliss lounge. It is always well turned out. It is great to put faces to people we have been talking to on Facebook for the past few months.
Also there was another Theresa on board that was collecting postcards for her autistic child. She had asked on Facebook if anyone could help her. At the meet and greet she was presented with a huge pile of them. We think she was a little completely overwhelmed with the response.
After the meet and greet we did the gift exchange. This is where people take a small gift from their home country and then receive a gift from another random person. Normally these are given out by way of raffle tickets, but no one had any tickets, so they were done a different way. The lady that had organised it asked us all to stand in a circle holding our gifts. She then read a short story and every time she said right or left we passed the bag
we had in the corresponding direction. Theresa took the gift and George looked on from the outside of the circle. Those of us passing the gifts were in hysterics most of the time, but those that were left on the outside really could not see what was happening. Many times, Theresa was left holding two gifts and at one point even had three. Our gift was a tartan writing book. Was obviously from Scotland, but we did not manage to find the giver.
The weather outside is not nice today, and many of the outdoor areas have been closed off due to the waves, wind and rain. This means that the inside of the ship is a bit full with about 4500 wandering around trying to find something to do.
We went to O´Sheehan´s for lunch. With so many people inside, it was a bit chaotic. But the food was great when it arrived.
Today George celebrated 13 years of sobriety so decided to attend a friends of Bill meeting. There were only about 6 people there, but he was glad he went.
Whilst he was there, the captain announced that there had been a medical
emergency, and we were stopping off shore from Malaga for the passenger to be airlifted to shore. We were stopped for about 4 hours. A fast speed boat came out to the ship to offload the casualty. Eventually, we were on our way again.
We were assured by the Captain Marco (from Italy) that we should still arrive in Funchal on time.
Dinner tonight was in the buffet again. We met up with a couple that George had met in his Bill meeting. Coincidentally, the husband was also someone that Theresa had been talking to prior to the cruise as he had asked to join us on our visit to Maho Beach in St Maarten to see the planes coming in low over the beach.
There are so many friendly people on this boat.
Tonight is the first of many time changes where the clocks go back one hour.
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