What's That Smell?

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Geo: 16.5225, -101.696

This morning about 5 o'clock, Philip woke me up saying, "Do you smell that?" There was a distinctive odor like that of a campfire in the room. We investigated around all corners of the room, the bathroom, the hall, and the balcony. It was strongest in our room although there were faint traces of the odor in the hall and on the balcony. No heat and no smoke except that coming from the funnel of the ship; just smell.

I called the front desk and the night manager showed up with one other person to smell our room. They said they couldn't smell smoke, but maybe a new carpet smell. Hmmm? The new carpet was installed in only the hall and that was several days ago. The manager said she'd talk to someone about the ventilation and get back to us. She did call about fifteen minutes later to say that she had reported the problem to the HVAC department and that another person had reported the same smell that we had. They would continue to investigate. In the middle of the morning, we received another call to follow up and thank us for reporting the problem. We still don't know what is was. Early in the cruise we had an odd chemical or exhaust smell in the room one afternoon. We didn't report it, but just waited it out. We probably should have called about it then, too. There must be something in this room's configuration that allows smells to enter. Our next-door neighbors did not notice the first smell. I haven't seen them today to ask about the one this morning.

Today there was a big Sunday brunch of Mexican food. The dining room was decorated, and the dining room crew members danced around the room playing maracas several times. We are passing by Mexico now and will stop for our last port of La Paz, Mexico on Tuesday. Some of the food was good, but some was odd. The chicken enchiladas were made with lasagna noodles rather than with tortillas, but the guacamole was prepared correctly. They had lots of dishes to choose from. We sat with Donna from California who said she was traveling with her biological mother. She and Philip shared their stories about finding birth parents which were remarkably similar.

We tried the afternoon movie, Fences with Denzel Washington, but did not stay for all of it. We went to the afternoon ice cream/cookie/waffle snack time. I did laundry again, and I think we have enough clean clothes to last the rest of the trip. We had dinner at the buffet since there wasn't anything strongly appealing being served in the dining room. I watched From Here to Eternity on the TV in the room while Philip read. Just a normal, relaxed sea day.

The ship is uncrowded and comfortable even with over 650 passengers on board. The first time this trip that I have seen a very long line for anything was when we were leaving brunch. There were twenty people or so in line waiting to get in. We skipped breakfast and went to lunch early. It was already busy, but we did not have to wait very long.

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