January 23rd, 2019 - Wednesday

We have dinner every day in the main dining room - the Britannia restaurant.  There are tables for 2, 4, 6 (the usual) and 8.  This is the first time that we have had a table for 2.  I had such a table twice when I was travelling alone and enjoyed it immensely.

The assigned table in the dining room is, of course, voluntary.  The buffet on deck 9 serves wonderful meals, 22 hours a day.  However, P likes to eat in the dining room and until 3 days ago, we had a wonderful waiter.  His 6 month contract was over and he has gone home for his vacation but will be back in Hong Kong.

Quite often people aboard, guests and crew, do not speak about time using dates as such but about the ports.  So, Brian will be back in Hong Kong, our acquaintances will leave in San Francisco, and we are on until Hamburg.

Today, during dinner, the Deputy Captain came on the PA system, throughout the ship, saying that there was a medical emergency and asking for blood donors, especially type O+ or O-.  Any guest willing to donate blood should go to the purser’s desk with their donor cards.

Later, the Captain came on to thank the donors and to say that the guest would be evacuated via helicopter about 11 pm.  Although we were travelling at maximum speed, we could not reach Aruba as quickly as the helicopter.  So, the room stewards brought all our balcony furniture into the stateroom and we were requested to stay inside, keep the room-darkening drapes closed 

and not, under any circumstances, to use flash photography which might blind the pilot.

The horror is that we are experiencing gale-force winds:  up to 60 knots and the vessel is rolling quite a bit.  We can only cross our fingers and say a little prayer.

*

The evacuation took place about midnight and the patient was taken to Aruba.  

Note the wind speed - imagine a helicopter having to hover

over the open deck, then having to drop a line with

a stretcher and winching stretcher, patient and rescuer back up.