We were up early yesterday morning to walk, and catch this gorgeous sunset off the back of the ship. We spent the day being a bit lazy, but also getting some housekeeping and organization done. We're expecting (hoping for!) a box of mail to be delivered to the ship on turnaround day, and are trying to make a list of phone calls and Internet things we need to take care of while we're in Fort Lauderdale and once we get mail. While most of what we do is automated or on the Internet, certain things, like community dues, are due in January and hadn't even been finalized when we left home in November.
Luckily, although Princess Customer Service in the US had told us there was no way to get mail or packages delivered to the ship, once on board we found out otherwise, and are putting that to the test. Friend Martha has sent us a big box of first class mail which we're hoping appears some time while we're in Fort Lauderdale. Thank you Martha!! And I have a box from drugstore.com somewhere in Fort Lauderdale which I'm hoping makes it on board during our next turnaround. Life on a cruise ship is wonderful, but thank God we're organized people!! It would otherwise be kind of tricky.
We did have some excitement last night when the captain came over the PA system with an announcement that there was going to be a Coast Guard helicopter doing an emergency airlift off our ship. This was only the second time in 50 cruises that we've had this, and it was unusual in that we were less than 12 hours from Fort Lauderdale when it occurred. We were in Skywalkers, and although it was after dark and the pool decks are closed off and all items secured for safety when the helicopter hovers and drops a paramedic and a basket on the ship, we could see the helicopter then circle the ship for about a half hour. Once the passenger was stabilized and in the basket, the helicopter returns, hovers over the pool deck on Deck 15, and retrieves the passenger and paramedic. I can't imagine the skills required to plan for and execute this sort of thing. We did see that the cruise ship did a perpendicular turn, probably to accommodate the maneuver with the winds, but never actually stopped in the water.
We did also hear that, while the passenger wasn't in a life threatening situation, she was in a limb threatening one. One can't help but think about that person, and her spouse, who can't accompany her off the ship, and had to wait until today to fly to Nassau, in the Bahamas (o wherever she is) to meet up with her.
Another reason to cruise while we are still young and healthy enough to do so, I guess.
