This Morning, A Pirate Drill!

"Code Alpha Papi!  Code Alpha Papi!   for exercise, for exercise only"  announced the Commodore at 10 this am.  We received a letter advising of this drill a couple of days ago.   We are all now sitting or standing in the corridor outside each stateroom while the bridge pretends that we are being chased by a small boat of Somali pirates.    On the 23 January we exit the Red Sea and enter the Gulf of Aden,  where the bad guys operate.   The plan for the 23rd and 24th is to run at high speed through the area.    At night all the exterior decks and curtains on the windows will be closed, and lighting reduced to the minimum  required.by maritime law.   As no ship has ever been taken that is moving faster than 14 knots,  no one really thinks we have any thing to worry about, but in this day and age you don't really know, do you.   I can't imagine that any  pirate would want to mess with 3800 hostages (passenger and crew),  angry at missing dinner or their bridge game or what have you.   I've learned you don't mess with bridge players-- they are MEAN!     There's a story that the woman Bea who lived (yes lived) on the QE2 was banned from bridge for a week once for improper behavior and it about killed her.   I digress    The Commodore has announced his satisfaction  with the drill and that we may stand down.     I"m looking forward to the high speed part of it all,  I figure it will be a chance for the Commodore to put the pedal to the metal--the bean counters at Cunard be damned!    I do have a pirate outfit all lined up to wear , but I'm rethinking the wisdom of that!

Speaking of the Commodore, the reason he's Commodore and not Captain is that he's the Senior Captain of the fleet and that's the Commodore.   That's just how it is.   Never mind it's a fleet of two--soon to be three.   Queen Victoria and in the fall Queen Elizabeth are the two younger sisters of Queen Mary 2.  Not to be disparaging,  but they are not the equal of this great ship.   They are shall I say-- off the rack, more or less standard vista class cruisers tarted up a bit,  built at Fincantieri shipyard near Venice, Italy.   They resemble more floating apartment blocks, with a stubby bow, a much slower operating speed, less of a promenade deck and lower ceiling heights in the public spaces.   Cunard has dumbed itself down with those two.         Back to the Commodore.  His name is Bernard Warner and he's very nice and friendly.  He gives a very informative noontime announcement each day.   He has a great speaking voice,  if you want to hear him he narrates the virtual tour of QM2 at Cunard.com.   The cocktail party he gave last night was for  past passengers who had been promoted at Southampton from silver to gold in their rewards program.    Besides the champagne and shrimp I get two free hours of internet access.    Yippee!     At the party a couple came up to me and asked if I had been on QE2 with the older gentleman in the wonderful uniform--my dad of course.  I felt at the time folks would remember him.   The tie of his that I wore was a hit!

So tomorrow it's already the Suez Canal.  Like I said yesterday I've got a lot of catching up to do.   Since crossing the Bay of Biscay we've spent a day in Lisbon (driving rain), through the Strait  of Gibralter (saw the rock) past the islands of Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca (weather's getting better) squeezed between the islands of Cypress and Sardinia (middle of the night) docked at Civitavecchia, the port for Rome since the days of Ceasar,  past the island of Stromboli (active volcano- -glowing and spitting and puffing a bit) through the Strait of Messina which separates the toe of Italy from Sicily, past spectacular snow covered Mt Etna and this morning past Crete.  It's beautiful out today, sunny and 65 at noon.   A sushi buffet for lunch!