March 10, 2020 - Tuesday

Azamara Quest Cape Town to Athens 

Cruise Day 20 -Sea Day

Pictures to follow with better internet

We woke to another beautiful day. My 4-mile walk was eased by a nice breeze as the sun was rising and directly opposite it the moon was setting. I had started 20 minutes later than usual at 5:50. Bad move. By 6:30 the track was crowded. The extra half hour sleep we got may have made the difference. In any event, it was a great walk.

Alice had more craft classes today. We would meet in the Living Room at noon. I went to the Drawing Room and actually found a book to read. I was surprised to see IT setting up 10 laptops on a long table. It looks like a special class this afternoon.

I took my book to the Living Room and settled in. At noon I headed over to the corner where the crafters were working to see what Alice was working on. I was halfway there when Captain Magnus came on for his noon report.

That is when the bomb dropped. He said he was dispensing with the navigational info because he had important information for us. He reminded us that yesterday he had told us that contingency plans were being established in case we needed further changes to our itinerary. 

Wow! The United Arab Emirates has closed all of its ports to cruise ships. Oman is still open and we will dock there on Friday the 13th when this cruise will end. That was just the beginning. The next cruise, our second, has been canceled, and our fare will be refunded.  They do not know yet if our 3rd cruise is canceled, but it looks like it will be. They will refund the cost of the 3rd cruise even if it is not canceled. We do not want to hang around on land for 2 weeks. We will return home from Muscat, Oman. 

Besides refunding the cruise price Azamara is giving us very reasonable credits to apply to a future cruise. We have an idea how that might be put to good use.

Fortunately, our air was booked through Azamara’s Choice Air. Thank you, Bonnie, at Cruises International. Azamara will take care of rebooking us and let us know what our new travel plan is. Passengers with independent air bookings will have to make the changes themselves. Computers are provided in the Drawing Room for that purpose. They were not being set up for a class. 

The ship has not opened the internet free to everyone because that would overwhelm the network. Clearly, I will not be able to post pictures until we get home. 

Our much anticipated 54-day cruise to a part of the world we have never visited before has been cut short at just 22 days and only 4 new ports. On the bright side, we are well. The ship is virus free. and we will be leaving from a region that is taking Coronavirus very seriously. We hope our transit will be problem-free and that we will still be healthy when we arrive home.

Guest Relations has been busy all day helping passengers with independently booked flights change them. We have not been able to learn what flights the Choice Air program has for us, but have been assured the Azamara home office in Miami is working on it. The 9 hour time difference means the workday in Miami is starting as we sit down to dinner. Perhaps we will have news in the morning.

The atmosphere remains happy and cordial. The crew is very sympathetic. We are in good spirits.