Woke up around 5.00am to use the loo, and through our balcony doors I could see the faint outline of mountains in the near distance as the Quest made her way to Adak. Went back to sleep then, just over an hour later, we awoke again to see that the ship had come to a stop and had dropped anchor.
Trevor went out onto the balcony to see what was happening, and saw that a man in a wheelchair was being disembarked, along with his wife and all their suitcases, into one of the lifeboats, which then set off across to the shore. We found out later on that the passenger had been diagnosed with appendicitis, hence the need to get him to a hospital as soon as possible. I hope he’ll be all right.
Once the lifeboat returned and was hoisted back aboard, the Quest continued on her way once more, to our next scheduled stop of Dutch Harbor, where we were due to land tomorrow morning.
Here’s an interesting quiz question you can ask your friends; we have often asked it and no-one gets the correct answer straight away, and even when we tell them the answer it has folk rushing to the nearest world map or atlas to check! The question is:
Of the 50 states of the USA, which one is the most northerly, which is the most southerly, which is the most westerly and which is the most easterly?
The answers are: Northerly – Alaska, Southerly – Hawaii, Westerly – Alaska, Easterly – Alaska
It’s usually the last one that gets everyone confused; most of the answers we hear are Maine or Massachusetts or New York, but if you look at a map of the world and look at the Aleutian Islands (where we are right now) you will see that they cross 180 degrees longitude, and therefore extend from the west to the east, making Alaska the most easterly state. 😊
Anyway… we got up about 8.30am and had our breakfast in the Windows Café; I enjoyed some bacon, sausage and corned beef hash washed down with coffee and water. We then decided to venture out on deck but, as usual, it was still very windy and unpleasantly chilly.
At 10 o’clock we went to see another interesting lecture by film producer Dale Pollock; this one discussed the psychology behind the Star Wars movies, the way the characters evolved and the influence they had on young people. I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies, but I must admit that listening to Dale’s presentation has made me tempted to try them.
After the presentation we went along to the Discoveries bar where the comedy magician Greg Moreland was doing a close-up magic show. It was very entertaining indeed and there was some excellent sleight of hand accompanied by Greg’s incessant, amusing chatter. It was a nice little interlude.
Because I’d eaten a substantial breakfast, we didn’t go to lunch until later; in any case Trevor was still trying to fight off his cold, so we spent some time resting in our stateroom before going to lunch at one o’clock. When we got to the Windows Café, however, it was full and there were no tables available, so we decided to brave the elements and eat at the Patio Restaurant, on the pool deck. The tables and chairs there are sheltered and there are some strategically-placed heaters around the outside; in addition, someone had placed the large checked blankets on the backs of the chairs so we were able to find a table under one of the heaters, and wrap up in the blankets, so it wasn’t too bad at all.
I enjoyed a Azamara Burger washed down with a pint of Boddington’s, while Trevor had some nachos and Newcastle Brown. It was after half-one when we returned to the stateroom and they were holding Round 3 of “Battle of the Sexes” at two o’clock, but we didn’t really feel like going, and in any case the women’s team were losing, so I think I’d given it up as a bad job by now! 😊
We continued our packed entertainment programme for today by going to an extra cabaret at three o’clock.
The show was a solo performance by one of the Azamara Signature Singers, AlissaBeth Jane Morton. She was a very good singer, if a little up her own backside – “I love me, who do you love?” Nonetheless we enjoyed her performance on the whole, and it passed the time pleasantly until it was time to go to the quiz.
When we arrived at The Den, it was absolutely packed, and there was nowhere available to sit. At the same time we spotted our team-mates Dale and Susie, but the only four chairs we could find were too high to sit at a table, and too low to sit at the bar. They were all that were available, however, so we took our places at the end of the bar and sat on our chairs, looking ridiculously low down, only our head and shoulders showing, to the amusement of others at the bar. Instead of calling ourselves “Cruising, Boozing and Losing”, Susie suggested this time “Drinking, Thinking and Shrinking” ha ha! 😊
The first round was literature and this was pretty hard; there were a lot we should have known but got them wrong. In the end I think we scored a paltry 12/20. The next round, music, was all about songs which contained the word “love” somewhere in the title and we did better, scoring 18/20. Some teams scored 20, so we didn’t win. In fact, this cruise, there have been far too many team scoring 20/20, so I think there’s either some cheating going on or some of the quizzes have been repeated from earlier cruises, particularly as we’ve come across many people doing back to back voyages.
After the quizzes we chatted for a while longer, then went our separate ways to get washed and changed for dinner, as tonight’s buffet in the Windows Café was British/Indian. Trevor’s cold, however, had really taken its toll on him and he decided to take some paracetamol and go to bed, giving dinner a miss.
I therefore dined alone, enjoying a spicy jalfrezi and some vegetable rice, washed down with a glass of rosé wine, before heading back to 6009 to see how Trevor was doing. As I was walking along the corridor I spotted him coming the other way, where he’d decided to make an effort and go to the show at 8.15pm, which once again featured the violinist Jakub Trasak. He was great, he certainly puts together some interesting musical arrangements that you wouldn’t believe could be played well on a violin.
Afterwards we decided, for a short while, to go to The Living Room and sit right at the front, as it was still very light outside; in fact sunset would not occur until after 11 o’clock. While we were there, an announcement came over the tannoy from Ernest, the cruise director. He said that as we were due to arrive in Alaska, USA tomorrow morning the Azamara Quest would need to undergo the USA coastguard inspection and would also have to reapply to renew their liquor licence, which had just recently expired. In the meantime, he said, all sales of alcoholic beverages would cease from 6.00am tomorrow morning. As a groan went up from the passengers, he explained that tonight the cabin steward would put two bottles of wine, one red and one white, in each stateroom, and all beers in our mini-bar would be complimentary. Until the licence had been granted, we were free to bring our bottles of wine and beer to the dining rooms and staterooms. We would also receive a refund on our all-inclusive beverage packages for the day. So not a bad deal at all really. Ernest then made everyone laugh by saying that they would announce when the bars were open once again and for everyone to “please be careful in the ensuing stampede by your fellow guests”. 😊
(Guests!! Aaargh! Why don’t they just call us “passengers” which is what we are? I hate this expression which has been prevalent in the cruising industry for the past 15 years. We’re taking a passage on a ship, so we’re PASSENGERS!!)
Afterwards we returned to our stateroom around 9.30pm and just relaxed and watched telly and read, before settling down. We had to put our blimmin’ watches and clocks an hour ahead once again!! So now we were (I think!) nine hours behind Blighty.
We were due to arrive in Dutch Harbor, in the Aleutian Islands, tomorrow, and we looked forward to it immensely.