Love the rough weather

[vezePilot]

I know most folks don't enjoy it, but I absolutely LOVED the rough seas in stormy weather in the Mediterranean in October. We were on the Oosterdam, and sailed through two different Force Ten storms- one at night sailing from Greece to Sicily (IIRC) and the other during the morning and through lunchtime between Italy and Barcelona. Breakfast during a Force Ten storm is odd, with everyone staggering around as if they've already had way too much to drink.

Both swimming pools emptied themselves onto the decks during the storm on the way to Barcelona, with the ship rolling back and forth from a five degree constant list because of the 60 MPH wind.

During the first storm, I joked with Henry the Bartender that the chairs and tables were moving around because old Sailors of by-gone eras were drinking and brawling out there ... I also quoted a few lines for him from Gordon Lightfoot's Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald:

"At 7 PM the Cook's Mate called in, and said fellas it's too rough to feed ya.
At 9 PM he called in again, and said fellas it's been good to know ya."

He didn't really like that, it seemed.

I was always up until 1 or 2 AM every night, enjoying the outside decks 9, 10 and 11, and nearly always there was no one else about- no guests, no staff, and no crew members. But during the storms it was particularly fun. On the morning of the storm sailing to Barcelona, they closed off the doors to the outside at about 8:30 AM. But I had already been out enjoying the rolling, pitching and shaking for nearly two hours. I watched (and was prepared to grab the phone to call man overboard) as two ship's staff members stacked and secured the lounge chairs on the aft Lido deck 9. The poor fellows were constantly thrashed in the high winds, and even *stacks* of chairs jumped around on the deck.

Many of the accomodations on board cruise ships are like being on land- the restaurants, the swimming pools, the evening shows. But I like the aspects of a cruise that are strictly found only on a SHIP. The evenings, the sea, arriving at ports, and the way the ship moves in rough weather.

[vezePilot]

Well, that was how I remembered the song at the time. The actual lyrics in that part are:

"When supper time came the old cook came on deck
Saying fellows it's too rough to feed ya
At 7PM a main hatchway caved in
He said fellas it's been good to know ya."

[cruisin'tex]

As long as I have my Meclizine, I'm good in any kind of weather.