Today’s monumental news was Viking again leading the cruise industry in shutting down operations from March 12th to April 30th. No new cruises will embark between these dates. No doubt the other cruise lines will follow the Viking lead.

How does that affect us????? Read on!

Temperature: 28C/82F

Wind/Weather: Cloudy with showers and moderate winds

Sunrise/Sunset: 06:38/18:50

Clox: No change (Z+7)

Navigation

We maintained a NW’ly course across the Indian Ocean. Today’s Noon report was upstaged by another important announcement, so no distances/speeds were provided.

Weather

Generally overcast, with occasional showers. Winds NW’ly about 15 to 20 kts.

Meals

Another spectacular day, with 3 special meals:

• Aquavit Bar (07:00 to 10:00) – Organic Muesli Bar
• World Cafe (12:00 to 14:00) – Mexican
• Aquavit Terrace (18:00 to 20:30) – Fresh Yellowfin Tuna

Since the MDR was closed this morning, we had a quick breakfast in the World Cafe. At dinner, we joined a group in Manfredi’s private room for games night.

Activities

Out walking at my usual time of 05:30, I only survived 40 minutes, as by 06:10 it started pouring. I was still heading aft when it started, so no time to reach cover fwd of the pool, so I dived down the aft stairs, returning to the cabin.

After breakfast, I headed to Cooking School for day 2, which included Spicy prawns, Chilli Chicken and frog spawn (tapioca). I only had the prawns and chicken, as I’m still scarred from suffering frog spawn at school lunches. Never liked it then and never eaten it since. I did however manage to mix in the mango, evapourated milk and cream.

At 11:30, we heard the “Bing Bong”, wow the Captain’s watch must be fast, but no, this was Beven, requesting another meeting in the Theatre at Noon for a major announcement. Surely, we haven’t ran out of IPA again !!!!!

We all left class, heading to the Theatre, where the Captain, Norbert (GM) and Beven took to the stage. They advised that Viking had decided to cease operations from Mar 12th to April 30th, No cruises will embark during those dates. They also ran the short film from Viking Chairman Mr Hagen, outlining the reasons for the decision. Yet again, Viking leads the industry and no doubt others will follow in the next few days.

So how does this affect us – basically nobody knows. Until we hear otherwise, we continue steaming for “Somewhere”.

During cooking class, I missed the following:

• 10:00 Baggo
• 10:00 Lecture – How the Spice Trade Changed the World, by new Historian Professor Marie Conte-Helm
• 11:00 Lecture – Remarkable Rainforests, by Robin Petch
• 12:15 Daily Trivia
• 13:30 Film – The Greatest Showman (2019)

Beven had another Mad Gabs Trivia at 17:30, but we were getting changed for dinner, so missed it. Tonight we joined a group of 11, in Manfredi’s private room for dinner followed by games night, with a game called Codenames.

Yet again another brilliant game, which requires 2 teams. The game starts by placing 25 cards on the table in a 5×5 grid. Each card has a word(s) written on the card. A member of each team (red and blue) is assigned the spymaster, sharing a “Code” card, which assuming the blue team starts, assigns the 25 cards to:

• Blue – 9 cards
• Red – 8 cards
• Neutral – 7 cards
• Dynamite – 1 card

The Blue team spymaster reviews the code card to identify the location of all cards assigned to the blue team. Based on a 1-word clue from the spymaster the remainder of the team must guess which card, or cards. The Spymaster provides the 1-word clue and then how many cards are applicable to that clue.

Example – our blue cards were mug, stock, lucky and pants. I provided the clue, “Bovril – 2”. Since my teams consisted of 2 Brits and Judi, with 1 from USA, this clue was aimed at Judi and the Brits. They figured that Bovril is beef stock and is drunk from a mug, so they correctly selected those 2 words.

However, only the Spymasters know the assignments of the cards. If the team selects the dynamite word, they automatically lose, if they select a neutral word their turn is over and if they select the other team’s word, the other team gets the point. Therefore, in addition to finding clues for your words, you have to ensure they can’t be confused with non-team cards.

After the game, we headed to the Theatre to listen to Aiden Soon, who plays the Harmonica, although he is also classically trained on the piano and saxophone. Great show. We finished the evening in Torshavn, chatting with Martyn and Hillary, who were our team-mates at game night.