Anderson South American Misadventure Day 20 - "Day Two of Confinement and We are Both Still Alive." March 23, 2020

We slept late this morning. I mean why would we get up early? We have nowhere to go. We got up and got ready for our day. We got a schedule of events for the day. Well, we got the schedule for the meals and for events that they would be showing on a channel of the TV. We get to play trivia twice a day. I have a shot that I need to take once a week. It is kept in the refrigerator in the Medical Center. On at sea days the Medical Center opens at 3:00. We were confined to our cabin at 2:15. I called the front desk to explain that I needed this shot, I take it every Sunday. No particular time but sometime on Sunday. By 10:00 I gave up on waiting for it. I called the front desk again at 9:00 this morning to ask for me shot. They transferred me to the Medical Center. The person who answered the phone had to ask what to do. They told him to just bring it to my door. He said that he would be here soon. OK, I am a day late but it is not a huge problem. I called Donna to find out when they got dinner, they got it even later than we did. This morning we finally got breakfast at 11:00 Breakfast was scheduled to be delivered 6:30 to 9:30. By the time it got here we were pretty hungry. Last night we had two rolls that we did not eat and I did not think to keep those rolls. By 10:00 I was really wishing that I had kept them. We got a form to fill out for what kind of drink we wanted. Diet Coke was one choice. We prefer Coke Zero but hey, it will do. When it came we got two cans. Rob decided for his self preservation he would let me have at least 75% of the Diet Coke. Actually when the cans came I thought that they had given us regular Coke. These are South American cans and have a different label. At noon I heard a knock at the door. I thought that my shot had arrived. No, it was the room across the hall getting a meal. I asked the woman if that was breakfast for lunch. It was their lunch. I am sure that there is an explanation. Then I saw that they had a red sticker on their room number. Ah, there might be a reason that they get their meals earlier. The captain made his announcement at 1:00 today. He said that everyday at noon he is on a conference call with headquarters to decide what needs to be done. He gave us our location and speed, we are moving at 20 knots/hour. He also told us that we would be rendezvousing with the MS Rotterdam. The MS Oosterdam and MS Eurodam have transfered their medical supplies and part of their medical team to the MS Rotterdam, including "test kits" which I assume is for COVID-19. We will be meeting the MS Rotterdam somewhere near the Panama Canal. They do not know if any passengers will be transferred there. I am hoping that if no one tests positive for COVID-19 we will be realeased from our rooms. There are actually more crew out sick than passengers. By saying that we are heading for the Panama Canal must mean that we are still heading for Ft Lauderdale. I decided to take a shower while waiting for lunch. I heard the familiar "bong, bong, bong" that they do when it is time for an announcement. I turned the water off so that I could hear. There was an emergency in the laundry. I could hear crew running. Oh, great this is just what we needed. I quickly finished my shower not wanting to be in their if we had to evacuate. They came back on to say that the emergency was over. They had a small fire in the laundry. OK, good thing that I had not sent any clothes down. Lunch deliver is 11:00 to 2:00. We got lunch at 2:40. OK, we are doing better than breakfast. Rob and I split the meals but there are certain things that I know are not good for me to eat. I have never placed a special menu. I just know that I have to avoid white rice, corn and do not eat a lot of pasta. If I had ordered special meals they would be bringing that me. I do wish that I could get a glass of milk with my meals. This Wisconsin native needs her milk. I am going to try making tea with the hot water from the bathroom tomorrow morning. Not expecting a lot, but it is something. I carry my own chai since they do not have that on board. I also have my own stevia so I can make tea. I just wish that I could get a pot of hot water. They have suspended food and drink service so that they can deal with getting all of the meals to the rooms. We get what they bring us. I will say that they are keeping us well fed and I am pretty sure that they got a huge crate of Eggplant in Valparaiso. It is good but we had it with two meals today. Victoria had been communicating with a bored Holland America employee this morning on twitter. She wanted to make sure that we were OK and told them that she had heard from us. She asked if I wanted help getting my shot. I said sure and she went back to twitter. He responded that I should call and keep calling and really be annoying until I get my shot. Victoria said that she had faith in my ability to be annoying. I called the front desk and was told that they would get back to me in five minutes. Two minutes later the phone rang and it was the Medical Center. They apologized but they had been swamped. She would be right up. She showed up at my door with a mask on. I got my shot. Hopefully before I need another one we will be released. The front desk called back to make sure that I got my shot. Thank you. We were supposed to be getting fresh air time. The captain said that he was sorry but there were not enough masks to go around and they do not want any more sickness spread. At least we have a window. I feel very sorry for those in interior rooms. We are on the port side of a ship headed North. We get to watch the sunset every night. We joke that we are on a sunset dinner cruise. Hey, you have to have some fun. We are doing fine. Rob has a cold and my sinus infection is taking its sweet time clearing up. I will have to give up and see an ENT for this. We play trivia on TV, I knit, we take turns on line and we watch TV. Hopefully there will be a movie that we like. We know that we are actually pretty lucky. While we are both a little under the weather we could be a lot sicker. Victoria checks in on us and we talk to Donna and Jim to see how they are doing. They are one hall over from us. We are keeping our fingers crossed for the Panama Canal on March 27 and Ft Lauderdale on the 30th. Stay tuned, you know that there will be more.