Another busy day in this port. There was the Brilliance and the Legend of the Seas at anchor, the Veendam and the MSC Armonia alongside, and the Costa Marina and Costa Serena at the downtown anchorage. No reason for the shopkeepers to complain. We had our normal fun and games with the sailing yachts upon arrival, including one who decided that the best spot to lower his sails was right in front of my bow but we were docked exactly at noon time, the official arrival time.

This cruise we have a very mixed group of guests on board. Naturally the big majority is Canadians and Americans but we are starting to get more and more Australians on the ship. This cruise we have 50. We do not see them on the short European cruises, the 26 hour flying time it too much for that, but on the longer cruises more and more are coming. Holland America started a marketing campaign about 10 years ago in Australia and New Zealand and it looks like it that it is paying off. Because of their accent and their penchant for a “no worries” attitude, Aussie’s always stand out in a crowd and for a lot of guests on board it is the first time that they meet people from down under. We have a ship sailing in Australian waters during the winter, the Statendam, so they could take a cruise close to home but more and more are coming this way to see Europe by ship. I would not be amazed at all if some of them are adding the first Baltic cruise to their travel plans as well. It is a long long way from the other side of the world, so if you make the journey, then you might as well make the most of it.

As usual I listened this morning to the local weather forecast on the VHF ship’s radio and completely puzzled I was. While all my other weather forecasts and the view outside gave beautiful weather I was advised about a gale warning in the Mid Adriatic. When I was just about to leave the bridge to have another check of the weather on the internet, a rather hesitant voice came back on, apologizing in three languages, (English, Italian, and Croatian) and re reading the weather. Turned out that somehow the script from two days ago had been given to the news reader.

In some parts of the world, the person who reads the weather forecast is also the person who composes it and I never thought about it before, but it makes sense, as it does prevent mistakes like these. The Weather girl at home on my local television, is responsible for her own script and contents and that works very well for now obvious reasons.

Our tours were all back in time and thus I could leave the dock exactly on schedule. It was a nice convoy leaving the port with the Legend and the Brilliance pulling out just ahead of me. The Costa Serenade had left the anchorage in downtown and we all met at the same time at the same point. ………And they keep telling me that only Florida has busy cruise ports. Tomorrow is a sea day, with as highlight the transverse of the Strait of Messina.