April 14th, 2023 Day 101 of 128

Sea Day…Weymouth (Portland), England

We woke up this morning floating into the English Chanel. We made our way to right outside the port in Weymouth. Since we came in earlier than expected (we weren’t scheduled to arrive until tomorrow) our slip was previously occupied by a cargo container that is off loading its contents. We had hoped to pull into port sometime today and hopefully get off and walk around the city, but sadly that was not to be. The rain and winds here delayed the speed at which they could off load the cargo ship so at dinner the captain made an announcement that we are now expecting to be able to pull into the slip tomorrow morning. Sow we are anchored for the night. This a first for me. We have had our share of over nights in port, but never have I done it while in anchor. Another bit of “good news” we received this afternoon is that there is a nationwide labor strike going on in France, that includes port workers. So our visit to La Havre, France for Sunday has now also been cancelled. Instead we will make our way to Dover, England. But it also means that we will not be visiting France at all as part of this world cruise. And on top of that, we were to receive supplies in La Havre so our supply chain has once again been hampered. A few upcoming specialty dinners have been cancelled so more time can be committed to the grand preparations for Holland America’s 150th Anniversary Celebration that is to take place on April 18th. We are hoping for a grand event that evening and I am very much looking forward to it. I came into this trip expecting many a change to take place, although I thought the cause of our changes would be COVID related. But you learn to be flexible, to remember the blessing in each day, and to appreciate where we are right now. I know what a blessing this opportunity is and I will find the joy in every day. So we did get to sleep in a little this morning after our late night of festivities last night. We made it to Project Linus time and got to spend time with all our wonderful friends. Then we went to the Lido for lunch as we had skipped breakfast again. Megan had tutoring at 12:30 and I headed home. I have a bit of a frog in my throat and I have been dragging my wagon most of today. We spent the afternoon watching a really good movie called Bridge of Spies. It was based on a true story and a novel by the same name. It was directed by Steven Spielberg. Then it was time to get ready for dinner. We had dinner in the Main dining room at 5:00pm. Then Megan and I went to the Main Stage to watch the show this evening. It was an acrobatic show with light effects. It was pretty good and we enjoyed it. After the show Megan went off to play cards and I came home so I could whip up this blog and pop into bed. We have face to face immigration inspection tomorrow here in England, starting at 7:00am and then we have an excursion later in the afternoon. I am looking forward to getting off the ship and doing some exploring tomorrow. Have some wonderful sleep tonight everyone!! Hugs.