Sex, Drugs and Rock-n-Roll (relax Mom, just read)

Well this last cruise has been quite the adventure. We had a little sexual misconduct among the pax last cruise so there was some fall-out from that incident which made it to the Aussie news media. Not such good press, especially since (I'm told anyway) there was a suspicious death on one of our sister ships last year. Not to be outdone, some other lady came forward later in the week with allegations about some voyeauristic predator stealing her camera and photographing himself while she slept. Then they brought on some ex-security guy saying how the security is told to turn a blind eye to the rampant drug use, something something, that's going on on the ships. My only reaction to all that is.....why the hell wasn't the crew invited. Load of BS that is. Anyway, P&O Australia still took a beating in the press this week. And that covers sex and drugs.

On to rock-n-roll. Rich and I now hold the upper hand in the battle of Jerry-co. (Bad pun. Sorry, couldn't resist) We were playing Stella Webb's cabaret show the other night in place of one of the production shows (the male lead singer fell ill so we made a few changes in the entertainment plan for the cruise) and we were bringing her back on for her encore tune. Generally speaking, the Ike&Tina Turner version of Proud Mary starts pretty slow. Not in Jerry's world though. He launches into it at Mach-2 and Rich and I just stare at him, shaking our heads and saying "It's too fast". (tempos that are too fast are a recurring theme with Jerry, but this was an extreme) Finally, Stella very calmly interjects, "Let's try it a little slower, JERRY!" Game, set and match to the rhythm section. Jerry stopped playing and started looking around for help so I started the tune. Rich joined and Stella was soon to follow and Jerry just sat there for a few bars. There was great jubilation and dancing on tables later in the evening. Needless to say, the Cruise Director now has Jerry by the balls and he also has the authority quash anything negative Jerry might say about me in my final evaluation. Check-mate! And that, my friends, is all rock-n-roll to me.

Today begins the first of 2 9-day cruises. If it's raining on Isle of Pines, I'm gonna cry cuz I was on IPM the first time we went there and this will be my only other opportunity to visit what I'm told is one of the most pristine beaches and snorkeling spots around.

6 more weeks on the Star. Still working on local leave so I can see a little more of Australia before I go.

Happy Wombat.....er.....Groundhog Day!