Jackie (Travelcat) - We have not noticed any smoking issues whatever. Even in The Bar, which has a smoking side, we don't notice any smell of smoke if we aren't on that side. There is one rather whacky lady from a large country in S. America where everyone speaks Portuguese who lights up in the corridor before she even enters The Bar. Aside from her, we've seen no one abuse the non-smoking areas.

We love the ship and don't find it "too small". Now that we have the traffic pattern down and don't keep running into dead ends on certain decks, we enjoy the set-up of the ship. There is a problem with A/C in one of the upper lounges - the bartender told us that engineering is trying to figure it out. Our cabin, fortunately, is a very pleasant 68 or 69 F.

This morning we passed through an area within the famous Somali pirate zone; but (rats!!!!) we didn't see a sign of any pirates. I had my camera all set, too. When I was doing my morning walk in the outside steam room (also called the jogging track), I kept a good lookout for any small fast boats approaching the Whisper, all in vain.

No other news that hasn't been reported by others, except for my scoop that Suzanne appears to be practicing for her next cruise on Carnival by sitting up on the pool deck and taking photos of hairy backs. Next she'll be requesting that the elegant tea time be replaced by three-legged races and wet t-shirt contests. (No, Karen, I am not slandering Suzanne by making up the hairy back photos - it's all too sadly true - perhaps the result of too much sun and chardonnay, no??)

Oops, time for trivia. Maybe we'll recover our dignity from yesterday's dreadful loss.

Cheers from the land of camels and abayas, Fred