[conspire] Off to elsewhere; see you Oct. 29th

[Rick Moen]

I wrote:

> The October CABAL meeting will _not_ occur this Saturday, Oct. 8th,
> because Deirdre and I will be in the Sierra Nevada[1] and then off to
> the Mediterranean.[2]  (We'll finally get to ride the TGV!)
 
And we did, indeed.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TGV


> [2] http://www.seadream.com/voyages/11642

Above is actually the _second_ (7 day) leg of our cruise, the longer leg
from Cannes to Civitavecchia.  First leg (3 days), which was supposed to
leave yesterday from Nice (to Cannes), was
http://www.seadream.com/voyages/11641B

And, funny thing that, just as we were waiting at SFO for our flight, we
heard from our travel agent that the Nice to Cannes leg of our cruise had
(just then) been cancelled -- because of engine fire at 2am on Sept. 1
off the Calabrian coast (the 'toe' of Italy) en-route from Amalfi to
Palinuro, the damage from which they've been frantically repairing in
Naples's shipyards, while cancelling subsequent cruises incrementally
through (so far) our Nice-to-Cannes first-leg cruise.  

http://www.cruiselawnews.com/2016/09/articles/fires-1/fire-breaks-out-on-seadream-i-in-italy/
http://www.maritimeherald.com/2016/cruise-ship-seadream-i-with-105-passengers-caught-fire-off-naples/
http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/seadream-i-fire-repairs-are-being-evaluated-in-naples.html


Ye olde vessel is currently here in Naples:
https://www.vesselfinder.com/?imo=8203438

...And we're here, in Nice:
https://www.google.fr/maps/place/Hyatt+Regency+Nice+Palais+de+la+Méditerranée/@43.6950466,7.2630642,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x68db894d7d179001!8m2!3d43.6950466!4d7.2630642

Cannes is about 30 km southwest of Nice (where we are now), no problem
to reach _if_ M/V SeaDream I finishes repairs in time to haul ass across
the Mediterranean to Cannes by Saturday's early evening sailing time.
If not, our second leg must, too, be cancelled.[1]  We expect to have
final word about this from SeaDream HQ in Oslo on Thursday.

Meantime, we'll just have to put up with being in the south of France.

(We have a Danube river cruise lined up, as alternative.
http://www.amawaterways.com/gems-of-southeastern-europe-2016 )

[1] Ship's normal cruising speed is 28 km/h (15 knots, 17 mph).  Online
sources say its maximum speed is 18 knots (33km/h).  Port of Napoli to
the Port of Cannes is 398 nautical miles = 737 km via normal sea lanes
along the Italian coast and then rounding Corsica's north tip, according to
http://ports.com/sea-route/#/?a=3426&b=3381&c=Port%20of%20Napoli,%20Italy&d=Port%20of%20Cannes,%20France
So, I estimate 22 hours' ship transit time from Naples to Cannes.  So,
theoretically, SeaDream _could_ defer decision to as late as Friday
afternoon, October 14th -- but reportedly will decide a day earlier.  Of
course, the company must also weigh cost and revenue considerations, in
deciding which cruises to cancel.