Back on the ship after our excellent day in Patmos, we packed for our cabin move.  A little background: The next leg of our cruise starts tomorrow, originally a Black Sea cruise. But with current circumstances being what they are, the Black Sea portion was eliminated piece by piece. First Odessa was canceled (obviously), then Constanta in Romania (which was a bummer because we really wanted to go there). They had left Bulgaria on the itinerary and added an extra port, but then as the war progressed, and the mines started floating around the Black Sea, Bulgaria went bye bye too. Now this cruise is Greece and Turkey. What can you do? We were disappointed, but still going. Lots and lots and lots of others canceled. So many in fact, that the next cruise will only have about 180 passengers. Private Yacht!

As you can imagine, there are also lots and lots and lots of cabins available. We originally were going to move to an Aft balcony, got a great deal on it before we left, but then asked about upgrading to one of the Spa or Owner’s Suites. What the heck? Tatiana, the lovely Guest Services manager worked with us – and said she’d let us know when she heard back from Miami. Ok – we’re not going anywhere. And we’re still moving to the aft balcony regardless, thus the packing and the move. And this type of packing is so heavenly. Just throw everything into a suitcase and be done – no worrying about flying, liquids, lost luggage.

Once the packing was accomplished we were getting ready for our Back-to-Back meeting with the 20 other intrepid souls who were staying on (our new friends Rosanna and Peter included – yay – more days of walking the pool deck with them in the mornings!). But first, the guest relations phone call. Suddenly, Greece has decided that we all need to take an antigen test so they can clear the ship. Originally we didn’t have to take a test if we weren’t getting off the ship in Piraeus – which we weren’t – we’ve been here enough and had no desire to wander about or go into Athens. But now, Greece has changed its mind. Ok, well, fingers crossed, here goes nothing.

Up we go to the Library to get our tests and meet the most adorable and hysterical head nurse who couldn’t have been any friendlier or fun. If you have to have something stuck up your nose – might as well have fun doing it! Then across the hall to Aqualina for our B2B meeting. Drinks and a talk by Simon, the Hotel Director, and Tatiana, our GR friend, 3 Chef’s Tables are supposed to be coming – the normal French and Italian, but also an Explorers Table, which we had done on the Quest – this one will be all about the Odyssey, which should be great.

Then it is on to the rest of the evening with dinner and the farewell (to others) show. The show is a comedian who had just gotten onboard and will be with us on the next cruise. He is really funny, as in guffaw-inducingly hysterical. We’ll definitely go to see him again. But it is a little odd that the final show isn’t the singers and dancers and Steven and Grace. Oh well, what do we know.

Back in the cabin, before we can begin relaxing on the balcony, we get a phone call from GR saying that Ed hasn’t taken his COVID test and has to do so immediately. What? Nah. I troop down to the Medical center only to find our lovely head nurse who has somehow written Ed’s name down twice and only has one result (we are negative btw, phew!). Thus ensues a hysterical 15 minute conversation with he and the other nurse about all things Greek, COVID, test and well, just life in general. I could have stayed down there all night! But they have work to do, so I bid them goodnight, and headed back to balcony for a lovely night on our way to Piraeus.