DETOUR - 2GO Travel

As Sir Alain took us on a touraround the ship, he took us all theway to the bridge, the ship’s commandcenter, to meet ship captain BobbyMontayre, a Cebu native and a veterancaptain who has sailed this particularcourse, as well as many others, fordecades. He keeps a tiptop ship.“We have a weekly evaluationof crew readiness,” said CaptainMontayre. “We take safety seriously.”They also check the emergency raftsand the state of fire fighting equipmentwhich are dispersed all over the ship.Aside from a ready crew, thecaptain is also proud of all the safetyapparatus installed all over the ship.Fire emergency alarm system, check.Sprinkler system, check. Radar andemergency communication system,check. They even have an independentweather report system in addition tothe ones they receive from PAGASAand the coast guard.The information did tons tocalm me when the ship started tohit the rougher waters of the opensea. Though not jerky, the shipwas in constant motion. Tita Susanwas unperturbed, though. She wasenjoying the band playing at the shipdeck along with the other guests.Band singer Shiela Sansait had to huga pole to keep her balance, thoughher high wedge heels might havesomething to do with that as well. Buteven with the ship’s motion, she stillmanaged to belt out songs includingAdele’s “Rolling in the deep.” Howappropriate, I thought.As I ducked below deck to themezzanine lounge, I found other guestswho, like me, hadn’t found their sealegs yet. Being both green aroundthe gills didn’t seem to be a greatconversation opener, but hey, it was ashared experience. And the confinedspace of the ship brought a certaincamaraderie among us guests.Jason Alcantara, a 31-year-oldbalikbayan from California seemed tobe enjoying it. Just here on a limitedstay, the cruise to Boracay ate up a bitout of his vacation days but he had no72 travel time april - june 2012