July 28, 2025

TOM & DONNA'S WEDDING CELEBRATION

A couple of months ago I was talking to two of my favorite shipmates, about their upcoming wedding and what plans they had made.  Tom and Donna met the first night we sailed from Belfast and I saw the relationship foster and grow, as Donna lived just a few doors down from me. They both fell hard for each other and were quickly inseparable, it was great to witness! They went off the Ship a few months back, to spend time in Italy, and Donna shocked us all, by proposing to Tom on their 6 month anniversary! They were married last month in Colorado, surrounded by a bunch of her friends and 2 couples from our Ship. I asked if they had a special song and they said no and there wasn't going to be any dancing or music at event. But Tom did offer, that he had suggested Footloose but was shot down - they are both so shy and claim to be non dancers. Hence the seed was planted!


I knew a bunch of us would want to celebrate them and their nuptials when they returned to the Ship and we had so much fun with Angie and Gian's flash mob and Ship wedding, that I thought it would be fun to create something similar for Tom & Donna. So I started recruiting from amongst their friends on board and quickly found many who were willing to go out of their comfort zone for these two. I found line dance moves to Footloose very easily, but the problem was the song is sooo fast, none of us could keep up to the beat and get through the 3 minutes. So with some tech support from other friends, we reduced the music down to 80% speed and cut down the length of the song significantly. We held secret dance rehearsals and I recruited Donna's sister too when she returned with them.Here's a look into one of our practice sessions.

And here's 2 different views on how it came out on the actual day we did the surprise.

I told Tom & Donna when they came back to ship after wedding, that Bosco and I wanted to meet them for drinks in Morning Light Bar area and then we could go to Thistle Dining Room Saturday night and hear all about their wedding and adventures. Instead we ambushed them with flash mob and group dinner with 20 of us, plus the rest of the Ship friends and staff joining in. A special evening evolved and I know they were really touched by the outpouring of love and good wishes!

We did an encore dance after dinner in the Coral Lounge and Tom and Donna joined in, while our cruise director / DJ egged us on to finish the dance at 100% speed. I take a slight tumble but bounce back up - see if you notice!

By Pat Patrick July 6, 2026
Fun day in the waters of Tioman Island, Malaysia snorkeling with friends. Life is good! It was nothing fancy, a boat & captain, who spoke minimal English and barely interacted with us, for roughly 7 hours. We started the outing spotting a group of dolphins and was quickly at anchor drop 1 of 6. The distances between the 6 snorkel spots was minimal, which gave us lots of time in the water (at least 45 minutes, at each spot) with an added stop for a lunch break at local restaurants. Even the restaurants were fast and efficient, definitely used to catering to the boat crowd.
By Pat Patrick July 4, 2026
Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July! Here on the Odyssey we celebrated in the SE Asia Sea on our way to Tioman Island, Malaysia . We have such a talented and dedicated group of residents here, they put together a fun hour of things to celebrate and embrace a lot of what we collectively love about the USA. Even our residents from other countries - Canada, England, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany , etc. joined in the fun! ( I lent my flag below for decorations)
By Pat Patrick July 2, 2026
Vihara Avalokiteshvara Graha or Guan Yin Temple is near 500 Lohan, so we also toured the grounds of this large Temple complex. It's dedicated to the Goddess of Mercy and is one the tallest brass statues of her in SE Asia. She is just over 55' tall, coated in 22 carat gold and is surrounded by scenic dragon fruit plantations. The tile work is intricate and textured with great details. The whole place is very tranquil and calming for meditation and prayer.