Wednesday, 20th – Tuesday, 26th February (At Sea)
This is our longest time at sea – six days. Geoffrey is getting a little bit restless, but I am finding it quite relaxing, except for the rough sea times. Don’t like those very much.
Today we had a bridge tour – No I don’t mean the card game, I mean a tour of the Bridge with the Captain. This captain, however, is getting off the ship in Hong Kong and we are getting a new one – let’s hope he is as good. Anyway, just to give you a rough idea of what we have been doing.
The first few mornings on board we used to go and breakfast at the Orangery, which was self-service, but now we go to the Medina, which is waiter service. We find this much nicer. After breakfast we scan the days events to see what there is we want to do. For example, I have been to the Napkin Folding demonstration, which was quite interesting. Also I have been to a class on Diet and Fluid retention (my ankles are like balloons) – I didn’t enjoy this as the Spa were just trying to sell one of their little machines (little in size, but not in price £400). We have been to some of the Port Excursion talks, but these are also recorded and shown on the television, so some we watch on the tv – these are very helpful as they give you ideas about your next Port of Call. Geoffrey has been to presentations by Colonel Bob Stewart (the first British UN Commander in Bosnia) and also one by the Captain on how he got to where he is. He found both of these very interesting. Most days at 2.00pm there is a quiz called Scattergories, which I go to (teamed up with a couple on our dinner table) and we have won this a couple of times, but we are up against some teachers – so not that easy to win.
Now the evenings. We dine at 6.30pm at the same table and dinner companions (see photo). On the table we are all retired (a banker, a plumber and ex-hotel owners) so the evening conversations are always interesting and varied. Then after dinner at 8.30pm there is the first of the evening entertainments. We have had The Aurora Theatre Company perform Oh Boy and Rave On – both excellent. Also we have had two comedians – one not very good at all but the other was quite funny (he used to appear on Tiswas on tv with Chris Tarrant) and finally we have had two singers one male and one female, Tim Beveridge (from New Zealand) singing Frank Sinatra type songs and Diane Cousins, a very powerful Welsh singer who puts a lot of humour into her act and presents a very entertaining performance. After the main show we usually walk around the ship and go for an evening drink in one of the many bars. However, a couple of evenings we have had two shows on. Each evening, as you regular cruisers will know, they have a different category of dress on ship from Smart Casual/Semi Formal/ and Formal, which is evening dress and dinner jackets for the men. See photos.
The rest of our free time we just sit around on the Lido Deck, Promenade Deck or one of the many lounges people watching. We have decided that there are many different types of cruisers: the sun worshipers, who spend every available minute lying the sun (you can tell these by the burnt, leathery skin), the sloaths, who are either eating or sleeping on the loungers in the shade getting fatter by the day, the readers and puzzlers, who are always seen in their favourite spot on the ship with their noses in books or puzzles, the must do everything, who spend all day running around the ship with the itinerary clutched in their hands to make sure they attend every activity without missing any meals, of course. Then of course there are the “Mrs. Buckets” , you know the type. Now we don’t come under any of these. We are slowly progressing from the sunworshipers/readers and puzzlers and starting to join the activities (see picture napkin folding).
However, the most exciting activity on the whole ship is the launderette. Here you find people that are very friendly at the dinner and lunch tables turning true to form as they fight amongst themselves for the use of the washing machines, tumble dryers and ironing boards. Not a place for the fainthearted, so Geoffrey sends Doreen into battle. We did hear a story of two couples who were thrown of the ship for fighting in the launderette (but so far not on this cruise), but we do have twenty one days to go.
This is our longest time at sea – six days. Geoffrey is getting a little bit restless, but I am finding it quite relaxing, except for the rough sea times. Don’t like those very much.
Today we had a bridge tour – No I don’t mean the card game, I mean a tour of the Bridge with the Captain. This captain, however, is getting off the ship in Hong Kong and we are getting a new one – let’s hope he is as good. Anyway, just to give you a rough idea of what we have been doing.
The first few mornings on board we used to go and breakfast at the Orangery, which was self-service, but now we go to the Medina, which is waiter service. We find this much nicer. After breakfast we scan the days events to see what there is we want to do. For example, I have been to the Napkin Folding demonstration, which was quite interesting. Also I have been to a class on Diet and Fluid retention (my ankles are like balloons) – I didn’t enjoy this as the Spa were just trying to sell one of their little machines (little in size, but not in price £400). We have been to some of the Port Excursion talks, but these are also recorded and shown on the television, so some we watch on the tv – these are very helpful as they give you ideas about your next Port of Call. Geoffrey has been to presentations by Colonel Bob Stewart (the first British UN Commander in Bosnia) and also one by the Captain on how he got to where he is. He found both of these very interesting. Most days at 2.00pm there is a quiz called Scattergories, which I go to (teamed up with a couple on our dinner table) and we have won this a couple of times, but we are up against some teachers – so not that easy to win.
Now the evenings. We dine at 6.30pm at the same table and dinner companions (see photo). On the table we are all retired (a banker, a plumber and ex-hotel owners) so the evening conversations are always interesting and varied. Then after dinner at 8.30pm there is the first of the evening entertainments. We have had The Aurora Theatre Company perform Oh Boy and Rave On – both excellent. Also we have had two comedians – one not very good at all but the other was quite funny (he used to appear on Tiswas on tv with Chris Tarrant) and finally we have had two singers one male and one female, Tim Beveridge (from New Zealand) singing Frank Sinatra type songs and Diane Cousins, a very powerful Welsh singer who puts a lot of humour into her act and presents a very entertaining performance. After the main show we usually walk around the ship and go for an evening drink in one of the many bars. However, a couple of evenings we have had two shows on. Each evening, as you regular cruisers will know, they have a different category of dress on ship from Smart Casual/Semi Formal/ and Formal, which is evening dress and dinner jackets for the men. See photos.
The rest of our free time we just sit around on the Lido Deck, Promenade Deck or one of the many lounges people watching. We have decided that there are many different types of cruisers: the sun worshipers, who spend every available minute lying the sun (you can tell these by the burnt, leathery skin), the sloaths, who are either eating or sleeping on the loungers in the shade getting fatter by the day, the readers and puzzlers, who are always seen in their favourite spot on the ship with their noses in books or puzzles, the must do everything, who spend all day running around the ship with the itinerary clutched in their hands to make sure they attend every activity without missing any meals, of course. Then of course there are the “Mrs. Buckets” , you know the type. Now we don’t come under any of these. We are slowly progressing from the sunworshipers/readers and puzzlers and starting to join the activities (see picture napkin folding).
However, the most exciting activity on the whole ship is the launderette. Here you find people that are very friendly at the dinner and lunch tables turning true to form as they fight amongst themselves for the use of the washing machines, tumble dryers and ironing boards. Not a place for the fainthearted, so Geoffrey sends Doreen into battle. We did hear a story of two couples who were thrown of the ship for fighting in the launderette (but so far not on this cruise), but we do have twenty one days to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment