14th – 16th January.
All at sea!!!!! Travelling from the Azores to our first stop of St. Maarten. Weather seems to be improving day by day, with temperatures today at 21 degrees. It sounds nice, but believe me with the wind it can still feel a little chilly on the open decks. In fact because of the weather conditions some of the decks have been closed off for a couple of days.
Doreen is continuing on her craft course, making a small black evening bag with ribbon embroidery on it. She had a few problems with this one but she is still progressing.
Life on sea days is settling in to a pattern. Starting with the silver service breakfast at 8.30am, followed by trip to library to pick up news sheet and puzzle of the day. Doreen does her round of the shops to see if anything good is on offer and the off to her craft class at 10.00am. Geoff wanders the decks (which are open) and then reads the news and tries to complete the daily puzzle. At 11.30am we go to the Crows Nest for a floater coffee and then at 12.30 we go to lunch (Doreen usually has a curry and Geoff watches his weight and goes for the salad, but we do both have desserts!!!!}. After lunch we walk the decks again and find a nice spot out of the wind to sit and relax. All too soon it is 3.00pm – time for afternoon tea and sandwiches and the odd cream cake. After a further walk of the decks and shops we return to the cabin to wind down and get ready for our evening meal at 6.30pm. Oh Boy, just reading this makes me feel guilty – I shouldn’t be eating all this food in one day.
The evening meals consist of five courses: A starter/A soup/A main meal/A dessert and then coffee and sweet canapés and cheese and biscuits for Geoffrey. At 8.00pm we rush down to the theatre at the front of the ship to get a seat for the evening show, which starts at 8.30pm. The standard of the shows has been very good so far, consisting of a female singer, a male singer, a comedian and the on board production company, called Headliners and one cancellation because of the bad weather.
After the show we usually meet up with friends for a drink in the one of the many bars, listening to music groups varying from easy listening piano play, jazz band to a calypso band, getting us in the mood for the Caribbean. Sorry Elsie, we haven’t yet ventured in to the ballroom, where the dance teachers are Robert and Virginia Verrico, although we have hovered at the door listening to the music from the seven member band.
Depending on our mood we return to our cabin at about 10.30pm or as late as 12.30 (but of course, this would be 2.30am at home). It seems every other day they give us an extra hour in bed as we have to put the clocks back as we go further west. We assume we will have to give all these hours back on the way home.
Today,. (Friday 15th), to keep us amused on our long sea days the crew set up an exhibition area, showing off all the ships different departments, from the engine room to the spa, and the navigation to the kitchens. All extremely interesting, including a demonstration of their bed making skills, where they can strip and make a bed in three minutes (and sometimes a lot less than that). I found out that the ship runs on four engines and when asked, the guy said not all of them had broken down at the same time (and he then touched wood). Doreen resisted the temptation to try out the chocolate fountain, which did look delicious.
Today, (Saturday, 16th) the temperatures have crept up to 24 degrees – nicely warm with a little cloud about and wind has eased to Force 3. It looks like this afternoon we may be doing a little sun bathing at long last and, of course, that is if we can find a free sunbed.
We are all looking forward to arriving at St. Maarten tomorrow the first of three consecutive days ashore (St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Barbados). We are hoping the weather will be kind to us as we have a full schedule of excursions which we hope to report on in our next blog.
All at sea!!!!! Travelling from the Azores to our first stop of St. Maarten. Weather seems to be improving day by day, with temperatures today at 21 degrees. It sounds nice, but believe me with the wind it can still feel a little chilly on the open decks. In fact because of the weather conditions some of the decks have been closed off for a couple of days.
Doreen is continuing on her craft course, making a small black evening bag with ribbon embroidery on it. She had a few problems with this one but she is still progressing.
Life on sea days is settling in to a pattern. Starting with the silver service breakfast at 8.30am, followed by trip to library to pick up news sheet and puzzle of the day. Doreen does her round of the shops to see if anything good is on offer and the off to her craft class at 10.00am. Geoff wanders the decks (which are open) and then reads the news and tries to complete the daily puzzle. At 11.30am we go to the Crows Nest for a floater coffee and then at 12.30 we go to lunch (Doreen usually has a curry and Geoff watches his weight and goes for the salad, but we do both have desserts!!!!}. After lunch we walk the decks again and find a nice spot out of the wind to sit and relax. All too soon it is 3.00pm – time for afternoon tea and sandwiches and the odd cream cake. After a further walk of the decks and shops we return to the cabin to wind down and get ready for our evening meal at 6.30pm. Oh Boy, just reading this makes me feel guilty – I shouldn’t be eating all this food in one day.
The evening meals consist of five courses: A starter/A soup/A main meal/A dessert and then coffee and sweet canapés and cheese and biscuits for Geoffrey. At 8.00pm we rush down to the theatre at the front of the ship to get a seat for the evening show, which starts at 8.30pm. The standard of the shows has been very good so far, consisting of a female singer, a male singer, a comedian and the on board production company, called Headliners and one cancellation because of the bad weather.
After the show we usually meet up with friends for a drink in the one of the many bars, listening to music groups varying from easy listening piano play, jazz band to a calypso band, getting us in the mood for the Caribbean. Sorry Elsie, we haven’t yet ventured in to the ballroom, where the dance teachers are Robert and Virginia Verrico, although we have hovered at the door listening to the music from the seven member band.
Depending on our mood we return to our cabin at about 10.30pm or as late as 12.30 (but of course, this would be 2.30am at home). It seems every other day they give us an extra hour in bed as we have to put the clocks back as we go further west. We assume we will have to give all these hours back on the way home.
Today,. (Friday 15th), to keep us amused on our long sea days the crew set up an exhibition area, showing off all the ships different departments, from the engine room to the spa, and the navigation to the kitchens. All extremely interesting, including a demonstration of their bed making skills, where they can strip and make a bed in three minutes (and sometimes a lot less than that). I found out that the ship runs on four engines and when asked, the guy said not all of them had broken down at the same time (and he then touched wood). Doreen resisted the temptation to try out the chocolate fountain, which did look delicious.
Today, (Saturday, 16th) the temperatures have crept up to 24 degrees – nicely warm with a little cloud about and wind has eased to Force 3. It looks like this afternoon we may be doing a little sun bathing at long last and, of course, that is if we can find a free sunbed.
We are all looking forward to arriving at St. Maarten tomorrow the first of three consecutive days ashore (St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Barbados). We are hoping the weather will be kind to us as we have a full schedule of excursions which we hope to report on in our next blog.
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