Wednesday to Saturday. I can see the sea!

First of all, it looks like each post I’ve put up while on board has gone up several times and I cant see why… Internet is so expensive and sooooo sllooooowwwwww on here that I can’t try and fix it… Will play with it when I add pictures – sometime when there’s a better connection…

Over the past few days we’ve had endless ocean in all directions – the only break in the view so far has been an actual slow boat to China (apparently it wont arrive until March…!) on Wednesday.

Our days have begun to follow a basic pattern – we get up and have breakfast at one of the 3 main restaurants or cafeterias, head back to the cabin to read or relax for a bit before our chocolate workshop – which is always good fun, then (still reeling from so much chocolate in the air and our mouths) we wander off either to the cabin for more relaxing, or around the ship to explore the various activities. Then we get some lunch before going to the Sirens pool area to play a little table tennis with Rex, a lovely old boy who seems to spend most of his life playing table tennis on cruise ships. He sits by the table every day, with his own bats and balls, relaxing in the sun until someone wants to play – and so he makes friends and meets people, having a chat and sharing a smile. I think perhaps he’s very lonely, but this is his way to be less so – he’s rarely alone for long. We like him a lot.

After I’ve lost at table tennis, again we wander about for a while, just soaking up the sun and relaxation, before our nightly quiz with the Manchesters at about half past 7 – sometimes we eat beforehand, others we join them once we’ve played. Again, we usually come in the top half of the teams, but so far haven’t won.

So far…

And then it’s the evening – maybe we go see a comedian (so far entirely set up for the elderly… They’re like something from a music hall or working men’s club from days gone by. The average age on this ship is apparently 72. It works out very well), other times it’s to the bar where a musician of some sort entertains into the early hours. Finally we drip back to bed for a nice gentle rocking night’s sleep – waking fresh and happy, ready to start again.

I’ve glossed over some of the good bits here though, for instance – the chocolate class is something I could write about for page after page, but I’ll try to cut short. Gerry, the Chocolatier, is a wonderful mix of showman, creep, comedian, chef, shepherd & primary school teacher, all in the guise of a professional Jeremy Clarkson lookalike… (really, it’s uncanny). Each day we do something different – learning how to make truffles, mint chocolate crisps, using moulds, tempering, the ins and outs of milk & dark chocolate, about how people saying white chocolate isn’t really chocolate is just arguing over some not-really defined technicalities (it’s still made of the same general stuff, just not all the same bits), where chocolate comes from, how it’s excellent for your skin and hair (he covered his head in some on day one, looking like a wandering minstrel… Two old dears never came back after that!), and so on. We even made a chocolate portrait of ourselves. I think they’re rather good :D

We’ve also been in the right place and right time a couple of times now to see some flying fish! They’ve only been out of the water for a few seconds at a time, not enough to get a picture unfortunately, but they really do seem to fly – even changing direction in the air (or that’s how it seems from up on deck) – I hope we see more, and I’ve not given up on seeing whales, dolphins, sharks, kraken, pirates and the Mary Deare!

One little incident from the Sunday has come back to us almost unexpectedly. While I was conked out in the cabin, Jo went up for some breakfast and found an unwelcome surprise in her hash brown – a broken shard of plate which she bit down on. Luckily she wasn’t hurt, and only brought it to the chef’s attention in case there was more there and someone did hurt themselves. They made a big fuss at the time and apologised profusely saying they’d look into it, and then we moved on and forgot all about it.

Last night when we returned to our cabin after Jo won another tote bag (oh yes, she is now the queen of the ladies after a comedy Game Show pitching ladies versus gentlemen. It was very very funny, with Jo and 3 others ladies pitted against 4 lads, answering questions on a variety of subjects in one-on-one battles. Jo was the only lady to win her battle, so it ended with her against all four of the boys – who were then asked the next round of questions –

Jo, how high is the Eiffel Tower?

324 meters?

Correct!

Then to the boys – In the cartoon Popeye, the main characters girlfriend was called Olive. What was her boyfriend’s name?

Somehow they got that right.

Jo – How many species of bat are there?

Is it 1100, give or take?

Correct!

Boys – The acronym for the United States of America is USA. What does the S stand for?

Again, the boys were on fire.

On and on this went, with boys getting all these really hard questions right, and Jo matching them each time with one of her easy ones…

Finally, the captain of the boys team, Mark (one of the entertainers), was asked a good one – What is the average weight for a new born baby?

After much deliberation, he answered: 9 Months.

Well, apparently it was actually 7lbs 8 ounces. Jo had won ANOTHER TOTE BAG AND BOTTLE OF WINE! WOO!!!!! GO JO!)

ANYWAY! When we got back to the cabin, there was a little hand written note from reception:

We hope everything is well on your holiday. Our Maitre D’ would like to see you if possible, at your most convenient time in Medusa lounge tomorrow. Reception can be reached by dialling 77, and please don’t hesitate to contact us if we could be of any further assistance.

Thanks

Reception Team.

Now, we had an idea what this was about, but it’s a little enigmatic – especially as we’d almost forgotten the deadly hash brown incident, but we knew we’d find out when we went to reception, and so went to bed.

At 7:45 the phone startled us both awake – the Maitre D’ was hoping we were free now to meet. Umm… Ok… So a rush job of getting up and dressed was performed and we ran up to the Medusa lounge looking forward to a cup of tea to get us going.

The bar was closed and no one was there. Realising the desperate need for tea at such an ungodly hour, I went off to a breakfast bar at the other end of the ship, leaving Jo to wait for the Maitre D’. When I got back, he’d arrived along with the F&B manager and head chef – they were all sat at a little table together, with Jo looking like she was unexpectedly in a job interview, but it was smiles all round when I sat down with the cups and caught up on the situation. They were terrified that Jo would be unhappy, and when through all manner of explanations as to how it won’t happen again, which was really all that mattered. They were so nice and friendly, holding their hands up to apologise and make sure that we’re OK, which was very nice. Just before we all said our goodbyes, one of them told us they want to insist they make it up to us by putting us on a date….

Well, if they insist.

We’ve no idea what this will mean, presumably we’ll go to one of the fancier restaurants – The Grill, or Steak under the Stars, which would be lovely!

Happy days :D

On a less happy note, this morning during the chocolate class there was a sudden announcement on the speakers – “Code Alpha, Code Alpha. Deck 8. Argo Lounge.”

We didn’t know what it meant until a few hours later when Captain Haddock came on to say a passenger was seriously ill and so we are now making full speed for St. John (?) in Antigua to get them to hospital. It’ll be a flying visit, so we don’t get the see much of the island, and wont alter our itinerary at all, but does add a bit of excitement for us, and of course some terrible sadness for a few. I hope the passenger isn’t in too serious a condition, but presume they must be to be offloaded so urgently.

This does mean we’ve opened the taps and are clearly skimming along with more speed now – the waves rush by just that little bit sooner, and the rocking has steadily increased. Hopefully this wont cause any more problems for those who already aren’t too steady at the best of times!

You can see I’ve squeezed a few days into one post here – I think that until we start getting round the islands, there’s probably no need to bore you all with every last detail. Don’t worry though, as soon as we get there I’ll have you riveted (to your seats while you read it all, so you don’t slip off when you fall asleep)