1st July. Wow – were we into the second half of 2023 already?! This year is certainly flying. We woke up early this morning, 7.20am in fact. This is because I had a session of “Pure Bliss” booked in the Green Sea Spa at eight o’clock. This was an hour-long massage session, consisting of a 20-minute neck, back and shoulder massage, a 20-minute Indian head massage and a 20-minute foot and ankle massage.
We decided to walk a couple of laps around the deck to make sure I was awake properly and ready for my massage. I decided I’d wait and go for breakfast after the massage, not before.
Pure bliss is exactly what the experience was. The masseuse, who introduced herself as Lindi, had fingers of steel and I had to ask her to ease off my back a little before I felt like tenderised steak! However, the head massage was lovely, as was the foot and ankle one. Lots of people can’t standing having their feet touched, but I love it. I felt all light and rejuvenated afterwards, as I made my way back to the cabin where Trevor was waiting.
We then went up to the self-service where I enjoyed some cooked meats and smoked mackerel with fresh melon and pineapple, washed down with orange juice and coffee. Then we looked at the daily events programme to see what we fancied doing; we noticed there was a talk about whales, dolphins and porpoises and what to look out for and how to recognise them. Apparently, we could expect to see some of these wonderful sea creatures at some point of our cruise; they are abundant around the Scottish and Faroes coastlines.
Therefore, at 10 o’clock, we bagsied our usual front row seats in the theatre and immensely enjoyed an interesting, informative and often amusing talk by a guy who introduced himself as Brian (he didn’t give a surname) from the ocean conservation team ORCA. Brian announced that he was from Sunderland, and was proud to be a “Mackem” – a bold thing to do on a ship that had started its cruise in Newcastle! 😊
There were lots of wonderful photographs and video clips of whales and dolphins, and we were taught how to recognise the various species from their dorsal fins, flukes (tails) and blow spout patterns. You learn something new on a cruise every day. 😊
I took the chance between the end of the whale talk and the start of the next presentation by going into the nearest bar and grabbing an Aperol spritz to enjoy during the next lecture, which was all about Scotland. “The Bonnie and the Brave” by guest speaker Andrew Baker.
Once again, we enjoyed the talk a lot, and it was accompanied by many interesting slides, some showing the wonderful rugged Scottish landscape. The speaker had excellent delivery, clear and precise, and he livened his talk with various quotes from Scottish writers or poets such as Robert Burns.
The end of the talk took us nicely up to lunchtime, and once again we enjoyed a tasty self-service meal in the Borough Market buffet. Venturing outside afterward, it was a tad windy and certainly colder than you would expect for July, considering how calm the sea was. However, the captain’s noon-time announcement had told us that we would actually be arriving in Lerwick, Shetland, our next port of call, tonight instead of tomorrow morning; Ambition was seeking the shelter of a harbour earlier because of predicted high winds, choppy seas and possible squalls of rain.
After lunch we went along to the Cavern bar where I brought my laptop to do some of this blog and enjoy another drink. In addition, ORCA member Brian was doing a workshop on whale-spotting in the Cavern; he explained there was an online course you could do in identifying the various cetaceans and other marine mammals such as seals. It actually sounded pretty interesting; I would enjoy a course like that so I think I’ll enrol on it when we get home. Brian gave us his card with the website URL for signing up to the course. 😊
We decided to return to 9187 for a power nap after which I got showered and shampooed and primped and preened, ready for the Captain’s Cocktail Party at the ridiculously-early time of 4.45pm for first-sitting diners. Trevor wore a Black Watch tartan bow tie and cummerbund with his dinner suit (very appropriate as we were in Scotland) and I wore a gorgeous, but simple, swishy black floor-length dress with a lovely eau-de-nil embroidered chiffon wrap with a dark red velvet edge that I’d bought in India in 2015. The wrap perfectly matched the Irregular Choice shoes I wore; the same shade of pale green with stylised red ladybirds on them. Lots of people commented on my shoes as usual. 😊
Because the Captain’s Reception was so early, it meant that Trevor and I proceeded to the Palladium theatre dressed as if we were attending a night at the opera, while other people were strolling about in shorts, t-shirts and baseball hats. In addition, while the daily programme had told us that the dress code was Formal, another look told us that it actually said “suggested dress code: Formal”, which obviously meant that you didn’t have to dress up if you didn’t want to. While many of the men were at least wearing jacket and tie (if not full dinner suit) and the ladies were in smart dresses, most of the passengers still dressed casually. Trevor and I love dressing up for the formal evenings; it is a cruising tradition but we have noticed, since our first cruise in 1988, that many of the traditions are falling by the wayside in the quest to make cruising more appealing to a different demographic or holiday-maker. Sad really – when else would you get the chance to dress up?
As we entered the theatre we were greeted by Captain Viacheslav Kolesnykov, who is from Ukraine. He shook our hands (another rarity in the days of norovirus and Covid) and welcomed us, then we stood with him for the traditional formal portrait. 😊
We then collected a glass of fizz from the tray-bearing waiters before making our way to our ‘usual’ seats at the front. Presently another waiter passed along the row proffering hot and cold canapés, as we enjoyed a classical keyboard and strings performance from the talented duo Alina and Marina.
I always think there is something so civilised being dressed to the nines, sipping a glass of fizz, eating a smoked salmon canapé and listening to classical music – how very posh can you get? Even though Ambassador bills itself as a ‘value’ cruise line it still makes you feel as if you are in a posh hotel in London. 😊 😊
The cocktail party only lasted 30 minutes (we thought it started too early) which meant we still had half an hour until dinner. We therefore decided to go to the nearby Angel bar and enjoy another glass of bubbles. All the bars on Ambition are themed around British landmarks. The Angel bar was named after Antony Gormley’s Angel of the North in Gateshead, Tyne & Wear; there is also the Cavern bar (no explanation needed!), the Clifton Bar, which was named for Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s amazing Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, and the Pendennis Bar, named after Pendennis Castle in Falmouth.
There was no lobster on the menu tonight, unless you were prepared to pay an additional £21.50 for Surf ‘n’ Turf. Nevertheless, the meal was very good both in quality and quantity, and the service was excellent. This may be a budget cruise, but it was certainly far better than our P&O cruise in December on Arcadia, from what was supposed to be a premium cruise line!
Yes, we were certainly impressed with Ambassador Cruise Line so far; it is definitely a line we would consider for future cruises, if the itinerary was to our liking. 😊
After dinner we had time to go to the Cavern, with Paul and Carol, and try our hand at the trivia quiz. Nope – we didn’t win.
Then it was off to the Palladium theatre for tonight’s performance, which was called “Love is in the Air” and featured a series of love ballads, sang by performers wearing lavish and colourful costumes. We enjoyed the show, although some others were less than impressed with some of the singing.
It was then time to return to the Cavern where the entertainment team were hosting a game show called “Time Drop” which was based loosely around The Weakest Link which airs on TV back home. Some of the contestants were excellent at the rapid-fire questions and one lady, called Gill, went through to win the final. We found out later on that she has been on TV’s The Chase, and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, where she won a total of £21,000. Wow!
After the show, Paul and Carol said their goodnights while Trevor and I remained in the Cavern to listen to the resident live band, Party Tunes Trio, and enjoy another couple of drinks. It was about midnight when we returned to 9187 after an excellent day. We set the alarm for 7.00am as we had to be off the ship at 7.45 to meet our tour guide for a half-day tour of Lerwick, Shetland. We slept well.