We were up at 07:30 this morning and went out on the balcony to see what the weather was like. Although it was already warm and sunny, there was a brisk breeze blowing as the Adonia cut her way through the waves, leaving a foaming white wake behind her.
We put on our swimsuits, grabbed our pool towels and made our way up to Deck 9. Not many people were around this time of the morning, but the wind was stronger here so rather than go for a swim, I decided to spend some time in the hot tub.
The water was a lovely warm temperature and I set the jets away and luxuriated in the bubbling water for a while. It was blissful. All I needed was a glass of champers, but 07:45 in the morning was a bit early, even for me! 😉
I spent the maximum time allowed of 15 minutes in the jacuzzi which was enough to wake me up and invigorate me somewhat. Then we went back to the cabin to get dried and changed, and go for breakfast.
As we were going back to the cabin, one of the salon staff handed me a leaflet advertising a special offer; choose any five mini-treatments for £69.00. I decided that would be a perfect way to spend an hour, so I went along and made an appointment for 1.00pm, choosing a neck and shoulder massage, a mini-facial, eye treatment, scalp massage and deep conditioning treatment for my hair.
We spent the morning just pottering around the ship, until it was time to go to another of Colin Hobbs’ aviation presentations at 11:00am. This time the topic covered supersonic travel and the inimitable Concorde. It was very interesting, made more so by the fact that Trevor and I have been privileged enough to have flown on Concorde twice. As far as I, and many other people are concerned, she should still be flying.
The end of the presentation took us nicely to lunch time, and I enjoyed a light meal of cold meats and salad. Then it was time for me to go along to the spa for my hour of pure relaxation.
In the salon, I changed into a white waffle bathrobe, and was shown to a large reclining chair by the window, with a floor to ceiling window giving an excellent sea view. The therapist started off by giving me a soothing scalp massage, followed by a facial and eye mask. Then she put the hair conditioning treatment on and, while it was doing its thing, she gave me a neck and shoulder massage. She had fingers of steel and I had to ask her to ease off before I started to feel like tenderised steak! My skin did feel lovely and smooth after the facial though.
When I came out of the spa, it was time to go along to the Crow’s Nest for the second session of “Battle of the Sexes”. In the first round there were 10 close-up photos of everyday objects and you had to say what they were; they consisted of everything from a stapler, clothes peg and umbrella. The second round consisted of photos of parts of celebrities’ faces. If neither team got the answer correct, then a clue would be given but the total points were reduced from 20 to 10.
At the end of both rounds, the men were winning. Adding the scores to the totals scored last time mean that the men’s team are now five points ahead of the ladies, so it’s very close.
After the quiz it was time to go along and get showered, shampooed and sorted out as, once again, tonight was formal night. I wore a long black dress with a gorgeous fine mesh wrap in eau-de-nil, which was edged in red velvet and contained elaborate embroidered and sequinned patterns at the edge. I teamed it with a beaded necklace I’d made, with hand-made lampworked glass beads. The beads matched the wrap perfectly.
Dinner was delicious as ever, but we were of the increasing opinion that Bob on our table likes to find fault with everything. No matter what we were talking about, whether it was ships, cruises or ports of call, Bob would find something negative to say about it. It must be awful to have that sort of outlook on life; as readers of this blog will know, Trevor and I have travelled far and wide and stayed in hotels or been on ships ranging from excellent to mediocre, but on the whole we’re fairly easily pleased – as long as our accommodation is clean and comfortable, we don’t expect gilt edging (unless we’ve paid for it). People who complain all the time mustn’t be happy people in their lives in general.
After our meal we went along to the Curzon lounge where tonight’s entertainment consisted of the two classical acts we’d seen so far – the cellist Andrew Scrimshire and the Welsh soprano Gwawr Edwards. Both were very good, but I was starting to feel quite tired by now and knew I wouldn’t be staying up too late tonight.
We ended the evening, as ever, by participating in the syndicate quiz. There were only three of us this time as John had gone to bed. We didn’t do very well; coming joint bottom. 🙁
I was ready to go back to the cabin by then, and settle down with my Kindle before getting some shut-eye. Trevor, however, said he’d pop along to the Crow’s Nest to see what was going on as they were supposed to be holding a British Pub Night.
I am currently reading The White House Farm Murders, a fascinating account of the 1985 case in which Jeremy Bamber was convicted of shooting down his entire family; mother, father, sister and her twin six-year-old boys. He has always maintained his innocence and controversy about the case still rages over 30 years later.
I’d been in bed half an hour or so before Trevor returned then, once we’d opened the balcony door to let in the fresh sea air, we settled down to sleep. Tomorrow we were due to dock in Guadeloupe, another new port of call for us.