Anyone of a certain age should remember that 1970s TV advertisement for Imperial Leather soap. It features a wealthy couple in a jacuzzi in their private jet, the woman perusing a travel magazine while they both sip champagne. In a soap dish at the side of the tub is a bar of Imperial Leather.
The woman looks up from her magazine and remarks to the man “Bermuda looks nice”. The man then picks up the intercom and says to the pilot “Simon – Bermuda” to which the pilot replies “Roger, wilco” as the jet changes direction and speeds off. The tagline implies that using Imperial Leather will “add a little luxury to your life”. 😊
So at 11 o’clock today, the Borealis would be docking in the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda. Bermuda is Britain’s oldest overseas territory and has been a Naval stronghold for over 150 years.
In the meantime, we had the morning on board at our leisure. 😊
After breakfasting in The View as usual, we wandered out onto the aft decks where the weather was definitely warmer, although the sky was covered in a heavy layer of cloud. I decided to return to 7055 and retrieve my laptop, then go to the Ocean Bar and write up some of this blog.
As we walked towards the Ocean Bar, we saw that the floor was set up for a game of Baggo; we were surprised at this because it wasn’t listed on the programme. Apparently, there’d been a last-minute change in the activities itinerary. As we were here anyway and recognised several of the other Baggo ‘regulars’ and decided we might as well have a game. 😊
Trevor and I won our first and second rounds, and the game continued to the usual banter, heckling, cheers and laughter. We got knocked out in the next round, so I sat at a table and opened my laptop. We each enjoyed an ice-cold glass of ginger ale as we watched the remainder of the game.
Afterwards, some people left the Ocean Bar while others arrived for the next event, which was carpet bowls. I wasn’t really taking much notice of what was going on until Annie, one of the games hosts, asked if I was playing. I said I would. 😊
Trevor and I got knocked out in the first round this time, which was probably just as well, because we had 15 minutes to get ready and gather together our passports, money, cruise cards and tour tickets, and report to the Auditorium for our tour, which was called “Famous Homes and Hideaways”.
As we went out onto our balcony to watch the progress of the Borealis into Bermuda, we spotted the NCL ship Norwegian Getaway ahead of us. The sea was a lovely blue-green shade instead of the grey Atlantic that had surrounded us for the last week, but the sky was still cloudy and, indeed, it started to rain! ☹
As we made our way to the excursion meeting point, I took a seat in reception and after a few minutes a bloke came up to me and said, “Are you bollingerbabe?” referring to my Twitter handle. I confirmed that I was, and he introduced himself as Mike Caine; we follow each other on Twitter / X and he knew that we were going to be on this cruise, so he was looking out for me! We agreed we would meet up later on for the mandatory Twitter photo, and he gave me his cabin number, so we could get in touch. 😊
Presently our tour was called, so we went down to the gangway and disembarked the Borealis. It was pouring down with rain by now (!!) so we hurriedly put on our cagoules as we made our way into the cruise terminal.
From there, it was just a short walk to the wharf, where we all boarded another boat for our two-hour tour, which would take us all around some of the other islands that make up Bermuda.
We took a window seat so I would be able to take photographs. We passed the rugged tropical landscape as our guide pointed out the residences and second homes of some of the rich and famous. Well, they might have been famous in America but not in the UK as I hadn’t heard of many of them; the only one whose name I recognised was Mark Twain.
The houses were all different and were painted in different colours, but they all had one thing in common; a white roof. This was to reflect the sun and keep the property cool. Many of the homes had landing stages with boats moored outside. There was lots of greenery and palm trees and it was surprising to learn that Bermuda is actually nearer to Nova Scotia (Canada) than the Caribbean!
As we passed some of the smaller islands, some of them had abandoned boats beached on them. There was a fairly large yacht that was half in and half out of the water, listing over at quite an angle, one side submerged in the sea.
Still the rain came down, and we wished it would just stop and let us see a bit of sunshine. As the boat glided along, one of the guides came round offering cocktails for sale at $10.00 each, so I enjoyed an ice-cold Dark & Stormy, which consists of dark rum and ginger beer. There was a lot of rum in it! 😊
It was a really enjoyable boat ride despite the weather. As our ship was docked 10 miles from Hamilton’s city centre, we could only view the capital from the boat as we went past. It looked a lively and colourful town and we wished we were staying longer, particularly as we had been three hours late arriving into port. It was three hours we could have spent exploring this charming country.
It seemed no time at all before we were on our way back to the Borealis, and I was able to get some good photos of her. She looked like a little pup compared to the monstrous Norwegian Getaway. In all my photos, the drizzly weather and low cloud made it hard to discern where the sky ended and the sea started.
As we disembarked, we were pleased to see that the rain had finally stopped. As it was now 2.00pm and the “all-aboard” time was half past three, we really didn’t have long at all to explore. Walking along, my left knee locked with a painful spasm, and it was really uncomfortable to walk; every step really hurt. I told Trevor I would just go back to the Borealis and see him later.
I limped back towards the cruise terminal and boarded the ship once again, making my way up to The View for a late lunch of pork and leek sausages, new potatoes and vegetables. Shortly afterwards Trevor returned, and we went into the pool bar for a couple of cocktails. My knee had righted itself by now and the pain had gone away. I am waiting for an appointment to see the orthopaedic consultant when I get home.
After enjoying a post-luncheon power nap, we awoke to find that the Borealis had put to sea once more, after a visit to Bermuda that was much too short. We wouldn’t see land again for another couple of days.
We didn’t really do a lot for the rest of the day, just passing it in the usual relaxing and pleasant way. At dinner, we brought the bottle of fizz that we’d won in the quiz last night and shared it with Alan and Lesley; Alan and Kaye declined – I don’t think they are drinkers.
By now, the Neptune Lounge lower tier had dried out following its flooding, and the show tonight consisted of three of the Borealis Theatre Company’s vocalists, entertaining us with a number of swing songs. Then we went along to the Morning Light pub for the quiz. While we were waiting, I went into the perfume shop and tried a couple of testers; one of them was a Ralph Lauren scent and was very nice. Lesley also tried it, but we said we would wait a while to see how the perfume developed before deciding to buy or not.
We scored 12/15, but there was no bottle of wine for us this time. 😊 Trevor and I finished the evening off by going to the Observatory and watching/listening to the guitar duo Stattus. It was around midnight when we returned to 7055, and this time we propped the balcony door open slightly to enjoy the fresh air and the sounds of the sea.