Woke up at eight o’clock this morning in pleasant anticipation of the relaxing sea day we had ahead of us. But at the same time, it was not without a tinge of dismay that we realised we only had four more sleeps on board the good ship Bolette. 🙁
Going outside onto our massive balcony, the weather was not too bad; cloudy skies with a touch of blue here and there, and calm seas. We decided we’d take a stroll around the decks after breakfast.
As usual, we went to The View self-service for our breakfast; I enjoyed some melon, pineapple, smoked salmon and a selection of salami washed down with coffee. Then we went outside to the stern, standing for a while watching the wake; there is always something hypnotic about it.
We set off at an unhurried pace, going down to Deck 3, the promenade deck. We were interested to see if we could spot the differences between the Bolette and the Borealis, which appear at first to be almost identical until you get to know the ships well. For example, last time we were on the Borealis we stayed in cabin 3326 which was a large outside cabin on the promenade deck situated just off the atrium next to the balcony terrace cabins. However, 3326 on Bolette, while still just off the atrium, was not next to the balcony terraces; they were further along. We also saw that there were no stern-facing balcony cabins, that is, those whose balconies look onto the wake.
Back in the cabin, we had a look at the programme which had all sorts of events going on. We decided to go along to the Neptune Lounge where the life-coach speaker was giving a talk about the Norwegians’ healthy society; I took my laptop along so I could do some of this blog.
Afterwards, there was a most unusual activity in the Oceans Bar; how to do CPR and use a defibrillator. The staff demonstrated how to use the public defibrillators that you see everywhere these days; the defib ‘talks’ to you so you know what to do every step of the way. As it detects when/how you place the pads, it will know if you’ve done it correctly, and won’t work if the pads are not properly placed or if the person is conscious. There were also several of the ‘Resusci Annie’ type simulation dolls to practise doing chest compressions to the rhythms of either Nellie the Elephant or Stayin’ Alive. As well as being entertaining, it was certainly educational and very useful to know.
We then had to hotfoot it to the Neptune Theatre for “An Audience with the Bolette Theatre Company”. Cruise director Simon brought each of the talented singers and dancers onto the stage where they all introduced themselves, explained their role and spoke a little about where they had trained. Then the floor was opened to the audience members to ask any questions. The Q and A session was followed by the chance to go backstage and see the dressing rooms and costumes. It was all absolutely fascinating, and certainly something different! 🙂
This brought us nicely up to lunchtime which we ate in The View as usual. Then we just passed the time in the usual relaxing way; wandering around the ship, looking in the shops to see if there were any bargains, reading and pottering around in our giant stateroom. 🙂
At three o’clock we went along to the Neptune Theatre once again to listen to a talk from Nordic historian Steve Harvey about the best of the Scandinavian authors, from Hans Christian Andersen to Stieg Larsson. The material could have made for a very interesting talk, but the guy spent too much time talking about obscure authors that no-one had heard of, and by the time he came to Stieg Larsson, author of the excellent Millennium trilogy and creator of Lisbeth Salander, the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, he had run out of time and only skimmed the surface, barely giving Mr Larsson a mention.
Then it was along to the Morning Light once again for the afternoon quiz which we didn’t win. We did, however, enjoy a cocktail each and the conversation of our fellow passengers. We decided to stay on for the bingo and, when we saw that the stools where the previous winners had been sitting were empty, we moved to their seats hoping some of their luck would rub off. We didn’t do very well, however, so no prize for us this time. 🙂
Back in our stateroom afterwards, I decided to give the jacuzzi a try instead of my usual shower. It took some time for the tub to fill above the jets, but once I immersed myself in the pleasantly warm water and pressed the blue button on the side of the bath, the jets started off and the water surged and swirled around me. The jets were perfectly placed; two behind me pointed right at my lower back, the two in front massaged my feet nicely, and the ones along the side sent the powerful jets over and under my legs. I only put a tiny bit of bubble bath in, otherwise the whole bathroom would have filled up. 🙂
Then I took my time getting ready, wearing a pair of IC shoes for which I had fast become quite well-known around the ship. 🙂
Off we went to the Terrace restaurant where, once again, we enjoyed a scrumptious meal, perfectly served by our attentive waiter in convivial company. There is never any shortage of conversation on table #46! 🙂
After dinner we hurried back to 7036 as we knew the sunset was going to be on our side of the ship and I wanted to get some good photos if possible. The sun was just about to go down over a tranquil Baltic sea and there were warm orange and red and hints of purple in the sky. I love a sunset at sea! 🙂
In the Neptune Theatre tonight, the entertainment featured the superb classical rock crossover violinist Tom Suha once again, accompanied by orchestra leader Nelson and his excellent musicians. It was an brilliant show and I was sorry when it was over. But we had another performance to look forward to in the theatre later on; cruise director Simon was doing his own performance for us. 🙂
In the meantime, it was the Morning Light and the quiz as usual… no need to tell you the result. We are certainly living up to our team name of “Cruising, Boozing & Losing”. 🙂
When we went back along to the Neptune later on to see Simon’s show at 10.30pm, we were surprised to see many empty seats. Maybe it was just too late for some people, or they weren’t yet out of second sitting dinner, but they missed a good show, because Simon was an excellent singer, performing a wide range of songs from Barry Manilow to the musicals, including a fantastic rendition of The Music of the Night from the Phantom of the Opera. We enjoyed his show a lot.
We finished off the evening by going to the Observatory for our final couple of drinks for the day. There was no featured entertainment on, but there was disco music playing, one or two people up dancing, and the usual friendly, pleasant atmosphere.
I enjoyed a fruit-laden sangria followed by a cava, while Trevor stuck to his “Newky Broon”. Then we took a glass of ginger ale back to our suite to enjoy with our Famous Grouse whisky, and we settled down in our big bed after an excellent day. 🙂