Today was another long, leisurely day at sea. Once we leave the cold British shores for warmer climes, we tend to leave our balcony door propped open overnight, as I hate the artificial air-conditioning – it’s so drying for the skin.
So it’s lovely to wake up in the morning to the “ssssshhhhhhhh” sounds of the sea swishing past the ship, as she glides through the Atlantic waters.
We spent the morning pottering around the ship before making our way, in good time, to the Royal Court Theatre for a lecture by none other than Sir David Frost, who had boarded the vessel yesterday in Cadiz. Even though we got to the theatre around 10.20am and he wasn’t due on until 11.00am, the theatre was almost full. His talk was entitled “Interviews I Shall Never Forget” and proved to be very interesting, as Sir David is such a veteran of TV.
Sir David took to the stage and, although a chair and a podium were provided for him, he spoke for 45 minutes without any prompt notes and remained standing – well impressive for a 71 year old bloke! He told some great little anecdotes, of which he must have hundreds, of broadcasting bloopers and unintentional double entendres. He also spoke about the famous interviews he had with former US president Richard Nixon, which were made into a film called Frost/Nixon in which the inimitable Michael Sheen plays Frost. The talk was really interesting and Sir David was well-deserving of the standing ovation at the end of it.
We left the Royal Court Theatre in time for lunch and decided to go to the Golden Lion for lunch and a beer. I like the atmosphere in there; it’s just like a typical English pub. The chiken tikka masala I had went down a treat and afterwards we walked a few laps around the promenade deck to get some fresh sea air and exercise.
That evening, I didn’t go up to dinner. I put on my dark blue sequinned evening dress (bought off E-Bay for a tenner!) and decided it was getting a wee bit tight. 🙁 Instead, I went along to the midships bar, had a glass of Veuve Clicquot, then went to the Britannia Dining Room in time for the coffee and liqueurs. It was nice to go into the show lounge not feeling like a stuffed pig for once. Whoever it was who said you joined a cruise ship as a passenger and left it as cargo certainly wasn’t kidding!