SUNRISE: 09:16 SUNSET: 16:03
We got up this morning at eight o’clock, as usual. It was still dark; the sun wouldn’t rise for more than an hour yet, so we couldn’t really see what the weather was like out of our portholes. We could feel, however, that the Balmoral wasn’t moving around as much, so the sea appeared a lot calmer than yesterday. 🙂
It was Christmas Eve, and we had the sort of suppressed excitement and joy that comes with this time of year. Every effort on board the Balmoral had been made to give the passengers a lovely Christmas experience, and we could see from the various activities being held around the ship that we would have a fun and festive time. 🙂
We ate our breakfast in the Thistle Restaurant as usual, and afterwards we popped outside to see what the weather was doing. While the temperature was fairly mild for the time of year (10°C) it felt colder due to the brisk wind that was blowing. We decided to get wrapped up and walk around the deck a few times, as we hadn’t been outside much so far. We were amazed to see some people in the pool and in the hot tubs!
Putting on my thick faux fur coat and cosy hat with the built in scarf, we went outside on the promenade deck on Deck 7 and set off. One side of the ship wasn’t too bad, and we spent some time at the stern of the ship, just watched the hypnotic sight of the wake and listening to the “ssssshhhhhhh” sound of the sea as the Balmoral took us determinedly towards our destination. When we started up the other side of the ship, however, the very strong wind made it feel very cold, so we waited until we returned to our starting point before seeking refuge in the cosy interior of the Balmoral. 🙂
Looking at the Daily Times, we saw that there was a game of Indoor Kurling on at 9.30am in the Lido Bar, so we went up there, where the ‘regulars’ were there and George was going around with his clipboard taking names of participants. When he saw us, he put our names down straightaway without asking. 🙂
It was great fun as usual, with much good-natured competition, banter and heckling. Trevor and I made it into the semi-final but then were knocked out. The game finished around 10.15am, but we decided to go straight to the Neptune Lounge and bagsy our usual seats at the front, because at 11 o’clock they were holding a Gingerbread House-building competition, featuring Captain Steffan and his senior officers. This sounded as if it would be popular, hence our early arrival in the Neptune.
It was great fun; very entertaining and amusing. One of the skilled chefs showed the officers how to construct and decorate a gingerbread house, and then they were all given the ingredients, including the pre-cut gingerbread pieces, icing, sweets and anything else they needed to decorate their house. Cruise Director Simon started eating his sweets before the contest even started! 🙂
Then the stopwatch was set for 30 minutes, and after a resounding “Three… two… one” from the audience, they were off! 🙂
It was hilarious! Simon’s house kept collapsing and he was unable even to get his walls straight, never mind put the roof on! Some of his gingerbread fell to the floor and shattered, and the chef had to bring some new pieces for him. The Hotel Director was really getting into it, trying to get the audience on-side and being over-prodigal with his icing tubes, while the Captain just put his head down and concentrated on building his little house and decorating it nicely. Every 10 minutes, the adjudicator would announce to the contestants how long they had left. One of the contestants decided to go a step further and decorated his house with a string of fairy lights! 🙂
Once the time was up, each contestant had to leave the table and stand with their backs to the audience. As the adjudicator pointed to each house, the audience had to cheer; the loudest cheer would determine the winner.
It was really funny, because Simon’s house only elicited a really pathetic “Raaaaay!” from the audience. Finally, it was whittled down to two contestants; the Captain and the guy who’d put the lights on his house. They couldn’t decide which one was getting the louder cheer, so in the end, they invited one of the children who was on board onto the stage and asked her to choose. She inevitably chose the one with the lights. 🙂
The end of the contest brought us nicely up to lunchtime, and I enjoyed a selection of cold meats and crisp salad vegetables, followed by cheese and washed down with a glass of chilled cava. We then decided to have a power nap before the Carpet Bowls this afternoon, as we knew we’d probably have a late night tonight.
At the entrance to the Lido Lounge, there hung a selection of fantastic hand-made lanterns which had been made by crew members using recycled or found items from around the ship. The imagination in these lanterns was phenomenal. The creators had used paper cups, wooden knives and forks, old cruise cards, paper napkins and tissue paper, and many were decorated with fairy lights. Passengers had to choose which one they liked best and place a vote at the reception desk. It was very difficult to decide which one to choose; just take a look at these:
When we arrived at the Lido Bar for the carpet bowls, the same crowd of people were there as those as the kurling this morning, and there were smiles and greetings all around. When our turn came to play, Trevor knocked the jack into the rope boundary, which disqualified us straight away and gave our opponents the win. 🙁
We remained in the Lido for the following knock-out, that old favourite Baggo, enjoying more drinks while perched on our barstool (which also gave us good views if the players). We each got up in our teams of two and chucked bean bags at a board which had a hole in it. If your bag landed on (and stayed on) the board, you scored one point. But if your bag went in the hole, that scored you three.
And so the game continued, until Trevor and I amazingly found ourselves in the final. We were playing against a teenage lad called William, who was with his parents and whom we recognised from our cruise on Borealis in January. William is very competitive and is very good at Baggo. 🙂
Near the end of the game, I threw my bean bag which landed on the very edge of the hole. It was then William’s turn, but he had to get his bag into the hole without taking mine with it; not an easy task! However, by lobbing his bag up and over the top, he actually managed to get his bag neatly in without dislodging mine! What ?!?!
It was now the last throw of the match, and it was down to Trevor. He aimed, he threw… and managed to get his bag into the hole and mine as well. YAY !! We’d won! Our prize was two prize point tokens which are worth 50p each off items you can buy in the shop. Whoopee <sarcastic>. The bragging rights were worth more to us though. 🙂
After the Baggo, it was time for prize bingo. While I went to purchase the bingo cards, Trevor returned to 5007 to get our dabbers that we’d brought with us. We had three bingo cards each, and played six different games (ending with a full house), but we didn’t win anything this time. When we were on board Balmoral in July, Trevor had won £103.00, but it was not to be this time. Never mind, we could always have another go later on in the cruise. 🙂
By now, it was time to start getting washed and changed and ready for dinner at 6.00pm. I wore a fantastic Joe Brown Christmas dress which featured snowmen and Christmas trees and other festive things. I teamed it with a pair of red tights and my inimitable Irregular Choice Christmas boots, which had Christmas Trees on which actually lit up!
As we made our way to the Ballindalloch Restaurant, people were, unsurprisingly, stopping me every few yards to look at (and photograph) my boots. 🙂
We were last to arrive at table #51, and I handed Tom and Chris, Alex and Diane the Christmas cards I’d written out for them earlier on.
Everyone was in high spirits as we once again enjoyed a scumptious meal, washed down with wine and finished off with liqueurs. Then we made our way, as usual, to the Neptune Lounge to take part in the ballroom dancing before tonight’s show. I danced with Trevor as well as with one of the female dance hosts. I could see people looking at my boots and pointing. 🙂
Once the dance floor was cleared and the stage was raised, we resumed our seats and settled back to watch Andrew Robley, a former West End singer who had starred in the Phantom of the Opera amongst other things. He was accompanied by the excellent ship’s orchestra and sang a selection of songs from musicals to pop classics. He was very good indeed and we enjoyed his show a lot.
After the show, we had an hour before tonight’s Christmas Singalong, so we went along to the Morning Light pub and perched in a barstool each while I enjoyed an Aperol Spritz and Trevor had a Newcastle Brown Ale.
We then returned to the Neptune Lounge and our ‘regular’ seats, while Simon the cruise director introduced various members of the crew to the stage from all walks of life; from the engine room to the laundry to the galley to the housekeeping team. Someone came around and handed our song sheets, and the orchestra struck up with the introduction to “Jingle Bells”. Everyone joined in lustily; it was really exuberant and lovely to see.
Once the singing was over, and the crew received a massive cheer from the audience, Simon advised us that sherry and warm mince pies was now being served outside the Neptune Lounge. There was a choice between sweet sherry, dry sherry or port. I didn’t have any mince pies but Trevor had four! We did, however, each enjoy several glasses of sherry and port, and lots of people came over to photograph my boots and compliment me on my Christmassy outfit.
By now, it was around 11.30pm and we were quite tired after our action-packed day. We decided just to go back to 5007 and settle down for the night. It was now nearly Christmas! 🙂
