I was tired when the alarm went off this morning, probably because of a combination of late nights and overindulgence, as well as the clocks having to go forward an hour again this morning. So it was around 8.45am before I go out of my pit and got washed and dressed before breakfast. Outside, the sky had lots of cumulus clouds but the sea was calm.
We went along to the Heligan Restaurant where we knew there would be some free cava on the go again, as tonight was formal night. But because it’s all been ‘free’ on this cruise it wasn’t quite as exciting as it used to be. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my smoked salmon, cold meats and fresh fruit platter very much, washed down with a glass of fizz.
Afterwards we returned to our cabin and just relaxed; watching the TV, reading or doing some crochet. Then, at about 10.50am we went along to the Morning Light pub where we waited for Jonny to come along and put us into teams for the Great Boudicca Treasure Hunt.
I was put into a team with three other ladies and we had to follow the clues on the paper to go all over the ship, looking for a blue star that would contain a letter. There were 10 letters to collect which would form an anagram. We were all over the ship, from the Medical Centre on Deck 3 to the Marquee Bar on Deck 10. Occasionally we came across other teams, and much banter ensued. 🙂
Eventually we found all 10 letters, which when arranged spelled out “M/S Boudicca”. When we arrived back at the Medical Centre we found Trevor there, who advised us that all the other teams had finished and we were last. We then made our way up to the Observatory where Jonny was waiting with some more free bottles of fizz ready for the ‘closing ceremony’.
Everybody toasted everybody else, and Jonny read out how many medals each team had won and gave individual prizes for those who’d won the most ‘medals’. Trevor and I hadn’t done too badly; we’d won 12 prize points between us which brought our total stash to 31 – we’d be able to trade them in for prizes tomorrow morning.
Altogether, the men had 39 points against the ladies’ 34 points, so it wasn’t a trouncing, and it had all been good fun. 🙂
By this time it was 12.15pm and time for lunch, which we ate in the Secret Garden, where we were joined shortly by Jonny and Julian, the lead dancer. I enjoyed fresh salad and a selection of cold meats, followed by bread and butter pudding and washed down with yet another glass of wine! Ah… it’s a hard life. 🙂
We then spent the day pottering around before going to the Neptune Lounge at 3.15pm to see the fruits of the choir’s labour. They did four or five songs, with nice little harmonies; it was a pleasant interlude.
Then we went along for the quiz at 3.45pm. It was slightly earlier this time because of the Captain’s Farewell Party at quarter to six. When we got there, there was only Steve and Marilyn, no sign of Michael and Julie and we guessed correctly that they’d arrive at the quiz’s usual time of four o’clock.
Anyway… we didn’t win. But we’ve had four wins this cruise, so we can’t really complain. We always enjoy the quizzes anyway, in case you hadn’t guessed. 🙂
Afterwards we returned to 4125 and started getting glammed up for the final Formal Evening and cocktail party. I wore a long burgundy-coloured sequinned dress and matching jacket and, to save having to mess about styling my hair, I put on a silver platinum wig in a short, flicked-up style. Because of my broken toe I couldn’t wear the silver killed heels I wanted, but I put on a flatter pair which were still quite nice, silver with diamante stones. Once we were ready, off we went to the Neptune Lounge for yet more free fizz and canapés. I have to say that even if we weren’t making the most of the all-inclusive drinks package that there is always a fair bit of free booze given away on Fred Olsen cruise ships. 🙂
Once again, Captain Mikael Degerlund made us laugh with his dry humour and wit and we felt really sad that tomorrow we would arrive in our final port of call this cruise. 🙁
Then we went up for dinner, which was as delicious as ever, before returning to the show lounge to try to get a good seat near the front, as tonight the spotlight was on the crew of the Boudicca, who had a chance to forget their day jobs and bring us some colourful traditional dancing and singing from their parts of the world, including the Philippines and Indonesia. We always enjoy these shows very much, as tonight’s performance didn’t disappoint.
There wasn’t an evening quiz tonight (they don’t have them on formal nights) so we just finished off the evening by going up to the Lido Lounge, listening to the pianist Colin James and watching the late-night cabaret by crew singer Liah May Casenas, who we’d seen the other night in the crew cabaret. She was very good.
It was well after midnight once again before we returned to our cabin. Tomorrow we would reach terra firma once again, in the shape of the colourful and historic city of Belfast. My mother was from Belfast and I still have cousins who live there, and we had arranged to meet up. I was really looking forward to seeing them, and we both slept well.