As with life at home, life on board a ship on sea days assumes its daily routines, favourite hangouts and regular mealtimes. We therefore got up around 8.00am as usual and went out onto the balcony to see what the weather was doing today. Disappointingly, the skies were cloudy and there was a brisk wind blowing, which would make it uncomfortable to sit out on deck unless you were well wrapped up and on the lee side of the ship.
As usual, we went up to the Ocean View café and enjoyed a substantial breakfast before returning to 8166 to peruse the daily programme and see if there was anything we fancied doing. As usual, we went along to the Sky Lounge for the morning trivia and, much to the chagrin of the other regular teams, we won again! That’s our 10th win this cruise so far. 😊
Some of the losing quiz teams argued or disputed some of the answers given – some of them took it so seriously – but as our team name proclaimed “it’s only a game”.
We then spent some time wandering around the ship and seeing if they had any bargains in the various shops and boutiques. One of the displays that caught my eye was a fantastic selection of Mary Frances beaded handbags. Mary Frances bags are extremely unusual and very striking and all feature intricate beading and ornamentation. There was a brilliant one that was right up my street as it was in the shape of an ice bucket complete with bottle of champagne on ice with a couple of flutes – fabulous. None of the bags had price tags on but I imagined none of them would be particularly cheap.*
Afterwards we went up on deck and, while there were some people sitting outside, there was no-one in the pool. However, the indoor swimming pool and spa area was quite full; this is a lovely relaxing area, with a water feature at one end of the high-ceilinged glass room and lush greenery at the other. People were resting on loungers or in hammocks or were in the pool and it was pleasantly warm out of the wind.
At 12 o’clock Trevor went to watch a video documenting the building of the latest Celebrity ship, the Celebrity Edge, while I stayed in the cabin and pottered around. We then went for lunch in the Ocean View, which is self-service, and that can at times be a bit of a hazard with the number of passengers with mobility scooters, wheelchairs, walkers and sticks jostling and nudging in the queues of people waiting for food. 😊
We commenced the afternoon activities by going to the Sky Lounge, as usual, to take part in the music quiz. The theme was Classic Rock which none of us was experts in, so whilst we did OK, we didn’t actually win; two teams tied on a higher score.
The ballroom dance class this afternoon featured the Foxtrot, which we haven’t yet started learning at home (other than the Social Foxtrot) so we didn’t join the class.
We then took part, with the rest of “It’s Only A Game”, in the Progressive Trivia. According to the league table we were now only three points ahead so we had a bit of a team ‘pep talk’ in which we said we would need to think more carefully, not change our mind about answers, not go against gut feeling etc. We felt as though we’d done pretty well afterwards, but it’s at the stage now where it also depends how the other teams have done. 😊
Straight after the quiz Trevor and I hurried along to Celebrity Central, the small lecture theatre on Deck 4, where there was another Lord Nelson presentation; this one was more about Lady Emma Hamilton, Nelson’s mistress, and was very interesting indeed. It made me want to find out more, and watch the 1941 movie, That Hamilton Woman, from which several clips had been used in the presentation.
Then it was once again time to get washed and changed and spruced up ready for dinner. How the day had flown; there was always something to do, someone to talk to, something to see and no chance of ever becoming bored. A lot of people we know are not too keen on cruises which have a lot of sea days, but I really can’t understand why; it’s a wonderful way to spend your days! 😊
Tonight I dressed in a red floral-patterned cheesecloth dress with a red mesh wrap; it was matched with a pair of gorgeous red patterned Irregular Choice shoes with a big red bow and gold glitter heels.
After we’d enjoyed our dinner we wandered along to the Entertainment Court to watch a Passengers v Officers competition called “Win It in a Minute”. Each pair of contestants had to complete something in 60 seconds; it could be stacking cardboard beakers into a pyramid, emptying a box of tissues one at a time or unwinding a whole toilet roll – the only stipulation was that it had to be done with one hand behind the back.
In each case the officer or entertainment host beat the passenger which, to some extent, was a bit unfair; the Celebrity staff members had a lot more practice than the passengers. One of the ‘contestants’ was cruise director Lauren, and you could tell by the techniques she used that she’d done it loads of times before. We didn’t really like Lauren; she talks far too much and is probably the most irritating cruise director we’ve ever had in 50 cruises.
Once the game show was over we went along to the Eclipse Theatre and got our usual front-row seats for tonight’s performance by the Show Company, called “Rock City”. It was an excellent, high energy show with original costumes, great music, singing and dancing. It also featured the aerialists and acrobats and was superb; we enjoyed it a lot.
Up in the Sky Lounge they were holding a Sing-along Dance Party featuring the inimitable music of Queen. We therefore decided to hotfoot it up there and, when we got there, it was already pretty crowded, so we were lucky to get a couple of bar stools. Near to us were some people we recognised from the karaoke, including Charlotte and her mum and they all came over to have a look at my shoes! (I must be getting a reputation). 😊
The Queen sing-along was brilliant; the lyrics appeared on a giant screen so that the dancers (and everyone else) could join in. Everyone sang along with gusto and did all the appropriate hands-in-the-air clapping to songs like Radio Ga-Ga and We Are The Champions as well as We Will Rock You. What a great evening it was.
It was after 11.30pm when we returned to our stateroom with a nightcap. We didn’t sit outside this time as it was still a bit cool, but we still left the door open an inch or so to allow in the fresh sea air.
——————————————–
*UPDATE: I looked up the champagne bag on Google later on and it’s on sale on the Mary Frances web site for $315.00.