Got up this morning around 8.30 and went out onto the balcony. The weather was cooler than it had been recently, about 17°C, but at least it wasn’t raining. The sea looked very lively but the ship’s motion wasn’t really all that discernible; it would get much rougher once we were crossing the Bay of Biscay later on. 😊
While Trevor went up to The View for breakfast, I just decided to enjoy some fresh fruit and the coffee in our cabin, and get ready at my leisure. Looking at the Daily Times to see what events were on today, we saw that there was an audience with the Borealis Theatre Company at 10.45 so we decided to go to that. In the meantime, we just pottered around the ship and I did some of this blog.
Then we went up to The View again so I could get another cup of coffee. Wandering out onto the aft decks, it seemed colder than it was due to the brisk passage of the vessel through the Atlantic ocean. The sun loungers weren’t doing any business! 😊
We then took our seats in the Neptune theatre for the interview with the members of the show company, led by Simon the cruise director. It was very interesting; there are certainly some very talented singers and dancers in the show. Afterwards, members of the audience were invited to go backstage if they wanted, but since we’d already done this in April on the Bolette we didn’t bother this time.
In any case, the carpet bowls was on in the Oceans Bar immediately afterwards, so we needed to hurry along before we missed the start of it. It’s certainly popular, as nearly all the seats surrounding the ‘rink’ were taken, and we had to squeeze in at the back. Hubert was hosting it this time, and he didn’t need to ask my name as most people were starting to recognise me because of my shoes (and my singing in the karaoke the other night!)
Trevor and I were drawn to play in the same team and despite my playing a fairly decent shot, we were knocked out once again. We didn’t stay around to see the rest of it, however, because Michael the artist was having a sale of some of his original works of art, and I’d earlier seen a lovely pastel piece called “Catcher on the Shore” featuring an oyster-catcher, so I wanted to see if it was included in the sale.
When we arrived, we saw that the oyster-catcher painting was reduced from £160.00 to £80.00 (which I didn’t think was bad at all for an original, hand-signed by the artist) but Michael was nowhere to be seen, so I put the picture at the back of the stack so no-one else would nab it before I had the chance to get it. 😊
It was lunchtime now, so we decided to go to the Borealis restaurant for some waiter service for a change. We had a pleasant table near the back, where we could watch the ship’s wake, and I enjoyed some spicy prawns with a chilli dip and some chunky fries, washed down with a large glass of chilled white wine.
After lunch we headed back to the Botanical Room to see if the artist had returned, as indeed he had. So I went straight to the oyster-catcher painting and said “I’ll have this one, please” and happily filled in the form for the charge to be added to our on-board account. As I was walking away, well pleased with my purchase, a lady went up to Michael and said “oh, there was an oyster-catcher picture here before; do you still have it?” When Michael indicated me, standing nearby, and informed the lady that I had just bought it, I realised how close I’d come to missing out! 😊
It will look great on our bedroom wall; our bedroom is done out in a nautical theme so a seabird like an oyster-catcher will fit in very well.
Just before 1.00pm we went up to the Observatory where they were holding Name that Tune again, so we decided to try our luck. A solo traveller, a lady who we used to see every night in the theatre, asked if she could join our team and we told her by all means.
We scored 25/30 which I didn’t think was good enough to win, and indeed this was the case as the team whose paper we marked scored 28/30 – very good indeed.
Afterwards, we perched on a couple of stools at the bar and enjoyed the cocktail of the day as well as some banter with the bar staff. I like it in the Observatory; it has a pleasant ambience as well as fantastic views of the restless ocean beyond the ship’s bow. We could see that the sea was much livelier now, and there were lots of the ubiquitous white horses as we were crossing Biscay.
It was then time to make our way to the Neptune theatre again, where an ex-Royal Navy bloke called Ted Bourne was doing a talk about international maritime law. It was all very interesting.
Then it was back to 6227 to enjoy a power nap before we had to start getting ready for the Captain’s Farewell Cocktail Party, as tonight was the final formal evening. It only seemed like yesterday that we were having the welcome cocktail party; how the time had flown. We always find that the first week goes by nice and slowly and you have the happy knowledge of a second week to look forward to, but then the second week absolutely flies by!
I wore a long black dress with an eau-de-nil chiffon and velvet wrap decorated with embroidery and sequins that I’d bought in India in 2015 as well as my platinum blonde bobbed wig. Trevor had on his dinner suit with a Black Watch tartan bow-tie and cummerbund, and off we went to the Neptune lounge for the party.
The Captain, his senior officers and some of the entertainment staff made up the receiving line and greeted everyone as we all filed in, and we made our way down to our ‘usual’ seats at the front, where soon a waitress appeared with a laden tray of drinks. I had a glass of fizz while Trevor had a sherry. Then another waiter materialised with a tray of hot and cold canapés, and we enjoyed some of these tasty little bites.
On the stage, the ship’s excellent orchestra, Nelson and Friends, played a selection of tasteful tunes and then, with a sense of déjà vu we heard Anchors Aweigh! as Captain Rommel Pineda was clapped onto the stage once more.
He gave another little speech, thanking us all for cruising with Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and apologising once again for the change in itinerary. Then, it wasn’t the senior officers who accompanied him on stage this time, but some of the ‘unsung heroes’ of the crew, such as the cabin stewards and engine room guys, cleaners and maintenance workers – all those who ensure our cruise is a safe, comfortable and happy one. They all got a huge round of applause and we were reminded that the featured entertainment in the Neptune lounge tonight was the Crew Show, and we were all to come along and show our support. 😊
This brought us nicely to dinner time, and we went along to the restaurant and made our way to table #222, where all six of us were present tonight, including June, who was feeling much better but was still hardly able to speak, and only managed a bowl of soup for her dinner. As ever, it was a delicious meal washed down with water and wine and finished off with a glass of Drambuie each, and I left the table fit to burst.
Because of the second-sitting cocktail party, the theatre didn’t open its doors until 9.00pm tonight, so we went along to the Morning Light pub beforehand, and enjoyed a drink in there, passing pleasantries with our fellow passengers and talking over the events of the day, as well as cruises past and future.
Then we hotfooted it back to the Neptune theatre to be sure of getting our regular front-row seats for what was described in the programme as “a heart-warming show from our warm-hearted crew”. It featured traditional singing and dancing from the Philippines, Thailand and India, with colourful costumes and graceful movements. Some of them were amazing singers and you wondered why they weren’t up on the stage somewhere every night, instead of mixing cocktails or making beds. We enjoyed the show a lot, as we always do.
Afterwards everyone from table #222 took our seats in the Morning Light for the trivia quiz, which we didn’t win once again. On some cruises we’ve had a fantastic team and won four or five times during the cruise, but not on this occasion. 😊
We finished the evening by going back up to the Observatory where the lead vocalists from the show company were putting on a performance of “Oh, What a Night” featuring lively songs guaranteed to be floor fillers. It was a good show and we made the most of the all-inclusive drinks package as we were entertained. 😉 It was about 1.00am when we returned to 6227 to settle down for the night. Tomorrow would be the last day of our cruise. ☹