Sweet dreams are made of this,
The Eurythmics
Who am I to disagree?
I’ve travelled the world and the seven seas…
During the night we had had to put our watches forward one hour in line with European time, so it meant an hour in bed lost. Therefore, when the alarm went off at 8.00am it was actually 9.00am and I was tired, partly because of all the excitement of embarkation and the late night, and partly because we had been making the most of Fred’s all-inclusive drinks package. 😊
Tonight was formal night, which meant there would be free fizz on offer in the restaurants to mix with your breakfast orange juice and enjoy a Buck’s Fizz. However, while Trevor went up to breakfast I preferred to avail myself of the tea and coffee making facilities in our cabin (suite!!) as well as the fresh fruit basket, enjoying a banana and a juicy pear for breakfast. 😊
We didn’t really do an awful lot today. The weather was less than kind with a brisk and nippy breeze blowing and the odd squally shower that soaked our ma-hoo-sive balcony. We said that, come what may, we were going to make sure we sat out on that giant balcony at some point during this cruise! 😊 In the meantime, the breeze progressed to a Force 9 gale and the North Sea had plenty of white horses – just as well we have robust sea legs.
We pottered around the ship, relaxed in our suite and, at around 10.00am, went along to the Future Cruises desk where we booked a cruise for next year (July) on the Balmoral. It’s a 10 day cruise out of Rosyth in Scotland, and it goes to the Baltic Sea via the Kiel Canal and visits some of the more unusual ports such as Gdansk and Klaipeda.
We then went to a lecture/presentation in the Neptune Theatre about the music that has come from the Nordic countries; the talk covered a diverse range of music from Grieg, Ibsen and Sibelius to Abba and A-ha. It was very interesting, despite the speaker not having the most engaging delivery or apparent enthusiasm for his subject.
At lunchtime, we just went up to The View self-service restaurant and enjoyed some sausages in onion gravy, mash and vegetables. Then we returned to cabin (suite!!) 7036 for an afternoon power nap.
The afternoon passed in its pleasant way and soon it was time to start getting primped and preened for the Captain’s Cocktail Party at 5.15pm I absolutely adore the formal evenings and appreciate the chance to dress up. I wore a flattering floaty full-length Gothic style dress with an off-the-shoulder neckline and mid-length sleeves that went down into a long point, Morticia Addams style, teamed with a pair of killer heels.
We were delighted that there was a Captain’s Cocktail Party, because on the last couple of cruises (with Cunard and P&O respectively) they have done away with that little event as part of their penny-pinching cutbacks. I love the CCP; it is so glamorous. As we made our way to the Neptune Theatre we stopped for a photo with Captain Mikael Degerlund then entered the theatre to the strains of an excellent string trio playing a selection of elegant classical pieces. Taking our seats near the front, a waiter appeared immediately and offered us canapés, while another one approached with a tray of chilled drinks. How totally brilliant was this? This is what cruising is all about and, despite the fact we’ve done it so many times before, we never tire of it. 😊
We enjoyed the Captain’s Cocktail Party. The captain had a dry and witty sense of humour as he introduced all his senior officers. We realised we had seen him before, on the Boudicca on our cruise to Greenland in 2016. He always ends his midday navigational announcements with the catchphrase “Remember to take care of one another”. 😊
It was then time to go to dinner once again and we made our way to table #46. Peter and Marian were missing tonight; they had elected to go to the self-service buffet The View as Peter didn’t have a dinner jacket. I enjoyed a delicious meal consisting of a smoked salmon and crab meat starter followed by a melt-in-the-mouth rump steak with peppercorn sauce and jacket potato. It was washed down with chilled rosé wine and finished off with the cheese board and a glass of port.
Then it was off to the Neptune Theatre for tonight’s performance which featured an excellent violinist called Tom Suha, who played a fabulous repertoire of classical crossover music. I loved his version of Vivaldi’s Summer from The Four Seasons. What an outstanding show; we really enjoyed it a lot and looked forward to seeing Tom perform again later in the cruise.
As ever, the show was followed by the evening trivia quiz in the Morning Light pub, in which a win eluded us once again. We stayed there for a couple of drinks afterwards before going up to the Observatory to see one of the show company singers, Joseph Lewis, perform his tribute to the Rat Pack with some of Frank, Dean and Sammy’s famous songs. It was a good show; the entertainment on board is superb. It was around 12.30am when we returned to suite 7036 and settled down in our massive bed with its crisp rustly sheets and plump pillows. We were due to arrive in a new port of call tomorrow morning; that of Aarhus, Denmark. We slept very well.