Didn’t get up until 8.40 this morning as I was so tired. We hadn’t slept well, not only because of the noise in our cabin but because of the movement. Lying in bed, you would roll first one way and then the other, and we could hear things falling over and/or sliding onto the floor. While having a large aft balcony was lovely for sitting out on in fine weather, it almost meant that, being at one end of the ship, you experienced most of the motion. 😊
I decided not to go up for breakfast, enjoying a cup of coffee in our cabin, as well as some of the fresh fruit.
Looking at the Daily Times activity programme, we saw that Carpet Bowls was on once again in the Ocean Bar at half past nine. We wondered whether they would still go ahead with it due to the rocking and rolling of the Borealis, but when we arrived the ‘rink’ was already set up and the small white jack in place. We put our names down to participate.
Once again, Trevor and I were knocked out straight away, and we stayed to watch the rest of it. A couple of players were obviously experienced, and they managed to place their balls right up near the jack, but just then, the Borealis rode a large wave, and the balls all started rolling back down towards the start line, to much laughter. Well! That was certainly different! Everyone was in the same boat, so to speak, so the game continued until only one team remained, and they received the prize tokens. 😊
Afterwards, we went up to the View buffet and had a cup of coffee, which we took out to the pool side to enjoy. While we were there, I thought I’d use up some of our on-board credit by getting my hair washed and blow-dried this afternoon, so we popped into the Atlantis Spa and I made an appointment for 3.15 this afternoon.
At 11 o’clock there was another presentation, all about the 1950s “from rationing to rock and roll”. I wasn’t around in the 1950s (Trevor was!) but it was still a very interesting, and lots of the older passengers were nodding and smiling in reminiscence. 😊
We ate a light lunch in the View as usual, washed down with a glass of chilled cava. Afterwards, I thought an afternoon power nap was in order to try to make up for the lack of sleep last night. As we were walking back along the long corridor to our cabin at the stern, we were amused as we watched other passengers bouncing off the walls from one side to the other; it really was hard to walk in a straight line, and it was nothing to do with the cava we’d consumed. 😊
Looking out on our balcony, we thought the Atlantic had calmed down a bit by now, as we had been advised during the Captain’s noontime navigational announcement. He’d told us we were through the worst by now, and it would be fair weather once we reached Vigo in the morning. 😊
At one o’clock, Trevor and I made our way up to the Observatory to participate in the “Name That Tune” music quiz. We usually do quite well at this, especially for music from the 70s and 80s which is my favourite era. Today was no exception, and we jointly won the quiz with 23/30, not as high as we usually score, but that was because there was a much bigger mix of music eras and types. Hubert Greaves, who was our quiz host today, decided to give both teams the prize tokens as there was only one person in one team, and two in ours. 😊
We stayed in the Observatory, moving from our table to perch on stools at the bar. They do a good Aperol Spritz on board, so I enjoyed one followed by a large glass of chilled wine. As we were sitting there, the “Singing for Fun” class started up. Passengers form an on-board choir and are coached by some of the professional singers; we enjoyed listening to their vocal exercises and singing practice. You could tell which singers took it seriously, and perhaps sang in a choir at home.
After my second drink it was time to return to the Atlantis Spa for my hair appointment, so I left Trevor sitting on his bar stool and made my way down.
A pleasant guy called Arjay said he’d be doing my hair today, so he washed and conditioned it, then asked my how I liked my hair. I usually wear it in a straight bob with a centre parting and a fringe, but Arjay put rollers in it and sat me under the hair-dryer, the old-fashioned way. It did give my hair a little bit of curl and volume, but I knew from past experience that it would probably all flop by tonight; my hair is far too fine and soft to hold any style well, hence the straight bob. 😊
The rest of the day passed in its usual pleasant way, and soon it was time to start getting ready once again for dinner. It does seem on board a cruise that it is an endless round of breakfast-lunch-drink-dinner-drink and you an even add afternoon tea and late supper that if you want! No wonder there’s that old joke about all the salt air making your clothes shrink! 😉
Tonight’s show featured a talented saxophonist billed as “Sarah Sax”. She played the alto saxophone as well as the soprano, and she was very good. We enjoyed her show a lot.
Then it was along to the Morning Light pub where Colin, Angie, Richard and June were already waiting so we could all do the Trivia Quiz. We’d all probably had one or two drinks more than usual, because our table was noisy and lively, and laughter wasn’t far away. One of the questions was “which is the smallest ocean?” and Colin shouted “Billy Ocean!” to the amusement of the other passengers. The next question was “what berry is used to flavour gin?” and again, Colin shouted “Chuck Berry!”. You could see a theme starting here… 😊
Needless to say, we didn’t win.
Once the quiz was finished, Trevor and I went up to the Observatory where singer Tom Garrity was doing his own show called “Spotlight on Song”. It was a good little show, and many people got up to dance. It was about midnight when we returned to 6227, and we certainly hoped we would have a better night’s sleep tonight. It was true that the sea was far less choppy, and we settled down in our comfortable bed and this time slept very well. We were due to reach terra firma tomorrow and we looked forward to our visit to Vigo after a couple of bumpy days. 😊