SUNRISE: 09:47 SUNSET: 16:16
We awoke at eight o’clock as usual this mornng, and I called the Atlantis Spa to see if I could get a appointment to have my hair put up tonight; they managed to get me in at 3.00pm.
We then got washed and dressed before making our way, as usual, to the Thistle Restaurant for our breakfasts. As tonight was the final formal evening of the cruise, there were the usual glasses of fizz next to the fruit juices, and we each enjoyed a Buck’s Fizz. 🙂
It was still dark outside, apart from the ship’s lights, and we could see crew members going around on deck with their big snow shovels, scooping up the snow and dumping it overboard. They were working in vain, however; in a couple of hours the decks would be covered again. 🙂
The sea was still pretty rough, and the movement of the Balmoral was still very obvious on the high waves. We still had the “Telenor” phone signal which meant we were still off the Norwegian coast, and a quick look at Google Maps showed me we were between Stavanger and Bergen as far as latitude was concerned.
Looking at today’s activity programme, we saw that there was “An Audience with the Balmoral Show Company” at 9.45am, hosted by Simon. These Q and A sessions are always very interesting, to find out about living on a cruise ship for nine months at a time, rehearsing and performing shows each night and how the members of the show company become your “family” when you are away from home for so long. It was interesting and often poignant listening to their own experiences, and it did sound as if they loved their jobs; they were being paid to do what they love and see the world. 🙂
Afterwards, we wasted no time in going up to the Lido Bar, as the indoor kurling was on at half past 10 and we didn’t want to be late. As we walked in Rosie, one of the entertainments team, spotted us and added our names to the list straight away.
Well! This game of indoor kurling was unlike any we had ever experienced. Because of the ship’s motion, the stones did not stay put; they moved in whichever direction the ship sent them! Sometimes someone had a really good shot, where their stone was almost in the middle of the house, but then the ship would roll and the stone would start going back down the rink again. Stones were rolling on their ball-bearings in all directions; it was hilarious! In the end, Rosie had to decide that whichever team’s stone was nearest to the house at all would be be declared the winner. This game wasn’t a case of skill at all – it was all purely chance. Even standing to take your turn was quite precarious when you bent down to send your stone up; keeping your balance became quite a challenge. It was certainly good fun! 🙂
Afterwards, we enjoyed a drink, perched on our usual bar stools, before we hung around, with some of the other regular shipboard gamers, for the golf putting which was on next. We wondered if this would be just as unpredictable as the kurling, but it wasn’t too bad because the balls were putted up the ‘green’ faster, and once they were either in the holes, or they’d missed, they were removed from the board. Trevor and I both scored, but didn’t win. Towards the end of the game, we heard the “bing bong” that heralded an annoucement over the PA, and sure enough we heard Captain Steffan’s voice bringing us his noon navigational information.
He said the temperature was currently -2°C and we could expect more snow, but the seas would calm down quite a lot from now until we got back into Southampton. No-one was disappointed to hear this news! The Captain ended his broadcast with his usual “over and out”. 🙂
We then decided to go for lunch, and we went to the Avon Restaurant, where I enjoyed a plate of salad with cold meats and cheese, washed down with a chilled glass of cava. Looking outside, we saw grey skies and grey sea and it was hard to tell where the sky ended and the sea started.
Soon it began to snow again, a mixture of snowflakes and hail that blew this way and that in the wind.
Trevor and I were laughing at the thought of showing these photos and video clips to people back home, imagining their reactions. Most people leave the cold, dark British winters to head to sunnier climes when they go on holiday, so I’m sure there were many of our friends and colleagues who thought we were mad, going somewhere colder and darker! 🙂
As we didn’t feel like going outside in the show and wind, we just stayed below decks, wandering around the ship, looking in the shops, passing pleasantries with our fellow passengers and enjoying a couple of drinks, perched on bar stools in the Morning Light pub, where they have a decent singer/guitarist playing in the background.
It was then time to return to the Lido Bar for a game of carpet bowls. When we arrived, we saw Hubert moving all the chairs and tables out of the way on the carpet to create a “rink”. The balls didn’t roll around as much as the kurling stones had; maybe the pile on the carpet impeded their progress a little. We didn’t win anything.
It was now time for me to go to the salon to have my hair done. This time it wasn’t Dom, but a different hairdresser who I didn’t know. He was quite rough with my hair; he put it into velcro rollers first of all to give it some volume, but when we was taking the rollers out they kept pulling on my hair; it wasn’t pleasant and he kept apologising each time he saw me grimace in the mirror. It did look nice when it was finished though, and he had little tendrils falling around my face.
On return to 5007, I now had exactly one hour to get ready for the Captain’s Farewell Cocktail Party at 5.15pm. Farewell party!! It didn’t seem five minutes since we attended the welcome party. We were sad that our wonderful Christmas cruise was coming to an end. 🙁
I dressed in a gorgeous royal blue full-length ballgown which was off the shoulder and had a full skirt, which was longer in the back to create a little train. There was also a gathered sash at one side that trailed along the floor after the dress. The off-the-shoulder parts were gathered and I put a little double-sided clothing tape on my arms to keep the dress perfectly were I wanted it. I wore the dress with some stunning costume jewellery; a statement necklace with blue stones that perfectly matched the colour of the dress.
As we swept along the corridor on our way to the Neptune Lounge, lots of people commented on my outfit. I really do love the formal evenings on cruise ships, the chance to dress to the nines and feel like a movie star walking the red carpet. 🙂
The cocktail party was an elegant affair as usual, with the ship’s orchestra on stage and some people already dancing when we took our seats. We enjoyed several free glasses of cava, accompanied by little hot and cold tasty canapés as we listened to the music. Then Captain Steffan appeared on stage and gave a little speech in which he said he hoped we had had a wonderful cruise; he gave us some food for thought when he pointed out that we had spent more time in Norway this year than we had in Britain! 🙂
Afterwards, we made our way to the Ballindalloch Restaurant, where we found there was an extra place setting on table #51. We had the pleasure of the company of the Staff Captain Duncan McIntosh at our table tonight. He was an affable Scotsman and there was certainly no shortage of conversation, and he entertained us with amusing anecdotes from his career at sea. He also bought the wine for the table, and we surprised to see him drinking wine as well when he was, technically, on duty; it was only when he showed us the label on his bottle that we realised he was drinking alcohol free wine!
It was a great dinner in which most of the people on our table had something to say, and the time passed very quickly.
We then returned to the Neptune Lounge, where we wanted to be sure we would get front row seats, as tonight was the famous Crew Show. The Crew Show is always an absolute treat for the passengers, in which members of our wonderful crew perform traditional singing and dancing from their own countries, in colourful costumes, many of which they have made themselves. Each performance was met with a tremendous cheer from the audience.
Finally, Simon introduced the boys from the engine room, doing their very special dance to the Crazy Frog. This is an absolutely hilarious performance that is only ever done on Balmoral. We first saw it in 2012 (and we’ve seen them several times since) but we still laughed just as much this time as we did the first. Behind us, we could hear one woman almost splitting her sides with laughter. 🙂
What happens is that the lads come onto the stage in their blue overalls, that are tied at the waist, leaving their bellies bare. Their bellies are then painted with big faces; eyes, brows, nose mouth etc. and the upper parts of their chests and heads are covered with black bin bags held up with their arms inside, to represent “hair”. The result is that it looks like a very short man with a very big head and face, dancing in overalls. I didn’t take any photos this time, but here’s one from our 2012 cruise so you can see what I mean. 🙂
After the excellent and entertaining crew show was finished (no-one would forget the engine room boys in a hurry!), we went upstairs for the quiz, which we didn’t win as usual.
We then just sat and enjoyed a few more drinks and chatted with our fellow passengers before the Silent Disco came on at 11.00pm. Rosie was going round handing out the head-sets and asked us if we wanted to join in, but we said we always find the Silent Disco more amusing to watch. Usually, it’s anything but silent, as people tend to start singing along to whichever song they are listening to, with much hilarity. The dance floor was packed, and it just seemed peculiar to see people bopping away when we couldn’t hear any music. 🙂
Afterwards, we decided to go down and have a nightcap in the Morning Light pub. When we got there, we saw Tom and Chris off our table there, so we went and joined them. We ended up staying for a couple of drinks, so it was after 1.00am before we returned to cabin 5007 and settled down.
The sea was much calmer by now, with only a gentle motion which quickly lulled us to sleep. Tomorrow was another sea day, the last day of our fantastic cruise. 🙁