Once more on the deck I stand
A Life On The Ocean Wave – Henry Russell
Of my own swift gliding craft
Set sail! Farewell to the land
The gale follows fair abaft
Today would see the first of two full days at sea en route to Southampton. It was a good feeling, when we woke up, to know that we could do what we wanted, when we wanted, and just enjoy being on the Queen Victoria and all she had to offer. 🙂
After a leisurely breakfast in the Lido restaurant we wandered around the ship where we saw they had put up even more decorations. The Queen Victoria looked lovely, even though (for me) it was still a tad too early to think about Christmas! 🙂
At ten o’clock we went along to the Royal Court to watch another presentation by the talented anthropologist Kate Schroder; this one was called “Unwrapping Mummies” an explained how modern medical methods, such as CT scanning, allow us to find out more about mummified remains, rather than by the destructive act of unwrapping. Not only can these methods be used for ancient mummies but also for the people inside the volcanic casts you can see in Pompeii. It really was a fascinating presentation, accompanied by some detailed (and slightly perturbing) photographs of human remains, some of them thousands of years old.
Afterwards we just pottered around the ship and went for a cup of coffee. Looking at the daily programme, there wasn’t anything I fancied doing, so we returned to 5123 where I did some of this blog, relaxed, read and surfed the internet, using up some of the free wifi access Cunard gives us for being Platinum World Club members. Going out on the balcony, I watched for a while as the Queen Victoria sailed on, heading north at a good rate of knots. The sky was blue and interspersed with cirrus clouds, and there was only a light wind. The rough stuff would start later on, once we reached the Bay of Biscay. 🙂
As it was quite pleasant outside, we decided to go to the Pool Deck where they usually serve burgers and other light meals. We saw that they had nachos with chilli, so we each ordered a bowl. It was a bit of a disappointment really; it was just a bowl of tortilla chips with a couple of tablespoons of chilli, a dollop of guacamole and a dollop of sour cream. There were no jalapeños! I added a bit of salad and we found a sheltered place to sit on deck to eat, but it felt as if we’d just eaten a starter and I was still hungry afterwards, so we went into the Lido and I enjoyed a selection of cheeses with some pickles. 🙂
And so the afternoon passed in its pleasant way. At 3.00pm Trevor disappeared off to the theatre where they were showing the film Top Gun Maverick. I used the time to go all around the ship and take loads of photos of the festive Queen Victoria. You can see them in my album by clicking this link.
Tonight was a formal Gala Evening once again; this time the theme was the ‘Roaring Twenties’. I dressed in beaded, fringed flapper style dress with long black gloves, a feather boa, fishnet tights, long string of pearls and a rhinestone headpiece worn with my blonde, bobbed wig. As we made our way to the restaurant I posed for a photo in the usual place, and my outfit elicited a lot of comments from passers-by. 🙂
As this was the final formal night for the cruise, we were sure that lobster would feature on the menu, and we were happy to see that ‘surf ‘n’ turf’ was listed. However, it was steak with a couple of king prawns, not lobster. At the rate Cunard are cutting back here, next time it’ll probably be a Birds Eye beefburger and prawns. Needless to say, there was no sign of the captain or any senior officers; in fact, it is safe to say than in 57 cruises this is the first time we have never seen the captain. Cunard are really letting themselves down now… what a disappointment compared to how it used to be. 🙁
The entertainment featured a comedian called Mark Palmer. He kept up an amusing patter based on observations of real life; it wasn’t the usual stand-up routine of telling jokes. We laughed out loud at many of his anecdotes and enjoyed his show a lot. 🙂
Afterwards we met up with Billy and Carole in the Golden Lion; we were staying there until 9.30pm then going up to the Yacht Club, where once again it was karaoke night. Some of the singers who were up the other night were there, as well as some new ones. I put my name down to do three songs: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper, It’s a Sin by the Pet Shop Boys and Rose Garden by Lynn Anderson. There were some decent singers but there were one or two truly appalling ones who were just so bad they were good (in an entertaining way). It was after 11.30pm when the karaoke finished.
Trevor and I went down to the Golden Lion for a nightcap, before returning to 5123 and settling down for a good night’s sleep once again.