Five lazy days in the Atlantic - catching up....

We are currently on the last of five sea days as we head towards Bermuda, crossing the Atlantic Ocean. As well, we are turning our clocks back by one hour almost every night, so we have 25 hours in every day.

We have a very relaxed daily schedule, starting with decadent breakfast in bed about 8.00am. We have found that there is so much food in the dining room and the Horizon Court buffet, that  there is a lot of temptation, so it is easier to start our day with breakfast in our room, preferably on the balcony when the weather is warm enough.

Crossing the northern Atlantic was like sailing in thick pea soup - we could only see about 100 metres out from the ship, with scattered showers although the sea has been much smoother than we had expected - having heard all sorts of horror stories about the rough seas in this area, we got the sea sick tablets out as we left Cobh, but we haven’t had to take any yet. 

Wednesday  afternoon, I looked out and saw an unfamiliar sight - the horizon - the fog had finally started to clear and the sun came out. We have been warned that the temperature in Bermuda will be about 34 degrees, so we have packed the winter woolies away in the suitcase under the bed, until we get closer to New Zealand when they will probably be needed again.

Our leisurely days are filled with movies, reading, trivia competition, playing canasta, walking the decks or going to the gym, having lunch with friends, catching up over coffee, dancing in the evenings, or going to one of the many shows onboard - such a relaxed lifestyle. The cruise staff have also arranged a number of get togethers for different groups of passengers - South Island of NZ, Gold Coasters, medical fraternity, educationalists, Irish descendants - to name a few - they are a great way to meet new people and make contacts which may be continued when we are back in the real world.

Wednesday night was the first time that any entertainment had been planned on the open decks since we left the Mediterranean, so we went up and sat to listen to the new band who have joined the ship - ‘Black and Pink’ - they played a good range of music so it was a shame that there weren’t many people up there - hopefully, as the weather gets warmer, the entertainment on the open decks will attract a bigger crowd - we will be spending more time up there. 

Yesterday, we woke up to a beautiful clear sunny day, although a bit windy on the open decks. We went up in the morning and spent some time topping up our vitamin D levels after being rugged up in woolies for the past few weeks. When I last spoke to our son, Rob, on the phone he commented that ‘your blogs are always about food and how much you are eating!’ So true..... but we have also been getting lots of exercise - most port days we spend about six hours on our feet wandering around - yesterday I walked on the decks for over an hour in the morning and half an hour in the afternoon - I won’t lie and say that we haven’t put on weight - cause we have - but we are conscious of not leaving the boat as cargo - so we have decided to increase the exercise on the sea days. I got a shock in London when it was cold and I got out the jeans that I had worn in Sydney before we left - to find that they were uncomfortably tight - damn - instant action is required!! We still have more than 40 days left before we return home so hopefully I will be able to lose it again!!

We have also had a few celebrations on the ship over the past few sea days. Monday was Randy’s birthday, so we had lunch in the Florentine Room to celebrate. In the evening, we were invited to join friends for dinner in the Steakhouse - once again a superb steak - absolutely melts in the mouth. I have ordered steaks at our regular evening dining room - and they are great - I couldn’t ever complain that I have had a bad one yet - but - the steaks at the steakhouse are another notch up again - delicious - we had a wonderful night with our new friends who have shared many of our tours. 

On Wednesday, we had lunch with a group of about 40 members of the cruise critic group - we all communicated via the website and shared information etc before the cruise - so it is great to meet up in person. There is one family from New Zealand who are traveling with twin 5 year old girls - I was talking to the girls at lunch and they were telling me about the kids club where they are having a wonderful time and had madea beaded octopus- so joking, I asked if we would be able to come along to the playroom. With a very straight face, Nathalia replied that she would have to ask the leader if adults could come. Her sister, Michaelia looked at her and said - “don’t you know there is a playroom for adults, it is on deck 8, its name is ‘casino”!!!! Out of the mouths of babes!!!

There is a tradition at the lunch to give out awards for various funny, embarrassing, unusual, incidents that occur on the ship. I was honoured??? to receive a ‘bloody legend’ award for my photographic skills - I am embarrassed to give any more details...... although I think that Joanne may have let the cat out of the bag on her blog!! The photo in question is at the start of this blog.....

Today, Friday, is the last day before we arrive in Bermuda - we woke up and turned on the TV for the weather forecast and it was for - ‘cloudy’. We looked out and once again, we were in pea soup weather, so we read in bed for a while before getting up - showered - turned on the TV and the weather forecast had been changed to - ‘rainy’ - and as we opened the curtains - they were right again - it was raining!!! This is a great way to forecast the weather - actually look out the window and change the forecast as the weather changes!!!! Why didn’t someone think of it before!!  

I have decided to spend the day catching up on some emails, updating the blog and then getting into the pile of books beside my bed, since I have read everything that I downloaded to my kindle before I left home - luckily, the library took on a new stock of books before we left Dover. My only complaint about the selection is that most of the non-fiction biographies are about American political figures - current and past - however, since the Dawn Princess is focusing on the Australian market - it would be great if they included some Australian and New Zealand titles. 

Just have to keep our fingers crossed that we have all the rain today, and it will be fine in Bermuda tomorrow.

Cheers

Notes for 2012 World Cruisers

Greenock Update (Scotland)

In the Greenock post, I forgot to include this information which may be useful for those followers who are planning a cruise to this port in the future. The local Inverclyde tourist group was very helpful and well organised when we visited Greenock. They are a voluntary group of local residents who take pride in welcoming tourists to the cruise terminal - welcomers are dressed in traditional Scottish dress - kilts and bagpipes, and their services include free bus tours to local sights with three separate routes of about two hours duration each - Gourock tour, Greenock tour and the Port Glasgow and Newark Castle Tour. I spoke to a number of other passengers who went on these tours and they all have very positive comments - at the Newark Castle a local theatre group were dressed in traditional dress and acted out scenes from the castle’s history. There is a small entrance fee to the castle and you are asked to make a small donation if you enjoyed the tours. Other services provided at the terminal include internet, local souvenirs and crafts, maps, train, bus and ferry timetables, as well as a Clan History desk.

The web site is www.inverclydetouristgroup.co.uk

They were the group who arranged a cultural show of bagpipes, music and dancing on the ship in the afternoon for passengers who didn’t leave the ship, as well as Scottish music and dancing on the pier as we sailed - they certainly went to a lot of trouble to make sure that we enjoyed our visit and deserve recognition.

Cobh Update

Cobh is pronounced ‘Cove’ since the ‘bh’ are pronounced as ‘v’ - as in the Irish girls name Siobhan (Shivorn).

The Cobh and Harbour Chamber provide an exceptional service for passengers with tourist services including an excellent display ‘Queenstown Story’ in the terminal. Cobh was originally called Queenstown to mark the visit of Queen Victoria. This organisation were responsible for organising all the festivities for our visit. More information is on their web site: www.cobhharbourchamber.ie  and www.cobhcalls.com   They are a wonderful resource if you are planning to visit County Cork and do an excellent job of promoting the area to cruise ships. We were sad that we sailed at 3.00pm. - we could easily have spent much more time there.