At sea

The world cruise area in the Chart Room is a great place to drink coffee and spend the morning. We also spent time chatting with the Virtuoso hosts, Deidre and Kim, and missed the Virtual Bridge Tour given by the First Officer, Jeremy Saltonstall which I was looking forwarding hearing. However, we were able to watch it on the TV later. Showing the talks on TV is such a great idea; it really takes the pressure off having to be organized during the day.

We had lunch in the pub. I had quite expected it to be crowded, but there were plenty of seats available. I would love to eat lunch in the pub every day – a nice plate of fish and chips with mushy peas and a cider is perfection as far as I am concerned. However, there really aren’t any good low carbohydrate options for Brian so it is not ideal for dining together.

I am working on a new necklace in beading. It is fairly straightforward, but I still managed to get confused by the pattern. I have decided that I will risk it, and attempt a really beautiful complicated necklace with the next one I do. Julia, who runs the class, has some amazing necklaces to make. She will be on board until Sydney, so that gives me time to be adventurous.

It was another formal night tonight, with the roaring twenties theme again. That is my favourite, although I do have to spend the evening being careful not to snag the fringes of my dress on passing objects and people. As per usual, everyone was dressed appropriately, and the couples who decided to go along with the theme looked like characters out of Downton Abbey. It was so lovely to see them. I have abandoned my head feather as I simply cannot make it look anything other than ridiculous, and I admired the ladies who managed to wear theirs with such style and ease. The only thing I lack is a black feather boa. I had hoped I could pick one up at one of our ports along the way, but I have not found one yet. Maybe I will be lucky in Rio.

It was the last formal dinner of the segment, and we had the inevitable parade of chefs around the dining room. Brian does not like this at all, but I think it is a nice way to recognize the work that they do. I also confess that I miss the parade of baked Alaskas with sparklers lighting up the room. They don’t do that anymore. Brian says that’s because it was incredibly tacky, but I suspect it has more to do with being a health and safety issue.

I had escargot, beef Wellington, and crème brulee for dinner. Talk about a great meal. On the menu they also had the option of lobster for the main course, and, of course, baked Alaska for dessert. On the last formal night of our first segment I must admit I thought the menu was uninspired. We found out later that it was because they had changed the date of the formal night, but no one had bothered to let the chef know, so he just had a regular menu planned.

Dinner was great fun as usual, and we all headed off to the show afterwards, arriving after the show had started again because we spent so long over dinner. We really do need to talk and laugh less. I pity our poor wait staff having to stay late to clean up after us.

After the show, as the night was yet young, we though we would go to the Golden Lion where the Royal Court Theater band was playing rock and roll music. It was packed, there wasn’t even standing room, and so we moved on to the Queens Room. This was almost deserted, with about 3 or 4 couples dancing. Our friends decided to dance (and very nicely too I might say), but although Brian’s foot is now much better, and he can walk and go to the gym, it is not mended enough for dancing. It seemed such a pity that there were so few people in the Queens Room, and the pub was packed.

Then it was time to head up to the Lido for Horlicks and off to bed.