Our last sea day.

I had planned to spend the day fighting for a space by the pool, but it was the day of the Queen’s funeral. So forget about the pool. I got up early and spent most of the day watching the funeral, and the coverage on the BBC. I took a break for breakfast in Razzle Dazzle, they do a really great mushroom frittata,

but then it was back to the TV in the room again.

The funeral was beautifully done, and so moving. It is still so hard to believe that our Queen really has gone, and that Charles is the king.

Tonight was Scarlet Night, the big party night on the ship, even bigger than the pyjama party, which we missed.

To learn all about the origins and myths of Scarlet Night we went to a presentation from the quite delightful, and very funny Alejandro. The myth had something to do with a Sea Goddess (who looks like a giant octopus, and a young fisherman who fell in love with her. All very romantic.

After the talk we went to watch the show, Dueling Realities, which is a brilliant acrobatic show with the same themes as Romeo and Juliet, except the 2 sides are blue and red. It was very well done, and takes pole dancing to new heights.

When we emerged from the show, the ship had been transformed. There were giant red tentacles all over the place, and the corridor, normally a shade of violet, had suddenly turned red.

It must be time to change into our scarlet outfits – red dress for me and red polo shirt for Brian. We had booked to go to dinner at Extra Virgin, the Italian Restaurant. I must say the restaurant décor was rather bland, they could have done so much more with the theme and turned the space into an Italian trattoria without too much effort. They could also have played some Italian themed music instead of the ever present loud thumping music. A good rendition of O Sole Mio goes a long way. However the food was very good and we had a Belle Notte.

Then it was party time. The party was at the pool on deck 15, but we, and about 1000 other people it seemed, decided to watch rather than participate, from the railings on deck 16. It actually looked like great fun if you like crowds, dancing, loud music, and getting wet. I’m OK with all of those in small doses, Brian, not so much, so we participated from the safety of the upper deck.

I must say everyone seemed to have amazing energy and the party went on for ages. We eventually decided to head back to the cabin at about midnight, but the party was still in full swing. Yes, this is a party ship!

Despite all of the noise going on a few decks above us, we couldn’t hear a thing. The cabins are certainly very well insulated.

It was a bittersweet day. I’m glad we got to watch the funeral. Somehow that makes things final, so as sad as I am, I am finally ready to move on.