At Sea

December 12^th, 2024

As promised when we woke up this morning the ship had been transformed into a Christmas wonderland with Christmas trees and gingerbread houses popping up all over the ship. However, no Christmas lights yet, that will happen later in the afternoon.

Well, one tree did have its lights on. The one in the Observation Bar. However, it was plugged into MY outlet – the one I use when I am using my computer. So, hoping that I was not being observed, I quietly unplugged the tree and plugged in my computer.

There is a screen outside of the guest relations office which shows our progress.

3 and 4 are the ports in Cape Verde, now we are off the coast of Liberia, next stop is Abidjan in the Ivory Coast. Our first West African port, but we still have another sea day in front of us.

The big excitement of the day was when Captain Hamish turned on the Christmas lights in the atrium and everyone sang Christmas carols.

The grinch suddenly appeared from nowhere, and tried to unplug the lights, but the captain wasn’t having anything if that, so the Grinch made off with a chocolate Santa Claus instead.

Then the moment came for the choir to sing our two carols, the whole group sang another carol,

and then that was that, we all left the atrium and headed back to our suites to get dressed up for the formal night.

Our trivia team met in the Observation Bar for a predinner drink. The bar was packed, but we were able to find room for the 8 of us. They had quite fancy looking hors d’oeuvres but interestingly enough, no one was eating them.

Once more the Christmas tree lights were shining brightly. I had clearly done a good job plugging them in again this morning.

We all dined together in the Restaurant. The meal was excellent, the wines were good, and all in all the 8 of us had a great evening. We may not be the best trivia team, but luckily, we all get along very well, and no one is too competitive.

I was very pleased that Clare Langan had joined the ship in Praia. We have frequently heard her play her flute on other cruises, and she really is extremely talented and very entertaining. Her performance tonight was wonderful – although we have heard her many times, her concerts are always different. I think tonight was the best, but I may be biased as she played several of my favorite pieces of music. And who cannot love a performance that ends with Pomp and Circumstance. I was just sorry that I didn’t have my flag with me. Then it would have been perfection.

After the show we stopped by our Australian friends’ suite to see their Christmas lights. I must say I haven’t seen such a display before. It was great fun!