At Sea

December 2^nd, 2024

Ah, at last, a sea day. Brian got up early and headed to the gym. I slept in. By the time Brian had returned from the gym he had already done over 4000 steps. I had done 10. I’m not sure this million steps thing will work out for me.

After breakfast in the Colonnade, we headed up to the Observation Bar. We had found an outlet (European style) so we were all set to spend the morning working and watching the sea go by.

The Bar doesn’t open until 5:30 PM, but I was happy they had put out some Cokes, so I could have my morning Coke, but there were no potato crisps in site. Also, there was no ice and the Cokes were at room temperature. Well you can’t have anything.

You also can’t have coffee apparently. Although there was a set up for coffee and tea, there were no mugs. Well, there is coffee on deck 7, so it’s not too far to go to get that.

We had the Observation Bar to ourselves which was nice. It is a pleasant enough room, and I enjoy the view over the bow. Well over the deck at the front of the ship.

At noon we had our first trivia event. The questions were fairly easy, but our team still managed to miss quite a few. We have many sea days ahead of us, time enough to hone our trivia skills.

I don’t see much in the way of Christmas decorations around the ship as yet. There are some beautiful pointsettias here and there, especially in the Observation Bar, but that’s it. Maybe more decorations will appear over the next few days.

The schedule of enrichments speakers (conversationalists) today was great. Sharon Torres spoke on ‘The Kingdom of Morocco – Land of Mosques and Medinas”. Eamonn Geardon spoke on “Islamic Art and Architecture, or how to Read a Mosque”. David MacKay gave a talk on “I’d like to Teach the World to Sing”.  David arranged and produced the commercial which I have always loved being a New Seekers fan. Not to mention a Coke fan.

The last talk of the day was from Terry Greenberg, whom I had sat next to at the Gala in Barcelona. He discussed “Who are the Arabs?” Altogether an impressive lineup.

When we returned to our suite after lunch there was no towel creature. But the runner at the foot of our bed had been turned into s ship. A lovely touch!

Tonight was the first formal night. Most people had got into the spirit of things and there were some lovely gowns on show. I got to wear my white jacket with the sparkles. Yay, a new ship in which to sprinkle my sparkles.

The Captain’s Welcome on Board party was well attended and I was pleased to see that they served a very pleasant champagne, and there were more than enough delicious canapes to go around. It was a very pleasant affair.

We met up with friends for dinner in the Colonnade. I was intrigued by the menu – caviar, lobster tails and chocolate crème brulee. You really can’t go wrong with a menu like that.

When we returned to our suite there was a bag and 2 mugs with the Grand Voyage logo waiting for us on the bed, as well as a red rose. I thought this was a really lovely gesture. They really are trying to make the cruise special for us.

No, I didn’t get anywhere near my intended 11.000 + steps today. When I first had the idea of walking a million steps on a cruise we were on Queen Mary 2 for a supposed 110 days. Walking from venue to venue and a couple of laps around the promenade deck easily got you 10,000 steps. This is simply not going to work. Brian suggested that it might if I went to the gym every day. Well, that is an excellent idea, but I do tend to be a bit on the lazy side, so I am not sure that will happen. Hopefully there will be Zumba, but I haven’t seen any sign of that as yet – or of a choir for that matter. Maybe these will start up later in cruise. That would be great. Meanwhile I still need to check out the Arts and Crafts on board. There are simply not enough hours in the day…..