Month: October 2016

I had set my alarm for a hour earlier today, to avoid the missed breakfast fiasco from yesterday. I hopped out of bed at 06.50 and set off for the gym. The climb up to the Spa on deck 9 isn’t getting any easier, so I was puffing again when I got to the treadmill. There was an old boy having a play on the running machine I’d used on my previous two visits, so I chose one nearer the middle. This highlighted a flaw in the setup of the gym. There is a low ceiling above the treadmills, and

Jane has spent the afternoon on the balcony, sunning herself. I know the balconies on deck 4 are metal fronted, but they are huge. Much bigger than the balconies we had on deck 8 on the Victoria. I don’t see any reason to be put off by not having a glass one, it’s not as if there’s anything to see except for sea, sea and more sea! We’ve migrated from lounging on the balcony, to lounging in the Commodore Club. Today’s cocktail of choice is a Dark ‘N Stormy. Gosling’s Black Seal rum, freshly squeezed lime juice, Syrop de Gomme

​I’m settling in nicely, with a much better sleep last night, waking just before my alarm at 06.50. I put on my running gear before heading off to the gym. 5km later and a series of resistance exercises, I did some stretches before shower and breakfast. We got down to breakfast in the MDR at 8.45 only to be turned away because it wasn’t 8.45 and breakfast had finished at 9.30. We’d only forgotten to move our clocks forward. Anyway we trotted off to the Lido for breakfast in the buffet. I had kedgeree and extra kippers, Jane had a

​Dinner 8th Oct Two of our missing dinner companions turned up tonight, two delightful ladies from West London, Gretchen and Thursa. They had had a long day with the embarkation, so had decided to have an early night. Dinner for me was, Prawn Gumbo, followed by an excellent seared tuna steak, from the Canyon Spa Ranch menu. Jane had Salmon Rillet and Barbary Duck. Other diners didn’t fare so well, the guys who had had the Rib of Beef had dry jacket potatoes, it seems the kitchen had neglected to add the sour cream dressing for them. When it was

​I didn’t sleep fantastically well on the first night, I never do, the ships movement coupled with all the squeaks and rattles, and sleeping in a new bed made for a slightly restless night. Anyway I dragged my backside out of bed at 7 and made my way up to the gym for my morning’s constitutional. I’m on the tail end of a heavy cold so walking up from deck 4 to deck 9 nearly killed me! Goodness knows what the run was going to do to me, as it turned out it wasn’t too bad, I pounded out 5km

After our pre-dinner livener, we retired back to the stateroom to get ready for dinner. One nice discovery in the room was that the Smart TV has a USB input on the side, from which we can play video. It’s the first night, so there were pretty long queues for the late sitting in the Britannia as guests were being shown to their tables. As previously stated, we had a table for 10, unfortunately only 6 of us were there. That didn’t detract from a very enjoyable evening and it was a pleasure to meet Jeff and Hazel, and Pat

While Jane was unpacking I was down in the MDR checking out the dining arrangements. I was pleased to find out we got the table for 10 that we asked for. I also passed by the purser to check that all our on board credit was in place, it was, so we can now start spending.  We had the muster drill at 16.00, which was over soon enough. Once that was finished, we took a stroll along deck 9 to see the sail away. Jane turned down the chance of a glass of champagne, which I thought strange, until she