We left Istanbul late last night, heading south to our next port of call, Piraeus for Athens. When we woke, we were already halfway through the Dardanelles. There was another running commentary on the TVs and open decks, describing the battlefields of the First World War Gallipoli campaign. It was presented by the Insights speaker, Simon Mayall, and was fascinating. Unfortunately, we had to miss the end of it as breakfast was calling.
Now that we were heading back in a south-easterly direction, we’d lost the sun from our balcony. Combined with sailing into the wind, there was quite a chilly breeze, at least too cold for me to sit out in. Some hardy souls were still braving the elements though — the sun was shining, and we Brits never like to miss out on sunshine.
Today’s speaker was another familiar face and one I’d thoroughly recommend: Olympian Darren Campbell. His talk back in November was outstanding, and that opinion was echoed later at dinner by one of our tablemates.
After a light lunch of beef chow mein, we tried sitting out on the Grills Terrace, but the cold wind soon got the better of me. A rufty-tufty northerner I may be, but I still decamped to the Grills Lounge for a coffee and my Kindle. Jane stoically stayed outside until the afternoon tea trolleys arrived, but the sight of serviettes blowing away finally convinced her it was a futile effort.
Soon afterwards, the decks were cleared for a helicopter evacuation of an unwell passenger. The Captain requested that all port-side balcony cabins be vacated and that passengers stay off their balconies and refrain from taking photographs of the exercise — an announcement he had to repeat several times, which does make you wonder about the intelligence of some people. Lounge staff repeatedly had to stop passengers trying to access the Terrace or climb the stairs to Deck 12. Thankfully, the evacuation was completed quickly, and we watched the helicopter disappear over the horizon.
It was Red and Gold Gala Night, and my laundry had been returned, so I had a nice crisp dress shirt to wear — thankfully minus the mayo stain from its previous outing. Jane looked resplendent in her extra-long, shiny gold gown. Dinner was decent enough for me — surf and turf, which isn’t normally my first choice — but Jane’s turbot was apparently outstanding.
After dinner, we’d been persuaded to join the table for karaoke in the pub, which sounded like fun. On the way there, we stopped in the Queens Room to watch the dancing, and I’d been asked to find out how many dance hosts there were. It turns out there are two gentleman hosts, no female dance hosts, and one professional dance couple.
Karaoke proved to be a lot of fun. The Cunard equipment was more than a little flaky, breaking down occasionally, and some of the participants were a touch underprepared, but there were also some genuinely outstanding voices on show, including one of our tablemates. The standout performance for me was Ruthie singing Nothing Compares 2 U. Jane had also spoken to her earlier by the dance floor in the Queens Room, where she’d been dancing — clearly a woman of many talents.
V609 – Greek Islands Daily Programmes
V609 – Greek Islands – QG Menus