It was nice to have a lie-in with the clocks going back overnight. It did add a little complication with the technology though — which of the many timepieces do you trust: phone, watch, computer, or the clock on the wall? Rather than relying on automatic updates, I set my watch manually so I’d at least have one correct reference point. I’d been caught out before and once ended up arriving at breakfast 30 minutes after it had closed.
When we woke, we were off the Italian coast and had 5G again, so I updated the time on the phones by connecting to the network and all was good. That still didn’t stop me turning on the TV to double-check it against the ship’s time though.
Jane gave breakfast a miss as she was still full after last night’s fantastic meal. To be fair, so was I, but I find it much harder to skip breakfast as I know I’ll be ravenous by lunchtime. Breakfast was Bircher muesli again and, after Jane’s sausage bagel yesterday, I decided to try the bacon and egg version — lovely. While at breakfast I ordered a special lunch, as Jane had been wanting a burger for the last week after seeing someone else order one. I had a chat with Vitali, one of the head waiters, and hopefully we’d get a good one.
The disembarkation labels had arrived, but only three of them, so I was tasked with getting some more. I popped in to see the Concierge after breakfast and collected another three. After dropping those off with Jane, I walked down to Deck 3 for the theatre and Darren Campbell’s Q&A session. It must have been interesting because I checked my watch assuming there was still plenty of time left, only to discover it was already 10:50 and the morning had somehow flown by.
I headed back to the room to collect Jane for the Messina sail-by commentary and noticed the floor was on a bit of a wonk. When I entered the stateroom, the door didn’t slam shut as usual. It turned out the weather had changed dramatically while I’d been at the lecture — from promising sunshine to 60mph winds — and we’d developed quite a list.
The Messina sail-by itself was a bit of a washout, with low cloud obscuring most of the sights. We decided to grab a coffee, along with seemingly everyone else on the ship. There was no chance of getting a seat in the Grills Lounge, so we headed across to the Commodore Club, which was equally rammed. Luckily, a table became free just as we arrived and we pounced on it while ordering our coffees.
Lunch was our specially ordered burger and chips — absolutely lovely. Afterwards we went up to the top deck as the sun had come out and it looked beautiful outside, but the deck was closed and we were promptly shooed back downstairs. With sunbathing not an option, we headed back to the room to assess the balcony situation. Unfortunately it was shaded and windy, so we ended up reading peacefully until 3pm.
We’d been invited round to Fred and Mike’s gaff for drinks and nibbles. They’re staying in a Q1 suite and it was fascinating to see how the other half live. I’d thought our Q3 penthouse was the height of luxury — needless to say, it isn’t. We had a wonderful time chatting with the guys and their guests, but eventually we had to leave as it was Gala Night and Jane had her final appointment at the hairdressers. Probably just as well really, as I was enjoying myself rather too much. While Jane disappeared off to the salon, I ran myself a bath and settled in with my book for a relaxing soak.
It was a Gala Night with a Roaring Twenties theme, and there were flapper dresses everywhere you looked. We started with tempura prawns, followed by Beef Wellington for me and lobster for Jane, before finishing with a delicious cherries jubilee.
V609 – Greek Islands Daily Programmes
V609 – Greek Islands – QG Menus