I slept a bit better overnight, as it was our second night on board. The room is very quiet but we do have an annoying squeak, it’s got an irregular interval and seems to be outside the room somewhere as I can’t pin it down. Jane joined me for breakfast in the PG dining room, so we were a little later getting there. I tried the devilled kidneys on sourdough toast, nice. After breakfast we went to relax in the sun while I waited for my first lecture of the day. We were just off the North Spanish coast near
Category: Sea Days
It was extremely lumpy during the night as we hit 45 KT winds traversing from Lisbon to Cadiz. I was woken at 00:45 by a massive crashing and then through the night multiple times. At least I managed to get some sleep, Jane didn’t. There was announcement by the captain at 08:30 informing us that the winds at Cadiz were outside the safety limits for a ship of out size to dock and that we would be carrying on to Valencia instead. We had nothing booked for Cadiz so another sea day is no hardship for us.I went to breakfast
It was obvious overnight that we’d entered the Atlantic, my bed was moving around, and not in a good way. The crash of the waves on the bow had also resumed, not to the same extent as when we passed Cadiz, but noticeable. It’s a sea day so I’ve three lectures lined up starting at 10am, so a reasonably early breakfast was required. After a nice omelette we quickly popped to see the Concierge as, like a fool, I’d forgotten the Internet login for Jane’s allowance. That will teach me to register the account as required and not both at
That was a lumpy old night. The wind had really got up and coupled with quite a heavy swell we were rocking back and forth all night, accompanied by crashes and the ship’s bow ploughed into the heavy seas. 5001 is a lovely suite, but not one for travellers that are sensitive to noise. Jane never made breakfast, but I popped up to Lido to grab her some Danishes to keep her strength up. Me I headed up to the PG restaurant for a proper breakfast before today’s lectures. It was the final round of lectures, first up was Dave
We had everything packed and shipped out ready for disembarkation last night and were taking advantage of the extra hour in bed as the clocks had gone back overnight. We’d decided to have a late breakfast as our disembarkation time had been put back to 13:00, so after a relaxed shower we headed up to the PG for one last time for food and collect the menus that our waiter had been collecting for us. After breakfast, we said our goodbyes and on leaving the restaurant Ionel, the Head Waiter said see you later which I thought was a little
Embarkation and Our First Evening Friday 20th Aug We set off at 09:30 for a leisurely drive down to Southampton where we’d booked lunch in a pie and mash shop. It all started really well with light traffic all the way to the M25. It didn’t take long to change, by the time we reached Leatherhead it was stop start, nose to tail and didn’t get any better until we pulled off onto the A33 into Southampton. Lunch, late but excellent, once eaten, we headed off to the Mayflower to be tested. The entrance to this was on West Bay
Saturday 21st Aug I am totally disorganised today, I had booked breakfast for myself in the Britannia, Jane had ordered room service as she’s not a morning person. I set my alarm for 07:30 and promptly slept through it only to be awoken by Jane’s room service arriving early. I did make breakfast though, but it was a bit of a rush. There was no difference in breakfast today pre Covid apart from the fact I couldn’t share a table, so I ate my kippers alone. After breakfast the first of today’s lectures beckons, John Maclean, who is an astronomer,
Sun 22nd Aug I’m joined by Jane for breakfast in the MDR this morning, an honour indeed. The process for breakfast is unchanged apart from no table sharing, but the distance between pairs is pretty much unchanged from previous cruises so a bit pointless. The breakfast was excellent, I had smoked haddock and poached eggs in a pretence of being healthy, but it’s only a pretence given how much I’m eating the rest of the time. The sun hasn’t quite arrived yet, but the Southern horizon is looking promising as we steam further into the Bay of Biscay. After a
Monday 23rd Aug I was supposed to be Billy-No-Mates again at breakfast as Jane fancied a lie in, but I made such a racket getting ready she decided she would join me. The queue for the Britannia was quite long again, so it took a few minutes to be seated, coincidentally at the same table we’d had the previous evening. I finished breakfast in time for my first lecture at 09:00. It wasn’t a cheery one, Philip Price talking on Global Warming, he was enthusiastic though, and delivered it with gusto even when the PA announcements for the crew drills
Tuesday 24th Aug Yay! The Captain is back in my good books, this morning we have the sun on our balcony, we’re steaming south again this morning following yesterday’s reacetrack pattern off the French coast. My day is mapped out as usual, three insight lectures interspersed with hunting down a sunbathing Jane. Followed by Lunch then chilling before becoming competitive at the Trivia Quiz. The first lecture is John Maclean and the risk of asteroids hitting earth. With a lot of fuss when his sound effects weren’t working. After this I popped up to the pool area to see if