We had decided to give Commodore O’clock a miss for the evening, but watch a film instead, so I watched Ant Man and the Wasp while Jane slept through it. We did end up in the Commodore Club through for a pre-dinner drink, I was looking forward to a pint of London Pride, but that was off, so I had make to do with a bottle of Doom Bar instead which was no real hardship. Jane fancied a long drink so opted for a Dark and Stormy. Both the wind and swell had picked up during the evening, so we
It was a bumpy old night crossing the Bay of Biscay, I woke at 4am getting rattled from side to side and struggled to get back to sleep. I did though and was woken to the sound of rattling cups with Jane making a coffee, nice. After a breakfast of kippers and poached eggs it was time for a stroll around the town. We needed 3 things, tissues, water and tapas. The weather was a bit mixed, it was cloudy, sunny, with alternating drizzle and an almighty cloudburst. So we sheltered from the worst of it in a coffeeshop before
The first sea day was a quiet one. The clocks went forward so I didn’t wake until 8am, that and the lumpy sea put me off going for a run, so after a shower we went for breakfast. I had planned to attend both lectures in the morning, but before that we went to the voyage sales office to see about booking next years cruise. I waited in line while Jane popped into the Queens room to watch the Zumba lesson. M938A booked I went to the theatre to see Simon Fellows lecture on the night sky, and Jane went
We went down to dinner on Monday evening to find that we had received a table for ten as requested on the second sitting. As is usual for a first dinner we were missing four diners. Some people have early starts, and long journeys so it’s not unexpected. It also makes it slightly easier memorising four names rather than eight. The new menu was a little confusing, with the salads being incorporated into the appetisers and two mains being separated out as “Signature Entrees”. We figured it out and I started with Crab followed by Guinea Fowl. The dessert was
We set off from New Milton at 12:30 and had an uneventful drive to the Mayflower Terminal. After finding a porter and getting rid of our luggage we headed on through to departures and on presenting our e-tickets we were ushered to the priority queue. All was looking good until the computer in the next line gave up the ghost and the person in that queue was told to take our place, and then the next in that line was ushered in front of us. To say I was a little miffed is an understatement, we were the moved to
It’s nearly here, we’re all packed, and Minty has been farmed off to Aunty Sarah for his two week’s holiday. The drive down to the south coast started off in glorious sunshine, little did we realise that it’s Bonham’s London to Brighton vintage car rally this Sunday which made for an interesting, if slow journey until we got to the M25. The rest of the trip was uneventful though and we arrived in the New Forest all ready for tomorrow’s embarkation.
Sailing up the Tagus in to Lisbon is always a beautiful sight, and so it was this morning, sailing up into a sunrise. I had given up on our ebike tour of Lisbon, we were on the waitlist, and hadn’t received tickets before we went to bed. I was just getting ready to go to the gym when the phone rang, it was the tour desk asking if we still wanted to go and if we did, then we needed to be by the coaches at 08:20. Not a problem for me, but Jane was rushing around like a mad
We had another day at sea today, heading for our final port of call Lisbon. The day didn’t start particularly well, I somehow missed my alarm at 06:45 and missed getting up for the gym. I was so late I nearly missed getting to breakfast before fencing classes at 08:45. The fencing is getting more intense now and we had some actual bouts, fighting with each other, putting into practice the moves we bad learned so far. Once that was over I headed back to the cabin for a shower and onto the first lecture of the day. Jeff Tall’s
The trip from Tenerife to Gran Canaria iIs a short one, we ended up bobbing off the port of Las Palma’s quite early and proceeded to Bob around for several hours just outside until our scheduled arrival at 8am. My legs were aching badly from yesterday’s run, and I could hardly drag myself out of bed for breakfast. There was a bit of a drama in the Britannia where the staff were mopping up a flood, it seems someone had left a tap running in one of the rooms above. I managed to do so though, and it wasn’t long
I was feeling a little better this morning, so when my alarm went off at 06:45, I was up and dressed in my gym kit and headed off up to deck 9 for a run on the treadmill. I’ve been cycling a lot in the last 6 months, commuting 10 miles daily into London, but it doesn’t help with the running. My fitness is good, my running muscles aren’t. A slow 5km later and after a shower and EastEnders it was time for a fry up for breakfast. I do like the new Cunard Signature breakfast, I know I can