Day 11 - Just cruising - August 5th

Probably not much to write today that is of any interest to anyone, but to those who do check in daily, hi!

Up for a long leisurely breakfast and that inevitably means chatting.  Today, it was Ces & Kevin, dancers who we met last year.  Just before we boarded, in Sydney, we heard some horror stories about the current World Cruise and Ces and Kev told us even more stories.  As we have had very limited internet access and are not following any other blogs, we have no idea as to what the current status is, but even if the stories are only half true, we are glad we are on the Dawn!

As it happens, the Satellite was down for most of the day and evening anyway, so we couldn’t connect or read emails or correct the blog.

Alana’s dance class was half the Mayfair Quickstep (we’d learned it last year) and also a start on the Argentine Stroll.  Although it takes up the day for us, the fact that some of these dances aren’t taught in NZ, means that they are of limited use once we leave the ship.  Good fun though, as these classes are always enjoyable, if a bit crowded, such is the popularity.

We had a bit of relaxation time after a late lunch but got the quiz time all wrong and by the time we arrived, they were on question 5!  Our team expert on all things nautical, historical and geographical was totally floored by the question:

“What sea is immediately south of the Irish sea.”  Mal was very smart and named St Georges Channel, which impressed us greatly – but it was incorrect. The correct answer is the “Celtic Sea”.  Captain Mal then galloped over to the library, as he had never heard of it and sure enough, the Celtic Sea is correct.  He put his ignorance down to the fact that it was a new atlas and it must have been a recent naming!  As the satellite was down, we have been unable to check it out – yet, but we will!

Oh yes, either 14 or 15/20 again.

Mal and Megan wanted to see Maggie Scott’s show at 8pm, so that meant skipping the dining room.  We arrived at the Vista Lounge at about 7:25 and it was packed!  As it was dance practice and the floor was also crowded, many had their belongings on the front seating.  Some snotty characters were just chucking their stuff off the seats, claiming they couldn’t be reserved...  So, several dancers left the floor and sat down! A common problem on the ship.  The protocol out by the pools for example is that if the seats aren’t used within 30 minutes, personal belongings (usually towels, books, shoes, ship’s anchors, Rottweilers etc.), are removed by deck attendants, but we have yet to see it happen.  So about half the deck seating is often empty, but “reserved”, even though there may only be three or four people in the pool.  We couldn’t find seating in the Vista, so Mal & Megan stayed, but we decamped to the atrium instead.

Alan & Alana start at 8:30pm and at 8:30pm, there were about six of us.  Ten minutes later and most seats were taken!   Their quiz at 9:30pm is very popular, but we were miles away from top place.   The “quiz professionals”, very evident at the usual twice daily trivia sessions can’t resist doing these fun quizzes either.  They disappear almost straight after, clutching yet another lanyard for their collections. 

The atrium then reverts to a dance venue and Alana, as keen as ever, is happy to revise and even teach further dances, so we have added the Chicago Swing to our repertoire.  Paula thinks that the standard of New Vogue dancing from many of the keen Australians is not up to Kingsley’s level as he’d call it “walking”, rather than “dancing”!  We quite enjoy watching some people though.  They range from the brilliant and smooth to a couple where we have named the guy “Skippy”... He knows all the moves but is usually out of time and is not exactly elegant either.

A very late finish and a good long chat to an Adelaide couple, who have  a couple of house boats on the Murray River.

By the time we got to bed it was about 1:10am, as the satellite was up and running again, which rather begs the question. “If a satellite is down, does some guy with a very long ladder put it up again?”  Connection is so slow, so those who have posted comments on the blogs, sorry, we haven’t read them all yet.

Correction:  Paula’s son David was being silly by naming twin girls as Paula’s next brood of grandchildren, as at this stage, they have no idea what sex they are anyway... Sorry if this led anyone astray.

I have started adding to my collection of useful pics for the spoof Princess video...