Day 12 - Yup, still at sea - August 6th

Not the best of nights for a change but we were up a little earlier than usual and the first people we bumped into were the last ones we spoke to last night, so another pleasant breakfast!   We have noticed that although we didn’t join this cruise with a “gang”, just Mal & Megan, what with previous cruisers and new contacts, we still feel very much at home on this great ship and there is virtually no settling in period.  Part of that is the fact that we know the layout and the way the systems operate and part is due to the gregarious nature of many cruisers.

We don’t really have too much of  a fixed routine at the moment but we did opt to attend the excellent port lecture on attend the excellent port lecture on the Vietnamese stops of Phu My (for Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City) and Nha Trang.  Wouldn’t my old geography teachers be impressed...  By attending these lectures you often change your mind as to what tours you have already booked and as you can cancel up to 24 hours beforehand, it usually pays to book your tours early and then cancel, rather than leave it until later, as by then, many are sold out.  I think it is also often cheaper to book on line before your cruise.

After a coffee, we headed off to Alana’s dance class, for the last part of the Mayfair Quickstep and another session of the Argentine Tango.  With a fair bit of leg waving for the ladies and hooking their leg over the guy’s, the potential for a vertical wrestling move (the step over leg lock springs to mind) and crashes on the floor are a delight to look forward to, especially given the lack of athletic prowess and balance by many of the participants, not to mention their erratic centre of gravity.  I think I might take the video camera to future classes and practices...

A light and very late lunch followed but the internet was too slow to be of any use at all.

A quiz disaster. We started off well, then crashed and burned with a miserable 12/20.  Mind you, during my grammar school years, 60% was rarely achieved, in any subject, so maybe that wasn’t  a bad score at all.

Once again we had to skip the formal dinner as we wanted to watch the Alan penned “Sherlock Holmes Mystery” radio show in the Vista lounge.  Once again, the room was packed.  Although this was a repeat of the first one we saw last year, I elected to video it and once again, thoroughly enjoyed it.  Maybe the crew taking part this time didn’t quite have the same sort of rapport and support of last year’s, probably as they used a couple of dancers who we wouldn’t normally get to know anyway, replacing DJ Lee and Brazilian Barbara.  The prize for over acting went to Marcos, whose death scene (Captain Bates, Master of the ship – work out the possibilities and you’ll get the general idea) was well overboard.  All great fun of course and to fully enjoy it, you need to possess a very British sense of humour, which most passengers do.  Alana’s “typos” or “faulty glasses” quips, such as “they ate a farty” meal, instead of “hearty”, gives you an idea.  For us, part of the cruise we hate to miss, so we look forward to the next one.   

Alan of course had to rush straight off to the Atrium for a slightly later evening stint at the keyboards.

We managed to teach at least one other passenger, the Rock and Roll Waltz, whilst the main group were doing yet another New Vogue dance we didn’t recognise.

Internet was still diabolically slow, so no apologies if this is late – I did my bit.  I can’t go into the blogs to shuffle the pics either, so sorry about the boring layout.

Singapore (again – 4 times in a year!) tomorrow but as we have nothing planned, no alarm clocks set and we know it will be warm.  But will it be wet?  

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...          

  

Day 10 - Still at sea but plans afoot - August 4th

Well, Paula knew it was her birthday (as did all passer’s by) as the balloons and happy birthday notice were on the cabin door.  No hiding on a ship.

We didn’t bother signing up for bowls today but had  a coffee downstairs, which was much better than the one the day before, which was wrong and not very hot either.  On board coffees are a bit hit and miss at times.  Although we hadn’t signed up, Paula was dragged in to make up the numbers and it was a straight best score goes forward game today, run by Bogdan.   We had a long chat with him afterwards as to where his career was going etc., as he has made it to cruise staff via assistant waiter and barman, but now has a serious girlfriend in Sydney and knows from past experience that being away from each other can be  a recipe for disaster.  His English is on a par with Barbara’s, so those on last year’s cruise will remember how she got a hard time from one or two stupid passengers.  Like Barbara, Bogdan speaks several languages (5) which is 4 more than most of us.

We opted for the BBQ lunch out on deck 14, but it was a bit disappointing, as most of the meat appeared to be overcooked.  As it was hot outside, we took our food inside to eat.  I think I could have re-soled my shoes with the pork.

Connecting to the internet was somewhat dodgy today so trying to read emails on line was a major mission, but we did get one from Paula’s son David and it appears that they are expecting twin girls.  What a brilliant birthday present message that was for Paula, as she has 4 grandsons and I have 1, so adding a couple of girls to the mix is nice for her.

Quiz?  Again, 15/20 and run by Bogdan, who pronounced “iron” as it is written – “irron”.  He isn’t at all phased by an audience.

Formal night number 2 and our first ever laundry arrived back OK “No Charge” before we left the cabin. (Paula’s request fulfilled!)

Joanne can miss this sentence.  It was lobster (with baked monkfish) and yes, it was delicious, but the head waiter cooked a simple pasta dish with garlic and chilli as dominant ingredients, so I had to try that, in addition to the soup, the lobster and the chateaubriand steak... I skipped dessert though.

The production show was a repeat “Shimmy” but still enjoyable. This time, the atrium was fairly hopping and there were several couples still dancing at close down, just after 11:30.

Plans afoot?  We keep getting the Princess Escape videos on TV and for those who have cruised before or maybe seen the Princess website, their video clip advertising the on board experience features many, many, youngish, body beautiful people and we all know that the reality is somewhat different.   As comedian Don Ware said the other night – “You get on board and all you see is old people.  A 75 day cruise?  I am not sure how many will even live that long...”  It didn’t go down too well with one or two in the audience, who seemed a bit touchy with several bits of his act, but it set me thinking.

With the various talents within our own loose group of cruisers, I want us to produce our own (comic/spoof) Princess Video, geared more to our age and beyond. The more I thought about it, the more daft ideas I came up with and came out with a fit of the giggles, with a strong vision of the line dancing, featuring people with their walking frames!  Drawing on the likes of excellent mime and mimic artists such as Benny Hill and Freddie Starr  for example, or even on our voyage, Robert Pearson,  the possibilities seem to be endless, particularly with both slow motion and speeded up video, so I started jotting down ideas.

Borrowing walkers or wheelchairs for a few minutes shouldn’t be too difficult either, so I am sure we can put together a great skit.  Even now, I have starting collecting video clips with the future in mind.  Maybe we can produce enough to sell to part finance our group future cruises.

Two more sea days now before Singapore on Tuesday, (I think we are berthing at Marina Bay this time, not Sentosa) then the schedule is almost alternating sea and port days right through to Beijing, where quite a few people are getting off - so that means quite a few are getting on again.  I am not sure that I will be up to date with the blog, but I promise to try, though I suspect we may need to rest a fair bit on the sea days.   Internet access is very poor (satellite down today) and slow at the moment, so maybe I won’t get to Skype after all.

 

    

  

Day 9 - Back at sea - August 3rd

After a light late breakfast (well, a light coloured waffle with light coloured cream...) we headed down to the atrium where earlier on, they had a couple of ATM type machines, where you could put in your cruise card and it would print out a statement giving your current cruise balance.  They seem to have disappeared, so we asked at the front desk what had happened to them.

“Some genius forgot to order the paper for them...”

Anyway, they printed out our statement and we were expecting a $600 OBC (on board credit).  What it showed was zero.  We had to call on Angus again where he naturally enough asked if we had written proof.  Nope!  Ho hum.  More correspondence between the front desk and head office will now ensue.  We are pretty sure that the OBC was agreed when we booked, but once again, having proof of everything appears to be the key.

Angus did confirm that Paula’s request had been actioned and also that our cabin for the Europe trip next year has been locked in.  No doubt it will be and we suspect that one of the reasons we were shunted this time, was that we had cut back to a half cruise which makes you more vulnerable to the “for operational reasons” mantra.

Once again we went to a Col (Retd)  “Fuzz” lecture, this time all about flying the U2 spy planes.  Being strapped into a pressure suit for a ten hour stint, doesn’t sound like my sort of working day at all.

After a quick lunch of soup and crumbed prawns, with a Jo/proxy hug for Neil, we went to the afternoon movie “Double” with Richard Gere.  A good turn out with only  a few empty seats in the theatre.

We skipped the tea dance after all, but did do the quiz, which had been relocated to the Wheelhouse Bar.  As we had to sit on the floor, our team name today was “Sore Bums”.  A biased Aussie quiz today though, with 5 Aus questions and an extra two points up for grabs if you could name the Australian Gold medal winners from the 200? Winter Games.  We couldn’t, but ended up with 15/22.  The winners got 19.

Nice dinner again with banana flambé for dessert.

It was a toss-up between another Don Ware comedy show in the Vista or a song and dance act in the theatre.  We opted for the latter – Wayne Scott Kermond.  A good performance, but not really my sort of act. 

A few dances in the atrium and again, it was a bit quieter than usual.

Clocks back 30 minutes again tonight, making it 3 hours now behind Auckland. That also means that sending emails after 2pm on a Friday may not reach the recipients who use work emails, until Monday morning.

Paula’s birthday tomorrow...  Tee hee.  That means I am no longer a cradle snatcher.            

Day 8 - Darwin, butter fingers - August 2nd

As usual, without looking outside, we never really notice the difference between the cruising (average so far, 18 knots) and being tied up at the wharf, as the ship is so stable.  Three days ago, they had the “barf bags” out on the staircases, (a first in 140 days of cruising with Princess) but we have no idea why as there was very little movement.

We didn’t wake early, so it was no surprise to find that we were tied up at the wharf and there were noticeably fewer people in the buffet than usual.  We took our time and strolled off the ship just before the crew emergency drill at 9:45am.  Half way across the quay, we heard the seven blasts from the ship, so goodness knows what the locals think when they get that every time a ship is in dock.  (Maybe they wouldn’t notice it if it was an Italian ship...)  For those intending to cruise and call at Darwin, it is only a 15 to 20 minute walk up to town and there is a lift that takes you up from ground floor to the bridge across the road, so don’t bother about the $7 shuttle, because it isn’t worth it.

We bumped into Mal & Megan just before reaching the bus station and we caught the service bus to Casuarina.  This time, the driver made us pay $2 return if within 3 hours (last year he didn’t) and we headed  for the back of the bus.   Now I don’t know how to put this delicately, but there is a section of the local community where the word deodorant has yet to enter the local vocabulary.  Unfortunately, they also generally head for the rear of the bus and the air-conditioning is less than effective.

At Casuarina, I don’t think we bought anything at all other than a very tasty mango drink and a nicer coffee from Gloria Jean’s.

After two hours we headed back to the bus station – and bumped into Mal & Megan again!  They had done some decidedly liquid shopping but we hopped off the bus back in Darwin to hit the supermarket.  Having done the little bits, we shifted to the liquor store that appeared to be doing a roaring trade, as usual.  Now as most regular cruisers know, the taking of alcohol on board is strictly limited and we are allowed one wine per person.  We were OK with a bottle of red wine and a bottle of Port (which is of course a wine and not a spirit) and headed back to the ship, only to join the usual slow queue through the quay scanner.  Unlike Diane & George two years ago, we were spared the sight of a  bunch of cruisers decanting Drambuie into Lipton’s cold tea bottles, or loads of people disguising vodka and gin as water, though we did come across one brilliant ruse from a couple of kiwis who boarded the ship with a couple of shrink-sealed bottles of home-made wine.  (Yeah, right...40+% proof wine?)  

“See the man over there” we were told, as we obviously had two bottles.

“The man” was very busy debating the issues with a lady in front, who had dessert wine that he wasn’t going to allow.   The queue was building up behind us as most needed to be checked.  Tongue in cheek, Paula suggested she carry on with the backpack to leave me to “see the man”!  Pity we didn’t.  Conscious of the frustrated queue building up whilst still debating, he just asked to see the bottles we had so with backpack in one hand, I grasped the neck of both bottles, but somehow or other, they didn’t slide back into the pack and the VERY expensive bottle of (Paula’s) red wine shattered on the concrete!  We just left it, bemoaning the loss of an $8 bottle.  Thankfully the port survived.  Just call me butter fingers (must be Lurpak though).

A quick snack then we relaxed until 7:45pm dinner.  Once again, we used the system to our advantage and both Paula and I had the main dish of garlic prawns as an entree (see pic), followed by our proper mains.

Guess who then discovered he had locked himself out of his cabin and had to rouse the cabin steward to let him in?

The comedian tonight was a former writer of the award winning “Bill Cosby” show – Don Ware - and we had seen him before.   Like many port days, the 10pm show is a bit late for the tired ones, so the lounge wasn’t too full.  A good show all the same.  If the Vista lounge was a little bit quiet, the Atrium was just about deserted, as was our corridor (see pic) and we were one of just two couples having a dance - and there were only about 4 spectators!  As always, Alan and Alana performed with good grace and we had the chance to try and relearn moves we had half forgotten.  At 11:30pm, we called it a day, still having failed to commit them to memory.

So now we have another 4 relaxing days at sea to look forward to before hitting Singapore yet again (how many times have we done Singapore in the last 15 months?).

The programme in the Princess Patter is as crowded as ever so we’ll just miss out on one or two items.  We are certainly not bored.

Day 7 - A pinch and a punch - August 1st

There are times in life when you really do have to pinch yourself to see if it is real.  Yes it is!  Fifty years ago, I had left school, was working in Bournemouth on England’s south coast, selling ice cream as a summer job.  My future then was unclear other than I had passed the entrance exam for the Nottingham City Police cadets, had been accepted (dad was at school with the recruiting inspector...) but there was a waiting list, so I was advised to “go out into the world, get  a job meeting people, then come back when you are 19, to join the adult force”.  Good advice.  However, if you had told me that fifty years later, I would be a New Zealand resident and on a cruise ship to China and Alaska, I think I would have thought you were nuts.  But here we are, still at sea in Australian waters, one day out of Darwin.

One of my favourite snacks when working for a knitwear company with a good canteen, was a bacon and fried onion sandwich for morning tea.  So passing the omelette station and seeing cooked onions in a bowl, I managed to make up my own bacon and onion roll for breakfast!  I just love the food options on this ship!!!   Those who know me well know that I just love food, period.

We skipped bowls this time as it clashed with another lecture, this time on the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbour and Darwin, plus the intelligence background to it.  Fascinating.

When asked why the Japanese didn’t invade Hawaii, we were told that the Japanese never intended to, they just wanted to attack the US navy to reduce their defence capabilities in the Pacific.

On the way out of the theatre, I was sure that the guy ahead of me was a former colleague from Bendon, so I tentatively asked if he was from Auckland.  He had spied me from a distance earlier and he wasn’t sure either, so we re-established contact.  He was the head of design when I was there and we hadn’t seen each other for 25 years.   

After a light lunch (soup and raw vege’s(!) honest, because we were too late for the Aussie pie buffet), we headed to Alana’s dance class.  A revision of cha-cha and samba.

Quiz?  15/20.   Not enough to win but good fun with Marcos.

By dinner time we were hungry but I managed to restrict myself to just 2 rolls, but managed all 4 courses (included NZ lamb shank, so we raised a glass to Marilyn) and coffee.

Bearing in mind the success of “Pearson and Harvey” in the vista lounge two nights ago and the prospect of a brand new show, we were seated at 9:15pm for a 10pm show – and the place was packed!

Another superb show with funny man Robert doing another funny Frank Spencer take off and the “Billy Connolly” colonoscopy skit.  A standing ovation again and well deserved.

As usual, back to the atrium to finish of the evening with a dance or three, though we have half forgotten Kingsley’s samba sequence we only learned a few days before we left NZ.  I am sure days at sea rot your memory cells.

Darwin again tomorrow and based on previous visits, it will be rather warm, certainly warmer than Auckland, Sydney  or Nottingham.

   

Days 4 - 6 - Still at sea - July 29/31st

The carpet bowls moved up a notch from pairs to ladies vs men.  The fun started setting in at this point and our entertainment staff member this time was  - Marcos... (yes another) and he proved to be a real fun host.  Again, we only bowled once but the choice is to hang around and cheer for either the ladies “Bambi”, or the men “Hippopotamus”... (with suitable grunting noises with each point scored).   It is exactly this sort of activity that opens up conversations with fellow passengers.  As Alana said later, when chatting to passengers on a 17 day cruise, she explained that the dynamics were totally different on a long cruise.  They thought 17 days WAS a long cruise!  When you only get a total of three or four weeks holiday a year, 17 days is a long cruise, but for retirees, it certainly isn’t, when you look at what we have been doing.

Apparently Marcos’s girlfriend on the ship, is one of the dancers – from Nottingham.  Small world.  Oh yes, the men won (do your own grunting noises...).

We went up on deck for a bit of whale watching before lunch. (see pics)

Although the sun was out, late afternoon, there was a distinct chill in the air, but at least we are dry.

We didn’t win the afternoon quiz, even with our 15/20.  Our quiz team is quite settled and we accept our non-winning status with good grace.

I spent some time on the internet and if you have read the earlier blog, this is when I discovered that although they had been sent OK, they didn’t seem to have arrived. I tried all sorts of stuff on line without success, so was somewhat reluctant to press on.

Our first formal night was the usual excuse for everyone to dress up.  Well, not everyone of course, as there is a sizeable contingent who are just not interested and who can blame them?  We often hear tales of the snobby set complaining about the casual dress at dinner or even on board generally, but what we like about the Australian based ships is that they understand the difference between a formal cruise and an informal one and we think Princess have the policy just right.

The photo shows one of the very few carry over staff from last year.  Our great assistant waiter Neil – still without sleeves.   He asked to be remembered to all of table 18 and wanted to know if Birdie was on this cruise.  Sadly, no.

Rather than go to the Production Show, we went to an American comedian “Jeff Wayne”. We thoroughly enjoyed it too.  Afterwards, to our usual late night spot in the Atrium with Alan & Alana.

Monday Day 5

Just for a change, there wasn’t much fruit out at breakfast (we must have caught them between top ups) so after some deliberation, I succumbed to a delicious fresh Belgian waffle, with maple syrup, and cream.  Bliss.  I think son Stewart, Paula’s daughter Julie and grandsons Lucas and Stephen would approve.

This time it was back to Bogdan running the bowls for the return match.  These guys are really good as once the men established a bit of a lead, he accepted a ‘phone call’, claiming the men had cheated or something and awarded the ladies 5 points!  The men still won (grunt, grunt, grunt...).

Speciality lunch (most days there is a speciality section) was sushi, but with no seating left in the buffet, we took our food out on deck, but with party band “passion” just below, it wasn’t exactly a peaceful spot.

Back to the vista lounge for a future cruise presentation, (Europe) but with a bewildering list of ports and cruises it wasn’t too easy to follow.

To the cabin and a curt message from Joanne on the comments that they had been leaping up and down on the Sydney wharf waving at us, but we ignored them!   Sorry, we didn’t realise they were there. (Grovel, grovel.)

Quiz was just 11/17.  Oh dear.

As we had been to the comedian last night, we wanted to see the production show and the timing was such that we opted to have appetisers in the buffet (because I thought they would have the prawns – wrong) before dining in the pizzeria with Pam & Jim plus Mal & Megan.   I asked for calzone, which is on the lunch menu, but not the evening menu, but two had the crepes with spinach and ricotta.  They were disappointed as we couldn’t find any evidence of the actual crepe. It was just a small portion of cheesy spinach!   Two had pizza and enjoyed it.  The lasagne wasn’t too bad, but very much a starter portion if it had been mine.  

On to the production show, with the ship’s singers and dancers.  We always enjoyed the shows last year on the World Cruise, but several experienced cruisers were not too impressed.  The first part of last year’s cruise, there were just 2 male dancers and 4 female, which was a small company.  This time, there are 4 male and 6 female.  We enjoyed the show “Moments to Remember”.   As this was the early show, we were then able to catch the vista lounge show “Pearson & Harvey. What a great show this turned out to be.

Straight man and funny man.  Straight man sings (well) and the other (smaller) guy does his stuff.  A great mimed Frank Sinatra number to a track sped up and slowed down (as per Brian Winchester’s excellent version on the guest talent show last year) but faster and funnier.  A very good “Frank Spencer” take off.  This was overall one of the funniest acts we have seen on Princess and we hope they do another show before Darwin.

The only show we have skipped so far was Chris Gable, a really talented clarinet and sax player, as we had seen him on three sectors previously.  The overall pool of entertainers is not that large it seems and later in this blog, I might well summarise our own assessments.  (Easier than doing all the historical and geographical stuff of the ports – I leave that to the others.)

In the Atrium again to finish the evening and this time, we had a bonus dance lesson from Alana – “The Chicago Swing”, another New Vogue dance,  which I coped with, probably as it was danced to one of my favourite tunes “The Charleston”.   (Paula learned it last year from Nigel & Marie, so at least I had seen it before.)

I had a comment posted on an earlier blog asking whether or not the dance classes were taken by the cruise staff or professionals.  Alana is the resident dance teacher (and evening atrium singer, with brother Alan on keyboard) and used to have a dance school.  So, yes, professional tuition and aimed at beginners, though a bit of advanced teaching later in the lessons and also specific dance practice 7-7:45 in the evenings, for revision and personal assistance where required.  Alana and Alan are without doubt a duo who have a great following from regular cruisers and this makes atrium evenings very pleasant and either relaxing or energetic.  They do a light hearted quiz alternate evenings, which is also very popular, usually with well over 100 people (in teams) taking part.  Our Diamond Princess cruise, the evening entertainer, Maurizio was quite loud and dominated the atrium area.  Alan and Alana are much quieter so it is easy listening and you can still chat.

Tuesday day 6 - 31^st July

Yet another sea day.

A call from the Purser regarding our cabins came with the offer a small financial recompense and the option of moving to a port side cabin, well forward of where we prefer to be, at Beijing.  After some discussion between us (Paula and myself that is), we went down to see him but opted to stay in the current starboard side cabin, as by the time we get to Beijing, most of the interesting coastline on the port side has been missed anyway.  Paula had a small request (that was granted!) and we were offered a Sterling Steakhouse dinner too, so as far as we are concerned, the issue is now over, but we have requested that our cabin is locked in for next year.  We suspect that our change was because we now disembark at San Francisco instead of Auckland, so full cruise obviously takes precedence over early booking, though next time, we will of course be holders of that black card. 

It does appear though that even if you have chosen your cabin and locked it into your own system, by refusing upgrades, the company can still move you if they so desire.  (In that respect, it is just the same as booking your seats on a flight and not getting them once you arrive at the airport.)  A couple have told us that they think we are mad to turn down the (starboard side) mini-suite offer, but as we are generally quite happy with our cabin and overall location (other than the wrong side), we saw no great advantage in moving forward.   

Anyway, onto the normal routines.

After the bowls (grunt, grunt, grunt – guess who won), we headed for the Princess theatre for a lecture on comedy greats, given by the comedian Jeff Wayne.   Jeff had only been asked to do this presentation once on board, so had no notes or Powerpoint slides.  He focussed mainly on Bob Hope and then Abbott and Costello and gave a tremendous talk, which was exceptionally well received by the audience.  This was a guy who was not only a good comedian, but has seriously studied comedy from an early age and his initial focus was on stars who had made the transition from Vaudeville, to films, radio and television. 

Lunch, we raided the buffet for a very nice Indian chicken curry.

Quiz? A good score of 17/21, but alas, not a winning one.

Because I’d eaten (fairly) lightly, come dinner time, I was hungry and they had my favourite rolls, with a touch of fennel in them. The picture of the butter dishes should give you a clue as to what happened to the rolls.

The Princess Theatre entertainer was Bayne Bacon (yes his real name and yes, again). This must have been the 4^th time he has been on the cruise and the 1 hour or 45 minute act is still the same.   Same jokes, same music.  A likeable enough entertainer, but recycling the same material when so many cruisers are now repeat cruisers is just professional laziness.

Like so many people, it seems that we were a bit tired (no idea why) and that meant fewer people in the atrium.  Bed was still after 12:30, but the clocks are back 30 minutes tonight.

One more sea day and then we hit Darwin – yet again.

(As I email this August 1^st, I have no idea when it will be published.)