Tuesday 3/3/2015 Day 56 and 18,800 miles completed, but who’s counting? The Captain’s counting.

World cruising has to mean two equator crossings, so two visits from Neptune! The second one will be tomorrow near Bitung, so there’ll be partying and shenanigans all over again tomorrow.  Wonder if we get another one of those most prestigious Equator crossing certificates, or maybe that’s for first timers only ;)

It’s warm now and became sunny later on, but the rain was heavy and relentless since we woke up today to mid-afternoon.  The slightly cooler feeling that rain has brought us has meant we could walk around the deck feeling quite comfortable (and occasionally drenched when the route under the lifeboats was interrupted). So we did 9 laps this morning and another 3 this evening.

So a lovely sociable day was had by both of us today, sitting for longer at breakfast and lunch, meeting new people, along with some we had met before, chatting to Easa outside of art, and then again in art producing a beautiful portrait of “man with dreadlocks”.

Tomorrow we are at sea again, one more day before Bitung on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.  The immigration officials are on board checking passports and issuing group visas so hopefully we will be allowed out!

The Captain tells us we have covered 18835 miles already. I honestly can’t imagine that.  I look at the map, and can see it, but I can’t really believe it. 

His nautical nugget today explained the term “waster” – the word used to describe the person who was consigned to work in the waste of the ship, i.e. someone who is less able.  “Wasters” became the butt of the jokes made by the more able.  They were often put to work in the galley. However the Captain assured us that anyone working in the galley could wreak havoc if they wanted and could easily get their own back on anyone giving them any abuse via the food!

Just one request for now. Let our memory stay clear and sharp so that all of this stays in our mind forever and we can tap back into it any time.  Bye for now xx 

Monday 23/2/2015 Day 48. A sea day to our next Australian adventure – Brisbane tomorrow 9 a.m.

The sun is shining and the temperature is 26C, there’s not much movement in the ship so it’s another very pleasant sea day, a little lie in, breakfast with the young lady doing the wine presentation later, very interesting, then for coffee in the open air and a little exposure to the sun, and more food heaven for lunch, more passengers we hadn’t up to today spoken to – common ground most notably with a very nice couple from Ashton, who have relatives in Simmondley.

This is the start of the new sector, with nothing going on but the art. Looking at the itinerary we have shorter distances between ports on this sector, so it will have a different feel about it.  Today we painted a koala’s head with some success.  Easa helped me so much with eyes and shading that I asked him to sign mine. ;)

We have just registered our interest in a few excursions on this sector (and the next) and are waiting to see if we’ve been successful, many are sold out so we are hoping for the best.

Our enormous distance covered since day 1 now totals 16120 miles! Unimaginable or credible to me, nor is the sea depth at the moment of 2 miles, wonder if I should be using the word unfathomable?

Back tomorrow, bye for now.

Friday 20/2/2015 Day 45 Fourth Sea Day to Sydney – Art Exhibition for Sector 2

The high spot today (and reason for today's blog)  was preparing for and taking part in the art exhibition, and all the expressions of gratitude from a large group of people to a wonderful, good humoured man, Easa, for encouraging us  very light heartedly to produce things we could previously only have dreamed of.  The walls were full and viewers plentiful too.  When we get to Sydney we are going to renew some of our paints ready for sectors 3,4 and 5, and more really precious and really joyful moments.

 

So next up Sydney! Back tomorrow.

Thursday 19/2/2015 Day 44 Third Sea Day to Sydney, cloudy and warm 25C

Excitement is building for Australia in cabin D130, tomorrow is the last sea day on the Pacific. Ship’s crew are still doing so much to keep us fully occupied, especially as the weather has been “indoor style” – intermittent rain most of the day, with rocking and rolling.  The performance this afternoon by the Sector 2 Arcadia Passenger choir was very moving, and has me thinking it might be something I would try for one (at least) of the next 3 sectors.  The choir meets every day at 1p.m. so most importantly it wouldn’t clash with art.

The Captain still briefs everyone at midday and delivers a “captain’s tale” to enlighten us of the meaning of well used nautical expressions.  Today he told us the origin of bell bottoms, for those of us who thought it was a 60’s fashion statement, it wasn’t – apparently sailors found it very hard to keep the bottom of their trousers dry, and the introduction of bell bottoms was a uniform concession so sailors could roll them up more easily to knee height.  So now you know….  There have been so many of these now, 44 to be precise, so of course we are now wishing we’d kept a note of all of them. From now for the remaining 62 that’s what we are going to do!  We can vaguely recall things like “As the crow flies” – the use of birds as a navigational aid, setting them free and then following their course, as they always fly in a straight line to the nearest land.  Then there’s “toe the line” – referring to the daily, very disciplined gathering of crew for inspection and reminder of terms and conditions of service, toes lined up behind a given line.  “Marooned” – excuse me for forgetting all the details – this tale is about a group Camaroon seamen washed up on a desert island. “Letting the cat out of the bag” – relating to the use of the cat o’ nine tails as a punishment for errant seamen. Letting it out of the bag refers to the mandatory inspection of this instrument of corporal punishment after it had been used.

Just a quick update on the Hastings/Asatourian’s daily classes. Today’s art was absolutely amazing. We did a pencil drawing of a gorilla’s head.  I don’t think anyone will be able to believe that we did the gorillas, we are both quite thrilled with the finished items.

 Sector 2 exhibition again near Costa Coffee tomorrow, so we have sorted out our best offerings and are looking forward to this very much.   In dance we had our second go at the Rumba One sequence dance, but I have to confess that the two turns in the sequence plus ship’s movement forced me off the dance floor to take fresh air, no vomiting but very close!  Tomorrow we recap all our ballroom dances.

We stepped up our deck walking to 12 laps today, that’s one hour of walking. The temperature drop (to something more like we are used to in the summer) makes that possible, but it’s good to keep adding a lap of two, especially when Marco’s Baked Alaska came into play at dinner ;)

We are getting up to date with the port talks for Sydney and Brisbane too, and learning a bit of Australian history along with where to go and what to do.  We have an overnight stay in Sydney so we need to fit as much as we can into that time.  Get ready for some lovely pictures as we are promised a great arrival past the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

OK, that’s us for today.  Back soon! x

Wednesday 18/2/2015 Day 43 Second Sea Day to Sydney a rainy and windy one and 23C

 We have learned today that there are almost 1000 miles to Sydney, and the weather forecast is unsettled. The ship is moving from side to side quite a lot. The wind is force 6, heavy rain, massive waves, those Passenger Discomfort Bags have appeared again at various spots around the ship and there were a few spaces at the dinner tables this evening.

I am finding that when it’s really rough I just feel like lying down, and that works as there are no obligations to do anything. 

You will all be relieved to know that immigration procedures for Australia worked well and we’re both allowed in. No queues and all went like clockwork. We have registered our interest in a trip to jumping crocs in Darwin, otherwise it’s just as I mentioned yesterday i.e. “independent” trips in Sydney, Brisbane and Airlie Beach.  We will be 10 days all together in and around Australia from 20^th Feb. Sector 2 of the cruise ends in Sydney, Sector 3 begins in Brisbane and goes as far as Hong Kong.

Activities on board today were a little different – 6 laps round deck three with random rough sea zig zagging, immigration procedures followed by us opting out of learning the Paso Doble (mainly because we are unlikely to remember it, but also because we are unsteady on our feet).  This meant we had more time to chat with new people in the restaurant and also have a little rest before art. Art was actually quite hard today and neither of us are happy with our “sunset against cloudy sky with reflection in sea” – I shall describe mine as hideous, so I doubt it will be making an outing after today.

Painting this meant we missed the Chocoholics Buffet again! We must have a word with ourselves about this.  Three more sectors, three more chances at Chocoholics Buffet.

We haven’t been going to Palladium as much recently, but because the two violinists performing as Elektra got such wonderful reviews after their first performance 2 days ago, we decided to go tonight and enjoyed them very much. Popular classical pieces performed with attitude, and a finale of traditional Irish fiddle. Great stuff.

Much effort is being made to keep everyone occupied, comfortable and happy indoors. New films are showing twice a day in the Screening Room, 5 or 6 different styles of music and performance in the bars and theatres, three different visiting guest speakers, Arcadia TV (a chat show), a Port Talk, Arcadia Radio, talks about art and health, “sales” in the shops, two daily crosswords and a Sudoku. As I said yesterday there’s also food 24 hours a day.

That’s it for today. Back again tomorrow. xx

Tuesday 17/2/2015 Day 42 First of 4 Sea Days to Sidney, Australia

The sea swell has increased a bit since we set sail, so the ship has started the rocking and rolling action that sometimes results in the appearance of “passenger discomfort bags” around the busy areas. The sky has become partly cloudy and there’s a gentle breeze, so the temperature is lower, and now its fine again walking out on the deck during the day, and lying on the sunbeds or generally hanging around the pool. J I know, what a light-weight! Still using SPF30 too!

It’s hard to imagine what 15,000 miles looks like, but it feels tremendous. The world is big isn’t it.

We have become creatures of habit on board, with our own rituals, within which we get lots of opportunity to engage in different activities, but we appear to have found our niches.  We have a choice of 6 different types of restaurant: buffet, waiter, sandwich bar, fast food, two different Michelin Star (added £’s) restaurants, one called Ocean Grill and the other called East.  Our preference is for buffet breakfast and lunch in a place called the Belvedere on deck 9, high up with great views in all directions, no particular dress code and 24 hour service.  We generally take breakfast between 7:30 and 8, and then take our coffees outside by the pool, and around 9 set off for our first walk.  Even though we could have 10 different breakfast menus we don’t. I, for example, have settled on the home mixed muesli with figs, prunes and coconut, and with one exception only so far in 5 weeks (it was poached eggs on that day ;))

Lunches could be salads, cold meats, fish, cheeses, curry with rice, veggie options, roasts with potatoes and hot veg, followed by fresh fruit, cheese and biscuits, and several different cakes and puddings including comfort staples like sponge or crumble and custard. I have found and stuck with salads and fresh fruit, with the “occasional” chocolate cake or tart.  There are also special diets catered for, so Khachik feels very comfortable with the diabetic options (removed sugar, fat and alcohol from the puddings), and there are dairy free and gluten free options.

The evening meal is in 2 sittings, 6:30 and 8:30, different table sizes, a sit down 5-courser, (starter, soup, main, dessert, cheese, coffee and sweets. There are 2 options.  Option 1 you stay with the same passengers for the whole cruise and go to the same table every night.  Option 2 is Freedom dining, you have a set time and the same set menu, but you are allocated a table on arrival and change table mates every night.  On the menu are items with jus and coulis, food is arranged in towers and the mains have names like seafood rendezvous and pithiviers of courgettes mornay, if you get my meaning ;).  ALL lovely food, with the sweetest of names. Small portions but lots of courses, with sorbet between soup and main on special (Marco Pierre White) nights.   Every 3-4 days it’s very formal involving black tie/cocktail wear, and on the other nights it’s either smart (men wear jacket and tie) or casual (anything except shorts and exposed flesh). I don’t notice the difference too much, as my capsule wardrobe of separates and scarves is as versatile as can be,  but at our table none of the men like the black tie nights (not enough dissent for mutiny yet though – I must add that if I objected as much as they do I would be taking non-violent-direct-action!)

The art lesson of the mountainous landscape is finished, photos of both efforts to follow in Sydney. The dance of the day was a fairly fast sequence dance, the Cindy Swing, which if you don’t know already, feels to me like a combination of the Charleston and cha cha cha.  We managed it for 45 minutes, and took an early lunch for knees sake.

Sydney marks the end of “Sector 2” of 5, so while we are having our 4 sea days it’s time for our next art exhibition, time to watch a passenger Strictly (6 good dancing couples taking part), and a choir performance (about 100 passengers singing on stage).

And now it’s time to get ready again for a smart night. Bye for now. Back tomorrow. xx

Wednesday 11/2/2015 Day 37 Lobsters on board!

Oh dear, some passengers have overdone it on the decks and in the pools. In spite of warnings about the deceptive feeling of coolness the breeze can give, there are some frazzled bodies moving gingerly and looking lobster-like today.  I hope they all feel comfortable again soon and can enjoy the next couple of port days.  I have not suited sunbathing for many years so I have escaped a good baking, and am still on SPF 30 when we go walking, taking coffee or hot-tubbing.  Even so there’s a healthy change of skin tone coming.  This area on the ship has now been renamed "Lobby Bay" by our dining mate Jim

Certificates of Equator Crossing were on our beds last night, and the fun and games when Neptune boarded yesterday got everyone together in a good way.  By midday today we had travelled 14,025 miles.  Today’s air temp is 30C and surprisingly the water temperature is 31C.  You might not be surprised to hear that this makes the energetic activities less likely to come about ;) Five laps early, no dancing, but we are just getting ready for art, which is in an air conditioned ballroom.  We will wait until sunset to finish the walking today.

The excitement to be getting to Samoa tomorrow is building again.  Our first Samoan port is Pago Pago, Tutuila and the second island is the following day Apia on Upolu.  Trips booked on each island to get us a bit closer to family life on the islands. Very good feeling about these although the days will be hot ones, no air conditioning, wooden seats in the buses, bumpy rides on bumpy roads – sounds real and fab and we can’t wait.

Instead of dancing Khachik went to a lecture today in the Palladium, given by the Captain about how the ship works.  He learned that the ship is driven by 2 propeller pods which can rotate through 360 degrees, no rudders required. Sideways movement is through a large diameter turbine which sucks sea water from one side, and pushes it out of the other.  Very interesting. However I didn’t go to this one, but sat out of dance taking a few notes about the Ballroom Tango (for when it cools down later!)

Next two days are port days, but probably no wi-fi, let’s see. There are clearly too many passengers to fit in the one MacDonalds!!!!  If there is we will share our recent photos. If not we will do this in Suva, Fiji in a couple more days.  Back tomorrow.  xx

Tuesday 10/2/2015 Day 36 A visit by the great sea god Neptune ;)

Well, today we cross the Equator on our way down under on sea day 4 from Hawaii.  That Neptune gets around a bit – he came onto our Hurtigruten ship when we crossed the Arctic Circle in 2011, to be part of an ice baptism ritual and he was there again at the Equator when we cruised on the Costa Pacifica to Rio last year, and rather sportingly became part of a slapstick event involving flour and blue dye. And today we will be partying with the great sea god at 2 p.m. He must be a laugh a minute to spend time with in the sea!

My word it’s hot out there this morning. We had our morning coffee out on the deck and almost melted.  Glad to come inside for a Rumba lesson, lunch and then art (a beautiful quite calm seascape, with frothy waves breaking on the shore). 

I had an extra art lesson at breakfast, as Easa joined us – all about the eyes. I am so happy. Today I learned about highlighting eyelids to create the impression of roundness and softness.  I have had a go at this in pencil for now, and will ask Khachik to sit for me later.

There’s one more sea day after today before we reach Samoa and set about learning some more about Polynesian Village life, and a trip to parts of the islands which are believed to be the inspiration behind one of the most famous characters from South Pacific the old much loved movie from my childhood, Bloody Mary.  Remember “HappyTalk”, and “Balihai” (spelling?).  I can too.

Anyway for now bye. Much love to you all. x

Saturday 7/2/2015 Day 33 Sea Days X 5 until Samoa

It takes a day or two to become accustomed to the hour the clocks go back, and today we feel normal again, waking at 6:45 to sunrise coming dazzlingly into the left side of our balcony window. So we must be going in the right direction. Breakfast done, just about to go deck walking.

There will be some more bobbling around in hot water today. At the Aquarius pool there’s music playing all day. Yesterday we listened (and I was compelled to sing along) to Rumours, the whole album. I wondered whether Mick Fleetwood lives in Hawaii? There was a restaurant called Fleetwood’s yesterday with a logo looking like the figure on the Rumours album cover.  Can’t really Google on here but maybe if you’re reading this and can find out for it would be lovely to know.

Dancing is at 11 today and oh heck, it’s the Quickstep……  Hope to have a better experience this time.  My problems are that my feet don’t move quickly enough, my memory struggles and there are a lot of steps in a short space of time.  Thankfully Khachik and I don’t get dance rage.  When we are people watching (in other words when we watch because we have failed!) we are aware of that dance rage between some couples, some storm off, some shout, some just give “the look” – so we seem to have come a long way, as every error just makes us laugh these days.   

Today’s art is at 2:30 and Easa has promised that we will be painting two monkeys “acting the goat” 

Will report on both tomorrow.

We have been invited to a coffee morning with the Captain tomorrow at 10:30. This is for the 500 or so of us going right round. We already feel special, and lucky, and grateful, and surprised to wake up to find its really happening every day, but the ship’s company keep adding to that special feeling by arranging these different events for us.

So bye for now. Back for sea day 2 towards Samoa tomorrow. x

Wednesday 4/2/2015 Day 30 One day left at sea before Hawaii, calm sea and sun out.

Phew, the rain we had yesterday stopped overnight and now the sun is out, the waves are a lot smaller and the wind has dropped from force 8 to force 5. Temperature at 3.30 p.m was 27C.   Deck activity has started again, and the factor 30 has come back into play J.  We are back to all outside activities and feel good. We noticed “motion discomfort bags” had been strategically placed around the corridors overnight, but not a great deal of uptake. One of our dinner mates suffers terribly. I told her about covering one eye, and she is going to give it a whirl.

All is well as we approach Hawaii for our 2 day stay, one long day in Oahu from early a.m. until 11 p.m. tomorrow, then sailing overnight to the second island Maui for next day. We are going whale watching in Oahu on a catamaran, lunch out and then time for a good look around.

Today we have revisited the cha cha cha in our dance class and will be going out  again to the Retreat later to practice, after Cabaret.  This is a special venue set up like a night club with candles on the tables and hosted by the dance teachers for people like us, just getting up the courage to take the dances out. I have started to enjoy this.

And our art subject was a paradise island landscape with sun sea palm trees, rocks. I am not as proud of this as I was of yesterday’s whale, but it’s all good fun.

KHACHIK'S PALM TREES

So now it’s time for dinner, back again tomorrow. x

Day 27 Sunday 1st February 2015 Pacific Ocean to Hawaii

Everything went as planned on Sunday, the City highlights was such good fun and our tour pictures are already up on Facebook because we found a Starbucks for hi speed internet just before going back to the ship. Golden Gate Park, Golden Gate Bridge, look out points, Twin Peaks, Union Square, the cable cars, trams and buses  On one of our stops we tried the clam chowder – enough chunky and tasty food for a day in one bowl!

The jobs we had to do all got done too, paying bills and keeping our bank up to date with the countries we are using our account in.  We found a Fedex agent so we could send important documents to the UK, and a hairdresser for me so I could have another “haircut of the world”, and then spent the afternoon walking towards Union Square up Market Street, taking in the feel of a new city.  Lots of pop up craft stalls more street performers, places we recognised from movies. We made it back in time for dinner, and enjoyed the cabaret, and then were off to sleep in no time with very little waking up.  The clocks have stayed the same for 2 nights now.  I imagine they will start to go back again on the way to Hawaii.

On 13^th we are told we “miss a day” to bring us back to reality as we cross the international date line, otherwise we would be going back in time until we got home.

As it’s a sea day we have started our stretching, dance and art together again. In art we painted a penguin with chick, and were very happy.

Dance actually felt comfortable today. You know what, I am beginning to think I might even be able go to one of the dances on board without a “caller”! Steady on.   Today we worked on our rhythm foxtrot, which we are reassured we can resort to for anything in 4:4 time.  Time will tell.  Other sea day activities include sitting on the deck for coffee, doing brain training puzzles and chatting away.

We have attempted not to eat too much today, and we have maintained 9-10 laps of the Promenade Deck every sea day, so efforts are in place not to overdo it (too often ;) )It’s easy to eat very well as there’s so much choice, it’s also just as easy to add a slice of cake, chips, in fact ANYTHING your heart desires 24 hours a day.

Another sea day tomorrow, bye for now.

Day 23 ALREADY? Wednesday 28th January 2015 Playful Dolphins

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Two sea days until San Francisco and we have had to cover up our arms and walk more quickly to keep warm, how spoiled we have been since reaching the Caribbean.  As we head to the USA the temperature is falling, overnight 24C and now 20C, predicted 11C on 30^th. Of course this makes the prospect of exploring SF very comfortable.  We still have brilliant sunshine, and a peaceful sea so all is well.  It won’t be long until the heat comes again in sector 2 as we head for the South Pacific and Australia.

There is a big difference between Mexico and USA’s immigration policies and procedures. In Mexico we didn’t have to show our passports, just carried the cruise card (bar coded with all our passport details on it and a photo).  We have already had an A4 sheet of instructions for the USA, which involves all 2000 of us having a face to face with an immigration official in a booth in the port with our Passport, Cruise Card, Visa Waiver confirmation. It could take some time, we are advised there might be bag searches. No food drink or water allowed into the USA from the ship. Interesting though.

We have just returned to the cabin after our classes – as a few people finish their cruise and leave the ship in San Francisco (they call what we have just completed sector one) dance and art lessons for sector 1 are coming to an end.  They will start up again in sector 2 on the 5 sea days to Hawaii.

Dance today was revision of the rhythm foxtrot, jive, cha cha cha, rumba, waltz and quickstep. ;) we are ok at the slow ones but our quickstep is disastrous! The final art subject for this sector of the cruise was a watercolour of a dog, going well for us so far. We will be finishing it off tomorrow in time for the exhibition at 2 p.m.

We have been very lucky so far with both teachers’ patience and understanding of different learner styles. Impressive that it is all included in the cost of the cruise. Lessons every day (two of each if you want/can fit them in) would cost a fortune on their own. We are putting everything up on the walls at 1 p.m. and collecting them at 4 p.m. Just to recap…water colour of a meerkat, autumn landscape, robin, young woman portrait, mountain landscape, snowy forest, Venice landscape,  our waiters, Khachik and me, seascape, woman planting, koala, camel’s head, dog, and one pencil drawing of Mohammed Ali.  Khachik has never laughed as much as he did at my koala – honestly, in his whole life I dare say. Even now that I have amended the shocking oversized ear and the look it had on its face of being a bit of a bugger, the memory of my first effort is indelibly fixed in Khachik’s mind.  I am so glad he became a civil engineer and nothing "inter-personal".

 

Our captain calls from the bridge every time whales and dolphins are in sight.  Today we were walking on the Promenade Deck when one of those calls came and luckily we also had our camera so not only do we have whale footage from yesterday, but also 30 seconds of joy from this morning  when 3-4 dolphins came to play near the ship. These are incredible moments.  You can tell from the gasping and shouting out soundtracks! The foloowing picture is unfortunately not one of ours, but feel free to gasp any way.

We have another Black Tie dinner tonight with a Marco Pierre White menu, so it’s time to get ready for that.  We may not go to the Palladium tonight for our fix of after dinner entertainment, as we are already yawning!  That could change…

Bye until tomorrow xxxx

Day 16 Wednesday 21st January 2015 A Sea Day with excitement building for the Panama Canal

In the cabin we have a telly with news, sport and a few recordings of things like Ashes to Ashes, Rev, Call the midwife.   Several of the channels are P and O’s own information and advertising channels, and one is P and O Radio.  For the last 3 days there have been three different documentaries and historical programmes about the channelling of the rocks, the politics and the final building of the Panama Canal to connect the Atlantic with the Pacific. The earliest mention was at the time of Charles V, but it was considered to be impossible.  Projects to cut through began to be considered long before 1900, and then taken over by the USA in 1905.  What a convoluted story. I can’t say I had ever taken any notice of the achievement, and certainly didn’t appreciate the risk to life, the abuse, particularly abuse of the predominantly black workforce, the working conditions or the losses of life because of building, scorpions, tarantulas, Yellow Fever and Malaria.   Until now the Panama Canal to me was just a name.

Each person on Arcadia is charged $180 to get through the canal.  The Captain said he’s received the invoice for $360,000 for the whole ship!  Apparently that includes a no claims bonus!

Highlights, apart from the engineering and general sightseeing and gasping with wonder, are going to include – crocodiles, pelicans, many different species of bird, rainforest, and much more.

But not yet, tomorrow.  The crossing starts in the morning of 21^st January and finishes in the evening, with a commentary and historical overview happening all through the day.  Panama made products are being brought on in the morning for sale in the shops.

Today has been another lovely restful sea day starting with a watercolour of a scene in Venice.  Doing this was really enjoyable, and with exception of one of my buildings looking cock-eyed a good job done by both of us.

We had a great lunch and then walked our first mile of the day on the deck.  It’s 28C so we aren’t racing.  Cloudy at times, but definitely not in a bad way.

At lunch we met someone called Mick, a retired design and technology teacher who we both found really interesting. For leisure and pleasure Mick now makes wooden furniture. Khachik was happy to hear this as most of our wooden furniture was also hand crafted in the barn.  We kept him talking for so long I think we made him late for his partner whist this afternoon.  We shared cruise stories first.  Then he talked about his own experience and compared teaching secondary age students in London, forces students in Germany and in a private school in Wakefield.  He also talked about his wife, Linda, who didn’t join him for lunch today.  I would love to meet her, she has worked in PRU’s with excluded students in a few different places, and most recently in a residential school for students for whom next stop would be a YOI. She did her Masters at Huddersfield where I did my Cert Ed, and is clearly passionate about the well-being of teenage students. I hope we bump into each other again.

Otherwise we have just been sitting with our feet up today, doing crosswords and Sudoku and finishing off paintings.  There’s another smart casual dinner tonight, so I will sign off for now, have a quick cup of tea and get my frock on ready for our next 5 course delight.

Day 14 Monday 19th January 2015 – A day at sea on the way to Aruba

We are now sailing along the most northerly coast of South America. The sea is 2 miles deep today, sorry not to be consistent, I can remember the Captain saying miles but not metres and my brain is too relaxed to convert it!  It’s 28C and a little bit cloudy now, although it has been clear most of the day, and all the sun loungers have been occupied. At several times of the day there’s a dj on the pool side playing a pleasant variety of music from the 60’s 70’s and 80’s.  In fact there’s a place for everyone on the sea days, people who want to stay indoors playing cards, people who want to learn how to use their I-pads, exercise, learn a language, make jewellery, patchwork, cross stitch, drink in a pub, do pub quizzes and play bingo, lie in the sun, pamper in the spa, shop in Harrods or buy clothes and jewellery, learn to use a camera,or ipad,  learn about art in the gallery as well as starting to paint, and use the library, practice yoga, work out in the gym, swim, listen to celebrity speakers.

There are no sea vessels anywhere to be seen, just miles and miles of subtly changing sea, sun and clouds. As we are not too far from islands there are now regular visits from seagulls and plenty of flying fish for them to dive for.  Because there haven’t been any big ones we have booked a whale watching excursion when we reach Mexico. This must be the best option, I am really longing to see whales and dolphins.  

We have had a restful sea day: art and dance classes, pool to cool down, deck walking and deep stretching. The art task was to sketch then paint an Indian woman, crouching on the ground digging or planting.  We are both pleased with our results.

 I chatted with our art teacher Easa today and asked him about his life since moving away from Manchester. It was so good to hear that his daughter is one of the production team for Pointless, we will be watching the credits from now on, and reminding us ourselves of the coincidences and stories of the cruise.

The dance class was mainly Ballroom Tango, with revision of the Rumba. We really need to practise, on our own and when other people are near enough to tread on.  Khachik has a cold and is dosing up on the day/night nurse, and taking it easy.

Have I mentioned that there’s afternoon tea 3-5 p.m. and there is a choice of cakes, scones, toasted tea cakes, hot food, sandwiches and fresh fruit? I have given the chocolate cake some stick this afternoon.  I try to eat fruit and drink peppermint tea at this time to make sure my clothes will still fit in the summer at home, but not today! It was really delicious

And did I mention dinner ;) ? We have 5 adventurous courses, starter, soups, sorbet, main, dessert, cheese and biscuits/chocolates, coffee and teas.  Tonight it’s a Gala Dinner with a menu by Marco Pierre White. It’s looking exceedingly good.  If anyone needs a special diet, the head waiter, Jovi, brings the following nights menus and the chef will make sugar free, gluten free, fat free, dairy free variations of the menu, so people on special diets never end up with a boring option.  Khachik does this with the desserts.  We have to scrub up and wear black and white tonight. It’s fun though. Make up, earrings the lot for me.

Of course that formal dinner arrangement is also a choice, you can have snacks 24 hours a day and eat things like burgers and chips, salads and sandwiches too.  You can choose from 5 different restaurants, some buffet, some waiter service. We have chosen formal evening and informal buffet lunch.  We will get to know 3 other couple really well this way in the evenings, and then meet and chat to many different people but not get to know them all as well at breakfast and lunch.

Signing off for now, next stop Aruba! Back tomorrow.

Day 10 Thursday 15th January - More than half way across the Atlantic, temperature 26C.

The sea depth is now 4500m, sea temperature 20+ degrees C, quite choppy again, but very beautiful.  Mainly clear skies. On the ship everyone is out in the sun and there’s generalised good mood.  The clocks have gone back three times now, which feels like a special gift.

What did we do today? Up at 8, very gentle yoga, eat, art lesson, deck walk, coffee, crossword, eat, guitar talk, deck walk, tea, dance class, art in the cabin, eat, deck walk, cabaret, telly, blog, bed.

Highlights! We started a snowy landscape today and plan to finish in the next lesson. Not easy, but very uplifting, absorbing and relaxing. As always will share pics if it’s not too embarrassing. It’s lovely to do this with Khachik. So much of what we normally do is parallel, e.g. I practise yoga while Khachik follows football.  But we both seem to love the art.

The guitar talk was extraordinary. Paul brought his custom made acoustic guitar, 22 strings no less, made by the same guitar maker who used to build guitars for Led Zeppelin.  He described all the different acoustic styles, chords, finger picking, country, flamenco, jazz and blues, Eastern and Asian sounds, explained commonalities and then went on to demonstrate everything, surprisingly really well, including short performances like the Beatles Norwegian Wood in different styles.  Today he finished with Jose Feliciano’s version of Light my Fire. This hour was a real treat.  

Well, after today there’s one more sea day until we reach St Maarten, where we will feel land again (not that I’m in any hurry to do that) and can share the latest set of photos while we enjoy what the island has to offer.  So I will sign off for now and share tomorrow’s highlights, once again I really hope to have some sizeable sea life reports.  Bye for now from mid-Atlantic.

Day 9 Wednesday 14th – we can both paint a robin and dance the square tango!

Amongst all the new skills we are acquiring, painting robins and dancing the square tango are the best bits, but we have also started to look at the programme of talks and events during the day.  Today we had a lovely lunchtime hour with a young guitarist, half of a duo, who talked about the history of the electric guitar, origins of guitar music and styles and characteristics of famous guitarists.  He was a good player, I especially liked his Peter Green style rendition of Black Magic Woman. He was also really knowledgeable, encouraged questions, did many demonstrations and referred the audience to a couple of guitarists autobiographies that are in the ship’s library. I’m impressed.

Easa, the art teacher said Khachik’s robin today was beautiful, and it is. It is amazing how much we achieve in an hour, and after the class I feel I want to carry on.  This is good.  (“Compare the robin” will also be appearing on Facebook to entertain you in another 2 days when we are in St Maarten, high speed wifi permitting.) We will be changing media as we go round the world, using pencil and charcoal.  This pleases Khachik who unfortunately can’t distinguish colours.

After the dancing lesson today we were both aching a bit, probably because we’ve upped our game on the walking track.  We have walked. 7 laps today and danced the square tango for an hour (with a couple of breaks for demonstrations).  So to ease our aching legs we used a hot tub on the decks to soften up ready for a good stretch.  It was in the hot tub that we met a journalist and author, who  also called himself political activist. He and his wife are from Guernsey.  He is called Michael J, Milford and he was selling his latest book, even in the hot tub, sounds like sci-fi, called the Mansion, about someone who goes back in time to 1912, and tries to warn about the fate of the Titanic.

I have just found this on Amazon:

"Biography

I was born in 1938 in Guernsey Channel Islands, an Island just off the coast of France. When the war started I went to Halifax in Yorkshire England, and lived there for five years, returning to Guernsey at wars end. I did three years in the British army and five years in the merchant navy. I left school semi- illiterate. I could read, but my spelling was poor. For three years I lived in Australia, and went to Perth technical collage, and took courses in English and radio announcing, and passed on both subjects. I took up writing after I retired, as I had more time on my hands. My first book was called 'The Hypnotist' my second was called 'The Mansion' my third is called the 'Ernie Prettle story,' and my fourth is called 'Rainbows End', and I'm writing that now.

I'm 76 years old now, with no children of my own, and no-one to remember me, so I thought if I could leave something behind like a book on some persons book shelf, or in some-ones library, then in future some-one might remember me." 

With the extra walking, dancing, painting, immersion in water, stretching, lots of fruit, veg, seeds and fresh water we are feeling healthy.  We just have to deal with the quantities of food before we are worthy of body-is-temple status.

In our search for sea life I am delighted to say that the flying fish were active today, and where there are flying fish, there must be predators, so hopefully I will have some more sea life news tomorrow. We have passed the underwater mountain range, if you are familiar with tectonic plates you will understand why the sea was 1000m deep yesterday when we were travelling over it yesterday, and the sea is today much deeper, 3000 metres deep.

Signing off now, time is going very quickly, two more sea days until we get to the Caribbean. Back with you tomorrow.

Day 8 Tuesday 13/1/2015 The Captain’s from Iran - would you believe it?

We learned today at the world passengers’ lunch that the Captain of Arcadia, Aseem Hashmi, is from Iran.  It won’t be long I am sure before Khachik makes conversation with the Captain to ascertain where he was born and brought up, pinpointing more common ground again, and finding more reasons to laugh about the interesting connections we all have.  I can’t wait to find out if they do have mutual friends, or attended the same schools?  We enjoyed the meal very much, in the space reserved at night for Freedom Dining on Deck 3. We met 3 new couples none of whom we have seen before, in to the second week.  I have forgotten what it’s like to feel hungry, because the meals are all amazing, and it’s really hard to stop tasting new dishes, especially sweet things.

What can I say about the sea today?  We are in the middle of the Atlantic, which I thought would be rough, but its flat like a mirror, jet black with perfectly still and clear reflections of pale blue sky and fluffy white clouds.  I have never seen that before, it’s really beautiful.  I am still waiting for the sea life to appear, there’s no sign of anything.  We were told today the sea is 1000m deep, so I imagine the sea life is keeping busy elsewhere. As promised we have sunshine and another rise in temperature to 20C. Plenty of shorts and more bold sunbathing beginning.

Activities so far today – painting a mountainous/forest landscape, world passengers’ lunch, with our table hosted by Victoria Fletcher, a lovely member of the Admin team.  We have also been deck walking and taken a dance lesson – the quickstep, and an evening of song in the Palladium with Phillip Browne! Three more sea days to St Maarten. Beginning to feel like dancing in the ballroom – not done it yet, but feel like a little waltz.

Signing off for the night, good night all, back tomorrow.

Day 7 Monday 12/1/2015 Drinks and Meal dates with the Captain

We have heard about people getting special invitations to meet the captain, have a drink with him, dine at his table, but thought it was only for the regulars or people who own their own cabin.  Then yesterday we started receiving invitations to have a drink with the captain - tonight - and have lunch with him tomorrow. It would seem that people who are on the world cruise get two lunches with the captain, one at the beginning (this one) and one sometime nearer the end.  And everyone gets a turn to have a drink with him before a gala dinner.  There are 521 of us going right round the world, the poor man is going to be exhausted!

Well here we are doing the long crossing of the Atlantic to St Maarten.  Sea is calm, very little wind,  sun is warming us up daily and people have started wearing shorts, bagging sunbeds and slapping on the SPF. 17C today, 20C promised tomorrow. No sign of sea life, no flying fish, no dolphins or whales, yet.  But the sun shining on the deepest blue sea, and the sky, and the clouds never fail to impress, and are a symbol of an unhurried lifestyle we very soon managed to slip into.  

We were up and about so early today with the clocks going back again last night, so we made outstanding use of the free launderette (it’s been a week!), took an early breakfast and were able to make it to the early morning art class.  Here we did our first human portrait, and then I had a go at a watercolour portrait of Khachik.  (I am posting these into the blog after the cruise

Khachik's left, mine right

In between our gourmet delights we have also squeezed in a cha cha cha lesson, a 4 lap deck walk and a yoga class. The one thing we haven’t done again is the evening cabaret, but tomorrow there’s a jazz/blues singer – a bit more inviting, so we will give that a whirl.

A lovely young man called Ajay looks after our cabin and makes us feel really special. Amongst all the chores he does “turn down” when we are out at dinner. We come back every night to chocolates on the pillows, towels in the shapes of animals and birds, and tonight some interesting gifts from P&O – a carved wooden chess set, all sorts of wine drinking accessories and a box of chocolates.

Finally I don’t think I’ve mentioned that there’s another couple from our home town on the ship, the man Khachik knows from his exercise classes. They are going as far as Sydney then flying back. We have only seen them once, which is not unusual. There are 2000 passengers all together.

Signing off for now. Bye until tomorrow