Had a great night’s sleep and woke up about 8. The bed is very comfortable although not as spectacularly so as the Princess Heavenly Bed. The ship is very very smooth in the water and quiet. There is literally no movement and also no vibration. You would not know you were at sea at all unless you look out of the window. It’s very impressive.
A grey, nasty looking day outside. Several rain squalls along the way and the wind at about 4 – 5, a whitecapped swell. Not conducive to being outside. Which was just as well as we were too busy inside.
We had breakfast up in the buffet which is arranged in a series of small dining rooms so that you never feel part of a big group. After that, we went to the Queen’s Room (the ballroom) for a 10am drama workshop with the RADA troupe. Beginner’s fencing was just finishing and we enjoyed watching that. I did fencing at drama college and Bob has done it too. In fact he and Daisy took the daily classes when we sailed on Queen Victoria five years ago. It’s much more strenuous than you might imagine.
The workshop today was on how an actor prepares and story telling and we worked in groups. It was huge fun. Bob really enjoyed it too, he was in a different group to me. There are going to be 3 workshops over the week and we’ll go to them all.
After that we scurried along to the Royal Court Theatre to hear a lecture from the film historian on Marylyn Monroe. Excellent talk and illustrated with lots of clips of her films.
By now it was lunch time and we went to the buffet. They have a sushi/sashimi station as one of the options so we very much concentrated on that. Delicious.
After lunch we had a walk around the shops and then went to the 230 art class. On this cruise it is being taught by an American lady. She is very nice and has quite a different technique from our previous tutors. Interesting. Today we worked on a scene of autumn trees. Normally, one of my worst favourite topics. But she managed to coach a half way decent picture out of me. We concentrated on painting rather than drawing.
She alarmed my poor Bob very much at the beginning and nearly gave him heart failure. “Have you ever rubbed off???” she barked at him in front of the whole class. “Do you know about rubbing off??” Bob looked confused then guilty, and blushed vividly and half shrieked “NO NO!!!! I’ve never rubbed off”…. Errrr… what do you mean?” It was one of those exquisite moments of two nations divided by a single language….. Quite as funny as when Bob enquired of Dave’s friend “Are you Randy???” and managed to keep a straight face.
Anyway, “rubbing off” is apparently when you cover the back of a demonstration painting with charcoal and then place it, charcoal side down, on a blank piece of paper. You then take a pencil and trace around the main lines of the painting and when you lift the demo painting up, faint lines of charcoal have been left behind. It’s a very quick way of sketching from a demo painting and avoids the problem of pressing too hard with a pencil. She also taught us how to create leaves by literally spattering different paints over the paper and then spraying water from a spray bottle. Magic effect!!
Really enjoyed our art class and look forward to it tomorrow. It is limited to 25 people so you get plenty of individual attention.
We came out at about 415 and rushed into afternoon tea in the Queen’s Room. A small orchestra plays and it’s a white glove service. Not an every day occurrence for us, but most enjoyable.
Had a long rest before dinner (well…. It had been busy 😊 ) then got dressed in our finery as it was a Formal Night. I wore my long black dress, lined in a scarlet silk that kinda shows through 😊 and my slightly painful evening shoes. My feet are just not used to heels these days. After a while I start walking like Dick Emery. I know… I know…. Anyway, we went up to the Commodore’s Lounge, a cocktail bar high on the bow. I had a most delicious cocktail: a rhubarb daquiri. YUM! Then, down for dinner at 830 with our lovely table. Being a formal night, the menu was even better than last night. Bob and I both had prime rib for main. I had no potato but extra greens. Really nice.
After dinner we had to scurry to get to the show. The later show is always a bit less well attended than the earlier one, most people on board preferring an early dinner. We got great seats. It was a very latin based show, high energy and with the latest video screen backing the stage. It is the last week of contract for this troop of singers/dancers so the last time they will do this show together. I must say they gave it their total all. It was spectacular. There are a few of them that have clearly made one too many visits to the buffet…. Not to fat shame them but honestly dancers can’t be in the least bit chubs. And a couple of them are. Very enjoyable show.
Loving this ship. It is undoubtedly the best we have ever been on. Best ship. Best food. Best programme.