Hooray! 2 days out from Terceira and the sun is out and the skies are blue! Every day now should just bring calmer seas and hotter temperatures. Yesterday (Wednesday) was 19C, overcast and we were skirting a massive Atlantic storm somewhere, elsewhere, because although it was dry and not particularly windy, the swell was very large – 7m. Sounds alarming doesn’t it…? And I guess on a small boat or yacht, it would be terribly unpleasant. This ship is a marvel though because other than the odd judder when it probably flexed in a trough, there is no roll to speak of at all. No one – as far as I can see – is suffering any discomfort. It’s of course quite a big ship and has amazing computerised stabilisers but it is also down to the skill of the navigator who studies the meteorological charts and steers us, as far as possible, on the most clement route.

So, going forward we will be able to enjoy the sundecks we think. But what, you might ask, do you do on a voyage like this on the inclement days? Well…. we make hard choices from all the offered activities is the answer and I must say that this is where Cunard really hold strength. We have sailed with quite a few different lines and no one else, save maybe P&O somewhat holds a candle to the range of choice of activities on a Cunard ship. Of course, you could do nothing, enjoy your cabin, sit in one of the many lounges or bars, large and small and enjoy a book, live music of all sorts, or just the view… It never feels crowded at all, even with most people on the inside decks. There are just so many spaces. There’s a big gym so you could exercise alone or in one of the many classes. You could jog on the track. You could enjoy the spa and maybe take some treatments in there, including aesthetic treatments. There is a two storey library of over 7000 books. There’s a card room where you can learn or play bridge or other card games. There’s a games room with loads of board games. There’s a casino and there are bingo sessions too. There are films shown in the theatre or on your cabin tv.

Then there is the organised programme. Multiple distinguished guest speakers give illustrated talks in the theatre. Yesterday we attended a talk on body identification given by a forensic dentist who was part of the team who worked in Thailand after the tsunami, on air crashes and disasters, train wrecks… we also heard a talk on writing and publishing a memoir from a professor of literature who is also a published author, and a talk on the explorers who crossed the Atlantic from the possible early neolithic sailors, thru Vikings, French, Spanish, Portuguese and English sailors. In the afternoon we saw a ghost story play in the theatre given by professional actors/puppeteers who used the puppets as extra cast members. Very clever, very spooky. There are many opportunities to quiz during the day, all sorts of trivia and music z. There is a lot of live music, from jazz, to a Celtic duo, classical quartets….. You can have dancing and fencing lessons in the ballroom. All sorts of dancing lessons, from line dancing to strictly style ballroom. There’s art lessons and crafting lessons. A course of Portuguese language lessons has started.

At night there is a plethora of entertainment. 2 big shows a night in the theatre. Last night it was 2 tenors giving a classical crossover concert. Tonight it is a British comedian who I’ve seen on various TV shows. There’s live music and dancing everywhere from the ballroom to the nightclub.

And of course….. you’ve got to save time for eating and drinking!!!! There are a lot of venues and choices here too. You can have it brought it to your cabin and I have had breakfast in bed several times on this voyage. For breakfast there is a huge buffet of all sorts up in the Lido restaurant, you can be served a silver service breakfast in the main dining room, you can have a light breakfast of pastries and coffee in another venue. Lunch brings the same options plus in clement weather open air venues open up, around the pool or on the sun decks, or you can have traditional British food in the Golden Lion pub. At night, you can eat formally in the dining room, casually in the amazing buffet, the pub, choose one of the speciality restaurants (at small extra charge) or again dine in your own cabin .

The Queen Victoria is an exceptionally beautiful ship in my opinion. Almost Victorian in design as well as in name. Lots of dark wood and imperial red upholstery in places. Like all the Cunard ships, as well as a wealth of art works, there is also a plethora of historic paintings and objects relating to the maritime history of the White Star Line and Cunard. You can tour the ships museums and stairways exploring this theme. It is most exemplified on the Queen Mary but Queen Victoria also has a lot of interesting paintings and objet d’art relating to the line and also to Queen Victoria.

Today we began with breakfast in the main restaurant. Last night we had a conversation with one of the section heads and enquired about devilled kidneys as they did not feature on the normal menu and she promised us a special breakfast of them this morning. She was true to her word. The kitchen had prepared two special dishes for us. Delicious!!!!

We then went to the theatre and had a talk from Dr Sue Bowler, editor of the Royal Astronomical Society magazine and a geologist and astronomer. She told us about tectonic plate formation with particular reference to the mid Atlantic Ridge that we are currently sailing over. Very clear talk covering how the tectonic drift and plates were discovered – not so long ago. She made it very clear even to a non-scientific type like me. Extremely interesting.

We stayed on to hear Bob Collins, the marine historian, give a talk on The Blue Riband, the contest to be the fastest ship across the Atlantic. We heard him talk on the Atlantic explorers yesterday and he is a good speaker. Knows his stuff. Again, it was very informative and entertaining, detailing the progress of the ships plying the Atlantic and the different technologies that took their speed from about 8kn to over 50kn for the latest power hovercraft speed vessels. Of course the most romantic era of these ships was the early decades of the 20th century when the Great Britain, the Bremen, The City of Paris, the Lusitania, the Mauretania and The United States ruled the route. His next talk in a few days is detailing the changes in the comfort and luxury of the crossing. We had dinner with him and his wife a few days ago, not knowing at that point that he was a guest speaker. What a great gig!!!!

Unusually today, there are three talks. The third was Dr John Robson again, the forensic dentist. Today his talk was on toxicology. He is a very amusing speaker. He covered some fascinating cases and methods.

After a quick sushi lunch we went to our art class. Today it was a landscape. A Madeiran village cascading down to the sea with the hills behind. Not enough time to finish it, so will work on in our own time. Bob went up for afternoon tea but I was feeling a bit “coldy” so went back to the cabin for cup of tea, some drugs and a lie down with my book!!!

Tonight was the second gala night of this leg, so we got into our finery and headed up to dinner at 8pm. We decided to have a table to ourselves to spare others our coughing! Lovely dinner. I had escargots, gravadlax and prawn cocktail and then a halibut steak with peas and some onion julienne potatoes. Bob had escargots, caesar salad and then pork cheek with apple sauce, roasted cauliflower and champ. He then had peach clafouti with strawberry sorbet for pudding and I had cheese and biscuits. Really nice dinner. And we didn’t cough at all. Murphy’s law!

Went to the late theatre show which was a comedian and he was funny. Old style comic who told jokes as well as giving observational humour. We turned in about 11pm and immediately turned our watches back another hour as part of our transition to US time by Monday. We will be 3 hours behind the UK as a result tomorrow.