Two cloudier, swellier sea days….. not cold though. Yesterday afternoon we stretched out on couches on the aft deck and read in the patchy sun….. or was it slept in the patchy sun?……. Anyway it was a very pleasant afternoon. We are definitely skirting a massive circular storm to the east and north of us and whilst our weather has remained relatively benign, the swell of the sea has definitely risen. The ship is barely moving though, despite going a respectable 16 -17 knots, albeit a slow speed for what it’s capable of. Tomorrow we are promised to be through it and the sea returning to calmness. It really hasn’t been an issue and we haven’t heard anyone complaining. I did feel for the theatre act last night though. It was a multi talent magic act. He did memory tricks and things like that but also juggled multiple objects even at one time standing on a board on a rolling ball……. can’t have been easy in a theatre nestled in the bow of the ship.
We’ve gone to art both mornings. Yesterday we had a go at a seascape photographed through the window. Today it was a butterfly on some tropical leaves. The teacher is a very nice woman. She had had some problems with the sheer number of people who want to join the class plus some people who’ve been on board since the 9th January and have “their seat” and don’t take kindly to jumped up newcomers with no idea of this, sitting there…… You have to laugh….. We’ve seen how fraught it can become on very long voyages. Elderly men fighting to the floor over a piece of stilton, women hitting each other with irons in the laundrette…. so many stories over the 10 years we’ve been doing these sorts of cruises.
Last night we also attended the first Officer’s Cocktail party of this leg of the cruise. These are always quite fun. A chance to down some free drinks and canapes courtesy of the cruise line and also to chat to fellow guests and the poor officers who would clearly rather be anywhere else. The most interesting one we ever went to was on the last leg of a world cruise and we got chatting to the ship’s doctor. He told us that the ship had a morgue for 12 people and that so far on the voyage. 14 people had died, so 2 were in empty food freezers!!!!!! The partners had the choice to get off at the next port and fly home with their loved one, or stay on board. Most stay on board and apparently it is by NO MEANS unusual if the death happens early in the long cruise for the surviving partner to have found true love again before the return to Southampton. As he put it: they don’t hang about at that age!!!!! Yikes….. Anyway, no conversations like that last night but we did score 4 glasses of champagne each, canapes and a large glass of red wine to take into dinner. Result!
This afternoon we had a treat. A troop from the Guildford Shakespeare Company – yes I know…. I was skeptical too till I Googled them – had come aboard and were giving a production of Pride and Prejudice plus other small shows and workshops on this leg. P&P is a full length show with an interval and they are doing it twice, the second show being after Ponta Delgada. Anyway… we went this afternoon. The Theatre Royal was jam packed and it was such a good show. There are only three of them. 2 women and a man. And they take all the parts, sometimes cross gendering. So, for example, the man played Mr Darcy, Mr Bennett, Lady Catherine De Burgh, Mr Collins and the 3 youngest Bennett sisters….. I normally don’t like this sort of thing very much to be honest but I must say that they were brilliant. The timing was meticulous and the costume changes were woven into the blocking as though it was a dance. Of course it stands and falls on the performances and the chap was particularly strong, great as Darcy, lovable as Mr Bennett and hilarious as Collins and the women, particularly Lady Catherine.
After the theatre we high tailed it up to afternoon tea and scarfed down some Earl Grey, warm scones, jam and cream and smoked salmon sandwiches. This was just in the buffet bakery. One afternoon we will have to go to the Queen’s Room for the full Cunard White Glove High Tea. It’s very indulgent and generally they have a string quartet playing or some live music of that ilk.
We arrive in Ponta Delgada on Sunday morning and because there has been disappointment and letters to the Captain over missed ports, we are staying there overnight and having another full day there on Monday. We have been there quite a few times and it’s a nice island and a nice town. Not entirely sure it’s not a case of “be careful what you wish for” or the old raffle joke “First prize: one day in Ponta Delgada; Second Prize: 2 Days in Ponta Delgada…..” Anyway… we are enjoying our warm weather journey there. No doubt from that point on we will start to re-engage with colder weather.
The letters to the Captain thing has been a bit of a hoot and I would so so love to have been a fly on the wall when they started arriving!!!!! Bear in mind this poor guy is responsible for a multi multi million pound ocean liner and thousands of people on board and has already had to deal with a staff member being lost overboard, organising a fruitless 36 hour search, dealing with the family, and all the other unseen challenges that go along with moving this floating city through international waters…… Then when there is a huge storm in the Atlantic and he decides to spare us a multi day voyage through the heart of it by giving us a sunnier, smoother southerly route…… he starts to get letters protesting this decision and helpfully offering many suggestions as to what he could/should do instead!!!!! Put in here…. put in there….. his noon time announcements have been the model of restrained British fury ROFL
Still very happy with our roomy cabin and the ship in general. It’s very peaceful and we are sleeping like logs both in the cabin and out of it!!!! The ship’s decor is very elegant and “British”. Think rosewood and mahogany and art deco rather than anything sparkly or glitzy.I know I’ve said it before but the theatre is really a work of art. Quite the loveliest at sea in our opinion.