First of six days at sea

Sunset  as we left St Maarten

It was lovely once the other two cruise ships had left St Maarten last night, leaving us the last to leave. If the truth be told, I wasn’t fussed about going out last night. We had been informed slightly late in the day that there was a change of schedule for our departure from St Maarten and we would be leaving 3 hours later than published. This was due to the issues with docking and re-berthing that the ship had to do and quite a lot of people had been stranded on the ship and were therefore late getting off. I thought it might be nice to simply reflect on an amazing day and get a simple room service in. Nope, Nick wanted to be entertained. So recognising that the key to a successful marriage is compromise, we did as Nick wanted! We’d checked out the dinner menu on our way back from our trip and felt it looked ok. And ok it was. This is now the fourth decent meal on the trot in the restaurant. What’s going on? Long may it last.

Slight segue here, but I do miss Captain Love’s announcements. He appeared to be a fairly mild-mannered chap, very laid back and relaxed. This new Captain, Russell Robson is very loud and brisk. I think he’s trying to model himself on your average airline pilot. I swear one of these days he will actually say “ladies and gentlemen, we’re cruising at an altitude of 35,000 feet, blah blah blah” He’s clearly missed his vocation. He also doesn’t share the announcements. He does everything, whereas Captain Love did a bit, his deputy did some and his Third Officer Luke (he with the lovely Irish voice) did other announcements. 

The Headliners, doing their thing

Anyway, moving on. After our meal, we went off to the small theatre to watch the Headliners (the in-house song and dance trope) perform songs and dance routines to everything from the 60s to the present day. They did medleys of each artist and flung themselves and each other around the stage. It was a vigorous 45-minute set with awesome costumes and a variety of quick changes at the end of each set. The show we went to was their second of the evening, with a third to take place later on that evening. All in all another great day and evening.

Last night we had another clock change, making us now three hours behind the UK. We woke to stunning skies and a beautiful deep blue sea. With lovely mid-20s temperatures and a nice breeze, it looked set for the perfect day. However, before long I had donned my wristbands as the sea was back to being waggy again. Michelle’s destination talk was on Ponta Delgada, which we have been to twice before and so had slightly struggled with what trip to do. It was Michelle’s last talk and they’ve been most enjoyable. She is the tiniest of people and so you can’t actually see anything of her over the lectern and her laptop. You sure can hear her though and her bubbly sense of fun comes through in each of her talks. We’ve made a last-minute change from a whales and dolphin watch on a catamaran to Furnas Valley and Hot Springs. 

Having had back-to-back land days, we now have back-to-back sea days. 6 of them. When I got into my clothes this morning I felt that those pesky washers had shrunk them. OK, time to knuckle under and get back to a bit of activity. My hip has been bad the last couple of days, probably due to not doing my physio or my fitness routine. So before lunch, we set off on our 7-lap walk. It was a little slower than we have been, but at least we’ve got back into it. Also, another reason why I need to get back in shape is that I have volunteered for a fashion show. Thankfully I have a few days to get “match fit” before I perfect my pout and strut. 

Today's selection for wine-tasting

All of the above said, what had we chosen to do this afternoon? Another wine tasting in the Glass House. Oooooppppps! It was another, really informative session. Poor Dennis talked loudly over us as we had more and more wine and became more and more vocal. The full list was the Peller Estate rosé from Ontario. One of my particular favourites, not for the wine, but for the name, was a Picpoul de Pinet from the Baron de Badassiere. I know, I’ll grow up one day. The Black Shiraz from the Berton Vineyard didn’t need any accompaniment and got knocked back very quickly. The Zinfandel Blush Sun Set Point was ok but too sweet for me. However, and finally, as ever, the Blandy’s Malmsey 10-year-old Madeira came out top.

Now that we’re back at sea, we have speakers on board. We chose to miss the two today. Really!? One was a talk about the life and times of Ruth Ellis. Well, as we all know, that didn’t end well. And the other was about the Battle of the River Plate, 1939, about the Graf Spey. Well let’s face it, we were in Montevideo yonks ago and read up on that then, so it felt a little irrelevant. 

Surprisingly enough we were a tad dozy after all that mix of wine and had a little snooze in readiness for this evening. There are two shows we’re going to after dinner, so the snooze was rather needed. As the sun started setting this evening, the sea had turned almost glassy flat calm. Happy days.