Day 38, Thursday, April 11

Just a normal At Sea day for us. What is a “Normal” day At Sea? You ask? Well, it begins with the normal daily routines that we all experience every day. Commonly we feel the ship’s movements and always take a slightly wider stance with our feet to accommodate the ship’s movements. So then, once ready to face the day, we go either to the restaurant to be served breakfast, or, as is our normal, we go up to the buffet and pick out our own selections to dine upon. Maybe an omelette? Or some salmon on a bagel? With capers? A cup of coffee or tea for sure! Maybe juice and some fresh fruit? Bread and rolls of your choosing? Even little sweet desserts!

Then, after breakfast, there are many activities to choose from! Painting class? Creative writing? Perhaps you’ll write a poem today! The must do Morning Trivia Game in the Purple Turtle Lounge! We have a Team formed and we even win once a week or so! There might be a Lecture in the Palladium Theatre telling us all about the upcoming ports! The info about the dock we’ll be at is very useful as that tells us how to get to and from our ship once we are in port!

By now the morning is waning and it’s time for lunch. Again it’s a choice of the restaurant (On this ship that would be “Buckingham”, named after the Palace in London. This is a British ship, after all!) or the buffet in “Borough Market”, named after the premiere market in central London.

Now that you have satisfied your stomach at lunch, it is now time for the afternoon activities. Perhaps it will be a round of table tennis? Or take a choir class? Maybe join 30 or more others for a game of Whist? If you like to knit there is a group to join. Or join an Arts & Crafts and make a bracelet or necklace!

Every hour there is a different game to play! Carpet Bowling! Indoor Curling! Outside on the top deck you can play a game of ‘Smite’! Cornhole anyone? We call the afternoons, “Summer Camp for Adults!” Want to learn to dance? Dance lessons in the observatory! Afternoon Trivia at 4! Perhaps you want to learn the Ukulele? Classes are 2-3 times each day!

Then there is more afternoon and evening Trivia. If you’ve had enough fun and games, then it is time for dinner. Once again, choose from the restaurant or the buffet! Perhaps you may order “Toad in a Hole”!

(I do have to admit, despite the appearance of the above plate of food, the taste of the sausages was quite bland and I am certain they were left over from the unchosen breakfast sausages! LOL) The sausages in question were very bland, reminiscent of flavorless hot dogs cooked in a Yorkshire Pudding which was tolerable.

When your bellies are full once again, it’s time for a show in the Palladium Theatre! The show runs twice each evening to accommodate your dinner times. Then more game shows in the Purple Turtle. Once or twice per week, you can watch a movie under the stars!

Then, if you’re still awake and energized, you can dance the night away in the Observatory followed by the Disco until the wee hours of the morning! And have I mentioned that all of the lounges throughout the ship have cocktail waitresses and waiters milling about to take your drink orders all day, be your choice of juices, soft drinks plus any and all of your alcoholic desires! There are 11 bars on the ship so you’re never more than a few steps away!

Once you make it back to your cabin for the evening, you can watch tv to lull you to sleep as you prepare for whatever day lies ahead! I hope I haven’t left anything out! Good night all!

Day 41, Sunday, April 14, 2024

Today, to add the a normal At Sea Day, the Senior Officers on the ship have a cake decorating competition that is fun to watch! Then it’s another normal yet busy day at sea.

So good night everyone!

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

We arrive in Tristan Da Cuhna this morning, the most remote inhabited island on earth. Unfortunately, there is a two meter swell in the ocean, too much to load tenders to take us ashore. So the captain takes us around the island and our cameras work busily to capture the sights.

Once we finish circling the island, we pause near the town while the captain once again checks the sea swell. Still two meters. So, while our cameras happily document the island from afar, the captain makes the decision to proceed onward towards Brazil.

Tristan Da Cuhna is the most remote INHABITED island on earth, being more than 2000 nautical miles from the next nearest civilization. It is one of three sets of archipilegos, Tristan Da Cuhna, St Helena and Ascension Islands. All are part of the United Kingdom. Tristan is an active volcano that last erupted in 1961. The island was evacuated then and not resettled for many years. At the current time there are only 250 residents.

So our ship sails west toward our next destination, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We go about the rest of the day as a normal ‘At Sea’ day. Trivia, lunch, whist, games, and Ukulele lessons fills the day. Then it is off to dinner and the show tonight is a set of fantasy romantic musical pieces by the entertainment crew.

Goodnight all!

Day 33, Saturday, April 6, 2024

We wake up to find we are still at the dock in Capetown. Winds are still strong and are blowing whitecaps at our ship in the harbor. So off to breakfast and then to meet friends for Morning Trivia. During Trivia, we feel movement and look out to see we are in motion. I go to my cabin and grab my camera and up onto deck 14 it is to get some photos!

We are, interestingly enough, being towed sideways by two tugboats until the ship lines up with the harbor exit. When we line up, the ships engines roar to life and we sail away out into the Atlantic Ocean, heading slightly Southwest towards our next destination. We are planned to be 4 days at sea, and are told the ship will make up the 12 hours lost due to the strong winds!

During the day, the winds are again strong and the seas are 6-8 Meters and I love it as they are my favorite seas! Enough motion to rock me to sleep at night but not enough to prevent me from walking the ship! Okay, we all look drunk as we walk the halls but that is the price you pay! The afternoon bowling game set up in a hallway was interesting to say the least and we all had a fun time!

Then it’s off to Ukulele Lessons even though we just had a concert on stage 2 days ago! We will have another in four weeks! Back to the room to dress for dinner!

Day 34, Sunday, April 7, 2024

Today is unremarkable except for the winds. We start the day with 5-6 Meter seas and by afternoon they are down to 3 Meters. This is promising as our next port will be a Tender Port and we won’t be able to board the Tenders in strong winds. We’re hoping the winds subside a bit more tomorrow and the next day! Throw in a food shot of dessert for good measure!

Toinight’s show was fun. Toons from around the world!

Good night All!

Day 35, Monday, April 8, 2024

Today is a normal ‘At Sea Day’. I spend time photographing the elevators as each one is different! It’s amazing how they aligned the images on the side walls and the back and even the floor to work perfectly with each other!

A show in the theatre that is fun to watch with a South African singer that is extremely talented. Then it is off to ‘Center Court’ to listen to ‘Isabella Eagle’, who happens to be not only one of the most beautiful performers on the ship, but one of the best voices we have heard!

To bed we go!

Day 36, Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Another Day At Sea and we are Painting, Playing Trivia, Playing cards, Playing silly throwing games, Ukulele Lessons, Taking Naps, etcetera! And then it’s to dinner with our Scottish (well almost) and Aussie Table Mates and all is good! We are improving on our understanding of the UK Dialects!

After dinner (which, in itself. is delicious!) we go to the nightly Trivia games to find out it is the ‘Human Jukebox’ where we all have a remote control and vote on bands and songs that we think are the best! Out of 5 choices, I get one, LOL.

Then we go into the theatre to watch a Comedian/Magician that is absolutely hilarious! A couple of Brits next to me apologize and tell us it is British humour. I look at them and acknowledge that I get it and tell them he was “Brilliant”, which is the same as saying in the States that he was ‘very good’!

Then it is off to the Purple Turtle for another musical trivia game that is less than inspiring. It is time to turn in so I will bid you all ‘Goodnight!’

Tomorrow will (hopefully) bring a fantastic adventure! Stay tuned!

Day 32 Capetown Friday, April 5, 2024

Today we awaken at 6:30AM to a message from the bridge that winds have caused us to bump into a freighter while attempting to dock. The captain says we have no damage but we will be docked in a different place than originally planned. Turns out is is only a ships length from the original plan.

We have breakfast and disembark to find we have to walk through a wind tunnel to get to the Terminal. The wind is so strong that it actually blows my legs so hard that I have to fight to step where I want to! I take photos of the back corner of our ship that has sustained a dent, albeit a very small dent.

We make it into the Terminal and are told it is faster to walk another half mile than to wait for the small shuttle bus. So we walk. Not too far we find the HO HO Bus Stop (Hop On, Hop Off).

We board the bus and start our tour of Capetown. Just like several friends have told us, Capetown is a beautiful Port City! It is very modern and quite different from other African cities we have visited. The backdrop of Tabletop Mountain makes for stunning vistas! And then the bus starts to climb the hills and we get more stunning vistas of the port from above.

The winds are very strong and we are sitting in the top of the open top bus but our cameras have insisted that this is the place to be! So on we go until we get to the bus stop for the cablecar to the top of Table Mountain. As expected, though, the cablecar is not running today due to the high winds. A bit disappointed, but we also realize there is no way we’d want to be in a cablecar in these winds anyway.

So our cameras guide us as we walk around and a friendly Traffic Control guy takes us under his wing and shows us around as he describes everything to us. Thabo (pronounced Taa-Bow) is very friendly and quite knowledgeable about the area and even takes us to the beginning of a hiking trail that we climb for only a short distance on the very rough path in the strong winds before we decide ‘not today’. Our cameras get some fun views of the port below and Table Mountain above and then we head back to the bus stop. Thabo meets us again and shows us the different displays of cable cars used since 1929 and we are amazed at how tiny they are and how many people they carried!

Back on the bus, we drive over the pass between Table Top Mountain and Lion’s Head, a pointy mountain that reminds me of photos I have seen of a mountain in Iceland that I someday want to photograph. Off to the other side of Table Top is a third mountain known as ‘Devil’s Peak’. The scenery here is fantastic and soon we descend down the mountain pass to beautiful beaches with waves crashing in the high winds!

We drive through what surely must be a very expensive place to live with beautiful beach and cliffside houses, meticulously cared for, overlooking the beauty of rock strewn beaches and crashing waves. The winds are so strong that we have to strap our hats on tight! Then our bus stops and we are informed that we need to change buses as ours has got a flat tire!

After a while, we come to a bus stop where we get off and board a different bus to take us around the ‘Wine Trail Loop’. We stop at Jonkershuit Wine Estate, also known as Groot Constantia Wine Estate. This turns out to be the Oldest Winery in the Southern Hemisphere! It is so windy, we opt to go into the first building we can and it turns out to be the restaurant. We get seated and place our orders for lunch. We share an appetizer of ‘Smoked Kudu Carpachio’, a kind of African antelope. It is excellent! Then I order Ostrich Steak and am informed they are out of it. But instead they give me Springbok Steak, another kind of antelope. It is fabulous and cooked perfectly! Elee orders ‘Beef Bobotie’, a ground beef dish with egg. It was also delicious! To compliment the meal we order the ‘Governeurs Reserve Wines, White for Elee and Red for me. Both excellent choices!

We walk outside and brave the winds again and walk over to the wine tasting building. We look at the wine tasting menu and see the top choices were what we had with lunch so we move on and head back to the bus. The next stop is a walking trail down an extreme slope and we opt out and go back to the bus.

By the time the bus gets back to the start of the route, we are tired and still need to do some shopping. There is a Mall a short 10 minute walk from the bus stop and we pick up some sundries that we need. We also find the magnet for our stateroom wall. Armed with the items we need, we hire a taxi back to the ship and it costs 185 Rand, approximately $9 USD. The taxi driver comments that one of the ships had an “Oopsie” this morning. I tell him, “That’s the ship! Take us there!” The ship’s crew has painted over the dent in the back of the ship!

Back at the ship, we need to go through Immigration Passport Check and then it’s back on the ship. We grab a bite to eat in the Borough Market, aka the Buffet Restaurant. Walking around the ship, looking for music, we inadvertently miss the local Zulu Show in the theatre. Oh well, I find some other entertainment to listen to with a glass of wine.

Finally, back in our stateroom, we hear the captain come on the intercom and inform us that the winds are too strong and we can’t leave the pier tonight. We will attempt to leave in the morning!

Good Night All!

At Sea, April 3-4, 2024

Ukulele lessons continue and I have 7-10 Chords down. Tomorrow is the Ukulele/Choir Concert and I will be in the shadows in the middle of 100 Ukuleles! Believe me when I tell you that my Ukulele sounds fantastic in the middle of 100 Ukuleles! But it’s all in fun! Today, the 6 Meter swells in the ocean continue as we round the Cape of Good Hope! We’re told the seas will drop to 1.5 Meter swells by morning. Bummer, 5-6 Meter swells are my favorite!

Tonight in the theatre there is a show, “West End Wonders” where parts of Miss Saigon, West Side Story and other performances are performed by the entertainment crew. It is a good show!

So we sail along heading for Capetown, South Africa. We’re told that Capetown is one of the most beautiful Ports in the world! Time will tell and we’ll give you our opinion soon! Tonight in the theatre they are playing the movie, Moulin Rouge with Nicole Kidman. I walk into the movie 15 minutes in and watch 30 minutes worth. Not doing it for me and I walk out.

A half hour later, a guest group of guitar players called the, “Traveling Tilburys” plays and are very entertaining! Wish I took photos of them! But it is time to turn in and I bid you ‘Adieu’!

See you all tomorrow!

Thursday morning arrives and I head up to breakfast. The ship’s foghorn blows every 5 minutes or so as we are enveloped in pea soup fog.

Then it’s off to join friends for Morning Trivia. We don’t win like we did yesterday but it’s all good fun! Then back to my room to make sure my Ukulele in is tune before a sound and stage check at 12:30.

The concert is fun and I actually can play most of the songs! The name of the Ukulele group is fun also, it is “ABandOn Ship”!

At dinner, I can’t decide between appetizers so I order 2!

Good night everybody!