A leisurely start to the day and no sign of any of any of our previous Trivia Team members. Maybe they were in the library, swotting? More of a worry is that we haven’t seen Tony and Sheila at all for a couple of days. However, two couples from Dudley (near Birmingham) asked us to join them. Even with a French teacher and a history teacher, we still didn’t win, so maybe trivia is getting tougher?
Just a coffee and a bowl of soup down on deck five and we also asked Elsa from Auckland to join us, as it was pretty crowded.
Trying to keep up with the blog (me) or Mahjong solitaire (Paula) before afternoon trivia. This time, we did find one of the two previous couples and a couple from Australia – still no luck.
For the 6:30 show, it was a return of Gary Thompson, this time in the Explorer’s lounge and backed by the orchestra. Another good show – and for those currently on the Dawn Princess, look out, as he is heading your way.
A bit of on board shopping (a jacket for me and a book for Paula). Why are paperback books so expensive in NZ?
Dinner was OK, my tandoori prawn main as a starter was OK (see pic) but might have been better as a curry as it needed a sauce. The main of two beef short ribs must have been cooked separately, as one was tender and one was too tough - so I left it.
When waiter Jonathon took away the plate, knowing how normally I cleared it, he was concerned that the beef wasn’t up to standard and insisted on calling head waiter, Daniel. Whether this is a new policy or not I do not know, but they genuinely wanted any negative feedback reporting.
Production show time at 10:30pm. A far more enjoyable show than the first one and I think it was called ‘A Swell Party’ – but was set 1920’s style and with appropriate music – initially – and excellent 1920’s costumes. Clever use of the centre stage/lift, set below the main level to look like a swimming pool. We can’t get used to this ship being alive at 11:30pm – and that is without the night club, which appears to suffer from the same sort of support as the Dawn - minimal.
We now start a run of six port days so time to pace ourselves, with Stockholm tomorrow and after today’s 17 degrees, a forecasted 21 degrees which will suit us just fine. Ho-Ho bus planned – again. We must do a bit more ship exploring, as I am sure there is a golf putting area up top somewhere.
Apparently, we are not returning to the Mayflower Terminal at Southampton, but the Ocean Terminal. We have no idea exactly where that is, but along with at least one other couple who are on our table, we have asked that Princess sort out getting the luggage over to the QEII terminal for us. The problem is that no-one seems to know what time luggage acceptance starts, but we don’t want to be lumbered with our main cases until 3pm, when we have to be off the ship before 10:15am. They’ll get back to us shortly, but if not resolved, it may affect our day in Southampton, so hopefully we can get it sorted early enough to let brother Malc know what is happening.
Nice to hear from our American friends from the Diamond Princess, end 2011. Hi to Spadoes and Mrs Diamex…
Internet connection is very erratic, so it often takes three or four attempts to upload the blog as the signal keeps dropping out altogether. Very frustrating as you often can’t connect to log out and it appears to keep racking up the minutes used anyway.
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