Days 47 & 48 - Last sea days - Baltics only!

With two days at sea to finish our Baltic’s cruise, it goes without saying that there is not much to report that will be of any value to anyone, other than those wasting time at either work or home - or looking for the usual insomnia cure.

Thursday, we had the pleasure of the orchestra’s Dixieland session in the atrium.  This is a staple of every cruise so far and as the band are generally highly competent session musicians, they generally sight read absolutely everything, with exception of the occasional solo.  This was one of the better Dixieland sessions we have seen and judging by the reaction of the large audience spread over three levels, others agreed.  A quick chat to the reeds’ player (who thankfully played clarinet today) established that it is his least favourite instrument, obviously preferring sax and flute, as he called the clarinet ‘the agony stick’!

We didn’t win afternoon trivia.

Formal night again and the captain’s farewell do. Beef Wellington was nice for dinner then onto the theatre (or theater if you prefer) for the final production show – ‘Disco – Blame it On The Boogie’.  Not really my favourite musical era.

We managed to catch a photograph of our other two Nottingham quiz members, Bob and Viv, with our new American attorney friend and Australian Chris playing supporting roles in the background…

By the end of the day, Paula has done her packing.  I haven’t even  started...

Friday July 11^th – our last full sea day

Not really an inspiring start to the activities.  Trivia followed Zumba in Club Fusion at the rear of the ship. No lights on at all other than on the dance floor, so it was pitch dark as people tried to find a seat or their quiz team mates.  A full team of six today and we did well – but not well enough to score one of the fantastic Princess prizes.

Deck 5, being a sea day, was very busy, so we returned to the cabin so that I could do my packing, returning to deck 5 at about 1:45 for a ‘Guinness and meat’ pie, proving that thankfully, I haven’t turned into a vegetarian.

With four cases to put out (yes, four!) Remember I’d brought a few bits back from the UK, not to mention a carton of 10 of Mr Carling’s fermented apple product.  That is not beer, at 70p a can.  Quite why the on board product is 600% more expensive, is excuse enough to try and get it on board. It was a bit crowded in the cabin, so I was one of the first to put out a case for collection.

Our final quiz score was our best ever – with 24 points!  (Six points for the colours on the South African flag and three for the music stars who died in a plane crash) but one team managed a full score of 27/27.  Swots.

Then the fog closed in…

The turkey dinner was excellent, but experienced Princess cruisers will note that the Emerald doesn’t seem to have the classy patterned plates. We farewelled 4 of our table mates (two are transferring to the Dawn) and our brilliant waiters, Jonathon and Ritchie and also head waiter, Daniel.

As is usual, the final theatre production was the crew show, which was one of the better ones we have seen. The entertainment staff’s rendition of their staple - ‘If I were not at Sea, this is what I’d be’… was excellent.  As usual, the cruise director Kelvin had the ballerina part and his closing words were ‘I have just one request.  PLEASE, don’t remember me like this!’  Kelvin in fact, proved to be a very good, fluent and witty  MC.

And so to bed, with once again, clocks going back an hour.  Hopefully the fog won’t delay our arrival in Southampton.

Tomorrow, the final leg of this trip begins - but I must do a quick assessment of the Emerald Princess, before we start on the Dawn The internet connection is frustratingly slow and unreliable and so reading emails still on the server, or uploading the blog, often means several attempts.  Goodness knows when this will be uploaded.