All at Sea

Sunday saw us with a day at sea as we coasted between Palma and Sicily – well Erica to be accurate. So if you have nothing to do onboard but relax and unwind what else would you reasonably consider doing except sunbath? Well……..

The day sadly doesn’t start in the most relaxed manner…. Well don’t get me wrong – the ultimate breakfast buffet, some pleasant conversation and a few tentative smiles to various members of staff who had seen us stagger back to the cabin, with shoes in hand, at about 3am really was a great start to the day and then the morning announcement came over the speakers. Now, if it wasn’t for the fact that it was the cruise directors duty to do this (and the fact that Kane really was a sweetie) I think Claire and I would have happily tried to hurt someone as we were rudely reminded of the lifeboat drill we had to attend. Oh! It’s not so bad you say? Ooooooh yes it really, really is! Those life jackets are anything but comfortable and the fact you have to walk from your cabin to the station wearing them, whilst all the staff try and keep a straight face is just about enough to make you want to crawl back to your cabin and keep you there until the end of the week.

Moan over, I do have to say, this years drill was quicker than the one on the Celebration and the highly entertaining actions to how you should correctly jump overboard by the entertainment team made it somewhat more worth while, but I cannot re-iterate the relief I felt when we safely got back to the cabin to stow the jackets away again – I can only say I wish that it was the last time we thought of them during the holiday, but the extreme weather we were to hit later in the week did make us question whether we would need to use them.

Never mind.

Drill over, photographs taken for blackmail purposes later in life sorted and bikinis slipped on, Claire and I – finally – headed up on deck for some sun and relaxation. Only the sun wasn’t quite as warm as we had anticipated it being – I mean, come on! This was the med, it was meant to be hot – right? Well, we braved the passing clouds, sea breeze and slightly less than warm sun and as true brits we decided stuff it! This was the closest to decent weather we’d both seen in a long time and we were going to soak up some much needed Vitamin D.

3 hours later, we finally admitted defeat and I slipped on the sundress to run to the other end of the deck to grab a couple of cups of tea to warm us through. I didn’t really think about it and left my shoes at the end of the sun bed and duly got caught by one of the senior wait staff, who it later turned out was also in charge of our seating area at dinner. With a cheeky ‘I only want a couple of cup of teas – you don’t really mind do you?’ he laughed and said he’d turn a blind eye on this occasion. Only the thing was, from this moment on, every time we ran into him (Alex) he’d make a point of stopping us to check we had shoes on – it became a running joke and by the end of the week we only had to flash him our feet to show off the shoes to get a laugh out of him and some very confused looks from other staff members.

Now, the day at sea also means only one thing – Captain’s Gala Night! There is nothing Claire and I love more than being able to slip on a stunning dress and go all out – because frankly when else are you going to be able to get the chance to do it? So at half 4 we headed below deck to start the preparations and after a miserly hour and a half – this was the result:

Not bad if I do say so myself!

So Gala night commenced with, as ever, lots of photographs being taken – 2 different backdrops, individual and joint photos on each and one with the Captain before being welcomed into the show lounge with a glass of champagne and another round of photo’s once we were seated. The captains speech was sweet and charming – asking us to forget about the trials and tribulations that awaited us at home, and to focus on relaxation and to make sure we made the best use of his staff to do this (LOL! Well…..)

 Me - obviously!

Claire, Captain Emmanuel Psarrakis and Me

After a quick introduction to his senior staff and heads of department, we were escorted down to the restaurant for a stunning meal where we ate far too much and finally met the other 6 members of our table. It was an interesting mix of people to say the least but more on them later in the week.

Dinner over, we excused ourselves to grab a quick drink before heading back to the show lounge for that night’s performance – Concerto! I wish I could say that this was a brand new show for us – but it wasn’t, we’d seen it on the Celebration the year before, nevertheless – who doesn’t love a good show tune and some classic songs that will never age? And although we had seen this show before, there really was something about this entertainment team that made it fresh, new and something truly memorable.

Show over, we headed up 7 flights of stairs to go and relax in the sky bar. Whilst very relaxing, the primary reason for heading up to the sky bar, the views, is somewhat pointless when all you can see is the moon and the sea – so we decided to move and find some more entertainment, or at least a more lively atmosphere and we moved back to the Oklahoma bar for the spotlight cabaret………

The Gala Cocktail - Fruit juice, coconut and a LOT of rum!

Once more we were dragged onto the dance floor by the entertainment team who seemed to assume that dancing the night away in 3” heels was a comfortable prospect, refused to let us take a break from the start to the finish of the show and when we finally did escape (at 2am) it was a more horrifying thought to try and get the shoes off then leave them on and so we decided that the only way to numb the pain was to prop up a bar and find something strong to drink. Luckily for us, Buster and Kane were there and we had our drinks in a matter of moments of being sat! Now that is what I call service. We were joined by the entertainment manager, and another old friend of Buster’s, Nick and as such we spent an enjoyable half hour laughing none stop and we bid everyone good night at a little after half 2, determined to get some sleep before our day trip to Erice.

Night 2's Animal - Claire and I came to the conclusion that it was a crab

Day 3: Not quite as planned