First day at sea.

Saturday 7 May.

 

Our first day at sea. I was up at 6::00 am and made my way up to the coffee urns 3 decks above. The weather was murky and there was a strong breeze blowing, mainly due to the forward motion of the ship. The crew were already out hosing the decks and setting up sun loungers, though by the feel of the wind and cloudy sky there wont be many people out sunbathing today. I filled up our mugs with hot coffee and after we had it in our cabins made our way to the walking/jogging track above the pool area.

 

There were a few people there already and after doing a bit of stretching I set off jogging at a steady pace while Moira had a good walk. Why it is some people have to be awkward and be different, most were going round in a clockwise direction but one or two had to go anti-clockwise and cause confusion? Once we had completed half an hour we headed back to our cabin where we showered before making for the buffet and breakfast. We had our normal; cereal, fruit and yoghurt with toast and tea but others were making their way through enormous plates full of eggs, bacon and sausages, obviously getting their money's worth.

 

Once we finished our breakfast the conditions weren't suitable for sitting outside so we made our way to the disco lounge. This was where we spent a lot of the time on the last cruise, it was comfortable and warm and fortunately the disco didn't start until late at night. We found seats near the window but there wasn't much of a view, just rolling sea to the horizons and it was gray and cold looking. Moira bought an hour of WiFi for each iPad, at $15 each, and we downloaded the 'Telegraph'. The time for the WiFi is calculated only when we use it so after getting the newspaper we switched it off again and we still have 55 minutes left on each iPad. We sat there until lunchtime, reading and I managed to finish the crossword. Even though the disco wasn't on there was some activity and music, a dance instruction class was taking place where they were teaching a large group a latin American dance.

 

After lunch in the buffet I wasn't feeling very good and we went to the cabin to lie down. I was a bit sea-sick, this seems to always happen on my fist day at sea. Also my achilles tendon was sore after the jogging this morning. It was all right while running, it developed after I stopped. This also happened on the last cruise and was probably due to the tight bends at each end of the track. I had a bit of a sleep and was feeling better mid-afternoon when it was time for a talk in the theatre about our first port of call tomorrow, Walvis Bay in Namibia. It was very interesting and the woman covered the ancient history of the country, the Colonial era and modern times including tourist attractions - the Skeleton Coast, the sand dunes and Kalihari desert. There were tours going to different regions organised by MSC but we will just have a walk to the lagoon in Walvis Bay to see the famous flocks of flamingoes.

 

After another lie down in the cabin for an hour or so it was time for dinner. We just had a main course then headed for the theatre again for tonight's entertainment. Before it began we were introduced to the heads of all the departments on the ship and expected to applaud them, I though the gratuity of $12 each per day was enough thanks to give them without clapping as well. The Captain was the last to appear and he then proceeded to give a thank-you talk, we were relieved when it was only a couple of sentences long but then he repeated it in German, French, Spanish and Italian. At last it was time for the show, called 'Cleopatra', but it wasn't very good. It was amateurish dancers and acrobats and very loud supposedly Egyptian music!

 

When we came out we headed along the deck to check out the different bars to see what music was on. At the first bar there was a female singer who was very good and we sat down to listen then I spotted the TV on the wall. There was football on; Leicester v Everton but there was only 15 minutes left to go, I should have watched this instead of 'Cleopatra'. Leicester were 3-0 up and when I sat down to watch Leicester got a penalty but Jamie Vardy missed it. Leicester eventually won 3-1 and were presented with the Premier League Trophy to wonderful scenes of celebration in front of a packed stadium of ecstatic fans. There wasn't any sound on the TV and while watching the game I was able to listen to the singer in the background who was very good. She finished about the same time as the football so we returned to the buffet for our dessert. Moira had kept two tubs of yoghurt from breakfast and we had it with some fruit.

 

When we finished it was back to the bars and there was more enjoyable music, a older couple firstly singing country music then a young guy from Pretoria with a guitar who did mainly 60's stuff. There was a small dance floor with a number of people 'strutting their stuff', we were tempted to join in but Moira was worried about her hip with all the twisting and turning. Instead we sat and enjoyed the music until he finished about 10:00 pm, our bedtime anyway.

 

We were soon in our cabins and ready for a good night's sleep. The clocks changed tonight, back, so we have an extra hour.

 

 

 

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