A gottle of gear

Last night the act in the theatre was a ventriloquist by the name of Gareth Oliver, he was the funniest vent I've seen in a long while.
The show was made even better by him getting my mate John up on stage, fitting him with a mask and making him a ventriloquists dummy.
Anyone who knows John knows that he DOESN'T do audience participation, well with the help of a litre of €1.09 red wine he'd bought ashore in Ponte del Garda, he became the star of the show.
Gareth had him telling everyone that he was wearing his wifes thong and was an expert ballet dancer to name but two things.
John is definitely not a ballet dancer, but the jury is still out on the thong wearing.....lmao.
Well, I was proved wrong and we actually got in to the Azores, well done captain...
Ponte del Garda was a nice town and we enjoyed a couple of hours there, and the rain held off, woo hoo!
We continued our cultural tour and found our usual cheap local bar and had a couple of beers.
At €1 each it was one of the cheapest on the tour.
On a more serious note we found out that the island had some really bad weather the night before we arrived, the TV news showed pictures of some really bad flooding and I believe three people lost their lives in the storms.
It puts some of the complaints about the ship rocking in to perspective....

From one storm to another

The weather has calmed down a lot, the banging waves have stopped and we are not being thrown about which is good, but there is still a deep swell on the ocean so the ship is still rocking a bit.
So one storm finishes and another starts, this one is called Rebecca and she's on stage in the theatre.
She was good last week and brilliant last night, she doesn't just sing songs she acts out stories.
With every song she sang you understood the lyrics and felt the emotion.
She was in a word; brilliant.
Along with Kandy the vocalist with the Intermission duo, they are just about the two best female vocalists I've ever heard.
They are completely different types of singers, but both can tell a story in song and fill it with emotion.

The cruel sea

It's been three days since we left Charleston SC and the storm hasn't let up despite the captain telling us each day that, tomorrow it will be better.
I don't know how these solo sailors manage in this kind of weather, I'd be scared out of my mind.
When we got that extra night in Charleston I immediately thought, they've given us this because of the long range weather forecast and they knew we wouldn't get in to the Azores.
As it stands it's looking like I could be right, as usual I'll keep you informed, free wifi permitting....lmao.

Do you believe in angels?

Kandy the singer with the Intermission Duo, and Sheila have found they have an affinity with each other, in that they both strongly believe in angels and all things spiritual, Kandy even has two cats called Gabriel and Rafael, who are the two main angels.
They have been discussing angels and stuff most nights, but the weird thing was yesterday when they both had decided without any prior knowledge, to give each other a gift.
Sheila had been telling me during the day that she was going to give Kandy an angel as protection for Kandy, she had been given the angel by our Nic, but knew she wouldn't mind as that's the kind of thing you do with angel gifts, that is pass them on for protection etc.
Anyway when we went to the Lord Taverners bar last night Kandy came over to see Sheila and gave her a religious medal of St Gerrard that her mother had given her.
St Gerrard is apparently the patron saint of mothers, and Kandy says Sheila reminds her of her mum.
Sheila have Kandy her angel gift, but the strange thing is both of them deciding to give the gifts and on the same day.
Coincidence? Maybe, but still a nice little story.......

Force 10 gales and footballers.

The title says it all, we've been tossed and thrown all over the place today, and it's due to continue tomorrow.
Touch wood I've not been sick so it's not to bad, but there's time yet, lol.
Going to see an ex Glasgow Rangers player speak tonight, his name is Gordon Smith.
I have heard of him but don't know to much about him.
If he's half as good as Duncan McKenzie he'll be great....I'll keep you informed later.....
It's now later and I've been to see Gordon Smith, he was very good and had some interesting and very funny stories.
I think that the thing that makes footballers stories so good is that they are talking about an occupation that most blokes would love to have been able to take up.
He has through the Scottish FA, been involved with FIFA and had a good insight in to the running of international football.
After the talk I picked Sheila up from the cabin, went for something to eat, then off to bed as the theatre entertainment was canceled due to the weather.
I thought this a bit strange as the act was a ventriloquist, and not a singer and dancer.
I didn't think a vent would be bothered by a bit of swaying, bit there you go, what do I know......lol

Surrey with a fringe on top.

Well I'm not sure if it was a surrey, but it was a horse drawn carriage and it did have a fringe on top, and it was a brilliant way to explore downtown Charleston.
We spent a very short hour on the carriage and the driver gave us a humorous potted history of Charleston, explaining things like the wealth in the town and not the haves and have nots, but the haves and have a whole lot more each side of Broad street.
Then it was on to the hour and a half harbour tour, which again was great.
We learned about the first shots of the civil war being fired from fort Johnson on the Confederate side to fort Sumpter on the union side.
While this went on the people of Charleston who lived by the water watched and partied as it was so far away from them across the bay.
We also saw things like the retired aircraft carrier Yorktown which is now docked at Patriots Point, and is a floating museum.
The tour, carriage and boat was booked by Chisit, online before we came away, the whole thing cost $39 per person, which was brilliant as the carriage ride alone booked on the ship was £34
So once again well done John.
We then had a walk around the slave museum, which was quite touching and humbling in many ways.
Then a stroll to find something to eat, we first tried to find a place called AW Shucks which had been recommended, but we couldn't find it, so we ended up in a restaurant called Sticky Fingers where we had pulled pork and fries washed down with a large draught beer.
It was brilliant and John and I agreed we'd never had our pork pulled so well in a long time...lmao

Charleston, South Carolina

We docked in beautiful Charleston last night, which was twelve hours earlier than the itinerary stated.
That gave us an overnight in port and a chance to explore some of the town and find out where we pick up our carriage ride on the morning.
We did this but didn't stay out to long as most places were shut and also it was bloody cold.
We got back to the ship about 9 pm and had a drink before going to see the show that John had recommended.
It was a singer called Rebecca Storm, who I'd never heard of but John said she was very good, and I must say she was.
She did a lot of musical theatre stuff, Evita, Blood Brothers, etc and she'd actually starred in them.
She was excellent and acted out the songs rather than just sing them.
Strike two for Chis, we just need the carriage ride to be good and that will be his hat trick of good recommendations, space centre, theatre and carriage ride...lol
I'll keep you informed.
Looking forward to today as Charleston looks to be a beautiful and interesting place, but I well be putting two pairs of socks on and getting well wrapped up.

Port Canaveral, well done Chisit.

Today was port Canaveral and John (chisit) had pre booked our transport and entrance to the Kennedy space centre.
Everything went like clockwork, we left the ship about 8.20 and our private minibus was waiting for us to rocket us off to the space centre, no waiting in the shuttle queues for us! (see what I did there, Rocket, shuttle? lmao)
It also worked out about half the ships tour price on which you had to pile onto a big coach.
The fifteen minute journey was made interesting by the driver who gave us a running commentary on all the interesting points locally, even stopping at a storage depot in the middle of nowhere, to show us a unused fuel tank from the shuttle program, it was huge, it is the big orange thing the shuttle is attached to on take off.
It wasn't part of the space centre display, so that was a nice little extra that you wouldn't have got on the ships tour.
When he dropped us off at the centre we had pre booked tickets so no waiting in line, we went straight in.
Once in we spent a brilliant seven hours exploring the wonders of space travel, from the two 3D IMAX cinema shows, to the space shuttle simulator (which was a bit tame), along with the rocket garden, astronauts memorial and my favourite the amazing 364ft Saturn rocket, we had a brilliant day, and there was still lots more to see, if only we had the time.
My only disappointment was that we didn't get to see and stand on the real space shuttle which I did last time I was here, about ten years ago.
But it has been moved to the New display centre for the Atlantis program which doesn't open till June this year, maybe next time...
Once again Chis well done and if the stuff you've booked for is in Charleston is half as good, we'll be on a winner.
I'm gonna stop now or you'll be getting a big (bigger) head....lol.

Port Everglades

Port Everglades today, that means shopping for us but Jennifer and John haven't been to this port before so they're off exploring Fort Lauderdale.
Sheila's favourite store here is "Ross dress for less" it's a US version of TK Max, designer clothes at discount prices.
We got all the grandkids Converse trainers and got little Josh a really cool pair of Nike trainers, plus some stuff for ourselves, of course.
Sheila spent so flippin much I had to make two trips back to the ship.
Then it was a coffee and free wifi in the Marina Deli, which is far cheaper than Starbucks and the wifi is better, also it has local people in there not bloody tourists....
Before you say it, I know I'm to good to Sheila taking her to all these really up market eateries....lmao.

Key West

It's got to be at least ten years since I was in key West and nothing seems to have changed.
Despite the storms and hurricanes they've had the buildings all look the same.
Even the weired and wonderful people look the same.
Must be something in the water
The weather wasn't to bad but not brilliant, the four of us booked on the tourist train for a look around the island it was quite good and at $21 it was $8 cheaper than the Conch train which did the same tour but was called the conch train, conch republic being the nickname of the island.
After the tour we went shopping..groan!
After shopping we continued our cultural drinking tour...woo hoo!
Duvall st is the main street in key West and is full of bars.
We first tried Irish Kevins which was really noisy and rocking, with a guy playing guitar and singing.
Then it was on to the world famous `Sloppy Joe's` and finally a place called `The Smallest Bar`.
Then suitably inebriated we went back to the ship four food and a well earned sleep......

$3 City Tour

We decided to have a little ride on the riverfront streetcar then do the open top bus tour.
So first we got ourselves a 24hr jazzy pass for the local transport, great value at $3 each.
We road the full length of the riverfront line which is a really good way to view the river.
Then as it was a bit cold for doing the open top bus, we decided to see as much of the city as we could by streetcar, at the end of the riverfront line we changed cars for the canal st, city park line which takes you right up to the north end of the city almost as far as lake Pontchartrain.
We then road the same car back to St Charles ave and switched to the St Charles line through the university and business district.
The whole thing took us about six hours including coffee stops.
So just about the best $3 we've spent on the whole cruise up to now...lol.
After a bit of shopping in the Riverwalk mall it was back to the ship for a well earned rest.

Message for Ken

Bloody hell mate! what happened yesterday?
I was hoping for a draw at least.
Tell you what though I'm glad I wasn't there with you I'd have ended up locked up....lol.
Btw you'd have loved New Orleans the other night we had a ball, but I really am getting to old for this drinking lark nowadays.
Speak soon  :-)

The Big Easy

Well after a very pleasant immigration clearance, the quickest and easiest we've ever had in the US, we went for our first walk around New Orleans, mainly in the french quarter.
In the cold light of day it was a bit run down and seedy.
But later on in the evening it became colourful and vibrant.
Only three of us went out in the evening as Sheila wasn't up to it after all the walking we did in the morning.
So she missed her voodoo reading, I just hope Dr John doesn't put a hex on us....lol.
Anyway the first place we hit was Laffiettes old blacksmiths shop, which is the oldest bar in the french quarter.
Out was ok but a bit dark and dismal.
We got talking to a group of lads from Texas who were on a stag weekend.
We moved on to a couple of other bars and then to a bar called The Funky Pirate Blues Club, which was brilliant, the band was superb, the did all the old blues stuff by John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and guys like that.
Another bar whose name escapes me had a young rock band on, so we had Led Zeppelin and the like.
The one thing we didn't hear on Bourbon st was jazz, which was a shame.
On the street though there were lots of different entertainers ranging from a guy making fantastic music on a plastic bucket to break dancers dancing on a huge chess board.
All in all we had a great but very tiring day...think I'm getting to old for all this partying, in fact I don't think it I KNOW! it lol.
If we visit New Orleans again which I'm sure we will, Bourbon St won't be top of the list, but will still be on it if quite a but lower down.

Puerta Maya, Cozumel, Mexico

Puerta Maya today, nice place if very commercialized.
The port area consisted of lots and lots of shops and the largest duty free shop I've ever seen.
I must admit that there were bargains to be had especially in T shirts.
The shop keepers were quite friendly and not to pushy, one of them was either very funny or very honest when he said to us, "senor, senora, come into my shop and give me the chance to rip you off" he said this with a great big smile...lol
We went for a short walk outside the port and continued our Caribbean cultural tour by finding a Mexican, Chinese restaurant that had cheap beer and free wifi, where we spent a very pleasant hour or so.
After that it was back to the port to buy some booze for various people, then it was all aboard for another couple of drinks before a well earned afternoon nap.
In the evening our favourite entertainment on the ship, the Intermission Duo, where appearing in the Pacific lounge, which is the main cabaret lounge on the ship and they were brilliant even sounding better than in the Lords tavern pub, which is their usual venue.
In this bigger venue Kandy could really let her voice rip and Gordon could wap his guitar and electric piano volume right up the effect was amazing.
They really are the best entertainment I've ever seen on board any ship I've been on, especially Kandy whose vocals are amazing.
But it's not just the vocals she uses the mic like an instrument and literally acts out the songs she sings.
They finished last nights spot with Wuthering heights, by Kate Bush and imho did it better than she does, with Kandys amazing voice and Gordons superb guitar work it was a brilliant end to a brilliant show.... They really should be headlining in the theatre.

Way down south in Nawlins

It's 5 am on Friday 1st March and we're about to dock in New Orleans. We've been sailing along the mighty Mississippi since 9pm last night, it's still to dark to see much yet, but we have been passing lots of oil, or gas rigs in the river since we entered it's mouth.
Also the Mississippi is longer, wider and deeper than I realised as Oriana is a big ship at about 70,000 tons and we've been steaming along the river for almost eight hours and we're not there yet.
I'll be going down to get our immigration passes soon so I'll have more to report later.

Grand Cayman

We're all berthed off Georgetown Grand Cayman.
There are five ships most are not allowed to anchor due to the coral on the sea bed, from what I can see it's only the Disney Magic that's anchored.
The other four, that's us the Oriana, the Carnival Victory, the Aida Aura and the RCCL Independence of the Seas are all not anchored but held on position by their engines.
The temperature is in the 80s already and it's only 9am.
We're doing our usual two or three hours by the pool, then lunch and then we'll hit the town..

Montego bay.

What a disappointment! Montego bay conjures up thoughts of beautiful sunshine, miles and miles of gorgeous beaches and Bobby Bloom singing the delights of Montego bay, on the island of Jamaica.
Then P&O go and spoil it all by docking us in an industrial wasteland, trying to pass it off as a romantic tropical port, and failing miserably.
There was literally nothing there except for a run down shopping complex just outside the port gates, where all but one shop and one bar was closed.
We didn't use the shop but did use the VERY overpriced bar for the wifi.
To be honest inside the port building there were some more trinket shops and one even more expensive bar.
You could not walk to anywhere as nothing was within walking distance.
There was a shuttle available at $10 return which would take you to a shopping mall.
We didn't bother with it and after having a beer in the outside bar and using the wifi, we returned to the ship.
By the horror stories we heard later about passengers being ripped off by the shuttle divers it was a wise move.
All in all where P&O decided to park the ship, was second only to Alexandria in Egypt as being the worst place I've visited.
Grand Cayman today and I've been informed that there are 5 cruise ships in port today with a total of about 13,000 passengers on the island, oh what joy!
God I'm doing a lot of moaning this morning....lol
Last time I was in Grand Cayman about 13 years ago, we had a ball, I found a little 'Rasta' bar that sold cheap rum & coke....what an afternoon that was...nearly missed the ship....lol
...I'll keep you informed.....

Hell and back!!

Well as I said we hit the town, that is after a 40 minute wait for a tender.
When we finally got to George town it was like first day of the January sales, there where thousands of people milling around.
We decided to leave the waterfront and take to the side streets, where John spotted a sign for the local bus that could take us to Hell for $2.50 each.
So on we got and sure enough after about 15 minutes we arrived at Hell.
The charge was only $2.50 each as I said, with no messing around or the driver asking for tips as is usually the case.
The driver told is that when we were ready to come back all we had to do was stand at the front of the post office and a bus would be no more than 10 minutes.
For those who've not been to Hell before it's quite an interesting little place with it's volcanic rocks and quaint little post office.
For the princely sum of 95 cents you can buy a postcard and a stamp and send it to your family or friends with the postmark 'sent from Hell'.
We then waited by the road and sure enough within 10 minutes a bus came and took us back to the port.
Once again no hassle or tips wanted.
We even had a chat with a lovely Jamaican guy who works on the island.
I wish our pubic transport at home was as reliable and friendly.
Back in George Town we joined the rather large queue for our tender back to the ship.
There must have been 500 people queuing for the Oriana tender and only 5 queuing for the Aida Aura tender, obliviously the Germans can organise things far better than us Brits...
Their tenders went back and forth like clockwork, ours either failed to launch, which happened with one of them, broke down which happened with another or ran aground on the beach which happened with the third one.
All in all it failed to instil confidence.
The tenders aside we all had a great day ashore, even of we didn't manage to continue our cultural tour of Caribbean bars as we couldn't find one empty enough to get served in the limited time we had left.....

My god the heat, the damned heat!

Day at sea yesterday and the officer of the watch announced a temperature of 26 degrees, well I think he needs a little finger on his watch as the temperature was definitely in the 30s.
Just ask any of the sun worshipers who vacated their sunbeds about 1pm because they were melting in the heat, the beds that is not the people...lol.

Sheila and I had a sun free day and stayed inside most of the time, just venturing out at lunch time for the on deck Bar-BQ, which I'm sure they could have cooked without charcoal...did I mention how hot it was on deck? Lol.

After lunch my bed was calling me so I had a nap till quiz time, you may have noticed that I've not mentioned the quizzes much recently, that's mainly due to the fact that after our good start at the beginning of the cruise, we've bombed out in most of the quizzes.
But we still keep plugging away, we're hoping most of the other teams get bored of winning and stop turning up, thus giving us a better chance of winning. Then again the way we've been performing if we were the only team taking part we'd still finish second....lol.

Sheila and I decided to have an early night and went to bed at 9.30pm, with the hour going back that made it 8.30 pm and the reason for me writing this blog at 4.45am lol.
Well I have had 8 hours sleep plus naps.
It's Montego bay, Jamaica today so Sheila, Jennifer, John and I are going to continue our cultural crusade of the Caribbean.
We've had a few warnings about the dangers of walking around Jamaica alone, but being seasoned travellers and hard cases from Bradford and Liverpool I'm sure we'll be ok......lol.
If that fails I'm hoping Jennifer being almost a local will help..lmao.
It's Monday 25th of February, you know the time and it's dark outside but lovely and warm....

'Buy a drink'

Road Town, Tortola today and we continued our cultural tour of the Caribbean by looking for a cheap local bar, which we initially failed to do.
The bars we passed were either closed or as in one case to expensive at $3 a beer!!.lol
So we headed back to the harbour bar which turned out to be even more expensive at $3.50 a beer but it did have wifi.
I purchased 4 Carib beers, flippin heck that cost $14!! (I'm sure I'm turning into a Yorkshire man)
I then says to the girl behind the bar does the wifi need a password? To which she replies "yes", so I says "what is it?"
She replies "buy a drink".
Then me being the complete knob head that I am says "I've just bought one, in fact I've just bought 4".
She looks at me and I look at her for what seems an eternity.
She then says "right what did you ask me?" I said "is there a password for the wifi?"
She says "yes" once again.
So I says "what is it? 'please' ", thinking she was being funny because I hadn't said please the first time.
To which she replied 'buy a drink'.
I actually opened my mouth to speak when the penny FINALLY dropped 'buyadrink' ......'buyadrink', what a clever password, far to clever for me obviously.....LMFAO
On the way back to the ship we found a proper local bar doing beers at 2 for $5 and rum punch and something called a pain killer for $5 each, John insisted we tried one after our beers, I had a rum punch and he had a pain killer.
I can tell you they both killed pain, until the next morning when they then caused pain....will we ever learn? ....lol.

Yummie Yummie

St Kitts today and it looks like we're doing a tour of the Caribbean by local bars.
Today it was Yummies bar and Snackette, which is a typical Caribbean type bar serving local beer and local food which mainly seemed to be rice and beans served with salad. (eat in or take away)
Once again we just sampled the beer and gave the food a miss, I'm sure one of these days we'll be brave enough to try some, somewhere...BBB
We had the craic with the owner who called himself 'film star'because he'd met the Prime Minister of St Kitts and had a photo to prove it. I must admit in the photo dressed in his white fedora hat and white suit with matching white shoes and blood red scarf he did look every inch the film star. Just a pity in real life his tatty shorts and Tshirt, flip flops and crooked teeth ruined the illusion, he was a nice guy though.
We then headed back to the port and found another bar there called 'Te Pau' which sold Carib beer at 99 cents a bottle! Bloody hell, we'd just been paying $2 at 'Yummies bar'....lol.
After 'Te Pau' we returned to the ship for a well earned sleep.
Later that evening on board ship there was a 'Caribbean Pool Party' but we didn't stay as it mainly consisted of 60 to 70 year old pensioners 'dad' dancing to Bob Marley, and that is not a pretty sight. So we finished the evening off in lord's Tavern listening to the brilliant 'Intermission Duo' with Kandy singing at her brilliant best. Then off to bed for another well earned sleep.
Tomorrow it's Tortola, which is just about the most beautiful island I've seen and because we've all seen it before and done the tours and the beach, I think just for a change we'll suss out a local bar, and continue our cultural tour of the Caribbean....hic!...
Jennifer has had a text off Hazel & posh Peter, and I believe you're reading the blog guys, so this is a quick hi from us all, and we really do wish you were here xx

Sandra's bar is the place to be

Well St Lucia was good this time round.
For one thing everything was open, so there were plenty of shops and things to see, which there weren't last time.
We got some free internet outside a shopping centre not far from the ship.
Then we had the piece de resistance "Sandra's Bar", which was a shack with seats, by what passed for a river, but looked more like an open drain, but if I'm honest it didn't smell, well not much....lol.
In Sandra's bar you could get local Piton beer for $1.20 a bottle and if you were brave enough you cold sample the delights of smoked herring and cucumber salad.
This delightful local delicacy looked and smelled awful, but Jermain, who was one of the local characters in the bar waxed lyrical on the delights of this wonderful dish.
We were all panicking in case he offered us a taste, which thankfully he didn't.....phew!
The place was full of locals coming and going one of them was a girl whose name I didn't get, who before her shift behind the bar at an all inclusive beach resort, sank four or five bottles of guinness, while telling us of the free shots to be had while she was working in the hotel bar....lol.
All in all it was a great afternoon where we met some real people and not one of the expensive and contrived trips from the ship where the things you see and people you meet are all put there for the tourists.

Today we are in St Kitts & Nevis, the weather report is good so we should have a good day, I'll keep you informed.....

Funchal Madeira

We landed at Funchal on the beautiful island of Madeira this morning and after breakfast three of us that is John, Jennifer and myself decided just to have a walk around the town as we'd been to the island many times before and done the tours etc. Sheila stayed on board as her back was playing up again.
We headed for the local market as Jen and John had not seen it before. It's quite an interesting place it's on three levels the ground floor level and the first floor mezzanine level sells all manner of exotic fruit and veg, some of which the stall holders offer you to taste.
The lower level is the fish market, there you can buy some of the most unusual and grotesque looking sea creatures known to man....Lol
After visiting the market we headed to the Beatles yacht in the harbour, it apparently was owned by the Beatles when they first became famous in the early 60s and now has been converted into a restaurant and bar, there we had a cold beer and watched the world go by for half an hour.
Very pleasant it was too.
Later back on the ship, while Jen and John went to the restaurant for dinner, Sheila and I went to the Lord's tavern for the quiz as we'd eaten earlier.
It was a TV themed quiz and we were invited to join a team by people we had met on a cruise on this ship two years ago.
I was surprised when they recognized us, but I suppose it's one seen never forgotten lol.
Anyway we won the quiz by a country mile, only dropping two and a half points out of forty....Which only goes to show what couch potatoes we all are and that we should really get out more.....lol
Later we met Jen and John in the crow's nest bar for a few drinks and to watch the duo, who are really good, particularly the female singer who has an unusual and quite brilliant voice, she puts her own twist on all the songs she sings.
We didn't get to bed till turned midnight which for an old codger like me is very late.....Lol
Consequently I didn't get up till 7am this morning (well there's half the day gone...Lol)
It's now 10.15am on Saturday 16th of Feb, the weather is slightly overcast but warm and the Atlantic ocean is like a mill pond....

Testing the ship's webcam

Today we're going to try out the ship's webcam, I've arranged with our Nic to be on the P&O website on the Oriana webcam page at 11am UK time and Sheila and I will be in front of the ship's webcam at 8am ship's time waiving and jumping around.
I've asked her to text us when she's seen us so we can stop before people think we're daft lol.
Other than that there's not a lot to report.....The weather is fantastic, hot, hot, hot and sunny, well it's not sunny at this particular moment as it's only 5.15am, but it is beautifully warm.
I'm guessing after the webcam we'll be sunbathing, I did three and a half hours yesterday, world record for me!...
We saw the comedian again last night name of Lee Wilson, very funny guy, then it was off to bed at about 12 pm, but it was only really 11pm as the clocks went back again last night.
I'm sure that on the way back and the hours are put back on, that if I'm not careful, I'll meet myself getting up....LMFAO.
Well that's about it for now, I've told you the time and the weather, the seas calm....yep that's about it......
It's now 9am and its started to rain a little bit, but it's still warm and I think it will pass and when the sun gets up it should burn off the cloud.....fingers crossed....
10am and the rain, what there was off it has cleared. We're all sitting around the pool area and Sheila has started doing her knitting again, don't think I can remember what she used to do before she took up knitting.....

Land ho!

Today is Thursday 21st February and today we dock at our first Caribbean island the island of St Lucia.
The last time we were here was two years ago and I'm afraid the overall impression of the town we landed at, the name of which escapes me, was not a good one it appeared to be a mixture of the worst places in Wigan and Bradford, but with sun.....
We were twice warned about the dangers of walking in certain areas, once by the police and once by a local barber.
It sort of ruined all the brochure pictures and romantic island blurb....Lol
Anyway, yesterday was nice the weather was once again fantastic, and I did another 4 hour marathon sunbathing session with Sheila, John and Jennifer, but with a slight difference, they were in the sunshine and I was in the shade and even in the shade with the ship doing about 17 knots it was still hot hot hot.
In the afternoon we bombed out of the music quiz only finishing third and there's a new champion team so now we're gunning for two teams...Lol.
In the evening we first of all watched the duo, who were once again fantastic, we asked Kandy to sing "Babooshka" by Kate Bush which she did brilliantly well.
Then later we went to the show which was great we first of all had the classical pianist do three numbers, then Gary Ryan the Neil Diamond tribute act did about four numbers and finally Mr Jimmy James finished the show of with another fantastic set, not only is he still a cracking singer who can belt them out with the best of them but he can still do the moves on stage which for a 73 year old is amazing........

Jimmy James, without the Vagabonds

Yesterday was another mostly uneventful sea day, we did a couple of quizzes that was the progressive quiz, in which we don't know our position yet, as James, the quiz master insists on building the anticipation, by only giving the positions every five days.... God the tension is almost unbearable :-P
The other was the daily music quiz in which we came second to our great rivals, we are now even with two wins each....not sure if I'll be able to manage this continual pressure for the next four weeks....lmao.
One thing I must say is that the entertainment staff on the ship are a 100% improvement on the staff from the last time we traveled on this ship.
It was formal night last night so for a change Sheila and I went to the restaurant for dinner, which was nice but we do still prefer going to the conservatory buffet and eating there.
The headline act last night was the one and only Jimmy James, but without his Vagabonds, who he split from years back.
The guy is now 73 years old and still going strong.
We have seen him numerous times over the years and he never ever disappoints, his 50 minute spot seemed to last for 5 and even after his obligatory encore he left everyone wanting more, fantastic entertainment well worth seeing.
After one last drink we turned in at about 12.15pm, only to be back down at the reception desk at 12.25 reporting an accident!!
Sheila opened the wardrobe to put her dress in when a large bottle of water rolled from off the top shelf and hit her right on the corner of her eye, it was a full bottle and quite heavy, it gave her quite a shock and actually drew blood.
Who the water belonged to or why it was up on the top shelf of the wardrobe we don't know?
I can only guess that the previous occupant of the cabin had put it there and forgotten it, and when the ship was pitching and rolling it has become dislodged and when Sheila has opened the wardrobe door it's fallen out and hit her. She's ok now but it did shake her up a bit....

It is now 6am on Sunday 17th of Feb it's pitch black outside quite warm but the ship is rolling a little bit so the sea must be a bit rough at the min......

God! I hope Bradford win the Carling Cup.

Now people that know me know I have no great love for Liverpool FC, but they well deserved their win against Swansea city yesterday.
Because IMHO Swansea showed no respect either for Liverpool, their own traveling supporters or the premier league, by the performance they put on.
I know they have the Carling Cup on their minds and it would be their first major trophy, should they win it, but their position in the premiership is important too.
Also their supporters who will have had to make something like a 10 hour round trip surely deserved something better than the display their team put on.
As for the old toss pots who watched them on board ship with us they are typical of the armchair supporters most clubs have, with their shouts of this game doesn't matter we'll have a cup next week but Liverpool won't......Well I think next week in the Carling Cup final they will find that Bradford will give them a better game than they gave Liverpool and as I say that takes nothing away from Liverpool who, though it hurts to say it played very well and well deserved their win.
Rant over :-P
Other than that it was a rather uneventful sea day, our rivals in the music quiz have found some form and beat us again :-(
We tried the syndicate quiz later last night and bombed out of that too.
The duo in the Lord's tavern where good again and Kandy the singer is fantastic and can sing anything from rock to folk.
It's now 6am on Monday 18th Feb the sea is nice and calm with just a nice gentle roll and the weather is warm and according to Sheila it's going to be hot today, unless that is, she's read the weather forecast wrong.....we'll see....

Not a lot to report

As usual not a lot happened on a sea day, Sheila and I got a sunbed by the rear pool as the weather was beautiful and I managed 3 hours there which is a world record for me, I'm sure.
We didn't try out the pool as, even though it wasn't rough there was quite a deep swell on the ocean, which made the pool into a wave pool as it emptied one end then the next, it looked like some giant hand was pushing the water from one end of the pool to the other...
One thing I will say about this ship is that you never seem to struggle to get a sunbed somewhere, but I am sure we have some German guests who have sneaked on board, because there are quite a few towels on the sunbeds, early in the morning.
But I suppose I shouldn't generalise as there's an outside chance the culprits are British because as far as I know it's all brits onboard...lol
Well that's enough of that exiting story, I don't want to wear you out with my tales of high adventure on the high seas....LMAO
It's 5.45am on Tuesday 19th February, it's dark outside with calm seas and its beautifully warm....