Day 12 - Sun 31st Mar 2024
Participants: Tam & Kev
I'm awake at
6.10 am to find Tam has already left the stateroom. She is out by
the spa pool, but it is already too hot to sit there in the
sunshine as it's an at sea day today.
We have breakfast around 8.00 am in the Botticelli Restaurant.
I'm feeling a bit better this morning and so I have toast with
poached eggs and tea. Unfortunately the tea is not hot enough, so
we switch to coffee instead.
Up to the aft pool where we find sunbeds on one of the higher levels. They are in the sun, but it's quite breezy and so it's pleasant enough looking out over the wake.
Oh yeah, I forgot. It's Easter!
After a while we move to a shaded area near the front of the ship where we order a Bahama Mama for me and a Pina Colada for Tam. Mine is much too sweet, I should have learned by now not to order fruity cocktails on a cruise ship. We have a ham and cheese roll for lunch and then get a beer to take back to the room - told you I am feeling better.
There are screens all around the ship and they interact with your medallion to personalise things. Tam's birthday is not for another 3 days, but you can't start celebrating too early!
We sit for a
few hours and I listen to an audiobook on Spotify - Holly by
Stephen King. It's lovely in the shade watching the sea go by.
Around 3.15 pm Tam says 'Shall we do something? Have a swim or go
to the gym?'
Go to the gym? Are my ears deceiving me? According to Marvel the
multiverse is made up of infinite worlds with infinite
possibilities. I'm not sure even they could imagine a world where
Tam dislikes shopping and suggests trips to the gym. I think she
enjoyed riding the bike last time we were there. You ride through
various landscapes although, as I point out to her, why pedal and
watch a screen with second rate computer graphics when you can
look out the window and in front of you is the vast, beautiful
ocean. Anyway we manage 2 1/2 miles on the bike and a 1 mile run
on the treadmill.
Outside to the
spa pool, which is quiet at 4.15 pm. and there are free sunbeds
in the shade. We swim and use the hot tub and then lie to recover
from our strenuous exercise in the glorious warmth.
Back to the room at 5.30 pm where we shower before heading out to
Good Spirits where Tam orders a Passion for the Orient and I have
an Old Fashioned. It's ok but a bit sweet. I can't be quite right
still as it lasts a while and Tam has another cocktail - this one
is strawberry flavour with smokey mezcal. She likes it at first,
but not so much towards the end.
We go to the Botticelli Restaurant for dinner at 7.45 pm and are sat by a serving station again. I start with mushroom soup and Tam has the goats cheese souffle. Both are good. We split the mains of Roast Leg of Lamb and Fried Chicken. The lamb is better. I struggle to get through a glass of Zinfandel and I don't want a dessert, but Tam has the strawberry lychee mousse.
Not the best photo, but at least it gives an idea of what the restaurant is like.
We end our evening in the theatre watching an illusionist. The show is ok, but I'm not really a fan of magicians. On the way in I get a Guinness, but it's in a can and is the export strength at 7.5%. I don't enjoy it much, but Tam is a fan of stout, so she finishes her wine and then has my Guinness. I get a girly Coors Light instead.
Back in the room we spend a short while on the blacony where it's like being wrapped in a warm blanket. Bed at 11.15 pm.