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Published: January 12th 2023
Wednesday 11th January 2023
I have just spent the day writing up our first week and a bit away only to have lost it all! So this is likely to be an abbreviated version.
Tuesday 3rd January
Thanks to Christopher for coming down with us on Monday to stay overnight in Winchester, so we only had a half hour journey on Tuesday morning. We were at the checkin at the appointed time with what I thought was all the relevant paperwork. Well, most of it was ok, just a small matter of my passport number not having registered for the American ESTA visa. Rogers had been accepted but mine hadn’t. No idea why not. We ended up in a Q with quite a number of other passengers who were also having problems with visa paperwork. Some hadn’t even realised they needed a visa! After some time and several gradually more senior admin supervisors it was thought easiest to apply for anew one for me. This proved to be easier said than done. At the final stage the message came up - application already applied for! They finally let me board and the aim was to sort it out over next few days. The visa lady on board went through the whole process again with me twice, with the same result. Think she has tried to get some where with the application as this morning I had to go to reception and go on the internet to see if I had an email from the ESTA office. ( I hadn’t! Don’t know where we go from here!)
We finally boarded the ship at 4.45. It had been a long afternoon. All the luggage was waiting for us outside the cabin and we set to to empty some of them. We managed half of them and then gave up and went to find some supper. The ship departure had been put back 2 hrs due to an extra deep clean required since docking this morning with cases of Novovirus onboard. The captain also announced a possible delay to that due to poor weather in the Channel, likely to be Force 9. We set sail soon after 8 out into a blustery squally night, venturing out onto an outside deck briefly to bid farewell to England.
Wednesday 4th January - Monday 9th January.
There was no improvement in the weather for the next few days. It continued to be dull and overcast when it wasn’t raining, with rough seas and Force 8/9 winds. The ship is very stable considering but it was a bit rocky at times, had to use the wheelchair to get around as couldn’t balance to walk. Luckily the poor weather doesn’t affect us. We emptied the rest of the luggage and found homes for our belongings. Suitcases all disappeared under the bed.
The Horizon news sheet arrived every evening for the next day with the program of what was going on. Sports activities, beginners Spanish and French, bridge, quizzes, speakers, get togethers, ( I’m not sure who Bill W is but they get together every day! ) port talks, some crafting,( I made a new lanyard but she was doing other things I’d done before- the leader said that the craft women who had inspired me on the first cruise will be coming on in New Zealand) in the mornings, plus in the afternoons various musical entertainers did 45 minute sets. A classical guitarist, an excellent young woman pianist, a busker with a guitar, another couple of young women, one playing the piano and the other singing, plus the ships orchestra, playing at various lounges, bars pubs etc around the ship through til late evening.
Also every evening there is some thing happening in the Ships Theatre, A singer, a Cuban comedian come magician,( more likely to be from uk I suspect) the ships own dancers and singers, ( they are very good,) Plus The Eric and Ern tribute act who were on Tv over Christmas in the film Carole - they improved on the second time, and also John Altman of Nasty Nick fame did a couple of Audience with… chats. There are also dances and Karioke sessions.
We have all had to wear masks until today to prevent the spread of respiratory virus’ . The captain has been most strict about it, with regular reminders as this could have jeopardised out visits to some ports. I think there must have been some cases onboard, not Covid, but it seems to have become less serious as we’ve been allowed to leave them ff now. However they are needed as we disembark when we get in tomorrow and in the States.
We get an update of our position, distance travelled and average speed at noon each day. We roughly travelled 460 to 500+ nautical miles a day at an average speed of 16knots in the poor weather to 23 knots as the weather improved. The other day we had a confused sea! This is when the swell and waves of the present storm meet with waves and swell of the previous storm coming from a different direction up to 1000 miles away! We have been travelling across the Atlantic on the same bearing of 252degrees for nearly 2000 miles, stormy all the way.
The sea had calmed somewhat by the end of Monday and at 4pm the wind was only Force 3 and temperature of 18 degrees With a calm sea although another storm was forecast overnight. At last the decks were open as had been too rough to go outside.
Tuesday 10th January.
Its nice to see some blue sky And I’m able to walk more ( with the wheelchair) as it’s much more stable getting around the ship.
Today we had a Caribbean tier lunch. With P&O you get concessions depending on the number of nights you have spent on board. You collect points and get various goodies and treats along the way. The 5 course lunch was excellent with Fizz to begin and continuously topped up wine through the delicious meal. We had much need of a long siesta after before we forced ourselves back out later for the evening meal. The food onboard is of very high quality. There is a cafeteria on the upper deck but can turn into a bit of a scru, but we prefer to go to the main dining room downstairs where there is waiter service. It’s an achievement that the food all arrives at the table hot. There’s always about 5 choices for each course, at least 3 courses each meal with 5 on Gala nights when we get to dress up.
Wednesday 11th January
Today it felt like we were really getting somewhere warm. The sky was blue, the sea calm, the sun shining, I didn’t even put on my cardigan!
Todays talk was about Pirates of the Caribbean, bits real and fictional. At noon the temperature was 23 degrees C , We had reavelled 528 n mil in 24 hrs at an average speed of 22 knots with 371 miles to go.
it was very pleasant sitting out on deck this afternoon,. Many people already rather pink, but I’m pacing myself. There’s lots of time to sit in the sun in the next few weeks!
Sorry Chris, no pictures yet. Will take some to
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Patricia Guest
non-member comment
Enjoy your cruise
Sounds as though you are keeping busy, hope you are enjoying visiting Freeport and Port Everglades and all OK with visa now. Xx