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Published: June 26th 2017
The issue with having an inside cabin is that unlike a balcony where we spend most of our 'downtime' the ‘insideness' of an interior cabin encourages us to spend more time in other parts of the ship. In the first 24 hours, we have met many people from all walks of life. Being visible has attracted others to stop and chat. In some cases chat….and chat……and chat!! I am finding very little time to update the blog and write about our experiences. This in itself is not a bad thing as I have enjoyed every moment so far. We have never taken such an active role on a cruise ship. This could be the dawning of a new age following on from certain antics on the previous cruise. That said, does this mean it is the end of the blogging? Who knows? Maybe it is time for a change. At the end of this cruise, I should have a better idea but for now…
During breakfast in the Boticelli restaurant, at 9:15 the Captain interrupted my sausage and eggs. He announced that we were heading for a big depression so there has been a change of plan. We'll be reducing
our speed to accommodate the sea state. Today is the first of 3 sea days before we arrive in Madeira. Due to the crap weather (my words not his!!) tomorrow's sea day is cancelled and we will arrive in Vigo at about noon and stay until 6pm. Vigo should have been our last port of call. We will still be scheduled to arrive in Madeira on Saturday as planned and the rest of the itinerary should not be affected. If the weather worsens we may stay in port overnight but he'd let us know later in the day. Speaking to Kelvin Joy, our cruise director, he said that the uncertainty is a timing issue as the Captain is tied to the decisions from LA although there is a lot of credence with his recommendation. The LA office are still in bed at the moment so things won't become clearer until later on today!!
Our route to Madeira took up across the infamous Bay of Biscay. The sea state remained a constant Force 7 throughout the day.
At 8:15 that evening, the bing bong sounded again. I am unable to transcribe his announcement word for word but the gist
of it was as follows:
‘Good evening ladies and gentlemens. I hope you have had a pleasant day aboard the magnificent Emerald Princess.' He was Italian so I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or genuinely interested! He continued:
‘What I said yesterday. Forget it. It's as you were! The depression is heading in an easterly direction and expecting to bring winds of 50mph in and around Vigo so sod that for a game of soldiers. We're on course for our original destination of Madeira due to arrive in 2 days' time. I will bring you another update in the morning.' So we're back to square one. Three days at sea (by the way, that previous sentence reads: ‘…square 1 (full stop/period) not square 1.3!!!) 3 days at sea before we arrive at our first port of call – Madeira.
I won a bottle of champagne for the
Scrambled-egg Heads on
‘flags of the world'. We scored 21/25. That wasn't bad although I should have got 24/25 but as it was the late trivia (10.30pm) the brain was already washed, pyjamaed andtucked up in bed with a cup of cocoa so all in all ‘the lad done
good!!' If that is the only trivia we win all trip I'll be happy as it's the one subject I put the most effort in to leaning!! After our victory Kaye disappeared back to Charlie whilst Roisin and I kept nattering to Anita and Barry. As the lounge emptied, DJ Raphael fired up Sounds from Motown. The noise level was sufficiently low for us to keep a decent conversation flowing without shouting or resorting to sign language. When I looked at my watch it was 11:40pm. We had been chatting for well over 1 ½ hours. During all this time there were no more than 7 people in Club Fusion – Roisin and I, Barry and Anita, the bar tender, the waiter and DJ Raphael!! It's probably not too hard to guess that this is just a normal night for DJ Raphael as once 11pm arrives the ship turns in to the ‘Flying Dutchman'. If it wasn't for the various tones of snoring and the odd burst of flatulence reverberating throughout the ship one could be forgiven for thinking the passengers had all disappeared without trace!!
As the evening wore on and in to the night the sea state
increased to Force 8 –
rough. The sensation in our midship inside Cabin on deck 10 was one of the ship wobbling from side to side and occasionally a distant crash heard as the bow smashed through a 5.5m wave head on. The gyroscopes and stabilisers seem to be doing a decent job.
On the morning of day 2, the ship was still reeling. Roisin had finally managed to get off to sleep about 2:30am. As it was another day at sea we were in no hurry to rush to breakfast so we strolled down to the international café about 09:45 where we met Kaye.
Kaye had signed us up to the Great Adventure Trek. That was good of her! It is similar to a treasure hunt. So I've been told. For our first task we had to count the number of baseballs in a jumbled picture. Once we had an answer we had to show it to the hostess. If right, she would hand us a clue that pointed us to a location on the ship. Once we ‘
whispered' the answer to her she would tell us where to find the clue. Are you still with
me? Only 5 teams had signed up. All the other teams seemed to get the number of baseballs at the first attempt. Roisin and I need to work on our team work!! It's a good job this wasn't a team building exercise!! After the third attempt the hostess said:
‘Close enough!!' meaning she felt sorry for us and passed us a slip of paper!! The cryptic clue led us to
Skywalkers lounge on deck 18 aft where were found the next task in the bin outside the lift asking us to bring a cookie back to deck 5 Piazza. There was more huffing and puffing and cursing our way past doddery guests blocking the passage ways. Now I know what Lewis Hamilton or Niko Rosberg feel like as they try to weave their way past back markers and slow traffic!! Going via
Horizon Court I managed to secure a cookie (oatmeal, I think!) I finally placed the cookie on the plate provided where there rested 2 other cookies already! This game is only played on sea days. The winner of each round receives a time bonus. That's all I know at this stage.
After whooping Roisin's ass at Table
tennis and Kendo (wii style) we walked out on to the promenade deck 7 to admire the swell that had gradually increased throughout the morning. The swell around the ship gave us a top performance in the ferocity of the surrounding sea, while the bow of the ship crashed through the 5 metre waves. We started to walk along the wet slippery deck toward to bow of the ship for front row seats to witness this display of machine against the elements. Suddenly, my left foot made contact with a slippery patch of water and as my leg rapidly slid away from me I instinctively grabbed out for the nearest rail. I seem to have steadied myself for what seems like only a split second; the same instant that the ship reeled unexpectedly (I say unexpectedly. The Force 8 swell should have been fair warning!!) Too late, I was gabbing thin air as I dropped my back pack and my trailing right leg remained trailing as I fell backwards and to one side landing on my helpless foot. A sudden sharp pain ran from my ankle up my right leg as I hollered a cry. Roisin immediately turned and ran
to my assistance as did several other concerned passengers.
‘I'm alright.' I said with a grimaced look on my face. I knew that I was far from alright as I could not put any weight on my right foot. Once back inside the ship Roisin felt all around the offending ankle. It didn't feel painful to touch so I convinced myself that I hadn't broken any bones and a trip to the Medical Centre was not needed. Most people would, at the very least, head back to their cabin to assess the damage and apply the necessary treatment. Not me. I had another trivia session to win!!!
After losing said trivia session one of us headed back in the cabin whilst the other one hobbled on behind. I was walking very slowly with what I felt must look like a comedy limp Herr Flick of the Gestapo would be proud of. I'm sure some of the older more infirm guests thought I was taking the piss!! Once inside the cabin, Roisin then properly assessed the damage. On taking my sock off, she announced that my ankle was slightly swollen. I reluctantly looked down. Slightly swollen??! My ankle had
ballooned to the size of a baseball. The prognosis was a sprained ankle from Dr. Roisin (trained first aider) An ice pack, support bandage, anti-inflammatories and plenty of rest should do the trick; total cost $9.50 (for the bandage and pain killers) as opposed to a few hundred dollars if I popped down to the medical centre. We touch down in Funchal the day after tomorrow so the likelihood is we'll have to take a leaf out of Capt. Fortezze's book and give Madeira a wide berth. However, depending on my recovery rate we may also act like the Captain and visit Funchal after all!!
That evening Roisin and I, together with my sprained, ankle watched Bernie Flint in the Princess Theatre. The show started with a short video of Opportunity Knocks. Household names such as Little & Large, Les Dawson, Peters and Lee, Lena Zavaroni, Freddie ‘Parrot Face' Davies and the Duane Family all started their illustrious careers on this forerunner to the X-Factor. Well, except the Duane Family whose claim to fame was being on one of those worst album covers of all time. You know the ones, where the children look like Satan's spawn and the father looks like an accountant!! They have fallen so far in to the depths of obscurity, they don't even have a Wikipedia entry!!!
Berni was refreshingly funny. He entertained by playing a mix of comedy songs whilst telling jokes and relating amusing anecdotes in between. We were sat in our normal seats on the front row and we even made eye contact as Berni was describing the 4 stages of life: 1. You believe in Father Christmas, 2. You DON'T believe in Father Christmas, 3 You dress up as Father Christmas and finally 4. You look like Father Christmas as he looked down in my direction and gave me the wink. I nodded back through an approving laugh!!
We were both pleasantly surprised at the quality of his act although his humour wasn't to everyone's taste.
Back in our cabin, Roisin took off the support bandage. I was pleased to see that the swelling had gone down but the ankle was still very sore to walk on. Hopefully, with more rest I won't be out of action for too long although it is unlikely I'll be able to assist with the Great Adventure Trek tomorrow. In the words of Windsor Davies in
‘It Ain't half Hot, mum', ‘Oh dear…what a shame…never mind..!!!'
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Phil
non-member comment
You could have fell overboard!! Rousing should have been running for the camera not assistance!! Glad your ok