Blogs from Atlantic, Oceans and Seas - page 21

Geo: 43.7503, 7.41284The bike race is done, I guess it's time to move on....We headed to our little boulangerie only to find them closed on a Monday, so we went in search of another. We found one that was just as tasty, but bigger and less quaint. But it served the purpose of fueling us for a bit, so that was the important part.Then it was off to Monaco, dahling.Really, we were a little underwhelmed. There were a couple of cool cars (McLaren, anyone?) parked here and there, but nothing that had us drooling.We walked along the marina and gazed at the multitude of yachts that are docked there.I looked up a few on my phone, and the ones I could find info on were owned by oil millionaires -- nobody we'd ever heard of. But ... read more

Geo: -37.0201, 159.521Tuesday was the roughest day on the water that we've had and the first time for me to take some Dramamine. It wasn't terrible, but enough to notice, for certain. The ship pitched and rolled for most of the morning and the captain slowed down from an average of 21 knots to about 17 knots. We had rough sea and near gale force winds. I did much of my walking in the suite yesterday. It was too windy outside to be pleasant, and the forward decks were closed for safety so the promenade deck did not make a complete circle. When I timed it just right, I could make my walking all downhill. The rolling of the ship back and forth provided just the right rhythm for me to keep going downhill across the ... read more

Tuesday 8th March, 2016. Cruising the Atlantic Ocean Today we woke up to yet another invitation. This wasn't soggy though as the carpet has dried out a bit. It was from the Captain, inviting us to dine with him this evening. We had to RSVP by 10.00 am. In the morning we went to the lecture by Nancy Appleyard which wasn't as billed but interesting nevertheless. We had lunch in the restaurant and then went back to the cabin as M is still not well. We had to meet the Captain at 8.15 pm in the Columbus Club for canapes and pre-dinner drinks. There were 4 other passengers invited to this do, along with Marco the Hotel Manager, Olga the Guest Relations Manager, Georgia the Future Cruise Sales Manager and of course Captain Antonio. M had ... read more

Sunday 6th March, 2016. Cruising the Atlantic Ocean We woke up this morning to find a soggy invitation under our door. The invitation was to a Columbus Club cocktail party. The reason it was soggy is that our cabin (and a good few others) had been flooded during the night when they emptied the swimming pool. The pool is on deck 8 but there was a leak in the pipes on our level - deck 4. The water had luckily not entered our wardrobe but had crept about half way down the cabin and the carpet was soaked. The housekeeping staff were frantically using sucking machines to suck up as much water as possible. We had got off lightly - the whole ceiling of the inside cabin opposite us had come down (luckily it was not ... read more

Geo: -33.8704, -175.254We lose March 2nd by crossing the international dateline at 4:02 p.m. on March 1st. The captain announced the upcoming time during his daily announcement, but there was no fanfare at the time we crossed. We did find a certificate to commemorate the crossing in the suite after the evening turndown service. During the noon navigational report today, the captain said we have 10,094 meters under the keel. That is the deepest water we have been through. During the days at sea, we are still walking 10,000 steps every day, reading, eating, and going to lectures and shows. We pick up the daily crossword, Sudoku, and brain teaser puzzles most mornings. They are very British-oriented with questions about rugby and BBC announcers and such that make them hard for us. A very good magician—Phillip ... read more