DAY 2 THURSDAY MARCH 26 - FIRST DAY AT SEA

After a night of intermittent sleep we rose at 7am, descended to level 7 and walked twice around the deck being overtaken by the fast walkers and joggers.  We could see land on the starboard side and guessed we were near Bega or Eden.  Our breakfast was on level 2 in the lower Brittania Restaurant near the stern.  We asked for a table with other guests and had interesting conversations with Derek and Liz, Donna and Kevin, and David and Rosemary.  Learning names during meals will probably be found to be pointless in the long run if we meet different people every day at breakfast and lunch.

We looked for a cafe where Lyn could have a good cappuccino for morning tea, but only found one and it was overcrowded.  There are several places where alcohol can be consumed all day.

We tried out the sun lounges on the deck, which were tempting and popular.

The deck is over 300 meters long and looks  to converge to a point at the end.

 We are finding the swimming pools and spas as we explore.  At the bow deck there are 6 big silver "sculptures" which the crew have dubbed the "commodore's cuff links".

We read later that they were actually spare blades for the ship's propeller screws, so they are designed to be shaped for maximum thrust.

After more exploring we returned to the Brittania room at noon for lunch where we shared a table with three couples again and enjoyed sharing conversations with them.  After lunch the southerly and westerly winds made walking the deck a slow process.

Several sections of the ship were closed off for safety.  The Boardwalk cafe is on the deck at level 12, but was closed because of the wind.  We will try it for coffee another day.  We found the covered pool which was a warm spot and well patronised.  A Caribbean band from St Lucia was performing and it featured a chromed steel drum; first time we had seen one being played close up.  They were very entertaining.

We dressed up in our "glad rags" for the formal dinner and felt many years younger and ready to pretend to be posh.  The waiter agreed to take our photo.

Lyn looked "a million dollars".  Only Carolyn and her mother Judith were at our table and kept us laughing all through dinner.  Carolyn told us she had worked as an enrolled nurse until retirement.

The dinner was the same style as last night except for the upgrade in dress.

Our waiter is called Randy and is a very good-looking man with a nice smile.  By coincidence he was also our randomly assigned waiter at breakfast.  He told us he would be on our table all the way to Southampton but he will not go home to the Philipines until June.  We should count our blessings.

After dinner we did not want to go to the Ball in the Queens Room as it did not start until after the 8.30 meal sitting.  Instead we went to the Wintergarden and listened to a German Dixieland band which had a very similar repertoire to our "U Bouddi" band at home.  The winds were strong and all the outside decks were closed for the night.