Day 6

Above are a couple of shots of my cabin (stateroom!!)

Well we have two full days at sea before Punta Arenas so it may be time to review the first impressions of the cruise experience. The ship is very pleasant although the décor is a bit old-fashioned for my taste. The crew are outstanding, very attentive polite, cheerful and professional. They come from every country on the globe it seems. Many from Romania, Philippines, Serbia, Italy, UK, Sweden, you name it. The food is also outstanding and a tendency to waistline growth could certainly apply if not careful. There are four or five places to eat. Toscana is an Italian restaurant, Polo a steak house, the Grand Dining Room which is a full restaurant type menu. Then there is the Terrace Café which does lighter food and tapas in the evening. There is also a burger and hot dog bar out on the deck.

The activities on board haven't changed much since I was at sea with bingo, bridge, dancing lessons and some evening cabaret. There are also some lectures on ports of call, wellness, and some cooking demonstrations. On deck there are the usual games as well as putting and that sort of thing which are not too easy to play in heavy seas. So far, I have not been tempted by any of these.

My cabin, (stateroom) is adequate if small but there are much larger and grander rooms on the ship. The 'owner's suites' of which there are several are extremely grand and I was invited to one of them for drinks and I must say that they are very nice with outside verandahs, butler service and all the trimmings. I still could not envisage myself wanting, needing or paying for such facilities but then I am a 'penny potato' traveler by nature and have had so much fun traveling 3^rd Class that I am loathe to give it up.

Although food is all included there are some rather annoying small charges for soda and bottled water which I would have thought they could have supplied gratis. The internet connection is appallingly slow and very expensive. I have turned my Blackberry off whilst at sea and I will wait until I can get a shore station before I turn it on again. The data charges on board are ridiculous. So for those connected via Blackberry, you will get some black-out periods when I do not respond to any message directed to me. I am writing this blog in MS Word and then just posting it after I have finished. This is the best way not to use up all my expensive minutes on the internet connection.

The ship, for some reason has a very lumpy movement, perhaps because she is so short v her beam. Today there are moderately heavy seas and she is all over the place. We are out in the open Pacific but should be back in the fjords this afternoon and the seas will be calmer.

I think that this experiment of cruising may have been worth it for the parts of the world it reaches but I am not sure at this stage I would repeat the experience. This has nothing to do with the ship or the facilities which I am sure are as good as it gets. Those veteran cruisers on board (and there are a lot), all compliment the ship and the cruise in comparison with others they have taken. There are too long periods of inactivity, especially for someone who is not innately sociable.

I have met some spectacularly nice people on board and we have had some great times. Last night 7 of us met up for martinis before dinner and then we had dinner in the Italian restaurant which was a really fun time. Bernie and Michele's friends Joan and Bill Clark are very nice indeed. They are the ones on their 50^th anniversary cruise. They are from California. We have also met up with Harvey and Barbara, also from California (they are in the owner's suite) and are both very funny – they have actually been married 55 years!! Their constant repartee is very amusing and they have stories by the hundred so our table was just one peal of laughter all through dinner. As a single, I have been a bit of a 'fifth wheel' but they have been very good at including me in things and that has certainly made the time pass. I have also met others, some from UK, a very interesting couple who have married each other twice!! Also a nice Australian chap who had been to sea years ago and with whom I could exchange experiences.

For me the ports are the places I want to get to and see so the sea passages in between are a bit tedious but necessary, I suppose.