Most passengers seem to have accepted the cancellation of the Egyptian ports, but there was then a mad rush to book tours in Ashdod, where the options are relatively few. Initially, we had booked on the Princess tour to Jerusalem and Bethlehem, but Jo needed two more for a private group of eight to Jerusalem plus whatever we want. (In 2011, the tour was somewhat rushed and also included the Dead Sea, but the balance was all wrong.) So at breakfast, we opted to travel with the people we really like, thus moving a couple of others up the Princess waiting list. Whilst we ate (a very light!) breakfast just outside on deck 14, the port lecture on Ashdod was being shown on the outdoor screen as well as in the theatre. A great initiative instigated by the Cruise Director – especially as people could sunbathe, eat, drink or stroll around without upsetting anyone. With an 80 minute talk, that was just as well.
HORIZON COURT SAGA – part 6
On the starboard side of the buffet, (that is a very technical seafaring term for ‘right’), the first station on the right is mainly breads/rolls etc. Although the pictures may seem to show very little food to feed several hundred people, all items are regularly topped up with fresh stuff and that applies to hot or cold stations. Unlike many shopping centres or food halls, where there is a mountain of food that may have been sitting around for several hours, on board, they cook smaller quantities frequently, so it is very rare to find food well past its best
That first bread station may at any one time (at breakfast) have pumpernickel (rye bread), two or three other sliced breads, banana bread, soft rolls etc. If you fancy your rye bread toasted, you simply take it along to the toast station and they pop it into the toast conveyor. I may have overlooked it before, but the toast station always has a supply of English muffins and bagels too. Still with me?
On the way back, we usually pass the Lotus Spa and Maria who worked on my damaged shoulder in 2011, was standing outside with Leah, one of the cleaning staff. I couldn’t resist taking a pic showing how tall Paula is. Needless to say, I had to have a pic taken too.
Either morning quiz is getting tougher or we are relaxing too much. We didn’t win.
The atrium was too busy so we skipped coffee and headed to the cabin for a while, just chilling out with the blog, Codewords, Sudoku etc. The internet appears to be much quicker than in the past but I still leave all emails on the server and copy and paste anything relevant.
Corey’s dance class was Tango 1. We coped OK.
A very light lunch – mushroom soup and a hunk of cheesy focaccia bread, before more relaxing and then to the second heat of “Dancing With The Stripes”. As you can see from the pic, a good crowd. Then afternoon quiz, which of course we didn’t win. After about the first 6 questions, the team next to us wanted harder questions – but they didn’t win either…
I was trying to keep up with the Hungarian GP and only managed the Sky sport reports as it wasn’t shown live. By the time it came to dinner time, they were only in the first pit-stop phase, so I had no idea who won until bedtime. (Lewis Hamilton.)
It was an oriental dinner again and my bbq pork ribs on bok choy and potato wedges were enhanced by extra prawns and I also helped out Paula by demolishing half her chicken. Nice!
The late show was pianist Van-Anh Nguyen. Billed only as an instrumentalist, Princes are always very light on info, so you often don’t know if the instrumentalist plays tuba, penny whistle, ocarina, bag pipes or the big bass drum. Nor do you know whether you are getting hip-hop, swing, rock and roll, classical ragtime or a combination. In this instance it was 100% classical. Beautifully played (though it isn’t my favourite genre) and interesting to hear that she was in fact one of the Vietnamese boat people. With an opera singer/piano teacher mother and a classical guitarist father, they escaped as refugees with virtually no money and they didn’t even speak English. After processing, they were offered France (they spoke French), Canada, US and Australia. They chose Australia and she now speaks perfect English. An extremely talented young lady who gave a solo performance other than for the last three numbers, when she was backed by the orchestra (without Sarah). Not my favourite genre, but a 9/10.
Clocks back an hour again tonight with another sea day (and our 3rd formal night) ahead.
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