As we weren’t due to dock at Mumbai until 11am, it was life as normal first thing, with a quick call at the buffet before the morning quiz. There weren’t as many as normal as presumably, many were on deck for the sail in.
By the time most had gone ashore, Paula had booked in for a massage session with Maria and so I wandered up to the open deck, for a quick lemonade and a chat or two, before returning to the cabin for a bit of computer time.
When Paula returned, we headed to the atrium for a coffee and as expected, the stories started to filter in about people’s experiences in arguably, the most controversial stop of the whole cruise. The red mat was laid out for the arrival and several people were obviously glad to be back - some rather too quickly! Many others made the most of it and there were still passengers (and crew!) returning at a quarter to midnight. No doubt there will be many tales tomorrow. We also believe that there were about 70 passengers who were off to Agra and to the Taj Mahal, who will rejoin the ship in Columbia.
We returned to the cabin until afternoon quiz, where there were relatively few teams, it being a port day. We still didn’t win, but we were only a team of two. A team of 4 or six won.
We headed for the buffet about 6:30pm for dinner (which is nearer our normal eating time anyway and we think that eating so late, is one of the reasons we sometimes don’t sleep so well) where we bumped into cruise friends, Norm and Marion.
We really enjoyed the freshly cooked tempura battered fish, the lamb curry and rice, to the extent that Paula rated this one of the best meals she has eaten on the whole cruise – and I’d have to agree. Occasionally, lightly battered fresh fish is something I really crave and this fitted the bill perfectly.
Although we really enjoy our table mates in the dining room, the food at times is just as good (and often better) in the buffet, and this sometimes comes down to the vegetable options. Maybe we’ll even opt out of the occasional dining room meal, dependant on the menu?
We then headed to the theatre to watch the thought provoking movie “Disconnected” which was about the perils of Facebook, chat rooms etc. A film that maybe all teenagers should watch as it included a sneaky form of cyber bullying.
Back down to the atrium again with introductions to two new waiters - one Indian and one Brazilian. As we were sitting at the bar, we ended up chatting to the Princess security advisor/officer. This was not the on-board security officer, but the person who travels ahead of the ship on behalf of Princess, to check out the various aspects of port security. We had a very long interesting chat and learned a fair bit. He got off just before the gangplank was raised, as he is now heading to our next stop, Columbo.
We then went up onto deck 7, initially just to walk around the deck before retiring, as it was a 12:30am sail-away. We started chatting to Ron, the bass guitarist from the resident group “Epithani”, from British Guyana, whilst observing the activity on the dock. Once again, a long, pleasant and very informative chat that lasted until after we’d left India. His observations of the port building echoed that of all others. As a gateway to a very colourful, fascinating and interesting city (and country), it is not a good look. A city of immense contrasts and a must see – at least once, because there is nowhere quite like it.
I suppose we went to bed somewhat relieved, as it has been fairly stressful at times and the controversies will no doubt continue. When the security officer makes the comment that he really doesn’t understand why the company continues to visit the port and deal with all the aggravation they have to put up with, it says a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment