Firstly, some apologies. For this cruise the Wi-Fi prices
have increased, and the Blackberry Mobile phones no longer operate on board: We
will only post blogs when on or near land, and the mobiles work.
Fred Olsen Boudicca is very much like Black Watch, and only
about 150 passengers short of being full. It does not seem to full. and we have
been to a couple of shows, the Captain’s Introduction and one formal night. We
have a table for two for evening dining so we have to talk to each other ….
For the formal night, we ate late at the Captain’s table,
finishing at 11PM. Helen chatted to him about sailing, dogs and music. Hope he
had a pleasant evening with all of us!
On this cruise, we have met lots of people from previous
cruises, rather like meeting old friends again many times. It’s rather nice and
it all seems much more friendly. We have Robin Oakley talking about Politics,
and a lecture on the various Ports.
The good news is that Helen has managed to get a good long
list of Vegetarian dishes (which she chooses the night before), and there are
Ukulele lessons all the way around – even some people on from the last cruise
on Black Watch! Looking forward to getting lots more practice in and getting a
little better.
For the sea days from Southampton we have just been catching
up with life and resting. Helen has found the Gym and Laundry room, and all the
TVs have been converted to play videos and DVDs – we even have streaming to our
laptops. Printers and scanners are also working, and we both have an ‘office
desk’.
The first spirit rations of 1 lire of Gin and Brandy have
appeared, and are being stored, and the tonic and ginger ale is chilling.
The only bad news is that the daily 4-page newspaper is
still the Daily Mail!!
