Trevor & Jonathans Cruise & Trip to the Far East and Australia 2016

Day 12 - Saturday May 21st 2016 - At Sea

Well we certainly slept in this morning. It was half past ten before we were up in the windjammer eating breakfast.

Instead of the normal routine of heading straight for a coffee we went back to the room and grabbed the computer to start writing up the blogs of the last two days. Sometimes it’s just not possible to write them up on the day when things actually happen so this morning was all about finding a quiet corner on the boat and getting my head down and writing up and remembering the events of the last few days.

It actually took until half past two to finish those blogs but thy got done.

Having Wi-Fi on board we both FaceTimed home (to those that have facetime) and spoke to Trevor’s brother and his Dad and I managed to speak to my mum whos world had ended as the television in her lounge has stopped working. What she quite expected us to do when we are off the

coast of Saudi Arabia I don’t know? Facebook kept us informed that my Dad and Mary are in Dublin with my sister Caroline so family are all well and even if we have not spoken to them we knew that they are fine…..the wonders of modern technology even whilst in the middle of an ocean!

Well the day and the afternoon really turned into chores day. This was no bad thing to be honest as when we did go for a walk around the deck it was stifling. It was like walking into a curtain of heat and as neither of us could be bothered to cream up and sort ourselves out it was going to be an inboard day. We did venture out to walk he deck though and you could see that the vast majority of fellow passengers had the same idea as there were so many empty sunbeds upon deck. The captain had also deployed lookouts in points around the boat complete with binoculars presumably to be on the lookout for pirates (how very Peter Pan). Now to be honest I’m not sure if these sentries were for show, for passenger’s piece of mind so to speak as to be honest the binoculars they had slung around their necks hardly looked high powered nor did they seem particularly interested at even looking out to sea. If the boats can have robots on board that dance and sing I’m sure they have some sophisticated radar on board that can even make out the smallest of boats that might approach.

Talking of boat, one did approach the ship this morning. The captain made an announcement that urgent supplies were coming on board and sure enough this ferry type craft appeared from nowhere. No sooner had it arrived at the ship then it was gone. Whatever it was it was small, easy to dispatch and urgent as we were a long way from the nearest coasts of Saudi Arabia or Eritrea.

So back to the chores, whilst Trevor busy with the computer getting the web site sorted and all the pictures that we had taken in Petra, Jonathan was busy in the bathroom washing all the small stuff out. He had to get into the shower with the washing to rinse it all out and without any form of washing line to hang it up on the balcony chairs had to do. Let’s just hope for no wind in the night or it will be pants and socks overboard!

Washing done, web site up to date we both went up to deck sixteen and the gym. Trev extended his time up there completing 35 mins on the treadmill with Jonathan running 7.7 miles.

Gym over and we both got ready to face the evening. We started off the night as it should be and we headed to The Schooner Bar for our pre dinner drink and espresso martinis all round. Tonight we were off to one of the speciality restaurants on-board again, “Chops Grille” an American steakhouse that really does do the best most tender steaks you have ever encountered.

Tonight’s dinner left us stuffed, absolutely stuffed! I started with a goat’s cheese salad with Trevor having three cheese onion soup followed by Trevor having an absolutely stuffed with crab fishcake, a mixture of crab and shrimp whilst I opted for the scallops. Main Course and Trevor had a 12oz New York Strip Steak with me having a 9 oz Fillet mignon. I just can’t find the words to describe the meat on the plate but here goes my best effort.

It was succulent, lean, beyond tender, cooked to perfection……a true taste sensation. By now we were both almost comatose by the sheer volume of food but somehow I found room for a liquid chocolate dessert complete with caramelised banana and coconut ice cream. Trevor was a good boy and abstained from dessert…..If only I had such willpower !!

Now after dinner the last thing that either of us wanted to do was sit down straight away but we were not allowed up on deck 15 to walk round the ship anymore as there is a curfew in place due to sailing in the Gulf of Aden and the potential threat of pirates. The heat of the evening is still tangible though and has really high levels of humidity.

It was soon time to meet Michael & Martin again down at the bionic bar. Neither Trevor or I could face anymore red wine after dinner so the robots loaded up our glasses with some spirit and we sat down and talked the night away once again. We really can’t describe just how lovely these two guys are.

Time flew by and before we knew it we were well on the way to one o’clock on the morning again so we called it a night and headed for bed. Time does really seem to be passing by very quickly on this boat, unlike other cruises that we have been on the clock just seems to march on and never have we felt bored or gone looking for something to do. It’s not like we have even been to all the evening shows (which is quite unusual for us) or taken part in any of the ships activities like the quizzes or ballroom dance lessons (that would never happen) but one minute it’s the morning and the next its bed time.

We still have four more days at sea so let’s hope that we stay out of trouble and don’t find that boredom button, at the moment I can’t see it happening at all.