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

Day 14 - Monday May 23rd 2016 - Cruising off the coast of Yemen

So as lazy days at sea go this has to get the title!

We woke up a little late despite having gone back to the cabin a little earlier than normal and sped off to the windjammer to grab some breakfast items before it all changes over for lunch, and the second food mountain gets demolished by the ever hungry passengers on board.

As per normal we washed this down with a coffee from Starbucks and then sat around the red hanging sculpture with Trevor reading his book and me (Jonathan) writing up the events of yesterday.

Once again it was a really hot and humid day and by the time we had finished writing up the blog neither of us felt like putting on the sun cream and entering the steam room of deck 15 as that is what it felt like such is the humidity outside on the open decks.

As a distraction we received an email from our China tour operator with all the confirmation and itinerary for our trip. We went up to the ilounge to print it off then it was back to the cabin to go through it with a fine tooth comb to make sure that all the details were correct and that all spellings of our names etc. were as they should be.

With everything being in order we sent back the conformation email, now we just have to pay the balance! We are going to be really busy when we get to China with something going on every day so we better make the most of these restful sea days as once we are off the boat it’s all a bit non-stop until we reach Australia and that’s a long way off yet.

The other admin job of the day was getting our passports back from the ships team. We duly went up to the central elevator area on our deck at our respected time and picked up our documents. Inside we found our stamped in and out visas issued for our visit to Jordan, that’s us going through a different channel on any arrival in the US from now on……we have visited the middle east.

After a very small bit to eat, the lazy day continued as we headed back to the cabin. Trevor was in and out of the balcony with the computer still updating the website, getting all hot, sitting in the shade then going back out to watch the never ending waters around us. The one piece of excitement was when a military plane took to the skies and circled over the ship for a short time. The captain made a brief announcement explaining to the passengers that this was nothing to worry about and no sooner than it had arrived it left leaving us chugging along the waters somewhere along the coast of Yemen or Oman.

So whilst Trevor got on with sorting out our virtual diary I sat on the bed and watched a film.

It’s remarkable really when we think back to the last 16 day cruise that we went on with MSC to the Caribbean by this time we were both itching to get off the ship even though it had made more shore stops than this cruise but honestly neither of us are cruised out just yet, our only criticism might be that it would be nice to have a more frequent change of menus in the restaurants as we are seeing the same dishes coming round and round at this point in our journey.

Continuing the theme of being lazy we both skipped the gym today and instead showered and put all our posh gear on (dinner suits) and went off and had some photographs done. It’s becoming a cruise ritual for us, the dinner suit shot. You could honestly go through our pictures from across the cruises of all the years and watch our aging process unfold before your very eyes. One day we might be settled enough to frame them all and find a permanent wall to put them all up on?

After pictures it was time for dinner this time back at The American Icon restaurant, no surprises that we ended up ordering exactly the same of the menu again. Tonight was seafood cocktail salad, halibut on a risotto with Trev finishing off with a cherry pie whilst I had something quite forgettable and tasteless.

After dinner it was time to head down to the ships theatre and watch the big production show called Live, Love, Legs! Even though we had arrived at the theatre early (by some 15 mins) it was already rammed to the rafters and we could just not find any seats despite making reservations. We ended up sitting upstairs on the back row far stage right. This was not the best view at all. The show itself is nonstop and an onslaught of noise and stage pyrotechnics all set to a very modern songbook of recent pop chart hits. We had flying men singing, feathers, sequins beads and half naked men. A stage that popped up down sideways you name it. LED lit staircases and a band that slid in and out, upstage, downstage all lit by neon lights. Honestly the technical capabilities of the stages on these ships really is ridiculous. The stage and the technology is actually as much the star of the show as the performers are. Now having bad seats is one thing but then having the person sat in front of you sit and text on their phone all the way through the performance is another, no matter how hard you try to stop catching the light of the screen with your eye it’s just not humanly possible. Luckily we are back on the boat from Singapore and we are both sure that this show will be repeated so we will get to see it again hopefully. At least at this show the chinese did not walk out on mass exodus, thy obviously like all the naked flesh and feathers!

After the show we met up with Martin and Michael and once again talked the night away down in Vintages, away from the noise of the Schooner bar last night where we could hardly hear ourselves. We really do talk about allsorts and it was soon one o’clock in the morning again and time to give in.

Our thoughts are now focussing on leaving the ship and what happens next and we have spent some time looking back over things to do in Dubai and making sure we are not missing anything but for now it was time to switch the switch, and say goodnight to another day on board…..two more to go!