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

Day 16 - Wednesday May 25th 2016 - Cruising The Gulf of Oman

We actually woke up a little earlier than normal this morning so after both getting through the bathroom instead of heading up to the Windjammer we went down to Silk and the posh breakfast buffet. Effectively this is the same as the windjammer but with waiter service and the same hot selection as upstairs but with only a few fruits or continental meats. The main advantage is that you don’t have to fight for a table and you can sit in relative peace. It’s a much nicer way to face the morning.

Some rituals don’t change though as after our cooked breakfast we headed down to Starbucks and then the seating area by Jamie’s Italian to write up the blog again. We were by now only a mile of the coast of Oman so it was the first time that we could actually make out land in about the last five days. The ship made another unscheduled stop for about half an hour to once again bring on mysterious essential supplies.

Quite strange when you consider we will be in Dubai by 4 am tomorrow morning?

The other change on board is that both the captain and the cruise director will be changing post Dubai so when we get back on board in Singapore the teams will be headed up by new people.

After breakfast and coffee, we headed off to deck 16 and then proceeded to film all the decks of the ship on the GoPro camera for our little keep sake video. We have been trying to film little bits as we go along on this holiday as we plan to make a small video once it is all done of the highlights.

Video completed (and being told off in the casino for using a video camera) it was back to the room for a bit to look through the paperwork for getting off the boat tomorrow. All looks like normal procedure but it’s an early morning start so that will be a bit of a shock to the system especially the way that we have been sleeping.

Lunch was up in the windjammer although to be honest I don’t think that either of us needed lunch, we have just got into that routine of eating and eating and eating some more (did I mention that we have not been to the gym for the last two days either?). Hopefully when we get back on shore for a while things will level out a bit as we won’t be drinking anywhere near as much alcohol or eating as much.

After lunch we headed back to the room to start packing and organising for getting off the boat tomorrow. It’s still absolutely boiling outside on the deck and with our pale skin its best to stay away.

Much of the mid-afternoon was spent in the cabin packing and sorting out stuff. The clothing just seemed to keep on coming and Trevor has a few casualties that will find themselves going back to England with the suits. Yes, we have decided to send our dinner suits and dress shirts back to the UK from Dubai as so few people wear them now on board that the magic of everyone being it dress clothes has passed. To be honest we could also do with losing a few kilos (and not just from our luggage) as we were right on the margins of our weight limits when we left the UK. Trevor’s other casualties as I called them are shirts that no longer pass the sit down test. Buttons bulging has never been a good look and the four weeks that we were back in England prior to getting on the cruise and then all the cruise food have taken its toll on both of our waistlines.

Maybe it was this realisation that made us both head off to the gym this afternoon although I admit, me, Jonathan was the one that stopped first. The sun was shining right through the glass of the gym up on deck 16 and the treadmills facing right into the sun. It was like running in a tropical greenhouse up there so after four miles I called it a day, disappointed with myself but even though I’m used to running in the heat a bit the sweat was pouring out of me and it was just too much. At least we made it up there, now we just need to both find the momentum to keep going!

After our failed gym efforts, we headed back to the cabin and showered and changed before heading to the schooner bar for our last pre dinner drink of this cruise. We tipped Miss china as we called her, she had taught us how to say thank you (shishi) and how to say hello (ney how). Next stop it was down to the Grand restaurant for dinner. Unfortunately, my lamb had been left too long underneath the hotplate so it had got a very firm outer layer that left it a bit chewy, still I ate it and the other two courses along with a glass of 724 (our wine of choice, a rather nice Shiraz).

Post dinner we went down to the theatre ready to watch tonight’s show, a classic soul male vocal group singing songs by The Drifters, Ben E King and such other soul classics. The show was actually really good and the singers were really full of energy and got the crowd going. They also wore a whole traffic light spectrum of brightly coloured waistcoats.

Michael and Martin joined us in the theatre so afterwards we all headed along to deck number five and the bar at Vintages and once again talked the night away.

As we all had an earlier start tomorrow it was a quick drink tonight and we said our goodbyes around 11 o’clock.

I really hope that we do get to see them again as they are lovely people. We promised that we would come to Cologne so hopefully……fingers crossed.

Back at the cabin we rammed the last of the clothes in and put the cases outside to hopefully be reunited with them once we get shore side in Dubai tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow is the beginning of another chapter.