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

Day 43 - Tuesday June 21st 2016 - Ovation of the Seas - Cruising

Trev was up earlier than me this morning and he was washed and shaved and ready to go before I had even got out of the bed. Now there was a reason for this to be honest and that was that he wanted to go to the captains talk at the theatre this morning at 10:00. I had originally said that I was not bothered about going but as I was awake and certainly not feeling hungry for breakfast I went through the bathroom quickly made a quick strip down to Starbucks for fresh coffee then we both went off to the theatre so hear what the captain of the ship had to say.

The talk was interesting, it was all about the ship, its technical capabilities

and its design. He showed us all the technical things like the engines and the laundry facilities and the water treatment facilities. . We had seen things like this on other cruise ships and in fact on the in room TV they play an ever evolving loop on the ship so some of this was very familiar indeed. At the end the passengers got to ask questions directly to the captain and to be honest after about 15 minutes or so it all got a bit dull (some people had clearly not been listening as they were asking him stuff that he did explain etc.) so we got up and left (as did many others).

So with our first appointment of the day out of the way it was already time for our second at the next cruise desk to find out more about that Pacific Islands cruise in November on the Voyager of the Seas. We have already been on the Voyager, can’t really remember it to be honest but we have been on it. The cruise we are looking at is a 10 day starting and ending in Sydney and it’s a week after Joe and Kates wedding next year (2017).

Well all I can say is that yes we are booked on! You only have to pay a very small deposit and if you change your mind its actually completely transferable to another cruise so there is no loss anywhere. We also managed to get free gratuities paid and a drinks passage and a cabin upgrade so all in all not a bad thing at all. What it has also done is make a decision about this trip. We had originally been thinking that when we get to Australia on this trip (providing everyone is well in the UK) we were going to spend a week in Tasmania. As its winter in Oz it’s not the best time but as we were there we were still going to go ahead…we now won’t be doing that. The plan now is to do Tasmania after the wedding but before we get on this new cruise……. Pacific Ocean here we come!!

It really was a very busy morning as as soon as we left the next cruise appointment we met up with the two German ladies that we tried to meet up with last night. They are friends of Dieter and Jeffery who own and run Bar Junior in Gran Canaria and we sat and talked for over an hour about cruising and destinations and holidays in general. They are also Diamond club member like the German boys (makes us feel like mere paupers).

With photographic evidence of the meeting emailed to Gran Canaria we said our goodbyes and headed off to Michaels Pub for lunch. Having skipped breakfast this morning we were certainly hungry and Trev had lusted after the taste of their fish and chips for a few days now after seeing someone else with them a few days ago. It was a paid lunch stop, about $14 each so not expensive but it made a change. Trev ordered those much wished for Fish and Chips whilst I went for the bangers and mash! I actually made the mistake of ordering sausages and mash and the Chinese waiter just looked at me with a glazed over expression that said I don’t understand a word of what you just said….it seems you have to use the word BANGERS !

After lunch we headed back to the cabin to write up more blog and really get ready for Korea and Seoul tomorrow. We certainly don’t want to make the same mistake as what happened in Xiamen (although when we were chatting to the German ladies they had been through a pretty similar experience as we had and they didn’t get to the island either, at least it was not just us). Trev really did his homework this time so hopefully we are ready and armed with information. We only have four hours in Seoul, nowhere near long enough so have really had to make choices about what we can and can’t see, some of these choices are not good ones as obviously you want to see as much as you can but that’s the one bad thing about cruising is that you can’t, time does not always allow.

It was a really cloudy, hazy, misty day on board today and actually quite cold which was really bizarre, this meant that laying out on the deck which had been our plan for the day was actually out of the question. Instead it was more of the same in that we surfed the internet researching and watched tv programmes and just generally chilled until it was time for our evening to start.

We were out of the cabin a little earlier than normal mainly because it had been quite a flat afternoon. Our first stop was our old faithful the Schooner Bar and Bel Canto (guitar and violin duo) were playing so we listened to them for a while. We ordered our drink (the usual espresso martin and B52) but to be honest they were not good at all. There was a new barman on table duties who did not know how to make them well, I actually sent mine away as it had all curdled…. I ended up settling on a glass of wine, can’t go wrong with that!

So post pre dinner drinks we headed down to American Icon for dinner. We had changed from original booking at Silk as we had only just eaten from that menu and American Icon had a menu we had never had.

We both ordered the Calamari for our starters and both sent them back, they were cold and so crunchy it was ridiculous, also in the two hoops that we tried to eat had very little actual fish in them. There second attempt at them was much better and we went on to have salad, pate, a butternut squash chilli curry and a turkey thanksgiving dinner. The waiting staff tried really hard to make it up to us after the calamari incident (not that it was their fault at all). They really do the rough end of the stick on this class of ship as the restaurants are far from slick. It never ceases to amaze us that you seem to wait an age for a table even though you have reserved a time and then when you get in the restaurant its more than half empty.

After dinner we walked a bit and actually went up to deck 15 for some air. It was still misty and cold out there so we did a circuit and came back in.

We ended up sitting in a deserted Two70 at the back of the boat, for such a huge space there were only about eight people in there so it felt a bit soulless but you had to admire the massive curved floor to ceiling projections that illuminate the room. We went from a fleet of Royal Caribbean Ships to a forest scene complete with falling leaves, it really is quite beautiful.

It was not going to be a late night tonight as we have a big day tomorrow, a busy one on shore in Korea so we headed to the cabin just after 23:00.

Here’s to tomorrow.