Busy doing nothing... it's Saturday, and we are mid-Atlantic on a journey that would take perhaps 6 hours in a plane, but is taking six hours on a boat. But doing nothing? Not really!
Life on board revolves around mealtimes - and the chance to return to the UK▸ (should your constitution be able to stand it) at twice the weight you left. The "Horizon" buffet opens at 06:30 for early continental breakfast, carries on to breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, light snacks, a themed dinner and then late night snacks until 01:00. There are a couple of short closures of 60 minutes during the day, but if you want food during those times you can call up 24 hour room service. Then there is the Medina restaurant open for breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner if you don't want to use the buffer. Dinner there is known as "freedom dining" and for guests who choose that freedom, you are free to join the queue any time from 6 pm to 9 pm; looking for a table for two, you're likely to be handed one of those queue callers, but willing to share at a table of eight and you'll be seated at a table with three other couples or - very occasionally - 2 other couples and one or two solo travellers.
To complete the record – Dinner is also available in two sittings (18:30 and 20:30) in the Alexandria Restaurant for guests electing to sit at the same table at the same time (and with others who are strangers prior to the cruise) each evening, and at three "select dining" outlets where you pay an extra cover charge or individually for dishes. And the Crystal Pool and Lido Grill offer lunches for those guest swimming / sunbathing / lounging on deck.
So – life revolves around mealtimes. And, in between, a wide choice of lectures and activities, especially on "sea days" which – on this 30 day cruise - are just in the majority.
For the early part of the cruise, Lisa and I attended an hour of "beginner's bridge" during the morning, taking us through the basic rules and conventions of the game. A further hour on many afternoons was taken up with practise with Sheila and Pat – who were East/West to our North/South many mornings, as we looked to learn what Christine had been teaching us during the earlier part of the day. Once the beginners were folded in to the intermediates in the middle of the cruise, we found ourselves being tutored / advised on lots of topics we hadn't covered by more advanced and much more earnest players, and it was time to say we had learned what we had wanted - an overview of the game - and move on to pastures anew.
Lectures on the Internet and technology, on where it's going, on ethical and unethical hacking and threats from the guest lecturer who travelled out with the boat had interesting elements, but perhaps were a little elementary for Lisa and I. I expect we could have stood up and actually presented them! A lecturer who joined mid-cruise gave a very interesting insight into the opening and running of one of the first Indian restaurants in the UK, but his subsequent titles were taking him on to the selection and looking after spices, and the history of the spice trail to India and China, and we skipped them as they veered away from our interest.
Joining us from Portland Maine was / is Ian Murray, an experience local newspaper journalist and editor and now the chap who represents and speaks for the media as a whole (and especially the printed media) when their actions / decisions are called into question. His talks are based on "So you want to be a journalist" career talks, though I'm pretty sure he's tweaked his presentation to suit the mature audience who are pretty unlikely to be looking for a career in the field. We'e looked at topics such as "what is fake news", "how to tell if something is fake", "how to write a story to grab attention", and what journalists can and can't so with news - "how not to get sued", with some of the moral and practical issues involved. Today, we looked at the editors' code under IPSO and the thorny question of privacy v freedom to publish, and how "public interest" rolls into this. As well as morning talks there are afternoon workshops - which are still pretty much talks - and it's been a good opportunity for me to think through and consider where we stand on the forum on these various matters, and where I personally stand on what I write too.
There's a different film every day at the on-board cinema; yesterday I enjoyed "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Lisa has seen several more. We've skipped "May Poppins Returns" today, just as we skip watercolour arts class, classical concerns, the vocalist competitions, rotary get-together, whist, deck cricket, talk series on topics such as drinking wine, whist, bingo, and quizzes.
Internet connectivity is patchy and Lisa and I are sharing a single account. Don't believe the sales blurb promising "full" access though at slow speeds - it isn't full at all. And the speed is such that the forum works (its pages designed for low bandwidth situations) when many other sites and even email downloads frustrate.
Things have changed since we first cruised - the "Perl Whirl" in 2000 with the gods of the Perl (programming language) world. In those days, each port call was a dash into an internet cafe and the rest of the time we were truly away from it. What a contrast now where we have been doing things as diverse as arranging for a table for the Melksham Rail User Group next Sunday, booking a course to give in November, posting occasionally (!) here, and negotiating the sale of a house.
I have two more travelogues to write - and I propose to tell you about people on the boat, and about a typical port visit. Then you, dear reader, can heave a huge sigh of relief that I'll be back on the trains. Planning to catch the Brighton to Malvern service on Tuesday... but not go anywhere near either Brighton or Malvern.
Best dash – dinner calls. Informal night tonight – thank goodness, as fancy dress to look like a penguin really isn't me.
It's a SHIP!
Take a detention and write 100 times "We sailed in a ship, not a boat"
