Today we had a sea day,  because as explained yesterday the distance is just too far to do it overnight and then put another port in. This morning, just after sunrise, I woke up to a familiar sound, the fog horn. Why did it even wake me up ? Even in retirement any changes to a ships environment when cruising still wakes me up. So a fog horn, change in rolling or pitching, the A.C stopping, abrupt course changes etc.etc. I wake up briefly.  Once I have identified the change in shipboard rhythm, I go happily back to sleep again as somebody else gets paid to sort it out. The captain used the foghorn in the Radar Mast which was really nice, as we are close to the funnel and that would have brought the sound directly into our cabin.

A section of the Indian Restaurant “Sindhu”. Intimate and very nice in its double function as Suite Cabin Breakfast lounge.

With a day at sea, there is an upswing in activities in the ship and that means a discussion of what we want to do. We had already decided to go to the Sindhu again for breakfast as today, the sailors were coming at 09.00 hrs. to paint the balcony.  So we enjoyed another nice and relaxed breakfast while contemplating today’s program.  Back in the cabin two sailors had arrived on the balcony. The housekeeping supervisor was there and started to apologise (again) for the inconvenience of the balcony and about  the butler service (again).  Now I was getting irritated as there is nothing wrong with the butler service, Mr Anoop is doing a great job. It just comes back to the fact that I was/am  trying to find out the exact job description of a P&O butler. Also I was the one who volunteered for the balcony painting so that at least one suite cabin was done this cruise, I did not complain, I offered the opportunity.  But I think the supervisor still does not get it and he can also not give me a list of what a Butler exactly is supposed to do according to P&O.

The painting was done in  3 hrs. but unfortunately it turned into a bit of a rush job as they just painted over the rust, without first applying primer. (I had expected that they would have asked if they could do it in 2 steps)  So the balcony is now mostly white again, except on the metal welds, which are still rusty, but what else can I do? I offered my help did my best but it is up to ships management to make the most of the opportunity given.

Painting in progress.

So after breakfast her ladyship and I split up. She went to listen to the captain’s interview with the Cruise Director and I continued on my photo round, to document all the lounges and the artwork.

Captain Karl Shepherd and Cruise Director James during the 45 minute Q&A. Lesley reported that it was one of the best ones she had ever heard. Very cleverly the Cruise Director (28 years with P&O) had collected through the years the best questions asked by the Guests and asked those first before opening the floor to direct guest questions. That gave the captain also the option to have well formulated, concise and clear answers ready. And that gave a very good result. I myself had some toe cringing interviews to deal with, with CD’s who did not prepare themselves. In a few cases I just went over to a 45 minute monologue that would also cover the questions. But Lesley was impressed and that is high praise indeed as she did them herself when Hostess.

So I went the cultural way. The ship has 3 main staircases and an Atrium (with the shops and pursers office) located directly before the 2nd staircase. I like to document this sort of minor (?) art work on all the ships, as hardly any guests look at it, and even company’s do not always retain documentation from it, when the ship is sold or scrapped. So each ship we sail on I walk all the staircases and take a photo of each piece of art on each landing.

Staircase one has paintings mainly by: https://portalpainters.co.uk/artist/lizzie-riches/

They are mainly made up of light and bright coloured paintings, with an emphasis on people and nature. This was an English Lady (passed away in 2008) who got her inspiration from nature and the people around her.

This painting is called “Motley is the only wear”, based on a quote from Shakespeare “As you Like it” Act 2, Scene 7, line 30.

Staircase two, which is the main staircase,  has paintings mainly by: https://www.nicholashelyhutchinson.com/

This painter is a gentleman living in Dorset who gets his direct inspiration from house scenes, nature and the environment around him. Although a different style of painting the lightness of the paintings are not much different to staircase one.

Bella Vista Hotel in Macau, to the left and Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

Staircase three has paintings mainly by: https://www.askart.com/bio/Jeanette_Lassen/11210017/Jeanette_Lassen

“Tea at the Ritz Carlton”, by Jeanette Lassen

Jeanette Lassen, also passed away in 2008, but used similar light colours in her paintings and similar subjects. So that gives 3 staircases with 3 different artists and topics but all executed with a similar result.

There are some more paintings from artists around the atrium, but the above are the big contributors.

Three champagne bottles in display cases are still there.

Another, small, public room that I have not mentioned very much is “Charlies” and open space outside “Andersons the cocktail lounge. At given times the Resident Pianist plays here and the music then wafts into the Anderson lounge, through the atrium and through the shops. It took me a moment to figure out what this place was originally meant for until I saw three large champagne bottles in three display cases  and a small bar/shelf display table.   It was most probably originally a Champagne Bar and obviously it did not work. Nothing to hold the ship responsible for, this is shore management not knowing their clientele and engaging in wishful thinking.

The same happened on Holland America when the S & R class got “The Mix” with a combined Champagne Bar, Cocktail Bar and Sports Bar. The last 2 worked very well, the first one did not. The guests were simply not interested or willing to pay the prices. So that bar turned very quickly into a shelf with advertisements for upcoming cocktail sessions, discount offers and sommelier lessons.  Not only HAL, the same goes for Cunard. We have now worked our way through all the Queens ships in all sort grades of cabins and we only saw the champagne bar (and they have very nice round ones) busy on a formal night / sea days. Even with Cunard having a slightly more well heeled clientele.

So “Charlies” is now a cocktail area and music location and that works very well as it is always full during cocktails. (But then all venues are always full during  cocktail hours)

Speaking about cocktails, with three main lounges and a cocktail lounge (Anderson) and Charlie’s, and The Pub and the Crowsnest, there are not enough bands and other players to go around. So they rotate to a certain extent. The Pub has a resident “busker” who is there each evening but the other lounges share. Either the piano player, the Trio (Kool Blue) or the house band (Pulse), they move from lounge to lounge. So last night the trio Kool Blue played in the Crowsnest, so we headed there, as we had not  heard them yet.   Nice music but as they are regular players and not an act as such, they just play music. No interaction with the public and no space for requests. Luckily as long as we have interaction with a cocktail and my beer glass, we do not care.

Another look at the most popular drinking venue (at least measured over the whole day) The on board pub Champions.

Dinner in the main dining room again and today it took 1 hr. and 15 minutes to get through the 3 courses and tea and coffee. So not as fast as the first day but still not exactly at a pace that you equate with fine dining. But the food is not bad, it just misses the “wow” factor, which is hard to achieve if you see the speed with which it comes out of the Galley.

The show this evening was a comedian and I am not a lover of these shows. Not that I do not like  a good laugh but often they go for audience participation and I hate that.  As it is not a late night show, I do not expect that the show was “dirty” or full of cussing but I simply do not enjoy it. So we called it an early night, with the hope that tomorrow in Trondheim it will be dry and we can walk ashore. It is not a thrilling port, more or less similar to the other ports, only a bit bigger. Main focus point is, when you dock, is the communal swimming pool “Pir Badett” opposite the dock.

Weather: Rain on arrival, rain on departure and hopefully dry weather in between. Temperatures around 13oC / 57oF again. So it is shaping up as not a great cruise, weather wise, but at least all 1800 of us are not in the sweltering heat at home.