Day Three – At Sea.

The weather today was again fine, although there were a few more clouds in the sky and the wind was a little brisker. Never the less many people were taking advantage of the sun rays before our first stop in Malaga tomorrow.

I thought that as both the comments I have received concerned the eating facilities on board, I would concentrate tonight's entry on food. They say that when you cruise if you do not put on at least a pound for every day of the voyage , then you haven’t been enjoying yourself. On this ship it’s probably a pound and a half!!

Lets start with breakfast. As with all meals you have the choice of a self-service buffet or waiter service, for breakfast Sylvia and I usually choose the first option. The choice is everything you would expect from a first class hotel including cereals, continental meats & cheeses, pastries and of course the full English. The eggs can be scrambled, fried boiled or poached, indeed if none of these options appeal an omelette will be made especially for you. Today both Sylvia and I had scrambled eggs, mushrooms and devilled lamb kidneys, following cereal, fruit and then toast. Just a light snack then!!!

Throughout the day pizzas, burgers, hot dogs, wraps etc. are available from various parts of the ship all at no extra cost, although you do have to pay for ice-cream. The buffet [shown above] is open 24 hours a day changing the breakfast menu to an ever-changing lunch selection, then to afternoon tea [sandwiches, scones and cakes- a selection shown in the picture below] and then a nightly speciality dinner menu. This will change from such as a “Best of British”, Mediterranean, Indian, Country & Western etc. , in other words something for everyone.

When booking the cruise we had to choose between “Club” or “Freedom Dining”, the former is the traditional method where you get allocated a table and sitting at the start of the cruise. You stay on the same table for each dinner, a great way of getting to know your fellow diners, always presuming that you want to!! On “Freedom Dining”, the option we have chosen you can pick the time and indeed the restaurant in which you want to eat on a nightly basis. The restaurant serves the same six- course meal as the Club dining all served “silver Service” style. For example tonight’s menu included cod, beef, pork and even venison [cue dead deer joke!!!!!!]. In addition to the buffet and the traditional dining rooms this ship has two specialist restaurants, Siddhu [Indian] and XVII [a la carte]. To dine in these venues involves a small supplement, we ate in Siddhu yesterday and have booked XVII for Friday. [ A full report will follow then.]

Tonight was the first production show in the theatre entitled “Destination Dance”. I have to attend these shows, you understand to check out the quality of the dancers…..I mean dancing. The cast was made up of twelve singers and dancers and the production was superb. I’ve noticed that the audio-visual equipment on this ship is really state of the art and this show used it to full effect. Strobes, pyrotechnics and giant video screens accompanied the casts through dances depicting a journey across the world featuring Spanish, French[can-can], Country & Western, African and Irish dances. Great entertainment.

We won the quiz again, it returns on the next sea day which is Friday. Yesterday’s answers were Lord (Jeffrey) Archer wrote “The Fourth Estate” and The Chemical Brothers recorded the album. Only one question tonight, Who provided the voice of Asland in the recent film of “The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe”? – Answer tomorrow.