The one disadvantage of taking a cruise from Southampton is you have to cross the Bay of Biscay to get to your first port and it can sometimes be a little choppy. In fact Andrew Scott, Vicki's husband, passed through it last week on a Royal Navy minesweeper and said it was so bad he couldn't read any of the instruments. The Azura is a slightly bigger ship than Andrew's and isn't made from plastic like the minesweeper but it did make us a little apprehensive about the crossing. Well we needn't have worried as it was like a millpond and the sun was shining.
After a breakfast in the restaurant of poached eggs on toast we had the first table tennis match of the cruise. It ended all square at one game each just in time to attend the first talk by the guest lecturer Dr Nick Slope. He is an archeologist and historian who has appeared on several TV programmes, so he told us. As a precaution we sat towards the back of the room just in case his talk on Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain didn't quite live up to expectations. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to be entertained and educated by a very good presentation which may mean we venture further forward in the room tomorrow.
Although we are travelling with Win and Jim, our old friends from Bedworth we have both done our own things during the day meeting up briefly at mealtimes. Sylvia and I attended the first of the progressive quizzes at lunchtime and think we did okay with a score of 34 out of 40, failing to recognise a youthful George Clooney costing us the lead. All to play for as the quiz continues on every sea day.
Returning to our cabin for a spot of sunshine on the balcony we spotted a rare white whale.
Tonight was the first formal night of the cruise and gave us all a chance to dress up in our finery......
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....before making our way to dinner.
We were joined on our table by gentleman from Newbury who in his younger days had been the engineer on Canberra, one of P&O 's early ships. He told us of the class system that existed on the ships at that time with the tourist class at the back and first class at the front, a division down the centre of the ship preventing mixing. Although the food served to both classes was broadly the same the difference was in the way it was served.
He also talked about the water produced by the desalination plants on board with the purest water not being reserved for the passengers of either class but for the boilers that propelled the ship. Great company for another really nice meal, I had prime rib, Sylvia lobster, Win lamb and Jim duck.
After a quick visit to the Captain's cocktail party, Win needing to know whether he looked as good as he sounded, we made our way to the theatre for Destination Dance. The theatre by this time was rather full which meant Sylvia and I had to sit on the front row. Can anyone spot Win and Jim amongst the crowd.
Returning to the room we found the steward had been busy with the towels.
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