4/5 Sailing Northwards

Monday 4^th At sea

Sun rose at 4.21 today and will set at 10.38. We are at 56 degrees North. We were up in time to eat brekky before the aerobics class that didn’t happen at 8am. No problem – we did an hour in the gym before heading down to the Tiger bar for another hour of aerobics and stretch. It seems the entertainment is going to be focussed indoors this time. We spent a lot of time being windswept on the transatlantic with Musica.

We had kept an eye out for Sebastian yesterday and he turned up in costume after the aerobics. He spotted us and remembered our names. You will recall he chatted and tried to help when we were trying to get our luggage onboard 2 weeks ago in Venice. Meanwhile J had a couple of turns at rolling the giant dice and was the first to score a 7 and win a red bandanna (yay).

We snatched a shower before dashing back for the 10am quiz, which turned out to be about beer. We only remembered 1 from the other cruise and knew a few from our travels. It was our turn to win the sympathy tips from passing animators (the entertainment staff) and we tied with another couple with 8/15. To our great delight we won a rather nice MSC Tshirt. We spotted 2 tables of Australians.

MSC have a 3 hour siesta each day with no activities. The afternoon quiz was general knowledge (note to self : research Dominican Republic because they seem fixated by it). We didn’t win but we did get another tip from passing staff. This is what we were alluding to on the previous MSC trip when the gay/tranny group kept winning. Meeow. J stayed on and learned the Sirtaki (Greek folk dancing).

Grand Gala Night tonight. The Captain’s cocktail party isn’t so much a specific event – rather a happy hour with an open bar/s. We ensconced ourselves next to a serving spot and popped in 5 rum cocktails and champagnes (each) within 12 minutes. That ensured a happy evening. Oooh – don’t order vodka martinis – they taste ecccch.

Did I mention that we didn’t get water vouchers this time and I had to go and liaise with reception, where I was lucky to find a Sethefrican girl who arranged it. It is supposed to be for US guests but we booked through a US agency. (On Musica they were left in our cabin on the first day) We took our own 1.5 litre water bottle to dinner, which upset the maître d’ so now we will have to use the bottles they gave us.

We were eagerly awaiting the show, which was very good. They had the usual background of their in-house singers and dancers, woven around imported specialists. They had a 3 man balancing and throwing team, a couple who swung on silk ribbons and then a Chinese contortionist, whose forte was to sit on her own head!

I realise that you are all going to do this at home so the tip is start with a handstand and then roll up. But the bottom line is that you end up lying face down with your back curled round so your feet are flat on the floor in front of your face and your bum is firmly placed on top of your head. Good luck with that. She seems to have an incredibly flexible spot round about her shoulder blade level where her back bends at more than a right angle. I felt quite queasy watching her.  The most amazing part was when she did this same trick while suspended by her mouth on a curved stand.  The pressure on her mouth/head/neck must be extreme.

We fell into a vodka-enhanced sleep by 10pm.  Woohoo.