Day 8 – March 11th, 2014

At sea en route to Japan.

I wake up to a beautiful sunrise but am tired and hop back into bed for a while longer. Eventually, we are up and then have breakfast in the Britannia.

Sunrise, another beautiful start to a day

After, we decided to take a look through the shops, and Moni found a top she liked. The shops don’t have any rooms for you to try on garments, you are given your chosen items and allowed to take them to your cabin to try on, which allows you to see if it matches your wardrobe.

You have a two-hour slot to do this and return if you don’t want to keep the item otherwise the price will be added to your guest account. It’s a great way to shop, I wonder if the cashless way of onboard life could ever make its way into day to day life.

The perfect way to try on garments

Anyway, after shopping we end up in the royal theatre listening to Diane Simpson giving a lecture on ‘Graphology’ the art of understanding writing. A really very interesting talk plus Diane is very witty. The theatre was quite full and as lunch time approached people were leaving early before she managed to finish her talk, we stayed to the end then rushed back to the room so Moni could try on her garment. Unfortunately, it was not such a good fit and we returned it with no problem.

“the biggest challenge is finding a table, not much fun”

We decided to have lunch in the Lido as the daily programme mentioned that it was an enhanced lunch buffet not to be missed… Well, it was enhanced by the addition of a couple of cooking stations with garlic prawns and steak being prepared for you. All very nice, but I think everybody read the daily programme and thought the same, as it was packed and it gets very messy when that happens, trying to get your food (some people just pile up) then the biggest challenge is finding a table, not much fun. Ended up joining another couple that was nice to listen to while we ate our meals.

Later on, we had coffee but no favourite strawberry tartlets, they ran out, a word must be getting around, so we settle for chocolate danish which is also very nice.

Next, we got ready for evening dinner and spend a couple of hours online enjoying pre-dinner drinks.

Cafe Carinthia pre-dinner drinks

“funny moments at our table as everyone is somewhat a comedian”

Ivan one of our waiters was not too well and was MIA tonight and Ricardo had a new offsider. We made plans to play musical chairs on another night when we are all together. We have many funny moments at our table as everyone is somewhat a comedian. Once again I consume many courses, I do enjoy my food.

Images from Britannia dinner

After dinner we head to the Empire Casino where the raffle is being drawn, we miss out by 3 numbers and so do the boys, yet Roslyn won a spa treatment, our table is doing well. Dene changes a few US dollars into casino chips and has a winning streak we all have a good laugh as the raffle continues. As soon as it ends we head to the Queens Room to watch and listen to a few songs as the Big Band play and sing. Some great dance couples on the floor. Then we take a look up in the Yacht Club and here is a Latin theme happening with many of the ships officers present.

Back to our cabin and call it a day, the wind is picking up and it’s raining heavy…