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Monday 23rd October 2017
Weather: Overcast
Seas: Gentle Sway
The boys eyes lit up when they could choose from a long list of breakfast items … and Ollie was chuffed to see his favourite – Eggs Benedict – on the daily special menu.
After breakfast, Jon, Callum, Dan and I did the Harry Potter Quiz. We got 19/20 which was all the Harry Potter questions – the only one we got wrong was the Name of JK Rowlings first book not set featuring the world of Harry Potter. 4 teams tied on 19 points so tie break question; “In the film the Chamber of Secrets, how many slugs did Ron Weasley produce when the slug spell backfired”. Callum said 5, Dan said 25 or 30 … we deferred to Dan. The correct answer was 7 but another team had guessed 6 so they got the golden stars.
The younger four then headed back to the cabin to get ready for swimming – by the time we got there, they were already in the pool and being tossed from end to end as the motion of the ship created a wave machine effect.
Back to the cabin to get changed then the boys disappeared downstairs to do Wii Bowling with strict instructions to be back for 12 noon.
Lunch time, we headed to the buffet. The kids loved the chicken schnitzels and chips, the grown ups went more for the salad. The fruit salads got the thumbs up too – plenty of pineapple and kiwi fruit (not just all melon and apple).
After lunch we tried to walk 4 laps of the Prom Deck, only for the weather to thwart our efforts as the starboard side of the Prom Deck was in the process of being cordoned off – too wet and slippy. In the end we did 5 part lengths so hopefully that worked out to be the equivalent of a mile. From there we headed up to Deck 13 to see what the movement of the ship was like up top.
We managed to walk by the Riviera Pool (water sloshing everywhere!). However we then needed to dive inside to reach The Crows Nest as the upper outer decks were all closed. It was busy with a lot of people enjoying reading, snoozing or doing whatever hobbies they were doing.
After lunch had settled, the younger four decided to go swimming in the indoor Crystal Pool. You could really feel as though you were onboard a ship and the kids were chuffed the wave machine had been switched on! Water was swishing from one side of the pool to the other. It wasn’t long after that all the pools were shut – must be getting a little too dangerous.
Tonight was the Captain’s Reception in Carmens and Jess was determined to meet the Captain. The boys looked very smart in their shirts and ties/bow ties and the ladies all scrubbed up pretty well too. We managed to find some seats AND a couple of glasses of something bubbly. Captain Neil Turnbull arrived at 6.20pm and gave his speech – 720 newbie P&O cruisers onboard today. 1902(ish) passengers in total. As far as Captain speeches go, his was probably the most entertaining!
We didn’t have too far to go for dinner this evening – just one flight downstairs. Beef Wellington was on the menu which was a popular choice for most of us (Callum went for Chicken Supreme).
After dinner wanted to get some family photos taken. I knew the perfect spot – the stairs leading up to The Glass House – alas, the pros onboard had positioned themselves exactly where we wanted to go! No-one was waiting so they took Granny’s photo with the grandkids then we relocated to the top of the stairs to get our photos taken. One of the large table booths was free in The Glass House, so the adults enjoyed a glass of wine whilst the kids played Cheat and Go Fish (we did allow them to have a drink too!!).
Jon and I were going to the Syndicate Quiz and were joined by the four boys. Team 37 and it was lucky we had them on our team – as they all contributed to answers. We did well – some tricky questions but we ended up joint top! Tie breaker question: Year the electric street light was invented. We initially thought the 1920s … then a lady on the next table came over to us and said that a chap on her table had a strong inkling it is was sometime around 1890. We put 1890 down and the other team put 1888 … and the answer was early 1870s!
We did really well and the boys should be VERY proud of themselves.
