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Sunday 21st August (Jon’s Birthday!)
Weather: Clear
Sea Conditions: pretty flat but quite breezy!
Today is Jon’s Birthday – Happy Birthday!! Awake about 6am this morning .. and I dived out for coffee again this morning to bring back to the cabin. Princess had very kindly informed everyone in the surrounding cabins that someone in our cabin was celebrating their birthday. Balloons and a poster had appeared on our door! Today was our last sea day before three days of ports.
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We headed down for breakfast and Callum and I both tried out the Omelettes (very good) and Jon the Smoked Salmon Bagel with Scrambled Eggs. Back to the cabin to collect jackets and we decided to walk around the Prom Deck. It was breezy outside but the sun was out and if it wasn’t for the wind, it would have been quite warm. You can walk all the way around the Prom Deck, but you need to climb a set of stairs to go around the bow. That was really windy – the rest of the Prom Deck was pretty sheltered in comparison. Three laps of the Prom Deck is the equivalent to a mile.
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Callum once again wanted to join us for the morning Trivia Quiz so we dropped him up at Kids Club for an hour. We listened to Dr Greg Wheeler lecture once again – this time it was on the Argonauts, forty-niners and the Klondike – how gold is formed and the Alaskan Gold Rush. Again, all very interesting.
Next stop, Quiz in the Vista Lounge and Butch and Jane joined us once again. Much harder questions and we got 13 out of 20 (winners scored 16).
We’d missed the table tennis tournament but did make it for the Aviator challenge in the Piazza – fold your own paper airplane then see how far it can fly from the first balcony in the Atrium. Callum won a prize for the worst paper airplane … his and Jon’s barely made it over the banister!
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We grabbed a bite to eat once more from the International Cafe. I had a salad mix whilst Callum and Jon had a sandwich. Afterwards it was kids club for Callum as Jon and I were going wine tasting. We’d done them previously on P&O before and there was never more than 10 people taking part. This wine tasting was in the Bottocelli Dining Room and they were queuing up the stairs! There must have been 150+ people taking part so the wine waiters had their work cut out. We were on a table with three other couples. One were from the San Bernadino area (chap originally from Trinidad & Tobago), another couple from Yosemite area and another couple kept themselves to themselves. Not smiling, not joining in the conversations and they disappeared as soon as they could! We tried six wines and three wine waiters talked us through them. Two were from Italy and Alejandro from Mexico. 1 sparkling wine, 2 whites and 3 reds. The last red we tried was a Chilean number blended from four grape types … and nobody on our table liked even though it was the most expensive at $99 a bottle.
Wine tasting complete and we went to pick Callum up from Kids Club. We wandered back to the cabin via shuffleboard and table tennis. Whilst the boys were in the conservatory playing table tennis, I went out on deck and spotted a couple of whales. Not a lot of them … the back of one close to the ship … and saw another couple blowing in the distance.
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Back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Callum wanted to go to the Pizza and Pasta evening with kids club so Jon and I went to the formal night in the Main Dining Room on our own. We had to wait about half an hour for a table for two but timings worked well as the Captains Welcome Aboard party was in full swing – sparkling wine and non-alcoholic drinks on offer along with canapes. Downstairs in the Piazza you could hardly move for the photo opportunities – champagne fountains and another three photo locations. Staircase out of use and the lifts difficult to access as there were photos being taken in front of them. First intro the captain made was the Employee of the month – a 2nd plumber, followed by the all the heads of department.
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Buzzer sounded and our table was ready. Food was lovely. I had smoked duck and Jon the Crab quiche. French onion soup followed by Shrimp for Jon and Barrimundi for me. Our waitress Fatima, recommended the Chocolate Pudding or the flambeed bananas for dessert. I opted for the chocolate whilst Jon went for cheese and biscuits. Fatima apologised when she brought he desserts over as she had “accidentally” picked up a flambeed banana pud for us to try. Not usually Jon’s thing, but he really liked it.
Afterwards, we collected Callum from Kids Club and went to watch Jeff Peterson, the Comedian/Magician in the Vista Lounge (bar area at the back of the ship). He was pretty good (Callum even got some of the jokes!) but he was fading fast so back to the cabin as we would have an early start in the morning. We were losing another hour (so now 9 hours behind the UK), so no doubt we’d be awake even earlier!
