Jan 11th - Final Transatlantic Crossing Sea Day

A great start to the day in that we have calm seas and warm temperatures (23c). Captain has removed the need to wear masks to both passengers and crew though still no self service and active hand washing / sanitation gel usage was reminded so that Norovirus does not come back to the ship.

We will start today’s blog showing you around chez Ferris. This is our cabin for 49 nights and we should have included this on the ship tour but we didn’t so oops.

You may remember from Pam’s Birthday that we are in cabin D151. It is classified as a delux balcony cabin and, most importantly, has cabins below and above so should be quiet in theory - so far so good.

So here are some pics from our current home - yes we have downsized.

Bed and sofa area. Beside each bed is a 2 drawer cabinet

Vanity table area plus small table. Big hooks in the room which we actually found useful.

TV and we brought some magnetic hooks of our own. Cupboard is limited to 2 doubles and a single. 1 double is full length whilst the other is adjustable

Shower with an actual bath - but only comfortable for 7 yr olds or hobbits

Sink area with glass 3 shelf cabinet. Lots of space underneath too.

Vacuum toilet so don’t sit on here and flush as who knows where you will whoosh off to

The morning was a slow one for us but we did go to see the Arcadia choir perform in the theatre. These are our fellow passengers who have been rehearsing every sea day to perform today. We went to provide support to some of the dinner table guests we have met so far especially "lovely Welsh lady" whose name is Jean and is 84 and has taken a shine to Mark.

Lunchtime was spent in the main dining restaurant and was a very pleasant affair.

Fish & Chips with fish being scampi, squid, prawns, calamari and whitebait

Desserts of chocolate sponge + mango and kiwi meringue

Mark then went off to do laps of the promenade deck where he say a ship and a sea bird for the first time in a week. He then went off to cricket again (2 wins from 2!).

Pam went off to her group gossip chat, I mean craft session. She made a lovely Angel key chain. It was very fiddly so today's session was spent doing actual crafting and not much chatting.

Then rest/reading/snoozing before another gala night Gala night meal.

At the Gala dinner we had a table for 6 with new companions. They were very experienced cruisers and the 2 gentlemen from Belgium had done many world cruises with P&O. They were all very funny company and it was a nice evening meal. The menu is below though the whole table had the Beef Tenderloin which was unusual as there is usually a mixture chosen and lobster is often the go to dish. In addition, Pam had Chicken & Sweetcorn Chowder soup plus ice creams for dessert whilst Mark had the Devonish Crab for starter and a very rich opera gateaux for dessert.

After dinner we found our pub quizzers again and lost convincingly - maybe they aren’t the ringers we hoped they would be. They are very nice to chat to though. We miss Sarah & Andy and Jim & Jane, who were fellow passengers on a previous cruise where we forged a very successful quiz alliance.

We finished the evening once more in the theatre for the 10:30 show which was another different set by Eric and Ern. It’s very hard for them as comedy is so interactive and the act is based on the original material so not really new therefore lines like “he won’t sell many ice creams going at that speed” raises a nostalgic smile rather than a belly laugh. They are very good at recreating them but the show lacked atmosphere.

Tomorrow we dock on land and our very first taste of the Caribbean - very excited.