Days 2 and 3 - at Sea

Tuesday and Wednesday , 26th and 27th March 2019

Leaving Dubai through the Persian Gulf, passing through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf of Oman  and on through the Arabian Sea toward our next port of call.  All these waterways forming part of or extensions of the North Indian Ocean.

Tuesday 

Sailing distance from Dubai to Salalah = 987nm

After yesterday’s long day we slept for over 10 hours and woke feeling better.  Breakfast was followed by our Pirate Drill.  Our Captain, Aseem Hashmi,  getting more like an old friend we have sailed with him so much, announced the start of the drill, all passengers had to return to their staterooms, those in inside rooms stayed in their rooms, those with balconies or windows had to sit in the corridor and stay away from their doors.  Everyone being accounted for we were allowed to get back to our busy day.  The Captain also announced that in the early hours of the morning we has collected 4 new members to the crew - a Royal Navy Officer and 3 armed security officers.  

This was followed by our first Trivia, with Rosemary a lady we met on the flight over.  Not a great start with only 11 out of 20.

Day ticked by us usual until time for the highlight of the day Afternoon Tea, closely followed by another Trivia with just the 2 of us where we did slightly better with 16 out of 20.

All day we kept meeting and catching up with familiar faces from previous cruises, mainly the World Voyage, and certainly there were others recognised whom we had never actually spoken with.

Dinner this evening in the Kings Court buffet followed by a visit to the theatre for the Cunard singers and dancers, a new show for us, in ‘Be My Guest’ which featured a mix of show and movie songs along with a medley of Adele songs and the finale a from the ‘Greatest Showman’, a film which actually premiered on this ship in New York.

The show was a little later than normal so time to catch a few more Zzzzz’s.

Wednesday

Awoke after another 9 hours sleep, catching up now?  Now sailing in the Arabian Sea, passing just out of sight of the Omani Coast.  The weather hot and sunny, the seas very calm.  We saw quite a few Gannets flying around the front of the ship.  We did hear from other passengers of a pod of dolphins being spotted, but not by us!

Spare Parts - also known as the Commodore's Cufflinks

The day generally followed the normal pattern for sea days, breakfast, trivia - picked up another new member for our quiz team - afternoon tea, trivia, dinner in the Kings Court.

After dinner took advantage of the pirate precautions with the deck lights been reduced/turned off and went up to the top deck for a stargazing experience.  Wonderful views of the Milky Way, with so many stars visible that even the well known constellations such as Orion were almost swamped by their sheer abundance.