Day 6 - at Sea

 Sunday 18th  August 2024

One more relaxing morning at sea, breakfast in the buffet followed  again by a takeaway coffee.

The afternoon weather showing a distinct improvement, calmer and brighter even though getting cooler.

Tried the afternoon tea in the Palm Dining Room, a good effort, always enjoy a nice crustless sandwich and a dainty cake, scones rather disappointing.

Tonights show by Chris Ritchie with a tribute to Neil Diamond and his music.

Apart from the most terrible wig, all part of his costume, a really good impression of the singer with a broad selection of his best hits, not bad for an ex-matelot from Derby.

Plenty of audience participation singalongs especially the closing number, what else but Sweet Caroline.

A late supper in the atrium of a sandwich and a cocktail to close the day.

Atrium

A foggy night with a regular blasts on the foghorn, the fog came in with a calmer sea and a much reduced wind.

Day 5 - at Sea

Saturday 17th  August 2024

Today it’s another enrichment talk, again by the naturalist, at an unearthly hour, i.e. before breakfast!  This time about the wildlife we might see from the ship, what to look for and where to look.

A rather late breakfast followed by a search for a nice spot to enjoy a coffee.  No luck I’m afraid, windy weather causing an influx of passengers to the inside of the ship, so no seats anywhere.

Took a fancy for a hot chocolate today, picked up a takeaway to take back to the cabin.  This was closely followed by a room service delivery of two more hot chocolates, not ordered, must be a confusion in the service system.

Tried out a couple more trivia today, not having much success so far this cruise, fair scores but there’s always a team who get 100%. They must have previously done the questions!

Tried out the Island Dining Room this evening.  Pretty good and not busy.

Then to the theatre for tonight’s production show, “Born to be Wild”, not the one cancelled from last night but an alternative deemed more suitably safe for the cast in view of the continued rough weather.  A good show with a good group of singers and dancers.

Just time for a cocktail in the bar before retiring for the night.

Day 4 - at Sea

Friday 16th August 2024

A wild and windy night with a rough sea.  Lots of creaks and bangs.

A very busy day around the ship.  No-one on deck, weather just not nice enough, so every seat taken.  Resorted to takeaway coffee to take back to our cabin where at least we could relax, and take in a bit of a film in peace and quiet.

Room service lunch today, just a little something to avoid partaking of this afternoons wine tasting on an empty stomach.

Off to the afternoon enrichment talk by the naturalist on the Arctic, and a bit about the Antarctic.  An introduction to what we can expect on this cruise and a guide to the natural history, geography and climate, as well as the extent of the arctic, the Arctic Circle, the tree line and the 10 degree centigrade isotherm.

This evening it’s formal night, not really to our liking to get all dressed up so we avoided it by going up to the buffet for dinner.

It was to be the production show in the theatre but the weather caused cancellation on safety grounds, they will try again tomorrow.

Day 3 - Cobh, Ireland

Thursday 15th August 2024

This morning woke to the sight of a dull and damp view of Cobh.  This being the port close to Cork in southern Ireland.

After a rather disappointing breakfast in the Palm Dining Room our choice for today was to go ashore to visit the Cobh Heritage Museum just a short walk away.

Luckily our shipboard accommodation is now a bit better than this!

Not our first visit to the museum but there’s still lots of interest.  Cobh, being the port previously known as Queenstown, was the departure point for Irish emigration particularly to the United  States, notably during the aftermath of the potato famine.  Among the many varied displays whole sections, including collections of artefacts, were dedicated to the sinking’s of the Titanic and the Lusitania.

Return to the ship for the afternoon.

View of Cobh

Dinner tonight In Sabatinis, an Italian themed restaurant, lots of pasta dishes and a deconstructed tiramisu for dessert.

Tiramisu?

Day 2 - Falmouth

 Wednesday 14th August 2024

Short overnight sail to Falmouth, today’s port of call, anchored well out in the mouth of the bay.

Nice sunny pleasant day, after breakfast joined the queue to get the tender into town.  Luckily got a top deck seat for the 20 minute ride to the dock.

Caribbean Princess

Dropoff a bit remote from the town centre but a shuttle bus provided to get a fair bit nearer the action.

A nice walk through town, pretty busy with tourists and cruise passengers, especially so as it happens to be Falmouth Week.  Couldn’t actually find a nice coffee shop and no nice seafront area to sit for long.

Soon back to the tender for a return to the ship for a coffee and a sandwich.  Joined in the bean bag toss competition in the atrium, surprisingly won a couple of coasters, luckily not too many on board the ship to expand the number of competitors.

The afternoon spent on the top deck enjoying the delightful weather and the views of the sea, the coast and Pendennis Castle.

Our visit closed whilst we had distant views of the Falmouth Week Airshow, not a great deal to see.

Smiler vapour trail

Sailing west we continued on to our next port of call.

Nice dinner in Planks speciality restaurant, BBQ style meats etc. as expected very good but just too much.

Time to digest and relax with a film, this time James Bond.

Day 1 - Southampton

 

Tuesday13th August 2024

Today’s adventure starts in Southampton Ocean Terminal on board the Caribbean Princess heading to Greenland and Iceland.

Pretty much the usual start to proceedings.  Parked the car, went through booking in and security and joined the ship.  Started off with a morning coffee in the Atrium in very comfortable seats to watch the world go by, all sorts of lost looking passengers boarding and finding their bearings.  No rush so the morning carried on into a lunchtime sandwich and our first cocktail.

Must get moving, so off to our muster station to get booked in then to our cabin to watch the safety video, all safe now shouldn’t be any  follow up calls for us to complete our safety procedures now.

No luggage yet so it’s a stroll round to orientate ourselves with the ship and to find a sunny seat to wait for the sun to move round onto our balcony.

Watched the late afternoon sailaway from our sunny balcony.

All too soon the ship slowed to a crawl and off Ryde the announcement came that a medical evacuation was needed.  All outside decks and balconies cleared for helicopter operations.  Operation completed and off we go again.

Dinner tonight in the buffet for simplicity, pretty busy, many like minds I suspect.

As seems normal boarding day seemed very tiring so a return to  our cabin to relax.  Unpacked and then settled down for a movie.  Hercule Poirot’s “Haunting in Venice”.  Must be about the fifth viewing and starting to understand what’s going on at last.