At Sea – Heading North

Yesterday evening, after dinner, both Tracey and myself were mega-tired. Maybe it was the long drive, or a combination of the whole embarkation process; the fact was, neither of us fancied the welcome show, and after taking a walk around the deck and watching the sun set (see photo above), we settled in a couch in the Captain’s Club with a drink and struggled to keep our eyes open.

This morning, we were up at 7:30am, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, in plenty of time to enjoy a leisurely breakfast and get the Craft room prepared for my first class.

Having anticipated great changes in Marco’s Bistro, we were both slightly disappointed to discover that the major refurbishment we’d expected turned out to be nothing more than a new carpet, a lick of paint and new chairs and blinds. There appears to have been no changes to the layout at all.

In the Craft Room (Conference Room), the tables that have suffered such mistreatment over the years have finally been rebuilt to a sturdy standard and finished off with a dark stain. Very tasteful.

Despite suggestions made at the Entertainments meeting yesterday afternoon, after the emergency drill, where I argued that it would probably be best, based upon past experience, to keep art classes and craft classes at the same time (either mornings or afternoons), it seems we’ve gone with alternating times after all. In other words; my first class was this morning, and my second class will be tomorrow afternoon. Hey ho… not my preferred way of doing things, but since this is quite a short cruise, I don’t really mind (had it been a 4 or 6 week cruise, I might have dug my heels in about it).

Another thing that happened today, which is unusual for the Marco Polo (in fact, I think it’s a first) is that I got away with only having to run one class, and not having to repeat it a second or third time. Which is great; it means I was able to extend my single class a little, giving participants extra time in which to practice their basic washes, and I’ve had the whole afternoon to relax and enjoy the sunshine up on deck (bliss!).

We’ve been sailing in a Northerly direction all day, passing The Isle of Man on the right and Dublin on the left, and then much later, seeing the Dumfries and Galloway coast pass by on the right, with Belfast off to the left. The sea has been flat all day , and the sun has been warm, with barely the slightest of breezes. Our route will continue North for another full sea-day, past the Outer Hebrides, before our planned arrival at our first port-of-call, Kollafjordur in the Faroe Islands.

So far so good…