First Class Chaos

After a rough sea last night, today was the first full sea day, and the first of my painting classes.

And I should start by saying the dedicated art studio on the Borealis is absolutely fantastic!…

…it could do with a couple more tables and more chairs, but the space is light and airy, and pretty much perfect for the job. There’s a sink and even a kettle for folks to make cups of tea while they work. Jugs of iced cold orange juice was also provided, which I thought was a nice touch.

We’re used to first classes being chaotic, but today took chaos to a whole new level. Without going into too much detail (because the issues were largely operational and the result of misunderstanding and miscommunication), when we arrived in the studio, there were no kits. Bearing in mind that I’m there to give a class to a maximum of 30 guests, and materials are provided by Fred Olsen in the form of painting kits that the guests purchase by filling out a chitty. But there were no kits anywhere – as far as we could see – in the room. I went dashing off to the entertainments office to see if I could sort it out, but there was no-one in the office. Tracey then took a turn at dashing around while I tried to keep the now-full studio entertained. Two things then happened. Firstly; one of the guests discovered a box under one of the tables… that had ten kits in it. Not nearly enough to cover everyone, but since some people were only wanting to buy one kit, and to share, this at least felt like a start. Secondly, Tracey did eventually track one of the hosts down, who told her where the kits were (under the white table… we’d found them…), but when she was told that 10 was nowhere near enough, she came back by saying that they normally only sell about half a dozen kits. She reluctantly agreed to bring up more kits… not the twenty extra we’d requested, but at least – half an hour later than the scheduled starting time – the class could finally go ahead.

This evening was the first of two formal nights. It’s only an 8-day trip, so we were surprised that they’d be able to squeeze two formals in but, hey… two formal nights it is.

I have my formal suit, dress shirt and dickie bow with me for such an occasion. What it seems I don’t have with me – on this occasion – are my trusty sheep-themed cufflinks, so I improvised by using two of Tracey’s hair ties with knots tied in them, which worked surprisingly well (no-one would be any the wiser).

We were pleased to discover the craft instructor is Carolyn and her husband Chris, who we know from the Saga ships. Since instructors and companions are only allowed to eat in The View (their informal eatery), we were mildly disappointed to discover that we were about the only four there dressed in formal attire (in The Grill, on Saga ships, formal attire – even in the informal dining areas – are normal, and encouraged, on formal nights). We agreed to stick together for the second formal night, which will be in a few days time, and I’ve already made the decision not to bother with my formal suit with me on our next planned trip on the Borealis. We joined Carolyn and Chris for a drink in the Pub Lounge later, when we scored a typically low 8/15 in the quiz (we’re rubbish at quizzes).

By the way; for a further sneak peak at the inside of the ship, this is Times Square…