26/4/2016 Disembarkation and home!

Southampton, sunshine, breakfast then home! Thank you Singapore, Sri Lanka, Seychelles, Mauritius, Reunion, South Africa, Namibia, Cape Verde, Canaries and Madeira and of course our friends and companions Indian and Atlantic! Good Morning England! Better travelled, very well relaxed and definitely better educated about South Africa  and inspired to find out more, thanks to Chris Lubbe.



Disembarkation of 1800 impatient travellers can't be easy, but it was as smooth as could be, a bit of herding in various locations around the ship, ours was the Curzon Theatre and as we had a coach booked we were the first group off. The luggage that had been taken down to the hold last night had to be taken to the grand shed first, then when we got off identified by its colour code (pink for deck 10) and we collected it.  In customs we were randomly stopped I think  from the questions to see if we were smuggling cigarettes! Then straight into our Intercruises transfer in the Southampton FC executive coach again. Big leg room and comfy recliners, same "chauffeur" (notice how I'm looking for an alternative word for driver) and the same vibe as last year.  Ground rules clearly set by said executive coach executive! (He told us not to call him a driver, not to call the vehicle a bus, clear up our own mess and dispose of it using bags provided, and most importantly not to ask him what time we'd be arriving!!! I was suitably scared of transgressing, so didn't engage with him after that introduction.) Not really, he was funny and quirky with a cheeky look in his eye and a wry smile. Obviously also very proud of the vehicle!

So once more to Knutsford Services, with just 2 stops and drop offs, one nice cup of tea, and our rendezvous with Talene before home at tea time! First impressions back, and my last words from this blog - it's fffffffreezing.

23/4/2016 First of three days to Southampton

We're at sea again!  Our coordinates are 37 degrees north and 13 degrees west, so we are still level with the Moroccan coast heading towards the coast of Portugal. All is flat and smooth, no swell no rain, and as expected the temperature has dropped to 16, so the roof is on the pool and the sunbathers on the sun deck above have all been driven indoors. It's ok though, an indoor swimming pool instead.  There is an air of coming to an end on the ship. People are exchanging contact details, starting to say goodbyes to staff, planning and booking next year's cruise and all that kind of thing.

So today we have done an art class, where we painted a misty Mount Teide in the clouds, using a number of our newly acquired water colour skills.










Our p.m. highlight was been to the Theatre for a ticket only concert with Collabro, 5 young men who sing songs form shows like Les Mis, Chess, Lion King, and were winners of BGT in 2014.  I didn't know, and today was the first time I had ever heard them. Not sure quite how they got the Aurora gig, but very glad they did.  They have lovely voices, and because they sang Circle of Life (links to a performance in Manchester's Bridgwater Hall) had me crying with the first high note, and then of course I couldn't stop and had to use my scarf to get rid of the snot and tears! Really wasn't expecting that.


But tonight we didn't get involved in any theatre entertainment, only our own.  Comedians can be so annoying! Anyway Brian Conley thankfully not just a comedian,  is on board and we spent so much time talking to our table mates tonight that we missed him. We will catch him next time, and before we do we can listen to what people said about him tonight.  Instead we have watched a bit of telly - an old episode of Ambassadors, done a crossword and a quick blog.

Until tomorrow, good night all xx

30/3/2016 Sea day 2 to Mauritius

30/3/2016 Just one more sea day to Mauritius.   We are GMT plus 3 I think.  Still sailing south.  The sky is clear again most of the time, and we have had one very gentle cool rain shower.   I don't think I've introduced you to our two pools......, pool bars, hot tubs, sun beds




No sign of sea life though, just one solitary bird accompanying the ship for a few miles (probably hopeful of some scraps, but not getting lucky since throwing anything overboard seems to be outlawed these days).  Yesterday the captain did mention the possibility of seeing an albatross or two.  It hasn't happened yet though.

Interesting how every island has its own way of handling immigrants, in Mauritius all 1800 passengers have to undergo a face to face interview from 6:30 a.m. tomorrow. This is reminiscent of the USA, and Australia, but not many other places in the world.  We have a slot tomorrow morning at 7:45, it's early because we're off on an excursion called Paradise Island (a whole day beach trip with lunch!)

Today's art lesson was an Indian ocean beach scene, with palm trees, sunbeds and parasols, tiny people in the distance and the odd sailing boat.  Thankfully all small enough not to require too much detail.  We're both fairly happy with the outcome.




We learned today there's to be an art exhibition on 2/4/2016, our next sea day.  We need to choose 3 of our best pieces for this and submit them to Tony the teacher on 1/4/2016.

So just to sum up, tomorrow it's Mauritius then the day after is Reunion Island, both just inside the Tropic of Capricorn, so still not too much sitting outside, and then we move south-westwards to South Africa - Port Elizabeth and then Cape Town, where we understand the season is Autumn, and still like a good British summer. But not yet, two port days and three sea days before then.

29/3/2016 Sea day one: Seychelles to Mauritius

29/3/2016 Two sea days to go to Mauritius. in the night it was eerily windy, I woke at 1 with the sound of wind whistling really loudly.  So loud it was hard to sleep afterwards, so I spent the night watching films about Edward 8th and Wallace Simpson, it's ok though, it's always possible to nap during the day.  Today there have been cloudy skies but the temperature is still in the 30sC.  We've been able to sit outside for a little while, but mainly enjoying the entertainment, the naps and the air conditioning!

Today we've enjoyed 2 art classes focussing on portraits, learning a bit about perspective and shading. The first one was a copy of something Tony did in Vietnam before we joined the ship.  The second I decided to do a self portrait.  Both really enjoyable, much more so for me than landscapes.



Then after another black tie dinner this evening a really entertaining Freddie Mercury tribute act, by Dean Richardson,  made all the more enjoyable by the fact that he could very happily take the micky out of himself.  He had a lovely voice, and was wonderful with his audience, lots of Freddie's mannerisms, a few look-alike costumes, even though he didn't look a lot, I should say nothing at all like Freddie! But he performed all the memories, and that's what gave him the appeal, and the audience the feel-good factor.

28/3/2016 Easter Monday in the Seychelles

28/3/2016 Easter Monday in the Seychelles
We were up and about early enough to watch our morning sail in to Port Victoria on Mahe in the Seychelles. We had our breakfast out on the open deck, and were looked after again by the lovely waiter John, who sings and entertains everyone all the time. This was all at the same time as taking in the lush, green and misty tropical views.

It really is beautiful here.  At first it didn't seem that hot, but by the time we had made our short shuttle in to the town we felt like we were melting away. that will be the humidity then, and possibly the 34C.   We found a lovely cafe, as some of our friends and family will already be aware because we made use of the free wifi, uploading a weeks worth of cruise photos to Facebook, and catching up.

Waiting for the shuttle bus back to the ship gave us some time to sit in the shade and chat with some more passengers. More interesting lives, and things to make us smile, a teacher from Oxfordshire who doesn't like hot weather on a round Africa cruise.  It seems she taught maths, (not geography!)  Then in the evening we enjoyed a buffet meal up on deck 12 instead of our usual sit down meal on deck 6. It was a Mediterranean meal with lots of sea food. After dinner we went to Carmen's, the ballroom to a Bee Gees tribute act. It was quite enjoyable - I was pleasantly surprised - there was a bit of a slide show of the ban in the early days, and a commentary of their lives between the songs. The band was called Caravan (but not the alternative band also called Caravan from my twenties).  This one was made up of four Chinese men, and backed up by the ships resident orchestra. Now and again you could really hear the Bee Gees sound. It was fun, and I think endorphin stimulating.  Sometimes it's a bit of an effort to go to the entertainment when you've got comfortable in the cabin after dinner, so I think the secret is to dine around 7 and then go straight to the theatre.

Bye until our next sea day.

27/3/2016 Easter Sunday - one more day to the Seychelles

Well it's another really hot sunny day on the Indian Ocean and it's the third  and final sea day between Sri Lanka and the Seychelles. Piracy procedures are in place, curtains closed at night and no wandering around the open decks in the dark. To be honest I don't think there's anyone else on the sea.   We've heard the ships horn a few times, so there must be some sea traffic somewhere.

The sea is consistently flat and with very little swell its like walking around on dry land. We can't see any sea life either.  The sound of the ship cutting through the ocean is invigorating, and sunrises and sunsets are absolutely stunningly beautiful.






Considering there are 1800 passengers it's a pretty quiet place to be.  There are families with children of all ages on this one, with night nurseries and children's clubs that go on until midnight for all ages.  There's a dedicated family pool deck with children's pool, everyone seems to move around wherever they want and its all really peaceful.

   

I was bollocked this morning for taking someone's seat in art, but apart from that I've been behaving myself.  I was found guilty of sitting at an empty table, with an invisible reservation.  It appears that the art class elicits such institutionalised behaviour.  That will be me next year!   Anyway, art today was Buddha in meditation under a tree.



The next sea day we are having a portrait lesson, and I am really looking forward to that as I just love studying faces and could probably spend all my time having a go at painting only portraits.

Bye for now, more news from the Seychelles tomorrow

26/3/2016 Easter Saturday

Our second sea day towards the Seychelles, a lunch time barbeque and an evening black tie dinner with a Marco Pierre White menu again, all interspersed with art (a bit of a seascape with an eastern house on stilts), and one in the cabin of elephants



 Other diversions include hot tubs, swimming, gym (only Khachik), and a little bit of rest in the sun.   My resolve not to eat so much, as I can't move about to burn it all off, failed miserably last night.  I will just share my transgression!  Melon slices and mango sorbet, Shellfish Bisque, Pheasant wrapped in pancetta, Blueberry souffle with clotted cream and a fruit sauce, peppermint tea with chocolate covered Turkish delight.  Erm, i really did enjoy it, absolutely everything about it.  There's a smell of hot cross buns in the air too.

This cruise we haven't spent much time in the theatres at night, so perhaps we need to start looking at the evening entertainment as we enjoyed it so much last year.

We have been listening to the talks though.  Today we listened to the Port Victoria talk and decided that it would probably be best to just visit the town, rather than go on an excursion, as most of the excursions from the ship involve quite a lot (for me at the moment) of walking, or they are snorkelling or beach days, and we aren't really cut out for that much exposure to the sun.  We spend a few minutes a day in the direct sun and even that's with a factor 30, so it would be a bit risky I think.  So that's the plan, and if that doesn't work we will just enjoy the views from the port or from the ship.

We appear to have had a part refund for our elephant experience in Sri Lanka.  How strange, as we had no complaints, it was crowded, but we just put that down to it being popular.  However some of the other buses on the same trip had had poor experiences and they had complained, so we all received 40% refund  We returned to the cabin last night to find a letter of apology that the trip wasn't up to the usual standard!  We have, nevertheless, accepted said refund. We can within our budget find something in Cape Verde and the Canaries now :)

As homage to the elephants of Sri Lanka I have sketched something from one of our photos and hope to do that justice with some paint tomorrow.

Bye for now xx

25/3/2016 - Indian Ocean, passing the Maldives

25/3/2016 GOOD FRIDAY - passing by the Maldives

First sea day from Columbo Sri Lanka to Port Victoria in the Seychelles.  The sea is once again completely flat, like being on a pond, sun is shining, there's a very gently breeze.





After yesterday's action packed day it has been a joy to sit all day.  While Khachik spent an hour in the gym I have finshed painting his portrait, a bit out of proportion, brow too wide, but apart from that I'm happy with it.



Late afternoon we sailed past the Maldives, right in the distance and just as promised the highest points on the islands are very near the sea.
Photos coming later, bye for now.

24/3/2016 Columbo, Sri Lanka

24/3/2016 Thursday - Columbo, Sri Lanka
After 3 days of sea, sky and on board diversions, getting off in Columbo felt as though every sense was being reawakened - the very green tropical landscape, banana plantations, rice, coconut palms, busy streets and traffic jams, the sound of car and bus horns, school children in crisp looking, bright white uniforms asking us our names and cheekily saying "hiya" to everyone passing, beautiful traditional dress, three wheeler tuk tuks, shacks and palaces, and then the highlight of our excursion  - Pinawala Elephant Orphanage.  This is where we got up close and personal with several babies and were able to watch them, feed them bananas and see the younger babies being bottle fed formula. I have only ever been in a crowd once that ran forward at an event - it was at the 1976 Reading festival, and the reason for the stampede was in fact Hawkwind.

Today I was quite surprised to have a flashback to that great night when the space in front of us was filled by rows and rows of people who wanted to see the baby elephants as much as we did. We had been sitting really patiently before this, really believing we were on the front row in a first come first served sort of way!  Luckily I didn't need to climb on Khachik's shoulders, but did have to resort to standing up to get a look in!



                 





In between the elephant activities we had lunch, lots of choice, local food only, and the most spicy lunch ever. That's what you get when you mistake a chilli for a ladies finger. My mouth was on fire for some time. It was all lovely food though, and all freshly cooked.

Then we headed back to the ship in our coach and during the journey had an excellent Sri Lankan history and geography lesson from our tour guide. Things I've learned today:Sri Lanka is 75% Buddhist, and the other 25% roughly shared between Islamic, Christian and Hindu faiths. The Tamil minority, the Islamic faith and the Singalese majority are all recognised on the flag, as are the Buddhist 4 noble truths of kindness, compassion, happiness and equanimity (the 4 leaves on the flag)    History has a recurrent theme about spice and tea wars, Dutch and British colonies, majorities and minorities fighting with India and bloodshed right up until 2009. This makes me want to learn more about the history, and I'm sure I will.  We also learned not to refer to the two kinds of elephants as African and Indian, but African and Asian. We learned about the many uses and re-uses of the coconut tree and fruit, and that Sri Lankan coconuts are a distinctive orange colour. And oh yes, that Sri lanka's national sport is Volleyball.

We have another 3 sea days coming up, next stop Port Victoria in the Seychelles, so again I won't be able to put up any of the lovely photos Khachik has taken today or spend much time on line because of the restricted satellite wi-fi.  I promise to catch up properly in Port Victoria, wi-fi permitting. Bye for now xx

20/3/2016 - Malacca, but on board

20/3/2016  So today, after a very pleasing uninterrupted night time sleep :) we became more familiar with our new home. We stayed resolved to stay on board rather than have to queue for tenders over to Malacca, and I think we made the right choice. It is really hot, so slow-moving is where it's at.  It's also very peaceful on board as about 1000 people have made the decision to explore the land. We started with a late breakfast, 10 a.m is late for us.  I'm sure Khachik is eating for two, (ha!) that's easy to achieve.  Meal times don't really exist as there's a continuous flow of any kind of food and drink that takes your fancy. Breakfast supposedly ends at 11:30, and lunch begins at 12:00.  Lunch ends at 2:30 and afternoon tea begins at 3.  Afternoon tea ends at 5:30 and dinner begins at 6.  You can also always find a place to snack between meals too! like poolside snacks, and of course you can have room service if you choose not to venture out.

Our post-breakfast exercise was to try out the hot tub (me) and the gym (Khachik). The hot tub never disappoints, it is a good place for stretching. Afterwards I decided to try walking laps in the swimming pool (something recommended on the arthritis care website as a way of maintaining muscle strength when the joints are fecked).  This will probably become my alternative to deck walking, which I am glad to say removes some of my current frustration. It is also accompanied by a selection of easy listening old music from Dolly Parton to Diana Ross, to which I can silently reminisce, in the sun under  blue skies, ....sorry.

 


We have already accidentally bumped into and chatted to a very cheerful, savvy and eccentric serial cruiser called Ian, whom we met and quickly remembered from Arcadia last year, and another couple whose names we didn't find out (yet), even though we recognised them immediately from last years dance classes, and have often chatted together. They completed the world cruise last year and have done it all again this year. They look really well and happy.  They were telling us that the ship couldn't get into Shanghai, having been delayed I think because of bad weather and delayed so much that Taiwan was taken off the itinerary.  It made me realise how lucky we are to be on here, and on time.

Tonight we have exchanged our hugely sought after drinks vouchers from our loyalty tier for champagne (K) and elderflower presse (me)! Very enjoyable too, along with a second visit to the hot tub and a very interesting chat with a couple from Cardiff, one those chats where you cover a lot of ground in just a few minutes.  They are cruising from  Singapore like us but only to Cape Town and flying home. They look similar in age to us, and seem very active and leading full lives <3.

We also dined with another very friendly couple from near Northwich, Chris and Keith. Chris also enjoys watercolour painting, so we will probably meet again tomorrow when the art classes start.  The art teacher up to Cape Town is called Tony Westmore, I am really looking forward to learning with him.

From the word on the deck there was indeed some frustration from the excursioners when trying to get back on the ship's tenders, and it would appear that quite a number of passengers had never experienced the phenomenon of the open sewer  before today.

As we make our way to Sri Lanka we have three days at sea, the Indian Ocean, coming up.  In terms of keeping in touch, we have limited satellite wi-fi @ £15 per hour (!), so we will not be able to browse/respond to much. I will be typing up the blog off line and posting it up super-quick though, until we reach Columbo, hopefully we will find wi-fi there.

Bye for now! x