| Sunday was Guernsey - or was it? Well no. I'd woken up just after 6pm and we'd slowed right down so I assumed we were picking up the pilot and would be dropping anchor within the hour. This is one of the drawbacks of no window. Two hours later I was woken by the Captain's announcement saying we'd be at sea instead, which was a follow-up to a previous one. I slept through that which is a first for me! So we tootled around at a snail's pace towards Le Havre, but still rocking and a rolling as the ship had done all night. This day would be a force 8 - luvverly! I'd already decided against taking the tender the night before due to my back after what happened at Nuuk in July. Back to sleep then! A nightmare about wasps was clearly a sign I ought to get up, which I did at 11am. I hadn't slept well for weeks so really needed it. I buggered off to let Robert do the cabin and had a wander to see how bad it was. Surprisingly, very little deck was closed off. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Lunch in Horizon Court - or was it breakfast? It was very draughty and repairs were ongoing. Now the peas on my plate were actually a salad choice so I poured some onto my plate to show the diversity of a boring old salad on this ship! The Greek-style macaroni was nice though I was waiting for the Greek bit since it was the same as macaroni cheese to me. The Officer of the Watch came on for the noon announcement, saying we had a force 8 and afterwards we hit a big wave and some women screamed. It was hilarious and set many of us off. After I'd finished I sat with Aad and Nicoline and we chatted for about half an hour about various things and it's amazing how many things we complain about in this country is happening in the Netherlands too. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Back to the cabin to keep an eye on the AIS for MSC Opera, who was heading in our direction en route to La Rochelle. She had left Southampton two days previously on her repositioning to Venice and had last been to Amsterdam. This was a lovely bonus but I did worry she would be too far away. The Prom deck was the best place for shade. The dolphin's gob had been closed off but opened later. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Back to the cabin and room service. I ordered the BLT even though I don't eat pork because it looked more substantial than the others. Half an hour later it turned up! There had been no mention of how long it was likely to be unlike on Royal Caribbean if they are busy. This waiting was just like P&O. You have to sign for the delivery, putting the time of arrival and optional tip. Then the girl handed me the tray and buggered off. It was quite nice though. Afterwards I had a battle washing my hair with that damn shower. Fixed is bad enough, but fixed in the corner near your left shoulder is a nightmare even without a bad back! It ended up taking longer than usual but thankfully wasn't more messy afterwards. I then attempted to get the important stuff from the awful info channel except far from relaxing I was getting frustrated as the following took half an hour! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| The original formal night had now been changed to Smart - why??????????? It was never explained but some, like me, still poshed up. There was also the Captain's booze up but most of the time was spent on the champage waterfall. The Captain began it with the Maitre D' then for the following forty-five minutes the passengers queued up for a turn, Captain did his spiel then they finished it before it as dismantled. One of the most boring parties I've been to. However, thankfully I had a distraction. Behind me, I heard a voice discussing the waterfall, saying Oceana's was better and as soon as the ship was mentioned, I recognised it instantly - Geoff from the marina! He was with his wife, mum and daughter. I'd only met his daughter before. It was hard to believe we first met waiting for Freedom of the Seas to arrive in April 2006 and that's when I first learnt all about Oceana and his love for his favourite ship. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| A quick return to the cabin to drop off the camcorder. I don't know whether it's usual for single passengers to have two pillow chocolates but I liked it anyway. |
 |
| Time for dinner and the travel agent went off on one again about cruise lines and the lack of formal nights. She also moaned about an alleged trip on MSC Splendida where they celebrated Christmas Day on the 24th December while the 25th was a normal day. And her problem was, IF she really went???? It was still a Christmas cruise and you do Italian for an Italian experience except, of course, all she did was complain about Italians! Another conversaion was about posh boats, such as those at the Southampton Boat Show, which was currently running. She claimed she and her partner were offered the chance to buy a partially finished hull in Bermuda or Barbados but it would have cost millions and only had one engine so you couldn't sail it anywhere. Never heard that one before! She had such a snobbery while being the Great I Am it was nauseating. Dinner was yet again uninspiring so many of us had the southern fried chicken or, as our waiter called it, KFC. It wasn't that nice either. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| I phond home since we had a French signal - yay! I never thought I'd be glad for one of those but the MCP was driving me more mad than it had a year before on Aurora and Black Watch. It wasn't automatically connecting to my new phone, unlike the Nokias and Blackberry in the past. It wouldn't connect until data roaming was off yet it still wouldn't. Yet it switched to the French no bother. Grrr in a French accent this time! Anyway, it was nice to talk to my dad. Then I went to the show in the Princess Theatre which was British Invasion, a fairly new production and one which has had many good reviews. Most shows on ships don't interest me because they're much the same so I like to see something different. It was packed but excellent and worth staying up for. I have included many photos to show the varying things covered from the swinging sixties and the Beatles, Manfredd Mann, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield and Rolling Stones (though why Amy Winehouse's Rehab was included is a mystery!). For some reason it them jumped to a mix of eighties and nineties with Kim Wilde, Spice Girls, Dead Or Alive, Rick Astley and others. Next came Queen with their own segment, which, being a fan, I thoroughly approved of. Bit of Who then the foot tapping, hand clapping singalong was over. Princess should be commended on this great show and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone going on a ship where it plays. Incidentally, photographs were allowed, as it said at the beginning, but no flash or video, which are the usual rules. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| And to bed before the early start for something really important - a ship! We would be joined by AIDAblu, which had been an unscheduled visitor in Southampton about ten days earlier due to Dover being closed when we had bad weather. While we docked about 7am, which was far too early, the AIDA would be coming for 9am. I got up bright and early to nab some fruit from Horizon Court then wait and saw Mark and Marie heading that way. We had a brief chat then I left them as they had to eat before heading to Honfleur while I went out into the cold and wind and saw an early grinner arriving. The light was lovely but really annoying being so dark. If those who want us on CET all year realised the little things like that, they may change their tunes. After all, if France (and even Spain, Belgium and Holland) was on UK time, it would be light. A bloke on deck liked the "Pretty painted face" of the German ship. Never heard it called that before! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Knowing the mountaineering on gangways in Le Havre of old, I had decided not to go ashore for photos of the ship because it would be agony on my back. However, maybe it was low tide or the placement of the offending items, but I saw they were low so decided to take the Grand by the invisible handle and do it before they rose a few feet! A rather annoying change was the dockside. Whereas once you could walk along it for up close and personal shots then go through the gate, there was now a barrier and you had to go through a building. The Zeebrugge photo-hating mentality is spreading!!!!! I spoke to some people who had been there in April and it was the old way then. Ooh la grrr! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Exploring time! The more shorts I do, the more people bloody stay on instead of buying Belgian chocs (Zeebrugge) or heading to Paris. Some like photos with people but I don't because if they're crowding a room or area you don't see it properly. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |