Disembarkation

Thursday 24^th October

Luckily the clocks had gone back overnight, which meant an extra hour’s sleep!

For the first time I managed to get to the dining room for breakfast. I am pleased to say that the scrambled eggs are as good as ever.

Because I am at Platinum level, I could have waited for my 9:30 departure in the main dining room with coffee. However, I walked past the gangplank at 8:45 and nobody was there. I was told I could disembark if I wished. That sounded good to me! It was difficult finding my suitcases out of a huge line-up, being the first in my group to get them, but I was out of the port, in a taxi, at the station, ready for the 9:15 train. I was home by 11:15

Strictly Cunard

Wednesday 23^rd October

At last the day came for the dancing competition. It's billed as a competition but really must be viewed just as a bit of fun! The judges are not dancers and have no idea of where to start the marking. They give low marks to the first couple, gradually increasing marks as they see the standards, until they decide they'd better hurry up and give three 10s. The actual winner is chosen by audience voting - except that sometimes the staff forgets to collect votes from whole areas of the ballroom!

Apart from all that, it was a good time. I was determined to enjoy it. I worked hard on strategies not to allow myself to get nervous, like concentrating on the others around me, and it worked. I managed to smile all through the dancing (one of the judges commented on it) and through the comments afterwards. You could say I was beaming with enjoyment! I was aware of lots of support from all of my dancing friends in the ballroom. It was great to be able to dance without others on the floor, to have the whole floor to ourselves. Martin led me superbly. Perhaps I could have done better with more practice, but I was thrilled with the level I achieved.  

A video of my non-winning Viennese Waltz can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyPejQLyR0Q .

Santiago de Compostela (from Vigo)

Tuesday 22^nd October

Our ship docked in Vigo, which is about 90 minutes by coach from Santiago de Compostela, the second most important place of pilgrimage for the medieval church since the 9^th century. It is supposedly the place where the bones of St James (Santiago) are buried. (Compostela means field of the star, talking about the star that supposedly guided a shepherd to the resting place of St James.) Even today people walk the camino, the way to Santiago. In order to obtain a compostela, one must walk for at least 100 km or cycle at least 200 km. It is well-organised, with cheap hostels (6-10 euros per bed) along the way to provide accommodation, and a credencial (passport) that is stamped at each hostel or village.

I love old towns and cathedrals and had wondered about visiting for a few days. However, the only direct flight here is through Ryanair, and they ceased operating the route at the time I was looking at it. It therefore seemed a good opportunity to visit from Vigo.

The plan was to spend 90 minutes travelling in the bus, 2 hours on our own wandering the town and then 90 minutes returning. We did not have much time so I was frustrated by our tour guide who kept talking even after we arrived there, cutting our time down to closer to 90 minutes alone. If I’d wanted that, I could have booked the guided tour! (The other coach had a guide who showed them toilets, where to meet  up again, and then left them, having done all his talking on the coach. Much better!)

I was glad that I had a friend on this tour with me, so we could chat and could wander together.

Another problem was the weather. It was pouring with rain! We would get occasional breaks and manage to wander around and take photos, but then the rain and the wind would start up again. If we tried to walk in the rain, the umbrellas would be blown inside out. Not a good day.

The cathedral was magnificent inside. We did not join the line to see the bones. We thought that would take over 30 minutes just standing waiting! We enjoyed looking around and taking photographs. After that we wandered outside, frequently sheltering under cover. It was very wearying, and we ended up finding somewhere warm for coffee for the last half hour.

My impression was of greyness: grey sky, grey stone, very few people around to add colour. I am sure my impression would have been different if the sun had been shining!

Special Occasions

Monday 21^st October

There are quite a few special occasions on Cunard, and the more cruises you go on, the more invitations you get. Now that I have reached Platinum level, I received two extra invitations, both for the same day.

For the first time I had been invited to a free wine tasting. I relied on memory and turned up at 2:00, to find that it was actually 2:30. I was pleased to find two dancing friends in my group, so I had people with whom to stand. We progressed around the dining room to four different stations. We tasted four wines, and biscuits and cheese were available if we wanted them. The sommeliers explained the wines. If I had wanted to take along a companion it would have cost over $30. Considering that the most expensive wine we tasted was about $44 per bottle, any companion would have been paying a lot for what was less than a glass of wine in total! Other people around me found at least one wine they liked, but there was nothing that I would have wanted to drink. It was an interesting experience but wasted on me!

I had received an invitation to another cocktail party. This one seemed to be a bit more important than the previous one, so I assume it is only for Platinum and Diamond members. Seeing it was being held at 7:45, right when the dancing is on, I didn’t think I could invite one of the Dance Hosts to accompany me. However, I mentioned it to Jeff and he suggested that I ask Jessica (their 'boss') for permission. She said it would be okay as long as only one Host went to the party. I found it difficult to stand up for so long in high-heeled shoes that are over 20 years old (they’ve come back into fashion but my feet have since expanded a bit) but we had a good time and Jeff managed to entertain three or four single ladies!