Category: Atlantic

Rough seas overnight and continued throughout the day.  Still quite warm, at around 22º.

Trivia score towards bottom of our range, with the further embarrassment that our rivals won.

Two of their team left at Fort Lauderdale and they have brought in strong replacements.

Should have been in Bermuda today but rather than cobbling together some entertainment, no lectures on offer.

Headmaster is likely to get his knuckles rapped and rumour has it that some of the newly boarded Americans are threatening to sue. Possibly in response, it was announced that we would now arrive a day early in Punta Delgada and stay overnight.

Had a walk around the rocky and windy promenade deck. Went on to do some pedalling. Fortunately, my uninvited German personal trainer was not there.

Mused about the varied prices of my fridge magnets. The Economist has something called “The Big Mac” index, to measure if a currency is under or over valued.

The idea is that if a Big Mac cost more or less in your country than the US dollar equivalent, then your currency is over or undervalued. It is based on the fact that Big Macs are standardised worldwide and should cost the same. It is a bit of a rough measure, as local supplies are used and prices may vary.

That is not the same for fridge magnets – they are all made in China, from Chinese components.

The normal price in the US and Europe is about 5 dollars – ok, as dollar about same value as euro. In the Caribbean, they are 7 dollars but in South America, they are 3.

My interpretation is that South American currencies are undervalued but in the Caribbean, it is just the “rip off” measure, as they always come down to 5, as you walk away.

Obviously, need to get out more.

Still bright and sunny but sea getting rougher.

St Patrick’s Day and gold star, if you can find crew member dressed as a Leprechaun. Very exciting but unlikely to cause a mass search of the ship.

Lynne has a cold, so did not attend trivia, where score was in our lower range. Managed to beat our, 17 star rivals – they did not turn up.

Each boarding of new passengers seems to bring a wave of coughs and colds, so expect more sniffles.

Sally Gunnel (Olympic Gold Medalist at Barcelona 1992) is one of the new speakers and gave a very interesting presentation.

Not much else going on but went to the gym in the afternoon, to do some more pedalling. Big German got on bike next to me and looked across at my display, then mumbled something. Didn’t hear, as listening to a podcast on Georgian England through my noise cancelling earphones but thought it was a bit rude. Noticing the level of grumpiness is increasing, as we approach the end of the cruise.

Bright and sunny but a little cooler.

Headmaster confirmed that we would not be visiting Bermuda but added that he had received many letters, with offers to help him to steer the ship into Bermuda, together with suggestions of alternative stops.

Went on to say that the problem was in navigating the narrow entrance channel and blamed the local pilots for advising against it. Don’t think the armchair admirals will be impressed.

Trivia was not exceptional but managed to come within four points of the winners.

Walked around the deck after lunch and did some pedalling later in the afternoon but otherwise, a quiet day.

Advised that clocks go forward tomorrow, putting us just 3 hours behind U.K. Interestingly, change is at noon, rather than 2am – suspect more grumbling and confusion about lunchtime.

Called here on our outward journey and had already walked along the beach and visited the shopping malls. Still plenty to do here but decided to visit Sawgrass Mills, allegedly, the biggest outlet centre in the US.

Our “back on board” time was 8:30pm, to allow for departure of about 600 passengers and boarding of others, for the last leg to Southampton. That gave us plenty of time for error, so took a taxi. The driver was typically American and brusque. Definitely did not like my asking how much it would cost, before getting in. The conversation was something like:

“Where you wanna go?

Sawgrass Mills

Jump in

How much will it cost?

You will be on the meter

How much will the meter say when we get there?

It’s 1.40 per mile

So how many miles?

About 7 (I knew it was about 20)

So that will be about 10 dollars?

No, 140

Get out of the taxi Lynne!”

Another driver the came across to help and the quote came down to 60 for four of us. As the ship was charging over 60 each for the transfer, so we got in.

The driver was quite good and I think he was a bit confused by the questions.

Fare came to $US56, for a half hour drive and we jumped out to start bargain hunting.

Bought some clothing at cheaper prices than at home and managed to divert Lynne from the jewellery shops.

Caught a taxi back to the ship at about 3pm – 40 dollars this time and driver had no qualms about confirming the price, before we got in.

Dancing until quite late.

Bright and sunny morning again but dressed for the cold, before heading for the free shuttle bus to Fort Lauderdale – free seems to mean that you are dropped at a shopping mall.

Soon realised that temperature had changed – it was around 20 and humid. I had brought my backpack, in the vain hope of finding a wine shop but it was useful for storing the excess clothing.

We were here on the same day last year, to board the Queen Victoria for a cruise to Sydney and had plenty of time to walk around Fort Lauderdale – we also call again on the way back, so we were content to wander around the shops.

After about an hour, we decided to look for somewhere to get a coffee. There was a big “food centre” but they only sold fast food, with any type of sugar/caffeine overload soft drinks but no coffee.

We walked on and finally found a Starbucks, hidden in the basement of Macy’s.

Lynne sat at a table and I took my place in the queue, behind an elderly*, gentleman, who had ordered a Latte. Unfortunately, he tried to complicate matters, by saying that he wanted only one shot of coffee. The attendant asked if he wanted the same size of coffee – I did not see what deference this would make but to a professional Barista, it means “do you want the space left by the missing shot filled with water or milk?”

It became apparent that the gentleman’s first language was not English and that he did not fully understand the importance of his answer. He ventured “Milk?”

Barista rattled off “so that’s a single shot Latte, with an order of milk on the side. Will that be steamed milk, or cold milk?” – he chose steamed.

I started to shake my head, as I knew what was coming.

When the bill was presented, the gentleman said “what’s this? $12 for a cup of coffee”

The Barista explained – in the polite, contemptible, tone of someone who has taken great pleasure in doing you over – that it was the charge for the side order.

Fortunately, the gentleman was not as daft as the Barista thought and had the milk substituted by water.

I was trying to work out the volume of the missing shot of coffee and the stupidity of the whole argument.

The final straw, or coffee bean, came when the bill was presented. The Barista had one of those credit card machines, where you scroll down to indicate the amount of the tip you want to give, with zero somewhere in not the outer reaches of the Galaxy.

Another interrogation session:

“how much?”

“that’s the tip”

“I don’t want to give you a tip”

“I can’t do anything about it, the transaction has already gone through”

At this point, after waiting for ten minutes, I relinquished my second place in the ever growing queue and decided to do without the coffee and the Pythonesque ordering process.

We returned to shopping and bought a few things, before trying to find an alternative source of coffee – there were none – so started to make our way to the pick up point for the shuttle. On our way, we passed a stall, selling beauty products. The attractive young lady attendant managed to engage Lynne in conversation and despite all of my efforts, persuaded her to enter her lair, for a trial of non surgical wrinkle remover.

It was a typical time share trick and the more effort I put into putting Lynne off, the lower the price dropped – but only from ridiculous to exorbitant. The final addition of a “twoofer” did it. I had to pay up and Lynne was escorted to the expensive store, who were using the stall as a lure, to pick up her goods.

I had to accept that it was a skilful, non-surgical, wallet extraction.

I followed sulkily behind and decided that I should be allowed to buy the “Make America Great Again” baseball cap, that Lynne had previously refused to sanction.

We were, after all, here for the inauguration. I doubt if I will dare to wear it.

The Latina girl who sold it to me didn’t seem to be impressed, even as I tried to explain that I wasn’t a supporter and simply wanted a souvenir – later, on checking the bill, I had the strong suspicion that she had borrowed the Barista’s card machine.

Feeling much better today, so the social calendar is back on track.

* The term is absolute and not relative to the age of the observer.

Sun is shining once again but cold – 14º

Feeling better and heading for the tour buses, to join about 500 other passengers for a trip to the Kennedy Space Centre.

Really is a massive site, covering 7,000 acres, with buildings for SpaceX, Blue Horizon and Boeing alongside the NASA complex.

Started with a bus ride to the Saturn buildings, passing the gigantic Modular Assembly Building, with the rocket transport crawler and bits of recovered boosters in the surrounding areas.

There was also a Space X Rocket on one of the distant launch pads – distant because the blast area of an exploding rocket is 3 miles.

After a couple of hours, we caught the bus back to the main centre and wandered around the Atlantis Space Shuttle exhibit, with the real shuttle on display.

The was also a model of the space station and I thought it would be a shame to miss crawling through it. As soon as I entered, I thought it was a little claustrophobic and realised that the other passengers were children. I made my way through and out the other side, where Lynne confirmed that it was a one third scale exhibit for children – Plonker!

Moon Lander display had the Eagle lander and the original flag placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong – very realistic and could be a film set😊.

Everything was very impressive and well worth the visit.

Sun is out but still quite chilly.

Not sure if “cold” could be flu, as still coughing, sneezing and shivering.

Missed Trivia again but walked around the deck and watched some football in one of the lounges.

Not up to dressing up, so had dinner in the buffet. A German couple sat next to us but when Lynne spoke to the lady, she said that she could only speak a very small amount of English. Rather than sit in silence, I tried speaking German. They were very pleased and went rattling on, thinking my nodding and smiling indicated understanding.

It was not too bad really and we spoke about previous travels and learned that they were leaving the ship in Rio – as are a number of people.

The cruise started in Hamburg and there are quite a few German passengers but the majority are British. That may change in a couple of days, when we arrive in Fort Lauderdale.

Sun is shining and the wind has dropped. Unfortunately, have a really heavy cold.

I thought there was something happening, when we received a note about “coughing and sneezing etiquette” – didn’t do it, or if you do, use a handkerchief.

Thinking back, someone behind me sneezed when we were in the theatre and that’s probably where it came from.

Decided to miss the Trivia, rather than pass it on but took advantage of the warm weather to walk around the decks.

Thought dancing was also risky, so missed that as well.

Masked ball tonight but the cold became worse, as the day progressed and opted for an early night with room service – suppose I could have worn my Leeds United Covid mask.

Weather improving but still windy.

Usual day – Trivia went slightly better, with score of 15. Dancing was Lindy Hop, which was a little dangerous on a moving ship.

Full crew safety drill this morning, so all of the cooks, engineers and other people who we don’t normally see in the passenger areas, complete with their life jackets.

Checked the map and noticed that we are about to enter the Bermuda Triangle – maybe that has something to do with it.

Pathologist was giving today’s lecture – “Murderous Medics”, a gruesome tale of Crippen and Shipman.

There was a play in the afternoon- just two people, with minimal scenery and puppets. Very clever and arty but will probably not go to the next one – Lynne managed to catch up on some sleep.

Not much else happening and was tempted to visit the Laundrette, for some entertainment.

Some sunshine this morning but still rough sea and not much improvement in rocking and rolling. Outside temperatures has dropped a bit to 17º .

Trivia followed its usual pattern, with a score of 14.

Went on to the morning lecture – Pathologist, talking about dead bodies and determining cause of death. Probably a bit close to home for some of his audience.

Had a coffee in the Chart Room (a small lounge) and realised that we had missed the start of the dance class. This was partly intentional, as it was the Salsa, which could be risky and annoying, on a rolling ship with Sergei’s strident voice.

Didn’t do much in the afternoon. Lynne found a free washing machine in the laundrette and did the laundry. 

I am not sure that some of the passengers should be let loose on the machines. One gentleman had left paper handkerchiefs in his trousers, which didn’t do much for the washer or tumble dryer.

I help Lynne to carry the washing back and while she was packing it up, a lady who was using one of the washers told me that she had put her book in the machine – “I was reading it one minute but then it was gone”. Sure enough, there it was, turning around with her smalls. Not much to be done, as the machine was full of water. I tried to comfort her by saying she was lucky it wasn’t a Kindle and perhaps she could still catch a few words, each time the book came around. I was going to ask if it was a dirty book but thought better of it.

On reflection, I think the laundrette is Cunard’s best advertisement for their expensive laundry service.

Hopefully, the weather will improve tomorrow and we will be able to spend time on deck.