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| Spirit of Adventure |
And we're back cruising! We've been on the ship for a couple of days now, so this is a quick rundown of all the interesting bits that have got us here.
Firstly - we nearly weren't here at all! Peter was booked for this cruise nearly a year ago, but, a week before embarkation, he got an email from the agency telling him that Saga had overbooked the cruise, and that there wasn't a cabin for us. We had to wait to see if there were any cancellations. Obviously there were, otherwise we wouldn't be on board, but it wasn't confirmed until Saturday 13th July evening that we could board the ship on Wednesday 17th.
Second - we've taken to driving down the day before embarkation. It's a long way, and we know from previous experiences how stressful it can be when the accidents and the like can slow traffic to a standstill. Tuesday's journey proved our reasoning. We just missed an accident by seconds, as Peter had pulled out to overtake a HGV that had been acting very erratically. It had been swinging in and out of the first and second lanes for no apparent reason (we were in a 50 mph stretch), blasting his horn and seemingly harassing a vehicle in front. As we overtook, the lorry's horn started blasting continuously, and as we got past, we realised that there were a car stuck almost horizontally against the front of the HGV, the car was being pushed along sideways! Quite distressing! The HGV was slowing to a halt, but that will have caused quite a hold up behind.
And then, about an hour later we ended up in standstill traffic for a good 40 mins due to another accident.
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| The famous white cliffs |
We stopped in a Premier Inn overnight on Tuesday. Takeaway chinese for dinner and breakfast on Wednesday in Dunelm (fantastic bacon baps). We got to Dover as one of the earlier arrivals and were on board in no time. We're on the Spirit of Adventure, the cruise is called An Arctic Summer, and will go to Norway, Iceland and the Shetland Islands.
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| Dover Castle |
We've had a couple of days on board now and Peter has been running classes in the Almalfi restaurant. As usual the first one was a bit hectic, but today (Friday), he's had 30 passengers at both sessions, no-one was turned away, and everything went reasonably smoothly. The only fly in the ointment is the eager waiter who wants us out as soon as possible in the morning cos he wants to set up for lunch.
We know the crafter, Carolyn Schulz from the previous cruise, and have had a couple of catching up getting to know you chats. We also know the Assistant Cruise Director, Rolando, and we've met Katy, the lass that books Peter on the different cruises. She seems really nice.
We also know Hugh McCurdy, a chaplain we met on our first cruise with Saga when there were a lot of covid regulations in place and the guest entertainment staff were made to eat together in the Grill every night, (we had a brilliant time). Apparently Peter made a strong impression on him! He's a lovely man and ended up having to listen to my enthusiasm over moths for a good 10 mins on Thursday night when we met him up on deck 13.
It was at that time that the singers that make up "The Sound of Simon", a tribute act to Simon and Garfunkle, came past. He cornered them into conversation (sick of moths perhaps), and we stood chatting to them for a while. Peter and I had watched their show on the first night (Wednesday). I'll admit I was hoping for better, but I didn't say that to them, obviously.
This trip we're following instruction and using the Brittania Lounge, rather than the Living Room after classes. It's lovely and quiet, and we can stuff our faces on nuts and crisps, so not a bad change.
Tonight (Friday), was formal night, Peter looked handsome in black tie with me in a posh frock, and despite my slight reservations, we decided to watch The Sound of Simon duo again in The Playhouse - they were better, and I enjoyed their show, so all is good.
And tomorrow (Saturday) is our first port day. We are going to be in Kristiansund which we've visited before with CMV and we both escorted tours. The one thing I remember most was the Atlantic coast road and stopping on the landmark bridge. That was awesome. We won't be doing that again, but we are gonna go out for a walk cos I have a little tower in mind. Bring it on!
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