26th January Not counting the calories

 

Today we have been all at sea. Literally. Unlike on other cruises where our first day on board has been a sea day, on this particular itinerary it is the days either side of the half way point of our two week jolly that are our sea days. A last day for those heading home tomorrow to top up their tan, ranging across the colour spectrum from lobster pink to deepest mahogany, and for us almost the end of our first week on board.

Sea days offer the chance to be up before dawn in order to aquire your sunbed from which you don't move all day. Or for the more adventurous you could go on a guided 4 lap walk round the running track, play cornhole, watch the kitchen staff carve fruit and vegetables, the housekeeping team fold towels into animal shapes ( we have already had a mouse, an elephant and a squid in our rooms), watch the waiters make cocktails, play a music quiz, have a go at line dancing or try ones utmost to avoid all those activities. I'll let you guess which option we chose.

In fact our chosen activity of the day was to read and then make our way along to the musical afternoon tea, a sugar and calorie overload that is far from ideal for a type 2 diabetic. But I'm on holiday!!! 

And what a delightful treat it was. Located in the 47 dining toom, twelve or so tables were set out at the bottom of two sweeping flights of stairs , at the base of which one of the ship's musicians played a series of tunes from the musicals. Small artist easles showing promotional posters for various West End shows helped further aid the ambience. 

The tea itself offered hot and cold drinks (we both had a spiced gin cocktail) and then a veritable smorgasbord of sweet and savoury offerings served on those three tiered cake stands, brought to our table via a procession of waiters sweeping down the curved stairs from on high.

As we ate, and we made a better effort than the other tables, two of the ships Broadway Theatre cast appeared at intervals to sing several songs from the shows. It was fun, the cakes and savouries were great and it was a lovely interlude to our day at sea.

Feeling caloried out we skipped the evening meal and made our water to the theatre to enjoy a much better show that took us back to the roaring 20's but which as well as featuring some standards from those time also included some modern pop songs reinvented with a swinging jazz beat. And then a week early we sat high up in the atrium and watched the farewell thank you party, an opportunity for guests going home tomorrow to thank the ship's staff for all their service during the past week.

Tomorrow we are back in La Romana, the end of Tropical Isles and the beginning of Colours of the Caribbean