Day 11 - Day at Sea

Another ‘Day at Sea’.  It probably sounds boring, and we thought it might be, but you see all sorts of things going past.  Freighters, the odd bird, and glimpses of land and some very small villages.  

The wind was blowing very strongly so it was a good day to do some washing and hang it on the balcony – draped over the chairs and table, but it had to be held in place or it would have ended up in the sea – or worse one of the other balconies.

We took the opportunity to wander around the ship to discover some of the places that we had heard of but never found.

There is a sports arena, with a very handy net covering it so that the balls are not lost forever.  There is a library with books printed in the languages of the countries represented on the ship.  Italian, English, German and French are now the main translations.  Before our second stop into Venice announcements just went on and on but now it much simpler and quicker with just the four or so languages.

Anyway back to our tour – there is a gym with lots of very new up to date equipment – unfortunately we didn't pack gym shoes so we cannot participate.  The ship does sell them – like most other bits and pieces – but I’m content to just go for a walk along the deck.

There is kids club, a teen’s area, a tube slide which goes down a couple of floors and ends with a splash into a pool.  (I won’t be doing that either.)

Along the sides of the pool area there are many seating areas.  Since Venice the second trip there have been a large number of Americans come on board there have been a lot of changes.  We now deal in US$ instead of Euros.  The funny thing is that what was 10 euros is now US$10 so things are much cheaper.  There is a free ice-cream machine and as I mentioned previously water free on the tables and our meals are finished with complimentary tea and coffee.  The age average of the ship has also risen greatly.  There are now very few children and many more people older than us. 

The thing on board we were not happy about is people that can smoke throughout the ship.  But since the Americans have come on board there seems to be restricted area, but the smoke travels but it doesn't seem as bad now.  I bought some antihistamines in Venice as I found I was having a bad reaction to the smoke.

It seems as if there is a lot less people on board although it is about the same number of passengers.  It is quite peaceful and life is much calmer as the management do not need to be involved in our lives at the moment.

Last night we had another cocktail party, followed by dinner.  It was a good day and lovely to have a wardrobe full of clean fresh clothes and once again feeling refreshed if not just a bit wind-blown.