The wakeup call at any tender port, is usually the sound of the tender boats being launched. I don't really think it matters what external cabin you are in, even some inside cabins, the winching out then down is not exactly a quiet operation. Our official time in port was 7am, meaning that the action started about 6am as the first tender goes ashore early with all the kit required, such as barriers, water, chairs and even an Ezi-up for shade.
We rolled out of the cabin about 8:15, as there was no rush and no plans for a Sunday in the south of France. Yes, there was a Vodafone signal of course, which is normal for Europe. From now on, only the USA is going to be Vodafone free and we are only there a few days anyway.
Conscious of the need to keep hydrated, a glass of OJ (which I have to say is very much to my liking on board, but is a bit concentrated for Paula) plus a glass of V8 with breakfast was a good start.
I may have mentioned it before, maybe not, but the breakfasts in the buffet seem to have had more daily choices rather than a very rotational system, so rather than a single stack of hot dishes, there is often extra stuff behind and a few smaller containers, making room for these extra choices. You still have to ask for poached eggs, whereas on the Dawn last year, they always kept a small supply ready, by the omelette station.
Once again, we waited for the call to say there was no longer a need for a numbered tender ticket and off we went, straight onto a tender but it was a bit choppy. We rode on top.
On the dock assisting the photographers were dancer Uliana and singer Lauren, so for the first time of this whole trip, we had an official picture taken!
The left hand wall, almost half the length of the walk out of the dock area, was lined with African hat sellers, each with a hundred or so overpriced hats at about €10. They were standing on the beach side of the wall, so one wonders if they had been banished from the dock car park.
At the exit to the car park, just a couple of metres to the right, was a little train and at €10 for a round trip of Cannes, our choice for the day. Unlike the HoHo buses, this one doesn't have stops, so once you are on, you are going on to end of the run.
That suited us fine and in the hot sun, there was at least a modicum of shade. The new scourges of travellers is the person in front (or in our case, the carriage in front), hanging out virtually the whole way, with the full sized i-pad, blocking a fair bit of the view ahead, filming or photographing just about everything. At least video cameras aren't like sight screens… Notable cars were a lovely 1950's Jaguar Mk 5 convertible – which I didn't manage to get and the usual run of Range Rovers and Mercedes, but just one Ferrari. I expected more exotica here. The route took us up above and around the back of Cannes, so we gained a better perspective than that offered by the seafront and beach areas.
At the end of the run, we hopped off and bumped into Bert and Larraine who had just walked along the shade-less harbour front and declared it too hot and were heading back to the ship. A few minutes later, we decided that it was too hot for us too, so an ice cream was called for. Raspberry this time. Delicious.
We had to wait a few minutes for a tender back and once again, we didn't need to show photo ID at all. There was an air-conditioned waiting room which was much appreciated. Once on board, a vanilla coffee (OK, it does cut down my sugar intake and costs nothing extra on the coffee card, so I may as well…) before the cabin and a freshen up.
We then heard an announcement that due to excessive water traffic in the harbour, the harbourmaster had suspended all tender operations. Fortunately, this didn't last too long, but we did notice tenders still coming to the ship at least an hour after the scheduled times.
A catch up with the blog after a few busy days and at 2pm, computer off and the British GP live. A good win for Lewis Hamilton and the sunshine in GB broken by a couple of showers at the track. Just to give an example of what that means to a race driver, imagine driving your own car flat out in the rain, around a track, but at one end of the track, or half of it, it is sheet ice - and you have to drive as fast as possible without falling off, or being caught by the driver behind…
We nipped up to the buffet for a very late lunch/snack and I enjoyed the deep fried mustard chicken with a bit of rice – plus lemon squash of course.
Just two of us for trivia and we managed 12/20 which was pretty good considering.
A pleasant dinner in the dining room with cherries jubilee as a dessert, cooked (if that is the word for chucking some liquor in a pan of cherries and heating it!) ) by our head waiter, then to Ukebox in the theatre again. Another tremendous show and they were off to perform for the crew at 11:15pm, down at the crew bar. Enough time to thank them, find out that they are all University music graduates and play a variety of instruments and have only been performing together for two and a half years. Asked about the arrangements, they said they sorted them out as a group. Their arrangement of the Tom Jones number, Delilah, for example, was extremely good. I certainly hope we see them again.
They accepted me into the group, but I had to turn them down, as I fear my banjo playing days are probably over before they even got going properly, thanks to the dodgy hand (and a distinct lack of musical talent).
Another port day tomorrow – Barcelona. Once again, nothing planned and another warm day forecast. We certainly have been lucky with the weather and most messages from NZ are that it is wintry. That reminds us that although we are missing home and friends, we are not missing the weather. A week today and the first part of our trip will be over and we'll be in Nottingham for a short time, before our round GB cruise, so the blog will continue.
We'll soon be starting to organise our packing and that one piece of paper delivered to our cabin that reminds you that it is all coming to a halt, arrived. That paper is the one where you select your departure time so that they can deliver your colour coded baggage labels.
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