No rush to get up of course and with the clocks advanced an hour ready for Le Havre, we were up rather late. We expected the Horizon Court to be really busy, but it wasn’t. I’ve given up just eating a bit of fruit for breakfast, so back to sausage(s) and an egg Florentine which was little overcooked for my liking. I have steered well away from the scrambled eggs on this cruise as they are well overcooked and I haven’t even bothered asking for a poached egg.
The usual juices and a brewed coffee.
We dropped off our ‘Future Cruise Deposit’ form on deck 7 and also called in at deck 5, but once again, too late for chocolate doughnuts, so I didn’t bother with another coffee either.
A leisurely day (as always!) and we managed most of the packing, being careful to neatly fold any recently laundered stuff as most of it won’t be used in England anyway. At this stage, when we do our final pack, we are still not sure if we can pack everything into 2 under 23kg cases and a soft bag, yet still keep within the 7kg limit on hand luggage. We may have to purchase another cheap bag/case – or a cardboard box tied with string. We only have to worry about getting to and from our hotel room in LA as the rest of the time, everything should be on a trolley. One of my better purchases last time was a strong elastic strap with a carabiner (sp?) on one end. I may need another.
A well timed late lunch down on deck 5, with the by now, usual quiche and salad, albeit high protein and lettuce free. Well timed, as the orchestra started their ‘Big Band’ set, as we finished, which gave as an opportunity to dance, whilst the usual passenger star dancers were elsewhere. They play well and the leader, trumpet player Dave Blazer, is not only a fine player, but a dead ringer for the Sea Princess orchestra leader, Paulo! I pointed this out and the trombone player agreed. Apparently there is also a sax player around who looks similar. Shaved head, tiny beard and moustache…
Back to the cabin and we ate fairly early on, as we had that other Princess staple, the Captain’s Circle cocktail party, but with the increased emphasis on hygiene, hand shaking was discouraged.
For those on the Sea Princess, they’ll know that Steve has done about 2100 sea days with Princess. The winner here was a Canadian with 1013 days, 2nd was 723 days and 3rd was just 625 days.
The Captain's speech was very funny, full of one-liners.
This was 7:30pm to 8:15pm in the Vista lounge and next on our schedule was Chris Watkins again, with AJ on piano, also in the Vista at 9:15pm. We opted to stay put and found ourselves a front seat.
This concert, entitled ‘Brahms to Broadway’ came about when the sea was really rough on the small, Ocean Princess (rough = force 12 gale!). It was far too rough for the Princess singers and dancers, so their show was cancelled, so, Chris and the orchestra’s pianist had the bright idea of downloading music from the internet and put on an impromptu concert, which went down very well. Since then, he has included this concert when allowed and as long at the pianist is capable of sight reading these mainly classical pieces.
AJ hadn’t even seen the sheet music before the sound check, so we watched keenly as he and Chris had their rehearsal of just 35 minutes. I can’t sight read music, not even simple stuff, so watching these two superb musicians putting on a concert with so little preparation was just amazing.
Chris was obviously the star, but AJ was also brilliant. The encore after a standing ovation, had Paula almost in tears – and Chris – and me! He weaves a bit of family into his shows and his Nan’s favourite was ‘Danny Boy’. It had Paula in tears last year, but since then, Nana Dot sadly passed away at 93, so it made his performance even more poignant.
Make no mistake, this chap is a real star and is on a charity concert with Susan Boyle shortly, and it is only a matter of time before he is as well-known off the ships as on them. Tomorrow he has a third show in the atrium at 9:15pm, so we have that to round off our cruise.
The atrium had a Celtic Festival, plus the resident acrobats – but we missed that, though we did catch ACD Paul teaching the Highland Fling during the afternoon and those passengers would have performed at night.
We rushed out and made it to the Princess theatre just in time for another production show – “Spectacular” – and it was. Taped music, brilliant sets and costumes. They did three shows tonight, so seating wasn’t an issue and with a long day for many tomorrow, early to bed anyway.
Afterwards, a chat to Cruise Director Sam, another who was unaware that a) the post cruise survey is looooong, b) the opportunity to fill it in expires after just 14 days c) you only have the opportunity to name 5 people or departments for their ‘Blue Card’ consummate host incentive programme.
We always suggest cruisers fill in the cards on board – but I may have said that at the end of cruise 1! We have to ask for them at Customer Services s they don't seem to be on the front desk anymore, so with so much store set by them, you’d think they’d always be available.
Bed latish – but who cares?
Le Havre tomorrow and once again, we have been told to carry either an EU ID card or our passports. We have no firm plans so let’s see what happens.
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