18/9 - Cruise Day 014 - Transatlantic Journey Day 4 of 5
Apart from writing the blog/live from, I didn't stir
until 2pm and although I still didn't feel 100%, I felt much better than I had
at around 7am when I'd first woken......... a latte & a choccy muffin
delivered by hand by my wonderful hubby made me feel even better :D
I felt that good, we even managed to get some packing
done.
We sorted out all the clothes we'd need up to and
including disembarkation and then we threw what we didn't need here or in
Florida back into the cases (separated from our clean clothes, of course).
We had to wash a few things (and we had to wash them
twice cos the first time around, the rinse didn't rinse!!!, grrrrr/pffftt) so
while that was going on, we got ourselves ready - tonight was Mary Ann's star
turn at "The Voice of the Ocean".
Laundry (eventually) sorted and ourselves laundered &
dried off too, we got to the Princess Theatre around 7. Every competitor had been allowed to invite
up to 6 guests - we found the section of seats that had been reserved for
"guests of Mary Ann" and made ourselves at home.
(These seats were right at the front - prime real estate
in theatre seating terms and the number of people who completely ignored the
reserved signs and sat in them was unbelievable - they were all asked -
politely - to leave by Paul and other members of the entertainment crew but,
really, it shouldn't have been necessary.)
The show was marvellous, marvellous, marvellous.
Based on the TV programme, 3 'coaches' (with turn aroundy
chairs and everyfink 👍) picked their fave singers by their 'voice'. If more than 1 coach had pressed the buzzer, it
was then up to the singer to select which coach they'd like to be mentored by. (The mentoring consisted of the coach
selecting which of their 2 or 3 singers should go forward to the public vote
and then it was up to us to pick the winner.)
The star of the show for me was one of the coaches, Peter
the ship's Hotel Manager - unlike the other 2 coaches, he had no showbiz
background so rather than gush about their singing abilities, he resorted to
blackmail to get the contestants to select him as their mentor.
He was totally hilarious, from threatening problems with
immigration and customs, to luggage issues and the morals of their room stewards.....he
tried everything and he did it brilliantly (and mostly, unsuccessfully). If he ever decided to leave the hospitality
industry, he could well make it as a comic.
Mary Ann sadly didn't make the final but, to me, everyone
was a winner - to stand up in front of 800 strangers and sing your heart out is
a very brave thing to do.
Afterwards, the contestants and all their supporters went
to the Explorers lounge for a private champers celebration - it was
wonderful.
We went back to the theatre to see the International Crew
Talent Show - the ship's crew left their normal jobs behind for a while and
entertained us with everything from belly dancing, magic acts and ukulele playing
to comedy sketches and scenes from famous plays/films............Billy Hygate's
Fiddler on the Roof routine was superb.
All in all, it was a brilliant night in the Princess
Theatre.
19/9 - Cruise Day 015 - Transatlantic Journey Day 5 of 5
Our final day of the transatlantic was a bit of a mixed
bag of good and not so good.
We met up with Lee & Jim (2 other guests of Mary Ann)
for the early morning quiz and then for the first time in what seemed like
years (God, don't I exaggerate ha ha) we had a walk on deck. It was lovely to get out in the fresh air
without being bent double or freezing cold, or both.
After lunch in the HC (nasi goreng & shrimp) we went
for a little snooze and then got ready for the final formal night of the
cruise.
We had wanted to eat at a table for 2 but the waiting
time was around 40 minutes so we agreed to our standard share of 6 or
less. Everyone was (mostly) really nice
but we all could have done with the guy sat next to me who insisted on
describing some horrible medical problems he has......one of the other ladies
actually told him to shut up (I wanted to applaud but thought that was going too
far lol). To add insult to injury dinner
and the service we received were abysmal.
The list of complaints is really too long to go into but
hilarity soon took over. This sounds
daft now but T's glass being topped up (twice) with still water when it already
contained the sparkling variety made my day and gave me a really happy
memory. Every cloud eh?
We spent the rest of the evening in the Explorers Lounge
- it was 70s night and it was brilliant.
The DJ playing all my fave disco hits, the music quiz (we did better
than we thought), boogying with the entertainment team to the decades' most
well known dance routines (the hustle, YMCA etc) made sure that a wonderful
time was had by everyone.
Before we turned in for the night, we had more fun losing
another $10 at our favourite 1c slot machine (they don't call us the 'last of
the big spenders' for nothing). It was a
perfect ending to what started out as a not so perfect night (well, winning the
top prize of $500 would have been even more perfect but we were still happy)
19/9 - Cruise Day 016 - We arrive in Boston (part one)
I missed waking up to see the waves whizzing passed the
window this morning but it was really exciting to open the curtains and see the
huge letters of CRUISEPORT BOSTON right in front of our balcony.
We've done it, we've sailed the Atlantic ocean from east
to west.
How WONDERFULLY, FABULOUSLY, WONDERFULLY WONDERFUL is
that?
I'm hoping as we step off the gangplank on to US soil
that there's going to be a special ceremony with medals awarded for our amazing
cruising feat (well, a girl can dream can't she :D)
We're just waiting to go through immigration (Club
Fusion, 9pm) and then we'll be able to get out and about in Boston.
More about today tomorrow (or maybe the next
day..............)
