Australian Cruise: On Board โ€“ Days 7 and 8

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Written: Saturday, 15th October

Day 7 โ€“ Friday

Weโ€™ve now got two days at sea, arriving in Darwin on Sunday. Weโ€™ve got no plans for today apart from seeing the conclusion of the glass-blowing demo that started last night.

After breakfast in the Blu Restaurant, it was up onto the Solstice Deck for a comfy lounger and a bit of sun-bathing. We could feel the tropical temperature even at 9.30am and itโ€™s good that the Solstice has so many shaded areas to retreat to!

Geographically speaking, today was significant, as we rounded the tip of Australia โ€“ exactly halfway through our Cruise.

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Then it was off to see part-two of the glass-blowing demonstration โ€“ and the girls again, didnโ€™t disappoint, creating a kangaroo (obviously!) and a decorative piece during their one-and-a-half-hour session.



Thereโ€™s more tomorrow โ€“ and weโ€™re hooked!

To finish of our day, we ate in one of the speciality restaurants. Tonight it was Silk Harvest, a Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai affair. It was a great atmosphere with some truly superb food (I really felt I couldnโ€™t eat another thing, by the time we left!). The only part that took the edge off things was that they tried to sell us a bottle of wine at โ€˜half-priceโ€™ for ยฃ30 โ€“ the exact same wine costs ยฃ5 at ASDA. We expect a mark-up on ships, but this was just extortionate!ย 


Day 8 โ€“ Saturday

The clocks went back 30 minutes last night (weird!), but we still managed to get to the Gym for 7am โ€“ and it looked like the rest of the passengers had the same idea. It took me a while to find an empty running-track, but I was soon into my familiar routine of a brisk 25-30 minute walk.

Then it was off to the greenhouse Deck to find the perfect spot for a combo of sun and shade โ€“ cue the โ€˜Mission Impossibleโ€™ theme as because of the incredible heat, certain areas couldnโ€™t be used at all for sunbathing. This reduced the available spaces by quite a margin, but we were lucky and managed to find a spot.

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โ€˜Scorchioโ€™ doesnโ€™t even begin to describe it, with the wooden deck so hot, you couldnโ€™t put your bare feet on it!

After around two hours, weโ€™d had our ration of Vitamin D for today, and after a shower, headed for the Cafรฉ for a quick bite.

โ€ฆand then it as off to our fave event of this Cruise โ€“ the glass-blowing event.

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As in previous events, the girls had us all spellbound demonstrating their skills โ€“ as well as coping with the extreme heat of working in front of the Ovens!

This is turning into our favourite event on-board and weโ€™re almost certainly going to return for their show, the day-after-tomorrow: โ€˜The Science of Glass-blowingโ€™.

Dress-code-wise, Itโ€™s about as formal as it gets tonight with Celebrityโ€™s indecipherable โ€˜Elegant Chicโ€™ night. For some, that will almost certainly mean theyโ€™ll need to iron their baseball cap!
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UPDATE: Actually, most people took it very seriously tonight and I actually saw a few in bow-ties!

We enjoyed another great meal in the Blu Restaurant and afterward decided to see the Show in the Theatre. We donโ€™t have a particularly good record of enjoying Shows on cruise ships. For us, theyโ€™re always too predictable, too cheesey, too noisy or just stuck in the 70s/80s. Tonight came with some higher expectations as it was the Shipโ€™s theatre groupโ€™s โ€“ Broken Strings – final performance because their contracts had come to and end. So, take it away Broken Strings with a โ€œa heartwarming story that celebrates the power of friendship, laughter and music.

Errโ€ฆ record maintained!
Disappointed smile

Darwin tomorrow, with similar temperatures to today predicted โ€“ Oh joy! Now I know how that glass feels!
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