Day 91 - At Sea

Day 91 – Friday 11^th April 2014 – At Sea

It is a bright hot sunny day, as we make our way up the west coast of India approximately thirty miles from the shore.  All of the shipping we have been seeing over the past days have gone, as we head up the coast, with only the local fishing boats to be seen.

On board there are staff from the Indian Immigration authority and we collect our passports from the purser’s staff, present ourselves to an official, show our visa, have our landing card inspected and stamped, return the passport to the purser’s staff and everything is complete within five minutes.

At 11.30 we have a full muster and drill for the eventuality of a pirate attack.  All we, as passengers have to do, is return to our cabins, close the curtains, muster in the alleyway outside the cabin, but not in front of the door and await instructions. That is it.

 I went to the lunch time dance lesson, this one being the slow foxtrot, which was well attended, and enjoyable.

The afternoon was spent on the bowls green and lying on the sun loungers reading.

  

  

It is a formal night and this time we are dining in the Verandah Restaurant, an alternative dining venue.

An invitation to savour contemporary French cuisine which uses ingredients sourced in France along with an ambience which recalls the legendary Verandah Grill aboard the original Queen Elizabeth.

 

The meal I ordered was lobster salad; fillet steak; lemon tart and in between the courses you were offered little appetisers.  Needless to say this was an excellent experience, one of opulence and splendour. 

Verandah Bar

   

Colin, Alex, Edwina

The meals and service was excellent, the wine list was the same as the Britannia Restaurant and the same price. Though there was an extra thirty dollars charge for the meal, it was well worth the investment.

     

I went on deck at midnight to see how we were doing with our anti-piracy patrols, only to find all of the lights on deck 9 and 10 were all on, and as a pretend, we had all been asked to close the cabin curtains.