Tuesday 15th November

Sea Day

Beautiful sunny day. When you wake up in an inside cabin you have no idea about timings or weather as it is so dark but once the alarm wakes us up we put the tv on channel 40, which is the camera view of the front of the ship, and you get an idea of how it is outside and of course depending on the time of the day let's you know whether it's still dark or if there's daylight.

After breakfast we had our daily stroll on the promenade deck and as we wanted to go to the theatre for today's talk by Angela Rippon at 11am decided to collect our books and take a comfy lounger on deck 3 for an hour rather than climb the 8 floors to the Lido deck.  It was really warm once you sat down although quite breezy whilst walking.  Spoke to a nice lady who was writing her journal and holidaying with her mum.

The theatre was full and hardly even any standing room. Angela  Rippon proved to be a big hit and entertained with many stories of a very interesting life.  She spoke very fondly of her father and sounded like he was a huge inspiration and driving force in everything she did.  She spoke of her joy if her infamous dancing with Eric and Ernie and how they had become lifelong friends and how her father met them several times with her and the fun he had sharing jokes with Ern (ie). We look forward to her next talk in a few days.

The Captains 12 noon announcement explained that in the night we went off course after a request from authorities to check an area following a possible sighting of a distress flare which didn't turn out to be anything but did show as a dogleg on the tv onscreen map of our voyage.  Each day at this time he delivers a short humorous naval anecdote - today's was the origin of the term "hanky panky" which he explained was a drink of ginger mixed with brandy which sometimes resulted in naval personnel behaving inappropriately in particular with members of the opposite sex.  Not sure whether this is available on the current drinks menu!

By the time we went up to deck 9 it was sunny but very windy. We sat out for about 90 minutes and went to the Lido for a light lunch.  After lunch we decided on a wander and went to buy a Queen Elizabeth fridge magnet but the ones we preferred in the shape of the ship were more or less already starting to peel and at $9 decided to leave it.

Decided to have some quiet time reading and surfing the internet in the Commodores Club for an hour mid afternoon.  This extended to fit in a lovely G&T with a supply of nuts and crisps to keep us going.

Formal night tonight with an invite for drinks with the Captain for Cunard world club members.

Wednesday 16th November

Lisbon 

Started the day slightly earlier to watch the sail in to Lisbon which was nice. Had a quick breakfast in the Lido buffet for the first time - best part was freshly prepared omelettes to order.

It was our first time in Lisbon so decided to use the hop on hop off bus to get an overview. There'll be chances in the future to plan our visit more carefully. Although it was a nice enough day it felt quite cool on the open topped bus and felt underdressed for the conditions.  It's a good way to see the area but we've had better experiences on hoho buses and didn't think much of the commentary.

At the end of the trip we went for a drink and wifi in a cafe and enjoyed an hour of sunshine. Angela Rippon sat on a nearby table.

After getting back onboard for a late lunch of hotdogs in the Lido deck we sunbathed for a while to get the last of the sunshine but wasn't that warm.  We watched the sun go down over the 25th of April Bridge which was lovely.

Sea Days Thursday 17th and Friday 18th November

We went to the Captains talk in the theatre which was a virtual tour of the bridge at 10am. It was an excellent talk and the Captain is one of our favourites both extremely professional but also has a lovely sense of humour and fun.  Angela Rippons talk followed on so we stayed for this too.

We strolled quite a few laps on the promenade deck and as we were wrapped up well it was v refreshing.

We had lunch in the Golden Lion and the food was up to its usual excellent standard - and the staff in their are amongst the best onboard.