Monday 8th April – On board

The first afternoon on a ship can be a bit boring. Wait for your luggage. Unpack. Go to the compulsory safety drill. This time it was all done through a haze of tiredness. I was waiting for bed!

I was amused to see that my table for dinner was in exactly the same position as the one on my last cruise, just one floor higher. It was a table full of single people. There were 8 of us on the first night and 9 after that. They were all very pleasant, though somewhat older than I am.

I still had not managed to catch up with Jenny and Judith, so thought I’d go to the 7:45 dance session in the hope of finding them. They did not turn up but I found out the following:

• ·         my new dance shoes make dancing a dream;
• ·         I am not as well as on my last cruise and it is hard work to dance;
• ·         we have 6 dance hosts of varying ability;
• ·         I was told that I follow very well – and when I said I had trouble on my last cruise, the response was that the men must not have been leading properly (which I suspected).

On my last cruise there were 3-4 gentlemen hosts and loads of single women, so we were lucky to get 6 dances in a night. This night I could have danced just about every dance, and had to say no a few times so that I could rest!

I was asleep by 10pm, but was woken by a knock on the door, followed by another knock, and the door opening and a voice saying ‘Sorry’. Was it Peter Perry (‘Who’s been sleeping in my bed?) or was it just the room steward? With the help of my sleeping tablet I managed to get off to sleep again and sleep soundly for another 10 hours.