Finally at Sea...

Monday, September 23. Sunny, some clouds. 18 C.

Wow, what a sleep! We both seem to have been exhausted from the thrilling experience at Stonehenge [!?@*].

We slept like logs, literally. I went and got decent cups of coffee for us two flights down just before eight. Fellette was still sound asleep, unusual for her. I was now wide awake. 

My Report is as follows after a several hours aboard. The size of this ship is perfect for us, small by comparison with other more moderately priced but far bigger ships. The crew-to-passenger ratio is larger as well, and it shows in the service. We had breakfast in the 'The Veranda', 11th deck, it is a very nice Buffet where you can help yourself or place an order and have it served. All ships have something very similar. This is about the nicest and most spacious one we have seen. The wait staff abounds. If you think you need something there seems to be someone who attends to your littlest needs without being in your face. 

The dining areas are spacious and not hustle-bustle. That is because there are two other dining areas that you can have breakfast, and three other restaurants you can reserve and eat there. So, with less than 700 people spread over six places to eat and three hours to do so, no wonder it is calm and relaxing in each spot.

We both wandered the ship a bit after our 9:30 breakfast. It is a lovely little ship. I have scanned our fellow passengers, very quietly and carefully. My opinion is that they have more than adequate money, well educated, polite, courteous, well dressed, We have not met anybody but Americans so far. There is a good age spread of fellow passengers, from early 30's to old folks like us. Some are slightly physically handicapped, we have seen two scooters and many slow walkers. They all fit in together very nicely.

I think that we may have an enjoyable couple of weeks on this ship, doing what we want, when we want to do it without pressure of any sort. Lots to do, if one wants to get involved. 

Tonight we dined in an open seating arrangement, [a far cry from when you were 'assigned' a table for the duration of the trip 20 years ago. Imagine a table for eight for 120 days.] My how times have changed! Tonight we had a lovely quiet dinner at a table for two after a Captains reception, that was attended by about 10% of the passengers. Nice, everything seems to be understated. At bedtime our shoes are still in the drying process down in the bowels of the ship, we are hopeful of having them for our shore excursion to Hadrian's Wall tomorrow morning, a bit of a hiking experience, our adventure continues!

A Nice Quiet Day.

Later in the morning my bride nodded off something Fellette never does at home, we both are just plain tired and happy to be here.

Wandering the hall back to our suite.

An after breakfast wander-about.

Pretty good for England in September I would say, after yesterday's torrent.

In the Crow's Nest lounge, cool place to be  at sea.

Land on the left, about 20 miles from shore, Europe on the right, Netherlands.

Lots of room for lazy loungers seeking fresh air.

A wee bit of privacy for two around the swimming pool.

We also have quite a large veranda that today was quite pleasant to relax on, land is visible and no submarines to worry about today.