Posts Tagged ‘pandocruises’

#50 See The Sea Day – Day 6 (Day 6 of Week 1)

Posted: May 20, 2024 in Another Cruise, Cruising, Memories, OaP, P&O, Podge, Retirement, Travel, Tubbs
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So, what does one do on a Cruise Ship on a sea day? Well, one can take part in so many arranged activities taking place all around the ship from Deck 5 all the way up to Deck 16. As for us however, we just chillaxed taking in the suns rays and drinking lots and lots of water (to start with). Eventually, The Duchess needed to stretch her legs so off we went to the shops. 

Wandering round the onboard shops (again) as only The Duchess can, with His Podgeness in tow, one of the passengers came up to me and asked, ‘are you Podge, Podge ThePuffer?’ ‘Yes’, I replied. He shook my hand and said glad to meet you and turned to his wife and said ‘look, it’s Podge ThePuffer who’s been writing hints and tips for other cruisers’. That’s twice now that I’ve been recognised. Hmm, might need to lay low for a bit 🥴

Newsflash: – The Duchess bought nothing 😀

At 12:00 we attended the Senior Officers lunch put on for loyal passengers where an excellent lunch was served with free flowing fizzy pop and wine. Yummy Yummy Time.  Both Podge and Tubbs needed a bit of a lie down afterwards though.

Five o’clock brought fivesies so, rested, off we went to the Sunset Bar for Pink Gin Spritz and Mai Tai x2 before returning to dress for our formal evening in the Epicurean for some more Yummy Yummy Time but just a couple of glasses of wine as we were starting to lag a little. We then proceeded to the Glass House for a bed time Cosmopolitan and MaiTai then, finally, bed time. Again, we failed to goto bed the same day we got up. 

Step count – 5058 🥴

#50 See The Sea Day – Day 3 (Day 3 of Week 1)

Posted: May 20, 2024 in Another Cruise, Cruising, Memories, OaP, P&O, Podge, Retirement, Travel, Tubbs
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Day 3 is a sea day: a rest day: a day to relax on the balcony and watch the sea go by; A Day to See the Sea. Also a day to spot dolphins, with success: Obviously no photos are available 😉

So, what can one do on a Cruise Ship on a See the Sea Day? Well, one can take part in so many arranged activities taking place all around the ship from Deck 5 all the way up to Deck 16. As for us however, we just chillaxed taking in the suns rays and drinking lots and lots of water (to start with). Eventually, The Duchess needed to stretch her legs so off we went to the shops. After this, Podge invariably needs to stretch his legs as well so a couple of laps are suggested followed by a rest at the Sunset Bar for a Pink Gin Spritz and a Mai Tai or two. Nothing else, honest!

The sea day for us consists of breakfast and dinner, we don’t normally do lunch, with Dinner often being a formal occasion where we dress up in posh frocks (Tubbs) and Tuxedos (Podge), and a dashing looking couple we make: Trust me, you’ll have to cos I’m posting no pictures :-). 

It’s also a day to try Ito increase our step count. The last two days have been sub 7000: Our target is 10000. We felt that best way for use to achieve our goal was to do as many laps as possible. Now I hear you asking, what on earth is he talking about? What on earth are Laps? Well, Laps are typically circuits around the ship, normally the Prom Deck or a designated walking/running route often around the top of the ship. In the case of the Britannia, 7-laps of the designated route equalled 1-mile. Yeah right, like we’re going to manage that, certainly not all in one go anyway.

And that pretty much sums up Day 3. 

Step Count: – 7177 🥴

#50 St Maarten – Day 13 (Day 6 of Week 2)

Posted: May 16, 2024 in Another Cruise, Cruising, Memories, OaP, P&O, Podge, Retirement, Travel, Tubbs
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St Maarten was to be the last port of call, of cruise #50, before heading back Barbados. And, it has to be said that it’s one of our favourite stops. That said, we never ever do much other than walk into town to sit in our favourite bar (we have many favourite bars, in both the Caribbean and the Canaries 😋) La perle bleu Beach Bar, and have a couple of drinks and maybe a bite to eat. Actually, that’s exactly what we did and very nice it was too, especially the Chicken and the Mahi Mahi, yummy, yummy. 😎

Our ship in the background

Hunger sated and thirst quenched, there now followed the long walk back and, that long walk back was very, very hot. There was the option of a water taxi or even a Tuk Tuk but were they allowed by Her Tubbsness? NO!😡 His Podgeness had to walk all the way back to the ship in sweltering heat with poorly lungs and heart and sweating like he’s never sweated before 🥵. Poor Podge.  On the plus side however (always looking for a silver lining), at least we got our step count up 🥹

For the evening, as it was a formal evening, we opted for an appropriately formal dinner in the Epicurean Restaurant (at our favourite table of course). For starters we both selected Seared King Scallops and Scallop Tartare which was to be followed by the must yummy yummy main course of Tronçon of Wild Atlantic Halibut Grenobloise. As tempting as it was, especially the Crêpes Suzette or Belgian Chocolate Jaffa Cake with Pistachio Ice Cream, we give deserts a miss though we did finish our nice bottle Sauvignon Blanc before retiring to the Crows Nest for a cocktail. This time, we opted for the P&O Bafta Cocktail and wow, just wow. So much wow, we had another before retiring to bed not, on the day we got up.

Step Count: – 10,344 🥴

#50 Antigua – Day 12 (Day 5 of Week 2)

Posted: May 16, 2024 in Another Cruise, Cruising, Memories, OaP, P&O, Podge, Retirement, Travel, Tubbs
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This was our seventh visit to Antigua and have previously taken numerous excursions to see what the island had to offer (it has a lot) but it had been over 10 years since we’d visited Nelson’s Dockyard so we felt it was time to return and explore Antigua’s English Harbour and take time to discover the charm of Nelson’s Dockyard. I can say with confidence that after a break of 10+ years, Nelson’s Dockyard still manages to impress.

Now, please don’t ask how but whenever we go an excursion in the Caribbean, we always, but always, end up in the back of the minibus.

One should always try to avoid the back seats of a minibus in the Caribbean.

Being at the back of a Minibus in Antigua highlighted just about every bump (potholes or whatever) in the roads so much that we renamed our minibus as the bone shaker: It’s quite possible of course that the bus’s suspension was questionable. Still, mustn’t grumble, we could of course have been on the UK bone shaking roads 😂

After our return, we went directly to our favourite bar, passing the Boardwalk Casino, only to find it was all closed up. Can’t help if the revamped casino and closed bar are linked 🤔. Whatever the reason we decided to return to the mother ship as the port town was rammed full of grockles from the 5-cruise ships in town.  

There was one more ship out of this shot!

We sat on our balcony, gazing across at Aida Diva, and listening to the loudest music ever. Initially, we thought the music was coming from the Aida but it was actually coming from a bar in the port off the back our ship. They also played ‘Where the F*** is Alice’ but had to deploy special effects to mask F***: there were, after all, children around!

Come the time to sail away, we went up to the top deck for a sail-away party hosted by senior officers where many canapés and a variety of cocktails were in full flow. The idea of the sail away is to enjoy the ‘sail away’ in the company of fellow travellers and of course ships officers. Naturally, Podge and Tubbs missed the sail away altogether as we were engrossed in conversation with some new friends and enjoying the numerous cocktails. Needless to say, come the end of the sail-away, we needed a lie down in a dark corner. For a change, dinner was missed on account of the large number of canapés and cocktails, and so His Podgeness and Her Tubbsness had an early night going to bed the same day we got up. Poor Podge🥺: Poor Tubbs🥺.

Step Count: – 9581 🥴

#50 Saint Kitts – Day 11 (Day 4 of Week 2)

Posted: May 13, 2024 in Another Cruise, Cruising, Memories, OaP, P&O, Podge, Retirement, Travel, Tubbs
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Wedding Anniversary day today and mostly today, we’ll be bunkering – no, that’s not a euphemism 😋 – it means the ship will be taking on fuel 😂

Anyway, we awoke, looked at each other and said “I love you” swapped cards then went to breakfast for our normal Melon Melange followed by Eggs Benedict all washed down with a nice glass of champagne or two. His Podgeness was a little disappointed that he didn’t get his fried egg sandwich that he’d been asking for [every day] since day 1 but, hey ho, he lives in hope. We sat and chatted about what to do today until we looked around and realised we were the only ones left in the restaurant, Ooh Err. We made our apologies and sidled out and returned to our cabin to gather our stuff before going ashore.

Before leaving home, our (7-year old) Grandson gave is strict instructions to get him a new St Kitts t-shirt as his old one was now way too small.

Once ashore, we headed straight for our favourite store, The Yacht Club Company to purchase said item as instructed. While we are at it, we decided to get a matching one for his dad. Obviously His Podgeness would need a shirt also and, after much searching (looked at a couple of shirts) one was chosen and added to the purchase pile. Having discharged all orders we then moved onto another shop where I found two more shirts for me plus, a nice pair of shorts.  

We then moved on to the Champions Bar for our annual drink(s) (no bucket this time, Podge now knows better on the front) and a listen to their gentle music. Actually, it ain’t gentle at all, you can actually feel the music it’s so loud. So loud that my phone alerted me to the fact:

Champions is actually where we first heard ‘Who the F**k is Alice’ by Smokie: This is now followed by The Yogi Bear song by Ray Wilde (it’s very, very rude😋). Their playlist was certainly one to enjoy including anthem tracks such as Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond and Delilah by Tom Jones; All of these plus many more always get the crowd singing at the top of the their voices.

Full of beer, we slowly, oh so slowly, made our way back to the ship for a snooze before our fivesies 🍹in the Sunset Bar. but, before we went to the Sunset Bar we thought it would be a good idea to try on my my new shirts and shorts. It was then that His Podgeness remembers the Sea Air Syndrome (nothing to do with dietary habits) in that the salt-water air has a tendency to reduce the elasticity of one’s clothing thus making them appear and feel so much tighter. And, this is exactly what seemed to have happened on this cruise as all the shirts I had just bought plus a couple I had brought with me seemed to have shrunk and now accentuated the curves in my abdomen area: These were os course moved to the back of the wardrobe on the basis that weight loss, post cruise, would resolve this matter. Surely it will! As for the shorts however, the were indeed a very one fit but they did make His Podgeness look a little like Benny Hill: So much so that Mrs Podge (The Duchess) was seen rolling on he floor in laughter. These would have to go back.

Then we needed to ready ourselves for dinner.  As it was our Anniversary we again opted for a fine dining experience (accompanied by a couple of glasses of fine wines) in the Epicurean Restaurant and again, fine dining it was. Perfect 👌.  Then the inevitable trip to the Crows Nest. 

I’ll leave to work out when we went to bed but, we had just begun our 11th year as a married couple. 🥹

Step Count: – 8912 🥴

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