Day 1-At Sea

No surprise, we went to the Beach House last night for one of their hearty meals but big surprise neither Steve nor I could finish our main courses (shock! horror!) but Steve did leave a little space for a key lime sundae.

All of this was preceded by a cheeky Prosecco in Anderson’s. It’s only the second time we’ve been there because it has a bit more of a wintery vibe which is perfect for heading north in October rather than the bars on deck which we’ve always been to before.

Then after dinner we went for a glass of wine and some swing and jazz in the Crow’s Nest.

The meal was much better than expected, the music less so.

We had a good night’s sleep but were totally confused this morning by the time. Our electronics had automatically changed to continental time but the ship hadn’t. So there we were at 7.00 am thinking we could get a coffee when it was only 6.00 am on the ship. Steve still hasn’t recovered and it will be made worse by the fact that the clocks go forwards tonight.

We probably had the busiest sea day ever. After a bit more of a snooze Steve went to collect our daily coffee. I passed on the 8.00am yoga and instead we went to Medina Restaurant for breakfast. This was something we discovered on our last cruise at Christmas. Before we had always eaten breakfast in the buffet but in the main restaurants you can get a far better selection such as poached eggs on smashed avocado, eggs Benedict etc etc as well as all the standard choices.

After breakfast we went for a talk on the architecture and history or Norway which was very informative and quite funny.

I then went to a watercolour class and painted a relatively acceptable seascape whilst Steve walked the promenade deck.

Then a light lunch in the buffet, Horizon. I was then exceedingly brave and had a cut and blow dry which I had failed to do before we left the uk in the summer. And amazingly, I didn’t want to throw myself overboard afterwards, it wasn’t bad at all.

Steve meanwhile went to a talk about hot air ballooning which he thoroughly enjoyed.

After a short rest we both went to Pilates and it was hard work!  But we enjoyed it. We then decided - at 6pm in the North Sea - to have a jacuzzi on the aft deck!  Freezing cold but amazingly enjoyable - well the jacuzzi was lovely and warm, it was the surroundings that were freezing. The deck looked like the Marie Celeste but we loved it and will do it again.

Then a hot shower and off to Sindhu, one of the speciality restaurants. Another Prosecco and G&T in Anderson’s (I did have to sort out our wine package along the way which was fun ??) before dinner.   We had loved Sindhu when we were on Aurora last time but were disappointed on Britannia. But back on Aurora it was as good as last time - excellent in fact.

Then another glass of wine each in Carmen’s being entertained by the onboard band doing 70’s. This time the band was a good as the meal. The singer seemed to be channelling Sam Smith and was fine, but the lead guitarist was excellent!

Then to bed!