After a full days packing on the Tuesday, we are now ready to pack the car.

The car is far more loaded than when we set out on one of our two month long road trips, mind you I suppose we do store a load more stuff in the caravan.

It is great living where we do as we can be at the cruise terminal in less than 1/2 an hour and the holiday stars then!

The check-in was easy, however the security was anther matter! The lady on the x-ray machine found a strange foreign object in Jane’s carry on suitcase. On further inspection this turned out to be my swiss army knife that I had packed just in case …….. Well we can all laugh about it now…….can’t we ?

We boarded the ship at 12.30 and the suitcases made it to the room some 6 hours later, I was really worried that all my gowns would be creased, they weren’t and neither were Janes.

The port of Southampton looks far more magical at night, the dark can hide a multitude of sins!

As we left port at 6pm we were treated to a tremendous firework display and we were on our way!

That evening we met up with our friends Kev and Val and her sister Jill and her brother inlaw Barry for a drink and a meal.

We both awoke Thursday morning feeling a little bit worse for wear. To say we were feeling queasy would be an understatement! We hadn’t had much to drink the previous day, so it must be the  dreaded “mal de mer”.  I have never truly been sea sick before and this was so debilitating that I missed not only going to the gym but my breakfast as well! Jane suggested that we have an injection that she had heard of, that they dispense at the sick bay on deck 5. Well I couldn’t get out of bed so she went down on her own, when she returned she said she could feel some minor improvements. So I dragged myself down there to have my injection, and after a 2 hour doze I was right as rain and eating my lunch!

The sea was so choppy that one of the ladies giving a talk rushed off the stage with her hand over her mouth leaving someone else to continue.

After lunch a walk around the prom deck to get some fresh air and to do our daily mile was a refreshing way to spend 1/2 an hour.

The good feeling continued and I managed to demolish the superb evening meal !

I awoke early, full of renewed vigour, I looked out of the window and saw that the sea was still in an agitated state and that the white horses were still in abundance! So set off upstairs  for my first breakfast of the day with a little trepidation (well you can’t go to the gym on an empty stomach !).  I got to the gym at 7am only to find that they don’t let you use the cross trainers and running machines until 8am, so I had to make do with a few weights and some stretches for an hour before the serious  work began.

After a quick shower I joined Jane for the second breakfast of the day (this was the serious one, eggs and bacon etc) and then to plan the rest of the days activities.

The sea was really rough again today, and even the crew were complaining about how ill they felt.  Jane wasn’t feeling so good too day either so after the first lecture she  went to spend the rest of the day in the cabin and I fell asleep during the next talk!

Day 3

The sea was still rough and the ship was rocking and rolling like it was at a chuck Berry concert! Good news, Jane was feeling a bit better and said she would be up for breakfast when I got back from the gym. Todays first breakfast was porridge, I think I’ll give that a miss from now on and stick to muesli for my pre exercise snack!

Today events included a lecture on “walk active” a talk on  Salvador, our first port of call in Brazil and a classical concert in the afternoon. This evening we are going to see the “Runaround Kids” a great 50’s & 60’s rock and roll band from Ireland in the main theatre, and then after our meal Elektra will be entertaining us with their virtuosity on the violin.