Thursday July 2, 2009
The Prinsendam
All too quickly our Grand Baltic Adventure is drawing to a close. We’ve spent yesterday and today resting up, catching up, living it up, and eating up aboard our floating hotel, while sailing south through the waters of the North Atlantic. And tonight, while the Prinsendam makes its way up England’s famous Thames River, we’ll also be packing up!
Our days at sea have been anything but boring – in fact, there’s so much to do onboard that there’s TOO MUCH to do onboard, and it’s darn-near-impossible to fit everything in. Like entertaining lectures … artwork auctions … trivia games … recent-release movies (with popcorn to munch on) … gourmet cooking classes at the Culinary Arts Centre … route-marches around the deck and work-outs in the gym (oohh, the pain!) … sweat-it-outs in the thermal-steam-and-aromatic room (phew!) … and a relaxing Swedish massage in the Spa (aahh, yes!).
Food, glorious food!
Then there’s the 24-hour-a-day food, glorious food (like our late-night chocolate extravaganza a few evenings back) … and the night-time entertainment in the expansive Queens Lounge (like the show-time performance we enjoyed last night: ‘Dancing Under the Stars’) … and the – oh, look, I could go on forever!
Dancing Under the Stars
Anyway, this afternoon we Kiwis got together in the Crow’s Nest (way up high on the top deck) for our private ‘Midlife Madness Cocktail Party’ – a chance to say a few fond final words, and toast the success of our cruise, and wish each other the very best, and say some early goodbyes.
Tonight, you see, we’ll be dropping anchor in Greenwich. And tomorrow morning, we bid farewell to the Prinsendam and its friendly crew, and go ashore to experience a little of majestic London.
Our Mad Midlife Kiwis! (click to enlarge)
PEOPLE NEWS: We celebrated Anne Ten Hove’s 70th birthday yesterday – with much hooting and singing and fun. (Once again we Kiwis have proved a bit noisy for some of the much older, more conservative passengers on board. Isn’t that great!)
TOMORROW & THE NEXT DAY: A city tour awaits us … plus lots of time to explore on our own … plus our Mad Midlife Farewell Dinner and River Cruise. Stay with us, folks …
Yours bloggedly – JOHN
