Over the Bounding Main

Monday, February 18, 2013
Auckland, North Island, New Zealand
We now embark on four more days at sea. Our routine is set. We receive the Queen Elizabeth Daily Programme each evening and, either before or after dinner, we mark the things that intrigue us. Some we will attend; some we won't. We try not to miss the lectures from Dr. (Captain, USN, retired) Denny Whitford. He's great.

In the Daily Programme, there is a message "From the Navigator," a “Nautical Fact of the Day,” lots of advertising for the drink of the day and the muffin of the day and what the spa or the specialty restaurant or shop(s) are offering along with an entertainment listing. There is also a section pushing the shore excursions that are still available for sale.

We have a Samoan tenor from New Zealand aboard along with a magician, lounge singer, “Australia’s triple award winner Jennifer Green” who has a Shirley Bassey tribute program (remember “Goldfinger?”), along with three pianists (one who sings), a harpist, a string quartet, a “Caribbean Band,” two orchestras (one for the theatre and one for the ballroom) and a DJ and lecturers.

There is never a moment when you are not invited to be doing something or other. Yesterday we tried Short Mat Bowls which is akin to bocce ball. There is a casino, bingo, a book club, trivia of course, needlework & knitting, watercolor painting, iMac classes, feature films (Argo, Lincoln, etc.) bridge for beginners and experts, a jigsaw puzzle table, puzzles and games, karaoke, sudoku, corsswords, fitness classes, art, wine and champagne tastings, receptions, and food…lots and lots of food.

The weather is marred by only occasional passing showers and the sea calms as we steam southward. We cross the equator and the international date line, a process which we will repeat later in our trek.

We have settled into a routine which changes but stays the same. It is idyllic. As our stop in Auckland nears (that means fifteen days and nights at sea) we are both happy that we don’t have to disembark Queen Elizabeth and fly home.

Caroline and Elf, Keith and Beth, Gira, Mark and Keith and others have become friends, drinking buddies, partners in play and great conversationalists. We love the music, the dressing up (five nights in a tuxedo and six more in a dark suit and tie), the food; well, we’ve no complaints worthy of more than a passing mention. The excursions have been fair to poor and the port presentations are a waste of time and the singers and dancers are repititous but, hey; who cares? Not us. 
 
Tomorrow we dock in Auckland and our dinner companions leave the ship. It has been lovely to meet Keith and Beth who will be visiting their son in New Zealand. They are from Toronto, but living in Scarborough now. We get to change dinner tables and will be sitting with Mark, Keith and Gira. I think we will be laughing a lot at dinner. 


 
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