Sapphire Princess set off across the North Atlantic after leaving Halifax. Our crossing of the North Atlantic gave us lots of opportunities to read, watch films and the ship’s entertainment.
The Captain managed to avoid the majority of the rough weather on the crossing. We did have a bumpy ride some days and the obligatory fog.
Our cruise to Canada and New England took us across the Atlantic to St John’s, Newfoundland; Sydney, Nova Scotia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; two days in New York City; Newport, Rhode Island, Boston, Massachusetts; Rockland, Maine; St John, New Brunswick; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and back across the Atlantic to Southampton.
Day 19 Wednesday 2nd October 2019: Atlantic Ocean
At 6:30 we were awake as the ship rocked and rolled with lots of bumps. We had ordered room service for the first time this cruise for breakfast. The selection had been made more exciting as our order form was in Spanish. Luckily I guessed correctly what we wanted.
At 10 am we went for a brief look at the $10 sale. Unfortunately the sale had no T-shirts in my size.
Later in the morning we went for a brief walk around the Promenade Deck. The ship was shrouded in mist so there was not much to see.
Our lunch was upstairs in the Buffet. I had a vegetable curry along with butter chicken.
We had a brief walk outside on the upper decks but it was now raining. We stayed in our cabin all afternoon and watched two more of the ship’s movies. Every day a new movie was being added on the free A/V system. This made a welcome choice of entertainment available in our cabin.
Evening and Dominic Ferris in the Theatre
This was a formal evening and to celebrate we went for a pre-dinner drink in Crooners Bar at 7:15 but there were no tables free so we sat at the bar. When we went for dinner there was a long queue at the Savoy restaurant so we switched to a different restaurant this time we went to Vivaldi.
I tried the cowboy strip steak and followed it with a key lime pie. Throughout the meal we really noticed the ship was rocking with the Atlantic’s swell.
After dinner we went to see Dominic Ferris in the theatre. The theatre was full before the show started at 10.15 pm. As part of his act Dominic asked members of the audience to shout out song titles and his challenge was to put together the 10 songs into one. I managed to get a few bars of Piano Man included. We were seated in the raised box to the left of the stage.
Overnight the ship’s clocks would be going forward by one hour as we moved eastwards across the Atlantic.
From the Cruise Log
At Sea — Wednesday 2nd October 2019
Overnight, Sapphire Princess steered various easterly headings as she proceeded away from Newfoundland and the eastern coast of North America. At around 03:00, she passed over a relatively small patch of shallower water, known as Middle Bank, where the depth below the keel was only 30 metres or 98 feet.
Throughout the morning, she maintained a steady course of 092° at an average speed of I8kts, as she crossed the Banquereau, which is the northern part of the large submarine Scotian shelf. Sapphire Princess entered deeper water at around 11.00, maintaining her easterly course. Throughout the afternoon and into the evening, Sapphire Princess was travelling approximately 140 NM due south of Newfoundland, paralleling the southern coastline. At around 19:00, Sapphire Princess once again re-entered shallower waters as she started her passage over the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, where the depth below the keel is regularly less than 50 metres, or 164 feet.
Noon Position: Latitude: 44° 35.3′ N • Longitude: 056° 53.7’W
Wind: W’ly Near Gale, Force 7
Sky: Overcast with Occasional Showers (8/8 cloud cover)
Seas: Moderate Seas + Average Low SW’ly swell
Pressure: 996 hPa
Air Temperature: 15°C / 59°F