Day 4 Saturday 14th March: North Sea
Thankfully it was much calmer overnight.
Our breakfast was again in the buffet on the 12th. I kept to my diet and had porridge topped with fruit berries.
Death in Ice Valley
We were a little later than planned and just about made it in time to the theatre to listen to the guest speaker talk about a murder in Norway.
We have not been to any of the Rod Repton’s earlier talks as they had been held in the small Playhouse. This talk was been given in the much larger Curzon Theatre on Deck 7.
The talk was a fascinating description about the dead woman who is found in Isalden Valley which is near Bergen. She had hall identification cut off her clothes and had been partially burned. Later the Norwegian police had discovered that she had travelled extensively around Norway and Europe using false passports.
To this day no one knows who she was or who murdered her and just as important why she was murdered.
Another walk around the Promenade Deck
After the talk we went on a 3 mile walk around the Promenade Deck 7. One side of the ship was receiving the wind and spray and the deck was wet …
… and the other was dry!
Shopping …
After our walk we joined the queues outside the shops.
Like us, everyone on the ship had realised that there was only a limited amount of time to spend their existing OBC as well as the extra OBC we had just been given by P&O. Entrance to the shop was through one door and exiting through another door at the other side of the small atrium.
Late lunch was again the buffet and I went with a simple salad with just a little cheese this time. We then went back to our room and sat and read our books.
Afternoon resting
From the map on the TV we could see that Aurora was heading towards Denmark again, going almost due East and of course hardly going South at all. The changes were playing havoc with connections to the satellite feed.
We checked with Reception about calls to the UK and were told we could call at no charge. We called our daughter to update her on what was happening and when we’d be home. She promised to try and get us some milk for Monday
Later in the afternoon we ventured out again at 5 pm for another short walk. As we passed through the Atrium I was watching photographs being taken of a couple. The man dropped to his knees and and proposed.
What a lovely moment!
In the Casino I sat watching passengers on the Promenade Deck pass by or just watch the North Sea …
… while I read and drank a bottle of Welsh ale.
As we passed the shops there were now no queues, so it was time to spend some of our OBC.
There was a special offer of 30% off Swatch watches and to this purchase we added Toblerone bars. Chatting to the assistant in the shop we learned that the re-stocking had taken until 2 am the morning before.
Formal Evening
Just after 7 we went up to the Crows Nest for the first time to have a quiet drink on this cruise. It was a formal night and we had been looking forward to sitting and talking through all the news with our friends. The vocal guitarist Mark Simons was playing some relaxing songs as we enjoyed a drink with our friends.
Then it was down to the main restaurant for our evening meal. I started with a Caprese salad then had steak and mushroom suet pudding with extra vegetables and then a simple citrus dessert.
Tiptronic in the Curzon Theatre
Tiptronic were again in the theatre and we arrived just a little late for the performance and found ourselves on the front row.
Then Tiptronic were joined on stage by one of the backroom guys on guitar.
I checked the TV map back in our room and Aurora was now going West and had hardly travelling South since the last time I had checked..