Planet Ruby Starrs

The sea days were sunshine filled rather unexciting days... the first day passed - posh lunch in posh restaurant, drinks at 7.00, - it was formal night and yet another theme - the masquarade ball.... well.... what happens on the ship stays on the ship 🤣🤣 so another opportunity to embrace cruise life. My friend on board runs the drama classes. She has a bottomless suitcase which includes all sorts of goodies like masks and trimmings to make them match my 'formal' frock... we dressed up, went for dinner and in honour of the occaision we dropped into the neptune lounge where the masked shindig was happening. We just wanted a quick looksee at the entertainment. It was packed - lots of peeps in classy frocks and elaborate masks dancing the night away.... that might even have been the track playing. We withdrew, headed up to the quiet solitude of the comfy seats aft, (latest term for back of ship) where we had a night cap before once ag...

Agios Nikolaos in Crete was pleasantly charming... I cant put my finger on why but it was so much nicer than Thira in Santorini. Simpler, less busy but just a nicer softer vibe. Obviously its not so dramatic and perhaps thats the key - theres nothing to 'live up' to...  A small town with a dense tourist centre and dwellings sprawling away from the coast it feels compact and easier to navigate. Theres a large marina and then a little picturesque lake in the middle of the main town... makes a nice change from a market square. Its still very touristy but definately less crowded... wider streets - same tat but less hassley. We wandered round the small lake and into the shopping area. Theres a serious lack of supermarkets and we ended up buying olive oil from a shop at the top of town. There was alot of choice... brands ... numbers... in the end I just picked the prettiest tins.    We finally found some rocks... nothing too spectacular ...

Here we go again back on the astonishing Borealis sailing out ofNewcastle on a beautiful evening.... on our way to Norway - on a Northern Lights cruise.   We've got a cabin on the promenade deck but it is at the very very front of the ship and we don't have much of a view and it's probably going to be quite bouncy!! Time will tell other than that it's quite comfortable.  We are directly below the Neptune Lounge though so the frumpy and clumpy dance troop may clump around...  but that will probably be better than the kitchens banging on.  Dr Fred has perused the time table so hes clued up on talk times... we had lunch- the first of the marathon feeding frenzies.  According to the cruise director there are 700 new to Fred Olsen, potentially new to cruising guests on board. And when I trawled round the ship to find somewhere quiet to sit it felt packed.... of course with the weather being a tad fresh outside, everyone is sitting inside so its very busy. That ...