16th March 2013 Another time zone crossed last night, another hour lost. The clocks went forward again, so it was gone 9 am before we shuffled into breakfast, bleary-eyed but determined not to miss a meal. Afterwards, we ventured to the library for a game of Scrabble. At the start of the cruise, there had… Continue Reading

15th March 2013 Breakfast was a late affair today, largely because Sue proved difficult to rouse. We eventually staggered to the rear restaurant, only to find that most passengers had also opted for a lie-in; plenty of empty tables testified to the universal struggle of getting out of bed after a hard night of scoffing.… Continue Reading

14th March 2013 The clocks went forward last night, and despite making it to breakfast, I still felt exhausted. It’s remarkably hard work putting on weight. Tonight promised Carnival festivities aboard ship, so at 10 am, Sue and I joined a mask-making class on Deck 10. Blank masks, paintbrushes, blobs of acrylic paint, and boundless… Continue Reading

13th March 2013 As we weren’t due to dock in Fortaleza until noon, we allowed ourselves the luxury of a late breakfast. At 9 am, we sauntered into the restaurant at the rear of the ship, smug in the knowledge that we had hours before disembarkation. According to Today (the ship’s indispensable daily newspaper), excursions… Continue Reading

12th March 2013 We had a painfully early start this morning, making it to breakfast by 6:30 am. The ship was due to dock in Recife by 8 am, and we had booked an excursion that inconveniently departed at the same time. Recife must be enormous, like Birmingham on steroids, because we sailed along its… Continue Reading

11th March 2013 Mother’s Day 2013 began with a decadent lie-in until the shocking hour of 8 am. Sue opened her cards and gifts from Charlotte and Sarah, which I’d been faithfully lugging around in my suitcase like some clandestine courier. I’m not entirely sure why I’d bothered with the secrecy; Sue later admitted she’d… Continue Reading

11th March 2013 By 6:30 a.m., the ship had already docked in Salvador, the old capital of Brazil. We rose early, demolished breakfast by 7:30 am, and were ashore by 9 am, ready to explore. At the foot of the gangplank, chaos reigned. A Brazilian film crew was busily shooting what appeared to be an… Continue Reading

11th March 2013 The alarm was set for 7 a.m., but we managed to wake ourselves 15 minutes early, proof that even on holiday, the body refuses to let you sleep in when there’s an excursion planned. A proper breakfast was required before our jaunt to Ilhéus, so we fortified ourselves accordingly while the ship… Continue Reading

Though the sea was calm and the ship vast enough to host a small nation, I still felt a peculiar movement during the night. Not the soothing cradle-rock one might hope for, but rather an unpredictable shudder, like sleeping atop a washing machine on its spin cycle. Eventually, sheer exhaustion won, and I drifted off,… Continue Reading

11th March 2013 Despite last night’s biblical downpour, we awoke to sunshine and a sky so blue it could have been painted by Dulux. Like proper mariners (albeit ones without a ship, a compass, or any idea of star navigation), we enjoyed a hearty breakfast before setting off to bid farewell to Copacabana’s famous beach.… Continue Reading