Up Early,

and we were off for breakfast,

 we ate early as we wanted to join the ship's orientation walk,

 so we had the dinning room pretty much to ourselves,

 it was so big,

 an omelet for Diana,

 smoked haddock warmed in milk for myself, 

 the theater where tonight we would be going for a show,

 we started our guided tour around the ship,

 past one of the many pools,

 and bars,

 then a real delight to Diana, a pizza restaurant, as many free pizzas as you can eat!

 and it was right by the pool,

 by now the sun had replaced the grey skies of yesterday,

 although it looked crowded,

 there was only about 20 or so of us with our guide, the gym, I must remember where it is!

 after the guided tour we walked around ourselves,

 and picked up a photograph that was taken when we boarded,

 all to soon it was time for lunch, a cheese potato skin for Diana,

 for myself a dressed crab,

 Diana then went for a lasagna,

 on to desserts, lemon souffle for Diana,

cheese and biscuits for myself, the afternoon just sailed away,

 and in no time we were at the Captains welcome aboard party,

 it was of course a black tie, event, so out with the tuxedo,

 and cocktail dress for Diana,

 on to our evening meal, fresh asparagus spears for Diana, with soft boiled egg and sauce mousseline with fine herbs,

 for myself oak smoked Scottish salmon, with capers and red onions,

Diana next had a fricassee of forest mushrooms in a parsley persllsde, followed by one of her favorites, a New England lobster in mornay sauce, served on a pillow of truffle creamed potatoes and parmesan pangratta with broccoli and beans,

 for myself roast fore-rib of beef, with Chateau potatoes in a red wine sauce,

 'Cheers!',

 for Diana's dessert prosecco poached strawberries, with vanilla set cream and langues de chat biscuit, cheese and biscuits for myself, we followed with a coffee each,

 and went for a walk topside,

 I have to say it was bitterly cold,

 a whilst not blowing a gale,

 it felt remarkably close,

 looking ahead we were the only people on deck,

 and looking back just the same, not a soul insight,

 well I had to have  pose,

 the show was about to start,so leave the bar,

 and settle down for the show,

 it was a dance extravaganza,

 from around the world, 

 so many fantastical costumes, these I guess from Brazil, 

 then a move to France,

 the show,

 perfectly choreographed,

 and performed,

 keeping to a French theme,

 a can-can,

 great fun, 

 we were then serenaded,

 the quartets singing,

 superb,

 all of them,

 having as much fun singing,

 as we did listening to them,

 they made way for an acrobatic act,

 with lights and thrills,

 coming back the singers, 

 started a dance routine,

 like a 1940s dance film,

 like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers,

 as this act finished,

 the show started with some American numbers,

 from the army,

 and countryside, 

 a solo singer started to sing a song from one of my mothers favorite films,

  Bless Your Beautiful Hide,

 from Seven Brides for the Seven Brothers,

 all action,

 till the last picnic scene,

 Spain was featured next,

 as flamenco dancers,

 took to the stage,

 with swilling costumes,

 clicking heels,

 and graceful movements,

 a more native show next,

 with a group of followers behind her, 

 then the grand finale,

 a Celtic dance routine,

 I had seen Riverdance live in London many years ago,

 although not so many here in the cast they were just as good, what a fabulous show, we both thoroughly enjoyed it, 

 we went to a couple of other bars,

 where other shows were taking place but in a more laid back stage areas,

 we decided to take a gamble, Diana decided on the penny slot machine, after some frenetic play she cashed out,

 with a profit of 10 pounds! how could the evening get any better? well it did, I decided to play roulette, and on a whim, well there is a long story to this, but in essence the last time I played roulette back in the early 1970s I promised I would bet on black 28 and the black in the black and red box the next time I played, first bet down, now you will not believe this, but black 28 came up! no more bets for us, I cashed in and was 73 pounds up on a single bet, so between us we netted an 83 pound profit on the evening!

 well that called for celebration drink,

 where we bumped into the charming waitress Janine, 

 we made our way back to our room,

after all of that excitement we needed a rest, well it was well past 01.00 in the morning, so with that we were off to bed.