#tied_up

[russellstyles]

...had been running....

Cadillac Ranch, Route 66, Amarillo, Texas, US.

[captainmartinisblog]

Friday 11th June 2021 - At Sea

Scenic Sailing!

We did our final ‘spit in a tube’ covid test this morning as more baleful moaning greeted us from the ship’s fog-horn on this the last morning of our cruise.

In the night, we’ve meandered across from Portland to the Channel Islands and today’s programme is entitled ‘Scenic Cruising’ but the best we got was a murky shape on the horizon for a short while. Still, I did my 50 lengths in the pool and realised that I have paddled 3,360m or nearly 2.1 miles!

Unfortunately, although the exercise has no doubt done me good, I doubt that it was enough to counteract the effects of all the lovely food I’ve been eating!

Speaking of which, they put on a rather fabulous Indian Buffet Lunch today; well it would have been churlish not to join in….

I had a starter of Dosa with a selection of dips/fillings; spicy vegetable, garlic onion and tomato, spicy tomato and something with a lot of coconut and peanut which I wasn’t keen on.

Then from the vast selection, I chose Grilled Tandoori King Prawns with Chicken Biryani, Murgh Tikka Masala and Vegetable Jalfrezi. There were lots of sweet desserts too but by this point my taste buds were a little numb and fortunately, I’m not a dessert person!

Otherwise, apart from a 45 minute slot for some of the packing, I spent most of the day on our gorgeous sheltered balcony in the company of a good book. The sun even came out for about an hour….

By late afternoon, we had done our ‘scenic cruising’ and we were heading back across the Channel towards Portsmouth.

Our final dinner proved an unexpected success, with a fabulous Goats Cheese Souffle to start, followed by rich Tuscan Minestrone Soup and Chorizo-crusted Mediterranean Sea Bass with Asparagus. All I could manage for dessert was Creme Brulee!

Having put out our luggage for collection by 9pm, we handed in our personal tracking ‘dongles’ that we have worn or carried around with us for the last week and we realised that this was truly the end.

We then went to the theatre for the last time (on this cruise at least!) for the Farewell Toast, where the two crew vocalists gave performances worthy of any full-time professional performers.

Instead of the usual ‘who’sbest’ farewell with all the crew on stage, because of covid protocols they showed an emotional little video which had to melt the coldest heart and we at last learned that the reason we hadn’t seen anything of the Captain on this voyage was that he had joined the ship the same day we did and, again because of covid protocols, has been required to stay in this cabin or work area (ie the bridge).

The final ‘Big’ show was ‘The ABBA Songbook’ with the ship’s 4 vocalists for whom the songs were much better suited than the Beatles show a few nights ago. The show was actually pretty good and always a crowd-pleaser. A great end to a wonderful cruise and indeed, by the time we wended our way to bed, Viking Venus was already tied_up alongside her berth back in Portsmouth!

This has been perhaps not the most spectacular cruise for its destinations but a truly memorable one for what it represented - a successful, covid-free return to cruising. Well Done, Viking Cruises!

If you’ve enjoyed my Blog of this holiday and would like to read about any of my other trips, here’s a link to an Index of Cruises & Holidays

[livingrestrained]

Some of my favorite works of rope art.. 🤤🤤🤤