Caribbean Cruises - Easter 2015: Day 7

We had breakfast in the dining room and met two American couples there. One man – in his mid-80s – lives on Vero Beach in Florida about 90 minutes away from Fort Lauderdale and is on the cruise lines mailing lists for late availability offers. He and his wife cruise four times a year and recently had an 18-night repositioning cruise from the US to Europe including flights for less than $1000 (around £630).

We had a more organised sea day today. After breakfast we managed to squeeze in a custard doughnut and a hot chocolate and then we were off to our first trivia quiz of this cruise. A couple from Orlando, Florida were very happy to join us and we came second. Then we were off to our first dance class – Salsa - and we had 45 minutes with the Deputy Cruise Director who was a bit of an Ian Waite type and he taught us all well. One man stalked off in a huff near the end leaving his partner standing alone in the middle of the floor (what was that about?), but we enjoyed the session a lot.

Then it was a light lunch in the dining room and another quiz. This time another US couple joined us to make 6 and we tied for first place in a 3-way tie. Then the tie-breaker started and our man had the same right answer as one of the others, so we were down to two teams tying. We lost out right at the end – what percentage of the brain is water? – the answer apparently was 85% and our answer wasn’t the nearest of the two, so we came second overall.

One really useful thing with the quizzes and new for us is the fact that they put the questions and the answers up on screens above the tables.

We got ready for our formal evening and at 5pm the unled hour of dance music started. Only two couples on the floor, so plenty of room and the screens round the room told us the dance – not always correctly – and we had an hour or so of practice.

We actually attended the Captain’s Welcome Party properly this time and even managed to get 3 glasses of champagne each.

This was the first formal evening on this cruise. There were some smartly dressed men and women, but again some who found it just too much to aspire to, including one young man who came in black trainers, blue Levi jeans and a long-sleeved white T-shirt.

As on other cruise lines, rules are barely enforced, such as reserving sun beds or the dress code. We did hear one member of the crew tell someone that they had to wear an item with sleeves in the dining room – he’d turned up in a glorified vest. We’ve seen men walking through the ship with no shirt on and even one woman walking all through the public areas in a swimsuit. However, at lunch in the dining room there was a couple each wearing hats – the man a baseball cap and the woman a brimmed hat – looked very strange and a touch rude.