Life on board the MV Dawn Princess

I love days at sea.

There are so many things of interest to do and it's shamelessly self-indulgent.

Let me outline a typical day.

It starts on the eve of the day.

After dinner and the evening entertainment, you return to your cabin, or 'stateroom' as cabins are called these days, to find your bed turned down, chocolates on your pillow, fresh towels at the ready and the Princess Patter lying on the bed.

The Patter, as we call it, is your program for the following day. Everything that's on is listed chronologically.

Once in bed, you read the Patter and decide what you'll do the next day. Alan highlights the things he's interested in.

Next morning, you shower and decide whether you'll breakfast in the Deck 6 Venetian dining room with waiter service, or in the self-serve Horizon Court up on Deck 14.

Usually, we'd choose the latter and we'd usually find Richard and Patricia already there. They always went off to play shuffleboard after breakfast with Snow and Joy, a couple from New Zealand. Sadly, Snow had a heart attack later in the cruise and had to be sent ashore to hospital so they didn't complete the cruise with the rest of us.

After breakfast, we usually had to rush downstairs to Deck 7 to the Princess Theatre for a lecture. We had a variety of lecturers whilst on board. Some were outstanding but a couple were so bad that we gave up attending their lectures. The stand out ones were our friend, Colin White, who dined with us until Dubai, an English diplomat called Andrew Stewart, an American forensic specialist called Ronald ?, an American astronomer and another American, a former teacher, who specialised in WW2 amongst other things.

After the morning lecture, we usually had to dash to the other end of the ship to the Vista Lounge for the morning trivia. There we'd meet up with our team mates, Clinton, Elaine, Shirley and Arturo. The morning trivia was a daily competition as well as being progressive, so that at the end of each leg, the team with the highest accumulated score would win. The prizes for daily games were usually Princess insignia items that sold in the shop for about $8 - $10 such as packs of cards, personal fans, pens, key rings and so on. The progressive winners would win a bottle of 'champagne', or 'shampoo' as the cruise staff call it.

After trivia we might have another lecture or we'd go off to find a long chair outside on Deck 7, the Promenade Deck. I'd read or write or watch the walkers go by or just look at the water. Alan would take out his book and within minutes would be asleep, head back, mouth open. Sometimes I'd have to nudge him to quieten him down as his loud snores disturbed other readers nearby.

When the weather cooled during the northern part of our voyage, we'd sit in the Wheelhouse Bar which is cosy and comfortable, or the library, but usually it was warm outside.

Then it would be lunchtime. We usually would eat in the Horizon Court. Every day there, in the centre, is theme food - Italian, Mexican, Japanese, etc, as well as the regular selection.

I'd usually pile salad on my plate and add maybe some fish or some other delicious item. The food is always good, wherever on the ship you choose to eat. I'd wash it down with icy cold lemon drink. Yum.

Every day in the centre are huge displays of desserts. Massive cakes covered with cream and sliced fruit stare at you, daring you to fill up. I always found they looked better than they tasted but sometimes I was tempted. There is always a selection of sliced and whole fruit, always watermelon, rockmelon and honeydew!! One of my favourites is a fruit tartlet which is filled with custard and fresh fruit.

After lunch there might be a movie in the Princess Theatre or maybe more reading either on Deck 7 or by the pool on Deck 12. The afternoon trivia is usually at about 4.30 and that's when we'd meet up with Richard and Patricia. Nearly every day there is wooden horse racing in the Vista Lounge which they liked to go to and put a bet or two on. The other thing that is on in the Vista in the afternoons is Bingo. I avoided the daily Horse Racing and Bingo but I confess to playing Bingo on the last day of each of the five legs of the world Cruise. On the last day a huge jackpot prize is won so I'd go along with nearly ¾ of the passengers to play.

I never won, although Elaine won $400 one day.

At the start of the trip, after trivia, Patricia, Richard, Alan and I would go off to a bar and order a drink. The Cranes would buy a bottle of white wine which they like to drink with loads of ice, Alan would have a beer and I'd choose from the cocktail menu. After about a week we realised that at $15 a day for 104 days, plus the evening wine, Alan and I would have a huuuuge bar bill to pay so that all came to an end.

If the weather was hot, we'd usually meet at the pool for a swim and a drink which we'd bring from our cabin. That was more affordable.

Sometimes in the afternoon, at about 3pm, we might go to the Venetian dining room where afternoon tea was served. We enjoyed that. Often we'd go with Isabella who we'd met through Shirley. She and her husband Janis, or John, live in Perth and we like them immensely. Isabella is regal in bearing and always manages to have the staff rushing around, fetching her anything and everything that she could possibly need. Shirley claims that Isabella's descended from Polish royalty. I'd believe that, too. In appearance she reminds me of my late sister, Jan, so that endears her to me, too. I hope we don't lose touch with them.

Later in the voyage, after trivia, we'd all go to Horizons for afternoon tea. There would be a huge crowd so we'd have to find one of the large round tables. As more and more joined, we'd push our chairs out to make room so that in the end no-one was actually at the table. I'll have to name the crowd, so I'll do it in list form:

Richard and Patricia

Shirley and Arturo

Vincenzo and Elaine

Elaine and Clinton

Isabella and Janis

Alan (his wife, Marion, would be outside with the smokers)

and us.

By the time we left there it would be after 6pm. We'd go back to the cabin and collapse on the bed after our strenuous day! Alan would pour drinks and we'd read and sip until it was time to change for dinner. Sometimes we'd shower, sometimes not.

We always opt for the second sitting of dinner when we cruise which on the Dawn Princess is at 7.45. There are two dining rooms - the Venetian on Deck 6 and the Florentine on Deck 5. Ours was the Florentine.

We'd fill our wine glasses in the cabin and carry them to the dining room. Since our cabin was D210, it was right at the pointy end of the ship and we had a long walk to the lifts so we had to be careful not to spill the wine on the way.

That was especially true later in the cruise as new carpet was laid in our corridor. Unfortunately, only about two days after it was laid, an overhead pipe sprang a leak and the new carpet, along with a couple of nearby cabins, was flooded and it all had to be taken up again!

After dinner there are always two entertainments to select from. Sometimes there are two shows; sometimes one and a movie.

Whenever there's a production show, the theatre is packed. Production shows involve the resident dancers and singers and follow a set format which is rehearsed ashore before the troupe board the ship. I think we'd seen all the shows, but with different troupes, before. It wasn't until the final show that we saw a new one. The standard of the performance is nearly always high.