Capnpugwash almost live from Celebrity Eclipse

[capnpugwash]

I woke this morning, Saturday July 7th 2012 a little after 5am as the sun rose. The light penetrating the bedroom didn’t look particularly bright and when I looked outside to check, it wasn’t. There was almost total cloud cover but it wasn’t dark grey so it looked quite hopeful. Of course this proved to be a vain hope as the rain started to fall at 8am and continued as I departed for Southampton at 10.30 and finally stopped about 3.15pm.

 

The ship is big and white in the modern style and has 15 decks weighing in at 122,000 tonnes; it is 1,033 feet long with a beam of 121 feet. The ship holds a maximum of 2,850 passengers. Having arrived at City Terminal via dock gate 8 at 11.45, I waited 15 minutes to unload the luggage as they were taking the cars 6 at a time. Soon enough the bags were out and I then had to drive and park the car in a car park opposite the terminal, I don’t know why C&PS weren’t operating their normal service but can only think that maybe they done work with Celebrity.

 

There was a 20 minute queue through the Disney style snake but eventually Passport, credit card and pre-registration form was handed over and cruise card in hand I walked up the stairs, along the corridor and having climbed the gangway found myself on board. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. The cabins weren’t ready so naturally I made my way straight there to get rid of my carry-on bag. I am in cabin 1166 so I made my way to deck 11 where I found the cabin numbers ran from 1400 to 1580 which caused me some confusion. I noticed a passing crew member and enquired whether he knew the location of 1166 and was pointed forward on that deck. I decided that he was bluffing so called the reception desk and was told the cabin was aft on deck 10. It is quite spacious and is classified as a Concierge Class cabin with a balcony. It is really quite nice. There are pros and cons as with all cabins; there are only 5 tiny drawers, 2 US outlets and 1 European style and lockers above the bed in lieu of shelves. The bathroom is great and is about 6 feet by 8 feet, very spacious. The desk is tiny and has a 3 foot square mirror in front of it with good lights above.

 

Having left my bag I headed to the buffet on deck 14 and found a well-designed and spacious area with plenty of seating and a vast choice of delicious foods, I opted for some mixed salad whose ingredients were unknown to me but it tasted great and whilst I was eating a waiter offered to get me a coffee or some water which I thought was a very nice touch.

After lunch I wandered around the ship and found the spa, they have a steam room but its’ use requires a spa pass at $20 per day or $149 for the 13 days. I had a look at it but it was quite small and there is no bubbly pool so I decided that I would use the free sauna in the changing room instead. There is a gym which seemed quite well equipped, at least to my uneducated eye. It has bikes and rowing machines so I'm sorted, there are also 12 or so spinning bikes so hopefully I will time my visits not to coincide with the spinning classes. Way too much enthusiasm is normally the order of the day in those classes.

 

The luggage arrived by just after 2pm and I was soon unpacked and ready to go to the passenger muster, no lifebelts were required and apart from being very crowded it was quick and painless to attend and was all over within 20 minutes of starting, they did take a roll-call to ensure that all passengers attended. Celebrity are the top-end od Royal Caribbean and when I travelled with them, they held a roll-call and a muster out on deck under your allocated lifeboat so this was a great improvement over that method.

 

We departed in the murk and pouring rain on time at 4.30 and are currently heading south east at 16 knots as we round the eastern side of the Isle of Wight into the English Channel where we will turn west and head down towards Land’s End in Cornwall. This is summertime and the temperature is a chilly 13/56 degrees and the sea is slight. The sun is due to set at 9.20pm this evening.

 

I went to the Martini Bar which was great, the bar surface is frozen which was a bit of a shock but the French Martinis were both excellent, I had a nice chat with the barman Garnet and the second one was certainly stronger that the first. Dinner was is the main dining room and I had a prawn cocktail with really kicking cocktail sauce which I followed with Spaghetti Bolognese, I did fall foul of a small portion of profiteroles and a couple of glasses of Chilean Malbec red wine. All in all it was an excellent dinner, I was sold a $23 wine tasting tomorrow afternoon at which 4 wines are tasted and I receive a $25 voucher to use for wine purchases on the ship. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me but after 2 martinis and a couple of glasses of red wine, that is hardly surprising. It seems like a very good deal to me.

 

It is now 9.35pm and we are now heading west south west along the English Channel at 19 knots , it is 11/53 degrees and there is a 23 knot breeze from the south and the sea is moderate. We are due north of St Malo on the French coast.

 

I had a good night’s sleep and woke to a clear baby blue sky with the sun shining fairly brightly at 5.30am, my cabin is on the starboard side and away on the horizon I can see Land’s End as we head west out into the North Atlantic at 20 knots, we will be turning to starboard later this morning to clear the south western tip of Ireland and then begin our northerly track up towards Iceland. It is a cool 13/55 degrees with moderate seas and a 14 knot easterly breeze. Pretty perfect really!

I want to go to the gym today and to have breakfast, I know that logically I should exercise first and then eat but I hate the idea of going to the buffet all sweaty and so I will probably do the gym, shower and change and then eat. It’s a bit of a pain really as it means that I have to lug clean clothes about. Having said that, it is a vast improvement on sitting eating breakfast feeling all manky. I followed my plan and spent 25 minutes on the bike, I wanted to then do some rowing but the machine was in use so I gave up, showered and went to eat. Corned beef hash with eggs really hit the spot followed by a cup of strong coffee.

 

The sea must be warmer than the air because after the sun had been up for an hour a thick mist developed on the surface of the water to a height of about 50 feet above which is the glorious blue sky. It looks really weird to me, as the sun warms up it will burn off I believe.

 

We have altered our course and are now heading at 20 knots towards Waterville in Ireland across the lower part of the Celtic Sea.

 

Wandering around the ship this morning was interesting as there were more than a few souls in dressing gowns on the open decks and numerous people in bathing suits clustered by the pools which sadly were still netted, I don’t know why the nets were in place as the sea wasn’t rough overnight. Perhaps they close them off to minimise their potential liability if some fool drowns in the dark. There were about 40 people in the gym at 6.30 on various instruments of torture, treadmills, weights, abdominal exercise apparatus involving leg raises etc. One man in full lycra including a towelling headband was taking his punishment seated in the window with a mug of steaming coffee, maybe it is a pretence he adopts in order that he can get away from his wife for a little peace.

 

There is a Cruisecritic meet and greet arranged for 10.15 this morning which I will go to, the roll call thread for this trip has been very active with around 150 pages of posts, the members all seem very friendly and appear to have boundless enthusiasm for everything associated with this trip. Most of them seem to be doing organised trips in almost port that we visit so I think they will need another holiday when they get home from this one.

 

I went to the bar where the meeting was to be held an hour or so early to listen to a book but the background musak which invades the entire ship was blaring out, fortunately a crew member who was cleaning there was able to turn it off, it seems to be an American thing that silence isn’t acceptable in public areas on ships and hotels. Anyway at the appointed time about 60 people turned up and the Entertainment Director greeted us and thanked us all for coming, he indicated over to where the Captain and a few officers were standing and then wished us a good cruise. He and the officers all disappeared very quickly but the rest of us stayed and chatted for another 30 minutes, it was a pleasant interlude and I met a couple with whom I had travelled last Christmas to the Caribbean. Yet another small world moment!

 

The sea is very calm as we continue North West across the Celtic Sea, we are about 150 miles from the corner of Ireland so we should be making the northward turn early this evening in about 6 or 7 hours’ time. We have a temperature of only 14/58 degrees and a light covering of high clouds.

I am going to skip lunch today although I do have the wine tasting to attend this afternoon so I may live to regret that decision later. I spent a couple of hours in the cabin and now at 2.10 I can see land on the starboard side of the ship, this is the southern end of Ireland around Kinsale or Kinsale Head, it is only about 10 miles away and I am quite surprised that our course is so close to land.

 

The wine that was offered was excellent, a Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, a Riesling, an American Cabernet Sauvignon and a Merlot. They were all very pleasant and some cheese and breadsticks were offered to help soak them up. One of the main reasons for the sampling was to explain to us how the Enoteca wine system works, basically the opened but sealed bottles are stored in temperature controlled cabinets and passengers can use special prepaid cards to purchase 1, 2.5 or 5 ounce measures of about 40 or 50 different wines. They are all individually priced and they were offering a 15% discount if a passenger prepaid $100 which seemed quite a good deal to me.

 

I just tried to go online and was asked by the system whether I wished to purchase another package, I took this to mean that when I was using it earlier the logout must have failed and all my previously purchased minutes have been used, I quickly went to the Internet office on board which is operated by Apple and explained what had occurred. The guy there didn’t seem surprised and promised to effect a refund later tonight, hopefully he will do this so that I can post later on or tomorrow morning.

It is 4.45pm and we have almost weathered the south-western corner of Ireland and quite soon will head north to Reykjavik where we are due the day after tomorrow at 1pm. I thought that there was only 1 sea day before Iceland but clearly there are 2.

 

The inside of the ship is quite easy to navigate as there are only 2 lift towers; the aft has 8 lifts and the forward only 4. The pools, spa and gym are on deck 12, the restaurants, most bars and shops are on decks 4 and 5 and guest relations, excursions and a small bar are on deck 3. The theatre is at the front of the ship on decks 4 and 5, the buffet is aft on deck 14. All the other areas and decks are passenger accommodation. I almost forgot that the jogging track is on deck 14 as well and you walk on it at your peril! 5 laps is 1 kilometre and 8 laps is 1 mile, most people seem to run anti-clockwise while I delight in walking clockwise and smile sweetly as a response to their looks of disdain. I suppose that little thing please little minds but it is harmless fun and it does amuse me.

 

The coast of Ireland is still visible on the starboard side but as we pass the next headland just south of Tralee it will recede further away and we will lose sight of it totally as it disappears over the horizon. As the sun will set in a little under 4 hours I don’t think that we will be seeing it again although we may be able to see the lights on shore after dark.

 

I went to the Tuscan Grille specialty restaurant for dinner this evening; they were offering the meal for a $15 surcharge rather than the usual $30 which made it great value. The meal started with a selection of Antipasti, and then I had a crab cake, thick rustic onion soup followed by a fillet steak with a small portion of pasta. Thankfully having not eaten since breakfast, I was able to make a dent in most of the courses. It was really very nice but again the portion sizes were way too large really. The restaurant is right at the stern of the ship on deck 5 and my table overlooked the arrow straight wake marking our passage, a great meal and a great location. My waiter was Marius who is from the north east part of Romania and whose service was wonderful. I am not sure that the meal would be worth the $30 supplement.

 

We are heading North North West on course 333 degrees at 19 knots through moderate seas, there is a very slight shimmy from side to side up on deck 10 but nothing really noticeable. The air temperature is 10/51 degrees and it feels cold on the balcony although it is still nice to get some fresh air after the mechanical air conditioned stuff that fills the ship.

[capnpugwash]

Today is Monday July 9th and the time is 5.40am, I woke 10 minutes ago to almost total light cloud cover with a watery sun peering through in the very few places where it is able to, it is a very cool 9/48 degrees and the sea remains moderate with only very slight lateral movement. The movement is really too minor to be described as roll but I suppose that to be absolutely precise that is what it is, there is no discernible pitching on the ship. Our position is about 250 to 300 miles due west of the northerly tip of Ireland continuing on our course of 333 degrees at 19 knots.

 

I will head to the gym in a while as I forgot to mention the pistachio crème Brule that completed my meal last evening, it sounds delicious which was what tempted me but unfortunately it was curdled and failed to live up to my expectations. I only ate a few mouthfuls of it which was probably a good thing. If I had chosen the Tiramisu it would be a different matter and I would need an hour in the gym today to make up for it. Thank heavens for small mercies!

 

I got to the gym just after 7am and did my bike exercise and then as the rowing machine was free, I did 10 minutes on that as well. I saw that lycra man was back and was still adorned with his head band, he started to use a treadmill which was an improvement on yesterday’s efforts and must have almost been on there for a minute before stopping, wiping it down for no real reason and then resuming his chair from yesterday. Then his wife turned up in a bathrobe and a heated discussion ensued which fortunately I was unable to hear, it culminated in him standing by one of the machines in a Charles Atlas pose while his wife took a couple of pictures of him and the sweaty throng behind him. It seems that my assumption of his motives yesterday may have been harsh as she is either at best a doting bride or at worst a stalker who tracked him down and now has photographic evidence of his absolute lack of taste in clothing.

 

On my way to the gym I noticed that all of the pools were netted which is quite annoying especially as I had intended to use one after my gym time. By the time I emerged the crew were just removing the nets so I went into the indoor pool on the premise that it would be warmer than the other two outside ones. It was quite warm but the slight movement that I felt on deck 10 was magnified on deck 12 and the pool resembled a washing machine on rinse cycle. This is normally not a problem but in this pool the depth is only a little over 4 feet and felt more like a deep bath than a swimming pool. I swam a few lengths, surfed a few more and then headed inside for the sauna and a shower. I almost ended up in the medical centre as my wet feet and the tiled foyer didn’t mix particularly well and I slipped quite badly, I was able to remain standing but only after colliding with what I thought was a picture. It was a touch screen TV which started up and greeted me ever so sweetly exhorting me to do something, go somewhere or buy something. I was in no mood to listen as I was busy questioning the parentage of whoever installed slippery floor tiles near a pool.

 

The sauna was great though and I emerged clean and refreshed with no broken bones, a long cooling shower followed and I am now back in my cabin to dress and contemplate where to go for breakfast. I think that the selection in the buffet will win as it is so very good and there is a good view of the sea and the clouds.

[isdoo]

Thanks - keep them coming :)

[Aarrmuch]

Good morning capnpugwash I have enjoyed reading your blog and look forward to the rest. We get on the Eclipse when you get off I now feel my Cruise:D has started

Stephen

[Ems2]

Thank you so much for your entertaining, detailed blog......looking forward to the next episode, love your style.

[Coolcruise02]

Great review, can't wait for more!

[jaz33]

We are doing your cruise on 04 August an d really enjoying reading this.

 

Many thanks.

[hcat]

Interesting & detailed blog.

 

FYI : American cruisers as well do not like the constant awful sound tape blaring at times throughout the ships ! They repeat the loop over & over....by the end of the trip you are ready to scream!! But complaints go unheeded except in individaul venues if someone can control the volume... It appears the blaring music is the cruise line's attempt to appeal to a younger or hipper demographic than in the past.We'll be bringing our headphones onto Eclipse next March!

 

Hope you have smooth sailing!

[capnpugwash]

I went to the buffet and predictably repeated my breakfast of Corned Beef hash but I had a couple of poached eggs with it, they were overdone but the hash was delicious enough without the addition of the two bullets. After a couple of cups of coffee I wandered through the blustery wind along the jogging track to the Sky Observation Lounge at the front of the ship, I sat there for an hour or so listening to a book and idly staring at the sea and then a horde of people arrived and a quiz started shattering the peace so I relocated to the buffet for a coffee. As I was making my way there the Captain made an announcement and told us that we will arrive in Iceland tomorrow just after 11.30am which is 90 minutes early and we are currently 750 miles from Reykjavik. It has warmed up a little and is now an almost balmy 11/53 degrees, we have a 10 knot southerly breeze with moderate seas of 10 feet and we are making 20 knots.

 

As I entered the buffet on the port side which is opposite where I normally would access it, a lady walking along what seemed to me to be a very stable deck suddenly fell flat on her back at my feet, somewhat shocked I was a little slow to react unlike the three crew members who instantaneously leapt into action and surrounded her whilst rendering first aid. It was very impressive and I certainly hope that she wasn’t seriously hurt but rather than gawp at her in her predicament I walked away and left those whose training is more current to assist her. The reason that I mention how I accessed the buffet was in order to explain that the doors onto and off from the decks on the starboard side all seem to be closed with big notices advising that the decks are closed for passenger safety. Someone should tell the hundreds of passengers on deck that this is the situation and whoever someone is, they may wish to close the port side doors with similar signage as it is only necessary to walk across the deck or lift lobby to find an unlocked and unsigned door. I suppose that no-one has been told to remove the signs and until they are told, the signs will remain in place.

 

For those interested in factoids; the Eclipse is registered in Valletta, Malta. The Captain is Panagiotis Skylogiannis, Chief Engineer is Georgios Spyrellis and the Staff Captain is Theocharis Charalampos. They are all of Greek descent and either live in the UK or Greece when on leave. That was a test for the spellchecker I tell you!

 

Tonight is the first of three formal nights on board and I intend to eat in the main dining room this evening, I will skip lunch to leave room for the meal tonight. The sky is still covered with a thin layer of clouds, the temperature is only 12/54 degrees and we continue at on an unchanged course at the same speed through moderate seas.

[d4m]

Great writing style & entertainment ~~you had me in stitches! What a visual of lycra man..........

 

Looking forward to the next installation..

[Literary Lynne]

Absolutely love your brilliantly well written, funny and informative blog. Thank you so much for posting it. I really enjoy reading the coordinates, ship's position, sea state and weather. Can't wait for the next instalment. :)

 

Thank you capnpugwash..

Lynne

[Paddigton Bear]

I have British relatives on this cruise - I do hope they make it in to your review - somehow (I am wondering if my BIL is lycra man)! They'll likely be the ones sitting at the Martini Bar of an evenig and may be some of the youngest on board as I hear there are a lot of scooters to contend with! It this proving to be an issue for you as you go about your daily activities or have you set up traffic lights to ensure that those on foot manage to get their fair turn at the lifts etc., as we all know how scooter hogs work :D

[cruiseacecat]

Enjoying your writing style. :) Keep it coming.

 

Anne

[allanv]

Thanks for the review, you are a talented writer for sure!

[uktog]

Nice reviews so far, what is the average demographics on the trip? (age nationality etc)

[Paddigton Bear]

Relative is not lycra man apparently! He is now reading this after I mailed him - fascinated by this review and is going to try and spot Capnpugwash to see what he gets up to. Keep up the good work Capn, you're making this hot weather we have over here seem cooooolllllll with your temp updates.

[capnpugwash]

I just stuck my nose out onto the balcony but it is really quite too cold to dwell there for any length of time, I would have expected to get quite a bit of use of the facility during this cruise but the weather has not delivered its end of the bargain. This does make me further question the value of a balcony over an inside cabin but if the weather was warm the point would be moot and I would be sat out there rather than sitting here typing this.

 

Aside from the slippery floor outside the Spa I have another couple of observations which I will share with you, the locker room which is provided at no charge is tiny, there are three 18 inch square stools on which to perch in a room that contains perhaps 40 lockers in a space that is about 8 foot by 5 foot. With 2 people in it there is absolutely no room to manoeuvre, another slightly less important fact is that there are only 3 showers in the changing room which considering the cramped locker area may be a good thing! I know that other ships provide better accommodation at no charge and I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth but it needs to be seen to be believed. To provide balance it is also true that some ships don’t provide any facilities like these without the passenger shelling out to use them. If asked I would have to prefer poor facilities to no facilities I suppose.

 

The weather hasn’t improved at all, in fact now at 5.30pm a sea mist is developing which is obscuring the horizon, and the temperature is only 11/52 degrees which might account for the mist. Sunset tonight isn’t due until 10.18pm which shows that we are now in a fairly northerly position albeit still in the Atlantic Ocean. In addition we actually gain 1 hour overnight tonight so effectively the sun will set at 11.18. Tomorrow we are in Reykjavik overnight and will sail at 2pm on Wednesday for Akureyri which is on the north coast of Iceland. Hopefully this will be sufficiently far north so that the sun shouldn’t set at all or maybe only for a very brief time.

 

I ate in the main dining room tonight and had a very nice Carpaccio of beef which was wonderfully tender, I followed this with a Caesar Salad loaded with extra anchovies and then had a small linguine with 4 shrimp. I did also have a small portion of New York cheesecake which tasted just like the real thing but was about a third of the size. All in all it was a good meal, the special offers for the speciality restaurants are out again tonight with half price in Qsine and Tuscan Grille but even at half price the Qsine price is $20 which seems awfully expensive. I'm sure that these will be repeated later and may even be further reduced so I will wait and see.

[capnpugwash]

Nice reviews so far, what is the average demographics on the trip? (age nationality etc)

 

No numbers sorry. Fairly mixed in age and nationalities though.

[Tiggertastic]

Oh please do indulge us and take a picture of the man in the lycra and headband

 

I'm reading your posts out to the family - having been on the eclipse twice I can imagine everywhere you describe and I'm living it with you

[capnpugwash]

Today is Tuesday July 10th and the sun is shining in a cloudless sky, if fact it has been shining since it rose at 3.28am this morning. There was some high cloud at that time but it has burned off with the heat of the sun. Sunset is at 11.36pm tonight so a mere 21 hours of daylight today! It actually feels warm on the balcony for the first time on this cruise, the navigation screen shows the temperature to only be 9/48 degrees but the heat of the sun has added many more degrees to those numbers. The sea is very flat, almost wave-less and there is a 20 knot easterly wind. We are south west of the lower tip of Iceland about 70 miles offshore and have about 100 miles left until we reach Reykjavik later this morning. Our speed is 19 knots and our course is virtually unchanged. We are due to arrive in about 5 hours’ time.

 

There is a shuttle bus service offered today as we are docking about a 15 to 20 minute drive from the town centre, the cost is $9 per person for the round trip which seems reasonable and tickets can be purchased on the quayside at a booth. This sounds like an officially organised bus but I am a little suspicious because Royal Caribbean were charging for shuttles last year when they had been provided at no cost to us by the local town. Their excuse was that it was an admin fee! Really! I am aware that the apple doesn’t normally fall far from the tree so it does give me pause for thought. The alternative is a walk which reportedly will take 45 minutes, that doesn’t sound quite right to me as a 15 minute drive would cover quite a few miles which logic says would take longer than that to walk. It doesn’t really matter to me as I will be on the bus each way. We are spending tonight docked in the port for some reason, Reykjavik doesn’t appear to be high on the list of fun places to spend the evening, and perhaps it is the little known disco and nightclub capital of the Arctic Circle region.

 

I am heading for the gym and sauna soon so that I'm ready to get off later and search out some churches to visit. Well, OK maybe not churches but somewhere for a weary traveller to seek solace and some spirit. If you get my drift.

[kitkat1]

Well done Pugwash....keep them coming. Nearly killed my screen trying to flatten your little beastie.

[u2cruiser]

Morning Cap'n. Unusual to find you here in the Celebrity forum.

I know it's time to get the coffee on when you're sailing, as your posts are lengthy and soooo entertaining. :D

 

Hope you enjoy the S class experience. Sharp contrast to P&O and Cunard? In a nice way I hope?

Have you tried the Aqua Spa cafe yet? They do some lovely, cooked to order lunch dishes, if you can find a table.

Watch out for those Martinis, they are strong! Try the Molecular bar for a drink with a difference :)

[capnpugwash]

Lycra man was absent or at least he wasn’t there during my brief visit, I did my stuff to work off the cheesecake and then ignoring the pool I went to the sauna, it had only been going for 30 minutes so it wasn’t particularly hot, warm would be a better description. Still it was better than nothing. After that I went for breakfast up to deck 14. The sun was streaming in and off on the starboard side we could see the coast of Iceland. I reverted to my old habit and had some porridge which was excellent; I did follow that with the merest taste of Corned Beef hash though to sustain me through the visit to town. Some of you may be familiar with my views on dressing gowns on ships, I am happy for them to be worn but I think they should remain within the confines and privacy of one’s cabin. You can imagine my shock therefore to behold a 50 something lady thus garbed walking through the buffet, she had the red cuffs of a t-shirt or similar protruding from the sleeves and was wearing pink and green spotted willies. My immediate thought was what articles of clothing was she not wearing that the dressing gown was covering and why when she was almost half dressed did she not go the whole hog and put some knickers and a skirt or shorts on? I wonder whether she was doing the walk of shame and had just returned from some all-night sex orgy, I know that some country folk find wellington boots both practical and alluring. I will never know because I neglected to look at her face so I wouldn’t be able to recognise her again. The boots are an entirely different matter as they are etched on my memory forever!

 

There were several noteworthy sights in the buffet today apart from welly lady, the Korean man with at least 20 croissants and pastries on his plate slowly working his way through them, must make a change from dogs I suppose and the clearly American man with a plate piled high with bacon, hash browns and scrambled eggs, I knew that he was American by the baseball cap on his head, the one handed method of eating and the obligatory glass of Coke with a straw at 7.45 in the morning. Each to their own I suppose but I don’t think that it is too much to ask that people don’t wear hats in restaurants, is it?

 

After breakfast I went to the Sky lounge at the front of the ship and was soon surrounded by other passengers as a great view can be had in this room. There were quite a few 60 year old men who were clearly British and demonstrated tis fact by wearing football shirts and cropped trousers which I think are called Capris. Football shirts are ok at football matches but surely not when one is visiting a foreign country. As for the trouser s, I think that there should be a limit on wearing them of perhaps 25 to 30 years of age. They certainly should be confiscated if one’s legs are skinny, bony, pasty or gnarled. Maybe there are no mirrors in their cabins so they are unabl to see how appalling they actually look.

 

It is now 8.35 and we are heading parallel to the Icelandic coastline, it is very jagged line and I really have no idea where we are headed to, just as well that someone else is driving! We had several false starts where I thought that a lighthouse might be marking the entrance to the harbour but we sailed past them all. For the last 90 minutes we have been headed for what appears to be a volcano, if you were to draw your impression of one I am sure that it would turn out just like this one! I have to wonder whether this is the famous volcano that erupted and created all those problems a few years ago.

 

At 10.15am we have just passed a headland with an utterly unpronounceable name and have made a 90 degree turn to starboard heading towards Reykjavik and ready, in about 45 to 60 minutes, to begin our final approach to the harbour, once we board the pilot. The town itself is over the horizon and is probably still 20 miles distant. I was here in 2006 and if I remember correctly the buildings are very grey and functional and quite reminiscent of the old Soviet Union from the movies. There were plenty of drab concrete buildings and not too many colours. Of course the climate is quite harsh here so maybe it doesn’t really lend itself to the pastel shades adopted in warmer climes.

 

The town on the upper tip of the headland is called Geroar and through the binoculars supplied in the cabin by Celebrity I was able to clearly see the one horse in the town! Just around the corner is the much larger town of Keflavik, which is famous or well known for something, which I can’t quite remember.

[u2cruiser]

You may want to edit a very funny typo in paragraph one. Those 'wellies' will remain etched on my memory forever in a slightly different way :D

You may well wish you brought your own wellies when you're wading through the volcanic dust ;)

 

Would it be the Blue Lagoon Keflavik is famous for? My Google friend seems to think so.

 

Thank you. Very funny. Now I'm going to read it again. :)

[kitkat1]

You may want to edit a very funny typo in paragraph one. Those 'wellies' will remain etched on my memory forever in a slightly different way :D

You may well wish you brought your own wellies when you're wading through the volcanic dust ;)

 

Would it be the Blue Lagoon Keflavik is famous for? My Google friend seems to think so.

 

Thank you. Very funny. Now I'm going to read it again. :)

 

Please dont edit!.............I am sure there are some that colour, if as Capnpugwash says, there actually are sex orgies going on before breakfast.

We do need photographs.