Today, the Costa Favolosa sailed across the Atlantic towards Tenerife.
I woke around 7 am today, and after taking a shower and shaving, I put my swim shorts on and walked to the pool on deck 9 at the back of the ship. I got myself a lounger next to the pool and then got myself a coffee at the poolside bar before lying down to read my Kindle for a few hours.
I was joined briefly by Mal for a short chat around 8:30 am before he left to get some breakfast and then went for a swim in the pool. Mal decided to come out to me, telling me that he was gay and that I was the first person he had admitted this to. I didn't like to tell him, but I think anyone who ever met Mal would have realised before he ever talked to them that he was gay.
It wasn't warm this morning, but it wasn't as cold as I was expecting, either. The pool was more of a splash pool than a swimming pool, and if three or more people were in it, it was too busy to do any swimming at all. I did a few short laps before getting out and going back to my recliner to read my Kindle and keep an eye on the wildlife around the pool.
I sat reading and drinking coffee until around 11 am. Then, I went back to my cabin to change and then did two quizzes in the Palatino Grand bar. Mal and Gail joined me, and we won one quiz out of two. Mal does seem to get very competitive about the quizzes, even though he doesn't seem to know the answers to any of the questions.
At midday, I went for lunch and was joined by Gail, Dwight and Tessa. For lunch, I had Andalusian chickpea soup, pork ribs for my main, and banana with coconut cake for dessert. The soup was quite lovely, the ribs were terrible, and the cake was good.
The afternoon was spent participating in several quizzes, reading my Kindle and trying several different cocktails before going to dinner at 7 pm. At dinner, I was joined by Mal, Rosa, Ann, Keith and Regina.
For my meal this evening, I had salmon with avocado cream, cheese drops, and crunchy onion as my starter. My next course was a fish and shellfish soup, which was very nice. For my main meal, I had monkfish wrapped in ham, served on chickpea puree. It was rubbish; the monkfish portion was two small pieces no bigger than a euro coin. It looked like someone had sneezed on the plate and served up a couple of snot balls. For my dessert, I had a ricotta cheese mousse.
After dinner, I went to the theatre with Gail, Dwight, Tessa and Mal. We all sat together in the lower deck of the theatre in front of the stage. Ann and Rosalea went to the show but sat on deck 5 to look down at the show from above. Before the show, we were introduced to some of the ship's officers and department heads as they appeared on stage. I thought this was unnecessary; in general, it would be the only time we had any interaction with them at all, and it went on for far too long.
The singer who entertained us afterwards wasn't bad, but he was openly as gay as they come and camped up every song. This ruined his act for me. He would have been better off just singing the songs and leaving his overtly gay costume and dancing backstage.
I didn't watch the whole show and went to the Moliere Lounge on deck 5 for a drink. When the show finished at the theatre, Anne, Gail and Mal joined me. Mal had thoroughly enjoyed the show and thought the act was brilliant. It just goes to show that one person's idea of a good show can be entirely different from someone else's. The show did seem to affect Mal in that he decided to tell everyone in our little group that he was gay. Well done, everyone, for looking shocked and surprised.
When the music finished, I walked to the quiet bar next door to have a drink with Ann. We sat chatting until the early hours of the morning when Ann went back to her cabin and told me to get some sleep as I was going out with her daughter on an excursion in Tenerife the following day. I finished my drink and went back to my cabin, falling asleep as soon as my head hit my pillow.