After falling asleep at around 3 am, I was woken again around 5 am. I waited till 7:30 am before going for breakfast at a restaurant with waiter service. I ordered waffles with fruit & syrup, but they were tiny & cold & didn't improve my mood. The cooked breakfast however was very nice, bacon, sausage links, mushrooms, grilled tomato, hash brown & beans. It was washed down with two cups of coffee & followed up by some sliced cantaloupe, melon, orange & pineapple.
Marseille, France.
Breakfast had done its job & now full & happier, but still tired I went to see the people at reception again to try & move cabins. Once again my complaint was noted but I was now told I had to wait until this evening to change cabins. Still very tired I went back to my cabin & managed to get an hour's sleep. I was woken again, by workers shifting laundry baskets around & I got up & took a shower before going back to one of the ship's bars to order a tea. After seeing Marseille on my last cruise & having a cruise booked when I arrive in Barcelona tomorrow I decided to rest my legs & stay onboard the ship today. I saw some of the people from Los Alcazares already sat there drinking so I sat with them. The American brand of tea was very nice if a little cold. Different to the tea I drink at home, The Long Island Iced Tea was full of ice but very tasty.
At 12 pm I left my friends & went for lunch. Today I sat with a companionable man from Finland. I had a sweetcorn soup before having the smallest piece of fish I have ever seen for my main course. It was monkfish, if monkfish had feet I must have been given its little toe. It was followed up with a beautiful piece of brioche cake filled with vanilla cream. I chatted with my companion who goes on cruise ships regularly & he tells me that his home town in Finland is where many of the world's biggest cruise ships are built. The cruise ship, Costa Toscana, that I went on last year was built there.
After lunch, I return to my cabin in the hope that a note will have been left. telling me I can move cabins. There is nothing there so I go to the Beverly Hills bar for a pint & to write about my trip so far. Amazingly there is no entertainment on board until this evening & most of the bars are closed till at least 5 pm. I didn't expect to be lost for something to do on board.
On my way to dinner this evening, I stop at the service desk & explain that I'm waiting to hear if I can move to a quieter cabin. I am once again asked to go back later. I join some other single English-speaking people for dinner tonight. Helen, a Scottish lady I met at breakfast on day one of the cruise, an elderly lady called Jean & two men, Shaw an Iranian man, & Bryan an English man who now lives in Alicante, Spain. For dinner tonight I have frogs legs for my starter before having beef for my main course & limoncello cake as my dessert.
After finishing dinner I return to the service desk to see if they can move me to a new cabin. I am told they have found me a cabin & tell me to sit & wait for a while until someone can take me to view it. About 10 minutes later I am collected & shown to a new cabin to see if it is okay. The cabin I am taken to is two floors above mine on deck 10 & is an outside room. When I am shown the room it is huge compared to my current room. it is at least twice the size, has a separate seating area with large screen TV & has large floor-to-ceiling, sliding patio doors leading to a balcony. The bathroom is much bigger & has a full-size bath & shower instead of a curtained cubicle. I asked the man if this is the right room, explaining to him that my room is a small inside room. He said that it was correct & said to let reception know if I wanted it.
When I went down to the reception desk the lady asked me & if the room was okay & I asked her if it was the correct room. She confirmed it was & I asked her if I had to pay more as I didn't want to have to pay more & she told me there was no charge as it was only a room change. I was pleased I had waited & been polite all day. She asked if I needed help moving my luggage but I said I could manage. I returned to my old room, packed my case & went to my new room & unpacked. I then took the old room key back to reception & noticed that I had sliced my finger on something during the move. I had also twisted my ankle in my rush to switch cabins. I had to get a plaster from the service desk as blood from my finger kept dripping on the counter as I spoke to them. After getting my finger plastered & the room move completed I went for a pint & sat for a while chatting with Helen, the Scottish lady I had been sitting with at dinner.
After a while, I moved to the Lord Nelson bar & sat with Kaz, Jayne, Darren, Rob, John & Adam for a pint. At 10 pm they all moved on to the casino & I went to my room. I pulled open the curtains, climbed into bed & quickly fell asleep listening to the soothing sounds of the wind & waves on the side of the ship.