An interesting day - that's me being polite!
Our 'call' was for 11:00 so we had a relatively lazy morning enjoying our last Radisson breakfast before just 'popping' out to buy tulip bulbs from the floating market just round the corner from our hotel.
We returned in time to get a snarl from the company rep - they have no idea what it means to be on time! Then we trudged slowly across the same canals and streets we'd just covered to wait for a coach to take us to the distant berth of our boat.
Our afternoon on-board was quite amusing as we befriended a 'Tassie' couple who just embraced our Britishness - indeed their son has just been awarded the Australia Medal. We enjoyed s few drinks and chat before moving on to do a few laps of the top-deck. It turns out that 7 laps is a mile, despite our new friends attempts to divert our resolve.
Later we headed to the stern of the boat to take a dip in the cinema - no that's not a joke, the floor of the pool rises to become the cinema in the evening, but during the day the roof can retract to make a lovely environment for a lazy dip. Then it was time to go to the lounge to listen to Captain mangle his safety bulletin and the cruise director explain the rules of the boat.
We headed back to our room to change for dinner, struggling to cope with the smallest bathroom (but one) and dressing in time to make the last call for dinner - 19:15. This was not good - it was an hideous experience which we entirely hated - men in trainers and shorts, men in tee shirts, OMG it just isn't worth describing. As usual, the ladies dressed better, but not by much! The food was a buffet - what's that? - and the overall experience was simply hateful. Why did we bother to dress for dinner when other just turned up in their sweaty shorts? It's not that this was a cheap holiday! This should not happen at this level. Thankfully we've added €40 per day to buy all inclusive drinks package for the duration, although sadly that doesn't include champagne, but the Prosseco is OK.
Anyway, maybe tomorrow will be a complete reversal and all will be wonderful? Maybe? Watch this space.
Nevertheless ŵe enjoyed our new besties Jen and Ralf from Tassie and others who joined their faggy circle from time to time, and all the other Ausies that we forced (with some difficulty) to be civil.
Will we conquor any more of the elderly, 85% Australian patrons? Who knows ... but we will try! Not that I'm suggesting all Aussies are difficult, but if they're not from Sydney mostly they don't have much experience of gay men and the blokes tend not to find it easy to talk to us. Once they work out we're actually normal people it's fine! It was like this 20 years ago with Americans, these days never a problem.
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