Queen Anne Staircase
As breakfast serving time feels early, especially given the lost hour, we have ordered room service with an omelette and accompaniments which gets the day off to a very solid start. Nicely delivered and a little touch of luxury. We have a decent size couch for two, a rotating single chair and a very solid table. Outside on the balcony are two comfortable loungers and another smaller table.
Various sounds and noises disrupted sleep last night, in particular when I think the engines were working harder than they do throughout most of the cruise – I suspect we were given a specific period to traverse the narrowest section of the English Channel between Dover and Calais. Otherwise given the sailing times on this holiday we are progressing at fairly low speeds. Google reports that the distance is 221 nautical miles (254 land miles). Given that the outward sailing is around 20 hours in elapsed time we are doing little more than 10 knots – Queen Anne is capable of just over 20 knots which is slower than either MS Queen Elizabeth or MS Queen Victoria as a top speed.
Queen Anne Deck 11
Jackie wants to play bingo this morning which is in the Golden Lion, which is forward on deck 2. Once she is there I take myself up to the Terrace on Deck 11 to do some listening and some reading. There is some low level music playing on the Terrace but it is not too intrusive as I am using earphones. Given that the weather is looking good we decide, after taking a light bite in the Carinthia lounge – just to maximise our sampling of all outlets, to return to the Terrace. Notable aspect of our light bite was that the yolk of the egg was still slightly frozen! Although regrettably the sun disappears behind clouds whilst we proceed along many miles of industrial docklands as we head towards Rotterdam.
Eventually we reach our berth which is very conveniently located in the centre of the city, immediately adjacent to the Erasmus Bridge. We are adjacent to a terminal building and can see coaches parked alongside for those going on trips this afternoon. We are taking it easy and I manage to get a booking for the Bright Lights Society which is a second entertainment venue on board. This seems to have limited capacity and books up rapidly but I can get into the earlier session tomorrow evening – although I think I bag the last availability.
We dine in the Queens Grill tonight and then head to the Royal Court Theatre for a stage version of Noel Coward’s Brief Encounter. This stage version was devised by Emma Rice in 2007 and adds some additional detail around the lives of the supporting class plus an express train headed by U class 1638 which is based on the Bluebell so I assume the other trains projected at various points are also from filming at the Bluebell – all very clever. Although filmed in Carnforth station the setting is supposed to be somewhere in Southern England in the early thirties. The locomotive is currently stored awaiting a full overhaul – which will be expensive as it will need boiler and firebox repairs and new tyres.