Thursday, August 30th .....

I mentioned before that there were several groups on board but I hadn't realised that one group of fifty was a wedding party. I assume that all the guests paid their own way; otherwise some poor father would have been faced with a big bill.  The happy couple were married on the beach at Port Vila and they turned up on deck while we were watching an ice carver.  What fantastic memories they will have.

This ship is so unlike the Legend of the Seas. There’s an energy here which was certainly missing on the Legend. Of course, there’s still the emphasis on squeezing as much money out of the customers as possible and much of the daily happenings are based around opportunities for the Spa to advertise its wares or the Art Director to flog more of her stuff. But, P&O don’t push it with the same fervor as others, and there’s a lot to do without opening yourself to some impulse buying.

Today’s ‘What’s On’ listed three sets of trivia, a Martini Masterclass and a Whisky Tasting, Earring Making, Quilling, T-Shirt Colouring, three or four dance classes, Yoga, ‘Walk-a-Mile’ on the deck, a Marriage Match Gameshow, Bingo, and so on and so on. It’s not hard to keep busy.

We’ve met a couple of couples and made up a Quiz Team. Murphy and Lisa are from some island north of Brisbane and cruise a lot. Their philosophy is to take the cheapest cabin available and no frills. This way they can travel more often. Graham and Janet are from Brisbane and are travelling with their 26 year-old son Rowan who has severe health issues and isn’t able to work. Rowan and I went to the Whisky Tasting today and it was terrific. The presenter was a Scot who certainly knew his stuff. We tasted four single malts and learnt about the history of whisky and the modern processes of making it. He made a few particularly interesting points:

He’s not a fan of Johnny Walker although he quite likes their Blue. He would always choose a single malt over a blend but, if pressed to choose a blend he quite likes Chivas Regal and Famous Grouse, which happens to be my favourite. He says that Australian whisky is getting better, especially the Tasmanian brands and showed off bottles of Sullivan’s Cove and Lark. To put it in context, he pointed out that, if you could choose a Glenfiddich 12 yo in a standard bottle or a bottle of Lark with the label marked with the Batch # and the signature of the Master Distiller, many people would choose the one with the more personal touch. And with that personalization, it is more likely to increase in value.

But, to show that it all about marketing, the Duty Free shop on the ship sells 2 bottles of Famous Grouse for $25 but it costs $35 for two bottles of Johnny Walker Red. You can imagine which ones I bought.

This evening’s dinner was at Salt, which is part of the Luke Mangan empire. It’s tucked away on Deck 12 but, when you enter, it is like a 5-star restaurant in Sydney or Melbourne. Blinds and screens keep out the rest of the world so you can forget that you are afloat and enjoy the ambience. It’s a Grill, of course, so steak is king. I wasn’t particularly happy with my 300g Wagyu Scotch Fillet; there was too thick a rim of fat, although it was cooked beautifully. Marilyn had Barramundi and the entrees and sides were terrific. We ran out of appetite so took a takeaway plate of cheese and petit fours to have for supper. It cost us $40 each extra for the meal and we had a bottle of Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc for $49 but we thought it was worth every penny.