Relaxing but Eventful DayJun 23, 2009
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First Officer on the Bridge
Passing a ship from the bridge
Bridge Monitors
We had a lazy morning and a leisurely breakfast. I updated the website after three hectic days and Christine read and relaxed. After lunch David Christine and I went up to the bridge. The Cruise Critic members and some others were all given an invitation to see how the ship was run. Some who had been on many cruises had never seen the bridge of a ship before.
We assembled at the stated time and were ushered onto the bridge to see how it is the command centre of the vessel. Monitors alert for fire and leaks and the status of the various bulkhead doors is known immediately. Like an aircraft the ship has an autopilot. The channel we were in was quite busy and it was interesting o see the ships around us. We have seen more ships pass us or be passed by us than on any of our previous cruises. There are also a lot of sailboats around as well as some motorized pleasure craft.
We had a look around a Russian bazaar that had been set up, but the prices were as bad as in St. Petersburg. We returned to our cabin and watched the se and ships go by. As it was David's birthday, we had booked the Murano for dinner. This is a specialty restaurant which has a different menu from the main dining room. When we had booked this from Edmonton we could only get a seating at 6:00 pm. We were the first to arrive, and the service was excellent. They seem to have a system of booking one table at a time 15-30 minutes apart. As a result, by the time our cheese course came the service had deteriorated considerably and we had to remind them to bring our coffee and tea. While David seemed quite happy with the experience - which was the point of doing this - we were not convinced that the extra expense of the exclusive dining room was good value for money, as the meals in the main dining room are excellent and the service impeccable.
David and Dawn retired for the night and I sat in the foyer waiting on Christine, who, having detected a Scottish accent at one of the tables, had gone to introduce herself. We had a seat in one of the lounges before going to the show which proved to be very good, but some items we had seen on the Alaska cruise last year. As the show ended we were informed that we had just come under the Oresund Bridge, the longest bridge in Europe, so we hurriedly went to the stern of the ship to try and get a photo, but the attempt was not too successful.
We had a brief walk around and went to bed.
