Livorno

Sunday 9th

David woke about 9:30 but went back to bed and to sleep. I dozed. However, we could not sleep for long as the crew was going through an emergency drill. We had about three announcements warning us of what was to come, plus multiple announcements telling us that the alert we had just heard was for exercise. We gave up about 10am. I can’t believe how sleepy we both were on this cruise! We were sleeping long hours but getting more and more sleepy. It must be that all this relaxing let our bodies catch up with themselves.

It was another hot Italian day. When I took the iPad and keyboard out to the balcony from the air-conditioned room, they instantly attracted condensation.

We decided not to go out. I was weary from the day before. Livorno looked very industrial. It was a Sunday so we assumed lots of places would be shut, especially during siesta time. David spent time out in the sun. I joined him for a couple of hours, chatting at a table up on Deck 10. I can’t take nearly as much heat as he can, so I went inside to do odds and ends.

As we got ready for dinner, we saw parts of an air show occurring just ahead. The ship blocked most of our view and we couldn’t be bothered going to the top deck. However, we enjoyed what we saw.

Before dinner we decided to look at the photographs on Deck 3. We found that the ones taken of us during our previous formal night were lovely. What a pity we didn’t buy them before reaching Civitavecchia, as cruises that stay in the EU (as this second week did) attract 22% Italian VAT on all purchases. That adds a considerable amount to every purchase. From there we walked straight to the dining room. We were puzzled because it looked all wrong. It took a waiter to enlighten us: our table was on Deck 2 and we were on Deck 3. We dined alone that night as one couple stayed on deck watching the air show and the other couple did not turn up at all.

It was an Informal dress night, which meant David once again had difficulty. On our second day the ‘dragons’ at the door had insisted that David return to his room for his jacket. He has had to wear the same jacket every night, whether it went with his clothes or not. He has noticed that every night the staff look him up and down to check out whether or not he is conforming with the dress code. It was good to enter through Deck 3 this night and find a different set of waiters who were not on the alert as much.

The first dance session was sequence dancing. I decided to sit out the Square Tango. David asked Mary if she wanted to dance it. She refused him. When Cordelia (the Social Hostess) saw that, she asked ‘Have you been rejected?’ and raced to the floor to dance it with him. It was funny. 

The show that night was aerialists – excellent again. Their control was superb. The female was an ex-Olympic gymnast.

We stayed at the evening dance session until about 11pm. I tripped myself up in a quickstep but only went down on my knees and we were able to finish the dance. Later we went to the Commodore’s Club for a drink as my thank you to David for saving me from a nasty fall. The ambience at night is relaxing and luxurious. I had a strawberry daiquiri while David had a martini.

Back in our room we followed the usual pattern of watching TV in bed and the occasional pattern of calling for room service for a midnight snack. I snored that night and David had to reach out and nudge me with his foot to make me turn over and stop! (I was able to retaliate a few nights later when he snored.)