Civitavecchia (near Rome) Italy.

15/9/12

We were back at the starting point today and most people stayed on board. It was just a casual day on the ship, moseying around, grazing at the restaurants. It was all quiet until we entered the Crow's Nest. It was happy hour and pretty soon the cocktails were flowing. Just as a matter of interest, our scores in the trivia quizzes have not improved at all. On a positive note, they haven't gotten any worse either.

Kev, Annie, Suzanne and I with Maddy the tour organiser from Adelaide.

 Mmmmmmmm...cocktails

Mmmmmmmmmmm...Margaritas.

Does this drink clash with my shirt dahling? 

Looks bad, tastes good.

That was about it for the day. We lost a lot of passengers today as they were at the end of their ten day cruise, and we welcomed aboard a whole lot of new people. Hopefully there will be some lively ones among them. 

Tomorrow we spend a day at sea sailing toward Dubrovnik, Croatia. We've been there before and are looking forward to going back. It's a really nice place.

16/9/12

Another day at sea. I attended another computer class and learned quite a bit about my camera, so I was pretty happy with that. 

One night in the second half of our cruise (I can't remember exactly which one) I was in the Crow's Nest and couldn't decide what to drink. Edwin the barman suggested a Wang Wang. I reckon if a cocktail has a name it can't be that bad, can it? So I ordered one for me and one for Kev. What's in a Wang Wang? I'm glad you asked. It contains:

• Gin
• Vodka
• Rum
• Triple Sec
• Scotch
• Bourbon
• Brandy
• Orange juice
• Pineapple juice

It tastes strong, but nowhere near as strong as it is and is quite easy and pleasant to drink. On board it also costs the same as any other cocktail...so, it's a bargain. Now here is the warning. If you drink four of these you may become very loud, and possibly naughty as well. A few of my highlights (lowlights?) of the night were:

I cornered Shane, the cruise director, and told him what a great job he was doing, especially considering what he had to work with. A ship full of oldies who were so boring they thought talking about denture paste was an interesting topic of discussion. I may have been a little more descriptive when talking about the passengers. Two days later as we were leaving the ship Shane said Hi and called me by name. Oh oh, now the Cruise Director knows who I am.

I chatted to three girls about the cruise and why one wouldn't go out on deck as it would mess up her hair. At this stage my wingman Kev bailed on me. Thanks mate! (Everyone else had disappeared hours ago). We discussed her thought process and her deep seated hair issues. Doctor Simon was in fine form.

I'm sure there were a few other passengers I may have appeared a little over enthusiastic too as well. Apologies to all those who were subjected to my Wang Wang induced waffling and loudness, but it was fun.