Dinner in the Britannia Dining Room is at 8:30 p.m. and an event we look forward to all day. That is Doctors Gira and her husband Datta on the left and Marty and Daryl between Phyllis and Barry. It is funny, we rarely see each other during the day and then have wonderful conversation at the table. Of course all being entreprenurial free market Republicans helps keep the peace but tonight we all saluted Hilary on her big wins !!! And we all pledged to pay her our new found taxes with a smile because life will be perfect.

Our head waiter is Mariana is our head waiter and he is assisted by Mary Jane...both from the Phillipines .. trivia fact there are 490 Phillipinos employed on the ship..most from any country..103 from Great Britain and 50 from India

Much of our 10 consecutive days on board has been spent here on the 9th Deck Lido Pool...gotta be careful about getting too much sun but we are lathering ourselves with 30 grade protection. Note the 850 page book DBC is holding titled Come Spring and a Christmas gift from Maureen & Bob..for a poor reader I am doing well and enjoying it to the half way point. EVERYONE is reading a book!! It's amazing and many come from the 2 story QV Library..

Our stateroom is certainly not large but very adequate..neither one of us has stepped on the other yet. This view is from the front door and closets are on immediate right and bathroom is on immediate left. Balcony reading is a very pleasant pasttime. We are very high up on the ship and the balcony commands a helluva view.

This is the Royal Court Theater and most magnificent we have ever seen on a cruise ship. We are here daily to listen to lectures (Great Barrier Reef Capt. Foley has been so informative and interesting with tales of Captain Cook and Captain Bligh) and late after dinner entertainment has been worthy of Broadway.............And take a look at your Blog editor hard at work banging out stuff he thinks you might enjoy.

Sailing Over the Great Barrier Reef

We can't believe this is our 5th day on board the QV...where has the time gone? Well a lot of the time is spent getting lost and getting to know what is where on what deck and which direction you are walking..we don't exaggerate. We have not been off the ship since Sydney because we know Brisbane so well we wanted to take advantage of on board life. In fact our last stop in Australia tomorrow, Friday is Port Douglas and we have been there done that..snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef...(that's where Barry pinched the lady's butt under water and was he and she surprised when it turned out that butt did not belong to Phyllis!!! True story.)
Okay here are answers to questions we think you would ask:
1) Food is very good...we have breakfast in our room.
2) Our 4 dining partners are nice folks. A retired Indian couple both obstetricians (delivered 10,000 babies) from Columbia, SC and Marti & Daryl on for the entire cruise from Camelback , AZ; Telluride, CO and a lake in Traverse City, Michigan.
3) Each had a 90 minute massage and hung out at the spa
4) Been to the gym and we are both working on a planned regime!
5) 3 late evening Shows in the phenomenol theater have been really good.
6) Lots of old people! More wheel chairs or motorized carts than expected
7) Stateroom is quite sufficient, Phyllis has used the laundry and we enjoyed two formal nights.
8) Very surprised that Internet on my laptop is working very well in our room and MARSAT Marine Satelite Telephone works so good Barry stayed on a First Advantage Board Meeting call 3.5 hours from 2:30 a.m. to 6 a.m.

After saying those nice things about the Internet I can't get it to take a picture we wanted to add with this message..I'll keep trying. So long till next time.

Our First Formal Evening