First full day at sea 30 Dec

A good night's rest and breakfast in our cabin at 9 so we thought we were in for a good day! It clearly wasnt meant to be. i had my shower and got dressed. Julie went to have her shower and the power went out in the cabin. Same thing had happened yesterday but we thought it was just a minor hiccup when everyone boarded. Anyway, a phone call to guest services and in a reasonable time the lights were back on and Julie got to have her shower. We then wandered to one of the lounges and ordered coffees via the app, which we are told is the most efficient way to order any services. After almost 30 minutes, Julie is seeing red and I think I actually saw steam coming out of her ears. Anyway, Julie has had enough so makes her way to the cafe counter when I'm finally served 2 coffees at the table. A very determined Julie returns to our table with 2 mugs of coffee a minute later. Guess which one I drank? LOL... We then continued to wander the decks. There are quite a few families on board and the pool areas are popular. So many people with no fear of skin cancers?

Its lunch time so we head to main dining room and have a lovely feed. The chicken curry was lovely.

More wandering and I head to the duty free shop where I get my 2 x 1 ltr bottles of Jamesons. Then I'm off to watch the line dancing which was woeful so didn't last long. Julie has decided to get her steps in and walk the decks. She managed 3 circuits but it got too windy. We meet back in the cabin and Julie says she has been waiting for almost an hour for a pot of tea to be delivered to the cabin. It finally arrived and the steward explains that they are very short staffed as they cant get staff to work because it's so busy. Not sure that this makes sense as there are a set number of passengers. It's not like they can put a couple of hundred extra passengers on the ship just because it is the new year! Anyway... I decide to go to the miltary veterans get together. What on earth was I thinking? about 20 people, only 2 other women currently in the Army, and just by looking at them I was ready to surrender! Typically there are a couple of alpha males who lead the conversation and it is all about them. The navy Commander who was the stereotypical short man, had the most to say and knew everything about everything. I was the first to get up and leave as itreally became uncomfortable when another ex navy wannabe asked us to share the most embarrassing initiation practices we knew of! It really wasn't worth the free glass of bubbles they offered. So, back in the cabin, I told Julie about the duty free alcohol I ordered which will be delivered to the cabin the day before we get back to Sydney. She is interested in some Gin for her son so we go back to the duty free, only to find out that they have sold out! Unbelievable! We have not been at sea for 24 hours and the duty free shop has sold out! Time for some reading back in the cabin and then we head to Deck 18 for our Platinum members canapes and drinks.

Am really enjoying the gin martini, so much so that I have 2. Time to head to dinner so we go to the main dining room which is walk in rather than allowing bookings. We finally get to the head of the queue and advise they are 2 of us. We are told that they're is a table for 2 in the Michealangelo restaurant a floor below. This is the same restaurant that woodland let us in on the first night! We fully follow the wait staff pass down a floor and eventually she takes us into the restaurant and seats us at a table for 2. A couple seated next to us apologise that they have taken our butter as there wasn't any on their table. This was a significant indicator of the debacle to come. Our waiter came to the table and asked us what would like to drink. We both said that we would like a wine. A bit later we were asked for our meal selections so we asked when our wine would be coming. Much later my entree arrived and I asked if we could have our wine. A second more senior waiter came to the table and retook our wine requests. I had finished my entree and when the waiter came to collect my plate Julie asked again when could we expect our wine. The waiter snapped back at her that he was busy! That was it for Julie. She walked out! As she left another waiter came up to me to ask what wine we wanted. Itold him that my friend had now left and it eas too late, but he asssured me that we would go and get my wine straight away, so I placed my order for the third time. Each time they came yo set the table gor the next course or clear something away I told them that my friend had left but it fell on deaf ears as eventually her main meal showed upwhich I promptly sent away. It was a most unusual dinner service and experience for sure! The couple nearby were equally appalled at what had happened to us. I caught up with Julie is one of the cafes and we headed to Guest Services again to lodge our concerns over all that had gone wrong with our cruise so far. The services officer was understanding and as an offer of apology she gave us an extra free night at a specialty restaurant. If only things had gone well from then on... We went to the later production show which was really good. 100% on the quality of shows offered on the Diamond Princess which we were on in October. Anyway, it was now 10.30 and time for bed so we headed back to our cabin only to find that the blasted power was out yet again! So in total darkness we fumbled around until I got the torch on my phone working. We tried calling our cabin steward but no answer. We had to call guest services twice before someone finally came and flicked a switch to give us power again. Im getting worn out telling them that we were not charging items so are not overloading anything... It has not been the best of days re service so we are being optimistic that tomorrow will be better! It had better not get worse!