The Lobster Dinner

Today everything changed. The seas went flat, the sun came out and whales started spouting fountains all around. This evening was unbelievably idyllic. The sky is orange and the breezes are lovely and warm.

The whole ship is in formal wear tonight in anticipation of Lobster Newburg in the grand, two-tier Britannia Restaurant (left). There’s an Ascot Ball afterwards and so a lot of the ladies are wearing fascinators, crafted at a hat-making workshop earlier in the day. The smiling couple from Hong Kong on our table are joined by a wonderful old cove from Michigan. He lives in a log cabin and we discussed elks, Hawaii and opera – he was off to see Madame Butterfly in 3D in the Illuminations cinema after dinner: ‘You know, I’m just an ordinary boy, ordinary parents, ordinary job – but I LOVE opera!’

The lobster Newburg was delicious and all the chefs came out and did a parade all around and we all waved our napkins at them in tribute – a tradition since 1840. It’s so fabulous here I’m not even in a hurry to get to New York, but as of tomorrow, our last day, we should start seeing bits of land: Maine, Cape Cod and the like, and that will get exciting. I’m planning to get up at 6am on Tuesday to see us into New York.

NB: According to the ship’s MC we had so far eaten 58 tonnes of food during the crossing.

Below: Flat seas all around and the ship, calm and sunny: