Tuesday 22nd – Friday 25th September

Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, all sea days much the same as any other sea day. I know that sounds boring but there is always something different to try. The GD and I checked out the gym – for real, yesterday – and it’s free. We both tried out the walking machines. The GD burned off 100 calories and I burned off 60. With the air-conditioning it’s much cooler than walking on the promenade deck. You’re also looking out to sea at the aft end of the ship. We’ll give it another go today and most likely each day till we return to OZ. We also went to a photography lecture.

Friday: We have arrived in Bombay this morning and as we suspected, we are not allowed ashore because we don’t have a visa, thanks to incorrect advise given to us by a representative of Princess line before we left home. Actually, quite a few of their staff could do with a lot more training before being let loose on the public. That said, most of them are very obliging and courteous. The better staff are exceptionally good at what they do. Most of what we can see of Bombay, looks tired and polluted. The water in the harbour is full of floating rubbish. From on board lectures I’m sure there is some places of interest here but I think most people going ashore are doing so to shop and India obviously doesn’t want our tourist dollar. Though we didn’t have to go through any of the immigration processes to go ashore, we did observe the most stringent processes and paper trails that has been the case in any other port, including USA or Egypt. Well back to the laundry – no queues today to use the washing machines. We will also be under house arrest (I suppose you could call it that) for the next 2 ports in India so the next port the GD and I will be getting off at is Phuket on the 2nd October