The Dr Who Cruise Part 3

Tuesday, Oct 24 – a Day at Sea

This was a day at sea, and we were supposed to sleep in, because all the breakfast venues opened an hour later than usual. We got up at 7 and went to the Main Dining Room for breakfast, only to find they weren’t open yet. So we grabbed an elevator to the 15^th deck, where the buffet was open.

Half an hour later, we headed back to our cabin, and at 9:30, Hubby headed for the conference center for a 10 AM meeting with his writing team.

About an hour later, I went down to see how they were doing. D, the organizer of the cruise, was there and was listing the days and times that he had activities planned. Lo and behold, some of the actors who usually get cast as monsters in DW were giving a presentation at 4 PM THAT DAY on their work, complete with photos, videos and props. I made sure of the presentation time when the meeting broke up, and then Hubby and I went to the card room (there was no library aboard the Wonder) to do some writing.

Around noon we went to the Main Dining Room for lunch, then back to our cabin to relax. We considered going to the hot tub, but opted to stay in our room and write.

At 3:30, we started for the conference center, which should have been an elevator ride straight down 7 decks, but we decided to walk to the aft (back) of the ship to check out a venue on deck 12 we hadn’t seen yet. It turned out to be an expensive restaurant with ‘imaginative cuisine’. So now we knew.

While we were waiting for an elevator, we met up with D (our cruise organizer), who started telling us about some of the hassles of having such a large group. Then we realized we were aft, and the conference center was forward, so we had to beat feet to get there.

The ‘monster review’ was 2 hours long and great fun. Ross, Tim and Jon had photos and videos of various roles they had played, and not only in Dr Who. The photos included them in the make-up chair, usually getting lots of prosthetics put on. The videos included such things as a group of monster actors practicing walking in unison, in whatever strange style had been worked out for them. Tim even brought a mask that fit over his head, and the hands that went with it for one of his monsters.

Before we knew it, it was 6 PM, and since this was a formal night for dining, we needed to return to our cabins and change. I had brought a dress to wear for formal nights, and a pair of heels, two things I hardly ever wear. Halfway to the aft of the ship, I remembered why I hardly ever wear heels; my knees were complaining, my hips weren’t happy, my ankles felt weak and uncertain, and my feet were screaming in pain. I decided right then that on the walk back to our cabin, I would take off the heels and walk in my stocking feet. Unfortunately, when we headed back to our room, we walked through the Promenade deck, which was very crowded. I didn’t dare take off my shoes until we reached deck 10 and the relative emptiness of cabin area hallways.