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Christmas Day,  Airlie Beach, December 25 


The day looked rather bleak as I opened the curtains this morning, grey sea and sky, rain and quite a bit of wind.  People at breakfast were concerned about their day on the reef but as we didn’t arrive and anchor until 10 am there was still plenty of time for improvement.  Champagne and caviar was served at breakfast (that’s not really unusual) and instead of ‘good morning’ to everyone it was ‘Merry Christmas’.  G rushed off the the theatre for the 9 am Christmas Morning Worship with the cruise director Andy and his wife Tammy (both syrupy sweet, did I say that before???) and after I finished my coffee I trotted along too and sat upstairs - wanted to see how they would conduct the service.  I got there in time to hear them sing their favourite Xmas song then he read a story about Bethlehem which his mother used to read to him as a little boy and then there was another carol for everyone to join in.  Finally a prayer.  Different. 

So, having spoken to all family members and others it was what to do for a couple of hours before lunch!  Up to the bar for a couple of glasses of mimosa and then some lovely carved ham with salad.  The tender boat took over 40 minutes for the trip to Airlie and we decided to go at around 1 pm.  Didn’t count on one of the reef boats arriving back to the ship at that time and having to unload about 200 passengers - seems they’d gone on their snorkelling excursion or sightseeing etc to the reef but the engine broke down on the way and they had to return slowly back to our ship.  A lot of long faces and disappointed people I can tell you!  

We finally got a tender to shore and found that nothing was open in the town except MacDonalds (we didn’t see it though) and the terminal shop at the pier.  I don’t blame the shopkeepers at all, it was great that they took a day off but to me it seems that Regent could have made today a sea day and then let people discover our lovely towns on a regular day. We did go for a walk along the foreshore, mostly undercover as was raining, and noted how Airlie has grown since we last came.  It really is a special place. Was pouring all the way back to the ship, we had most of the entertainment group on board, along with Will Martin, the NZ pianist and the orchestra pianist as well.  

We had more carolling in the atrium at 6.15 pm tonight - was lovely, the singers all dressed in green & red and passengers singing along with them.  We joined a table with two other couples for dinner, one from Vancouver and the other from Wales.  Those Canadians have been with us since Istanbul and are finishing in Auckland. 

The entertainment was Will Martin again from NZ - fantastic!  He’s such a fabulous entertainer, both and on piano and as a singer.  He has performed for Prince William and other very high profile events. 

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