The fun of the fair

The ship was dressed with bunting again this morning, in preparation for the Country Fair. This is an event organised by each department on board and is usually a fun way to spend the morning.

Though we arrived at more or less the starting time, it was already in full swing and we joined the line for the first activity we came across, organised by the Purser's office.

At this point, the three stooges were sitting ready for the onslaught of water-filled balloons, which were to be thrown at the board above their heads and pierced by the nails in that board so they'd get a soaking.

It didn't take long before we realised that they were not going to sit there without seeking some kind of revenge! They were also equipped with wooden spoons with which they'd bat the balloon back at the audience, occasionally soaking themselves in the process.

The whole time, their colleagues cheered as another ballon burst over their heads. Whose side were they on?!

Not all the games were quite so frenetic. The bar staff had a gentle ring toss; the kind of thing where normally, a successful ring-around-the-bottle would win that bottle as the prize. But we were collecting numbered tickets and left each game with a minimum of one for participating, but possibly a handful for a good score.

The deck staff had a tennis ball hoop challenge, where a successful score not only delivered tickets…

but also a blast on the horn from one of the officer cadets too.

The noisiest of all the games was that organised by the restaurant staff who were “playing” trays and teaspoons and making a right old racket! Their game was to throw a ping pong ball into one of a series of glasses and they were getting plenty of exercise catching all the stray ping pong balls that ping ponged off into the crowd!

Before we had chance to guess the herbs and spices on the galley table, or try our hand on the engineers’ buzz wire loop, time was getting short and the fair was coming to a close. We spotted the crowd by the water balloons, where several of the officers had joined in the fun. We made our way over there as it all descended into chaos!

Staff Captain Joao was soaked, which seemed a bit unfair as we'd seen him presented with a long service award last evening, but like everyone else, he was taking it all in good spirit. By now, very few staff were still dry!

With just minutes to go it was a free for all. The remaining balloons were flying in all directions and water was everywhere.

The three stooges really did get a chance to get their revenge now!

Possibly the only dry officer was the Captain, who joined cruise director Calle to present prizes - given in the form of a raffle using the numbers on the tickets we'd won. Goody bags were handed out to the lucky winners and towels handed out to the unlucky losers of the water fight!

We found ourselves a couple of cold beers and sat by the pool, watching the bunting being wound in for the second time in as many days. In no time at all, the deck was cleared, the loungers and the rest of the deck furniture was put back in place and it was as if nothing had happened.

What a great team we have taking care of us, joining in the fun and bringing such a good spirit to everything they do. This is such a happy ship - how pleased we are to be on board.