Dear Hugo,
We e-mail you from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. We are two thirds of the way through our journey, roughly seven hundred miles from England. We set off from New York four days ago on a beautiful evening, it was really rather amazing looking at the sunlight playing on the Manhattan skyline.
The ship is really rather remarkable. Not as big as I imagined, but then if it were any bigger it would be entirely unmanageable. We have a cute cabin with a porthole through which we can see the Atlantic as we whip along. The Ship never slows for a moment, keeping at a constant twenty-five knots an hour. We have been lucky (maybe unlucky?) in that the sea has been remarkably calm, and the weather, though cloudy today, has been fairly warm, and we have even got a little sunburnt.
Two days ago off Newfoundland we had great delight in seeing two whales playing off the side of the ship, they were so large, and the spray they pushed up impressive enough for us to see them for at least ten minutes in the distance after we left them way behind. We have also seen a school of dolphins, whilst we sat in the dining room enjoying lunch.
The food is extremely good, and there is almost too much of it, you can practically eat all day long. This is all included, and the alcohol, even though not included, is really very good value, cheaper than London and New York, which really surprised me. We have just come from, ludicrously, a tea dance, where Male Hosts danced with unattached women, whilst the excellent ship band played on (I am sure recruited from New York). The entertainment is first rate, to my surprise, and there is so much going on that it is difficult to know what to do. We have also enjoyed lectures from a Concorde pilot, an expert in globalisation, and Princess Diana’s butler, amongst others, and watched films in the brilliant cinema, sometimes, weirdly, just the two of us. I have seen the Wizard of Oz for the first time.
The evenings are formal, most men wearing black tie, and the women really rather elegant in long dresses. We sit with the same people nightly, a couple our age travelling back to England from Seattle, and two middle aged couples, also from England. A rapport has built up enough for the evenings to be quite amusing. Following the meal typically there will be a show in the main theatre, last night excellent marionettes, tonight something you would hate – a Broadway show.
The ship is stunning, you can feel the immense power at all times. To my slight disappointment we weren’t able to get a view out over the front till today because of high winds. Actually to be honest there isn’t really very much out there to look at, which in itself is part of the amazing experience – there really is nothing out here except us. The only other vessels we have seen are a couple of oil rigs far out from the coast of Canada (about two hundred miles). We are on what they call the great circle route, which cuts straight across the Atlantic, I assume that shipping goes further north, as we have seen nothing. Incredibly though, I have seen some birds last night when we must have been in the dead centre of the Atlantic, comfortably fishing, or just resting on the water.
Looking forward to seeing you,
Love ,
Inigo and Ann
P.S. I believe that if you e-mail us there is no charge and it will be delivered to our cabin — please do, if you have time, it would be amusing.