5. First sea day and first port day.

The first sea day commenced with a 3am alarm call in order to get up in time to watch England play in the World Cup semi final. I joined a group of about 50 diehard fans in one of the lounges ready to cheer the lads on, but there was a problem. The night staff didn't know how to change the channel on the screen in order to get the feed for the match. Cue much anguish, anger, a demand that the IT department head be woken to get the problem fixed and free beer for all by way of compensation. Matters were not helped when one of the audience received a text from a friend saying that England were in the lead. Thankfully, some minutes later, a bleary eyed technician arrived, flicked a switch behind the bar, and we all settled down to watch having missed the first quarter of the game.

As everyone in the country now knows, things didn't go to plan and the very disappointed crowd returned to bed at 5.30am for a couple of hours sleep.

Not surprisingly, breakfast was taken late but we did have the bonus of seeing a large pod of dolphins leaping and playing a short distance from the ship as we ate.

Like England, we also fell just short in our first trivia competition of the cruise. Having paired up with two Americans and an Australian we scored a maximum 20 out of 20, tying with two other teams, but lost out in the tie break. Still, it's early days!

Thursday has been the coolest day thus far at 28C and it was very pleasant sitting outside in the shade on the Promenade deck watching the world (or in this case the other shipping) go by. The swimming pool beckoned for a refreshing dip before getting changed for our first formal night.

Friday saw us arrive at our first port of call, Hiroshima. I could try and write an amusing piece about the city, but given the terrible events of that August day 73 years ago, it seems more appropriate to keep my post to simply just a review of our time ashore.

The shuttle bus took us to the port station from where we planned to take a short train ride into the centre of the city. At the station a young girl came up to us and asked where we were going, and after replying she took us to the ticket machines, helped us by the tickets, guided us to the platforms and told us which platform to take. It was just another example of just how friendly and eager to help visitors to the country the Japanese people can be.

Once in the city we started with a walk around Shukkeien Gardens and fed some of the very large carp in the lake and just admiring the peace and tranquility (as well as escaping from the heat under the shady trees). 

Moving onward, we stopped to admire the rebuilt Hiroshima Castle and then continued down to the iconic A bomb dome. Various memorials and information boards surround the ruin and one could not help but be moved reading the stories and seeing pictures of the destruction. Thirty people were inside the dome building at the time the bomb fell.

We stopped for lunch at a new and modern tower just across the road from the memorial before buying tickets up to the observatory on the top floor. From here it was easy to gain a perspective of the city as well as see the dome and the Peace Park from a different perspective. At the top we made our origami cranes as a symbol of peace and in memory of Saduko Sasaki. (Google the name for more information).

By 3pm the schools were out and the carriages were already gong to be busy so we made our way back to the station for the return journey back to the ship. A cooling shower was certainly needed before sailaway and dinner.