This has been the day of rest

and not out of choice.Am simply too tired to move about,too tired to even shower or dress up for dinner. And it is a formal night and I love those.They make a cruise into a wonderful cruise.We put on our finery and somehow the world seems a much nicer place.For every seven days at sea there are two formal evenings.We are sailing for 12 nights on Britannia,we have 3 formal evenings.Many people cruising for the first time do not realize what formal really means.It is a kind of a "upwomanship",every woman trying to outdress the other ladies at the table.No woman does it better than a Cunarder woman.Every single time I travel on a Cunard ship I look with astonishment at the numerous suitcases people bring and often wonder - are we going on the same cruise? There have been formal evenings on every single ship I have been on except the Silversea Cloud and possibly an OCEANIA ship,the name of which escapes me, we sailed around the British Isles one September several years ago.The ship was filled predominantly with American travelers and as they all had to fly,the formal evenings were disposed of.But I do remember being disappointed and many evenings felt rather overdressed. I may be unwell,but my appetite has diminished only slightly,so feeling quite ravenous, went up for a bite,some salad and ham,a piece of cake,couldn't make out what it was, may have been apples, and mixed fresh fruit salad.For the self-service restaurant one does not have to dress up.