It seems we’ve been quite spoiled on this campaign. I’ve already discussed the excellent food, now let’s take a look at the different facilities on board, from accommodations to divertissements.

The sleeping accommodations, at least on the top deck, are more luxurious than you would expect. Not Symphony of the Seas-level luxury, more something like a top-end undergraduate university housing-level luxury. Decent bedding, nice large windows, a desk, en-suite. But then there’s the room of the Chief Scientist - it has it’s own living room! I’ve been told the German research vessels don’t have this level of comfort, so that’s a point for Portugal.

Keeping fit while on a boat for a month is quite difficult. I was excited to discover the gym hidden away below deck, with a few free-weights and cardio machines. Unfortunately it’s a bit cramped in there, not much space to move around and a ceiling low enough to hit your head on if you use the elliptical machine. It’s better than nothing, but not enough to offset the shear quantities of food on board!

The cinema room has proven popular. With proper cinema seats, no windows and a large screen it’s not simply a TV in the mess. We have to sort out our own concessions but at least there are no mice running around, which is more than I can say for what was my local cinema in London! There’s a large collection of (scratched and probably bootleg) DVDs, plenty enough to get us through the month. So far we’ve watched Under Fire, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the timeless classic Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. While we may not be able to keep up with the latest releases, we do have the complete series of Nikita which could be interesting. The cinema room does cause a dilemma though. On nice evenings, which has pretty much been the case every evening so far, would we rather be watching Bride for Rent or just sit outside and watch the dolphins? I think we’d all choose the latter.

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