Barbados and goodbye to Azura

Last night after the last passenger was poured onto our ship, we left port for the last time.  The tradition is to have a Great British Sail Off and it was fantastic. There were 2500 people on decks 15 and 16, where the pool is, singing and waving British flags. 

We said goodbye to St Lucia and farewell to our travels.  Very sad.  After an evening of excellent entertainment, as with every night of this cruise, Alan and I had the presence of mind to make a point to enjoy walking the Promenade deck and then watching the night sky and waves while on our balcony.  In fact, we enjoyed this so much, we almost fell asleep on our balcony, which I am guessing is not a great idea!

After suffering terrific sleep deprivation and waking up through the night and too early each morning, wouldn’t you know I slept like a baby last night and woke up at 6am looking at warehouses and containers loaded with food destined for the next passengers of Azura?  I was so sad at the idea that this ship would never cause me to lose my balance again that I almost started crying!

And the confusing thing was that we are not yet on our way home!  Passengers on this cruise had the choice of going home either today or tomorrow.  We took tomorrow. I am now not sure if we had the choice of today. If we had, we could have spent the night with Martin tonight and that would have been fantastic.  I really, really miss him.  (I miss all my family, but he is the one who I will not see until Thanksgiving weekend).

The Azure with flags ready for their next cruise

But to make the most of it, we took a taxi tour of Barbados.  Last year all we did was travel from airport to port and vice versa.  So today was a bonus.  Apart from the taxi disaster.

It felt like Barbados had it better organized and the taxi drivers were not so obnoxious and in your face as other islands. But we ended up herded into a taxi where everyone was going to the beach and we had asked for an island tour.  Luckily, we were able to jump out and find a better one.  At first, jumping out of the taxi and trying to get the taxi drivers and their supervisor to understand exactly what the problem was and actually listen was one of the worst experiences of the trip.  I almost just said let's go back and stay at the pool.

The tour was good though.  I can’t honestly think of anything special about it, but it was interesting.  Oh, we did see where Tiger Woods likes to golf sometimes and the taxi  driver’s mother’s house!!

Flower arrangemetn at St James Church (the first church on Barbados)

We came back to the ship for lunch and then went to Harbour Lights Beach. Another problem with these taxi drivers- We had asked to go to Carlisle Beach, which was technically the same place once we got there.  But Harbour Lights is a part of this beach, with a bar and nightclub attached.  Our driver said it was a better beach, but it was just the same beach. So we decided he must have gotten a kick back for bringing tourists there. 

Harbour LIghts is as typicial as Caribbean beaches go - clear water as far as you could see and lovely sand. Alan took a video of us in the water as a really bad shower happened. I will try to link this, the rain shower was so short and so heavy, I think I just laughed through it!  It started almost the same time as Alan started taking the video and finished right before he stopped.

It is the Barbados independence weekend now and there is lots of blue and yellow everywhere. We plan to walk to Bridgetown tomorrow morning and will probably take few pictures! Then it will be time to go back to Scotland. Yes, while I was swimming in the Caribbean sea and looking at my feet clearly from 5 feet deep, I did remind myself that it is November and very cold in my home town. But I am still on island time and intend to be on island time as long as I can get away with it!

Kensington Oval viewed from our balcony!  The game being played was England vs West Indies (veterans)

Well, since I did not publish this until after we got home, I am able to say that we never made it to Bridgetown.  The sky literally fell in, I have never seen harder rain.  It made leaving Barbados much easier since there was nothing else to do.  Unfortunately, that meant we couldn't take pictures of the buildings draped in blue and yellow.  I also never got to one of the last Woolworth's or another Little Switzerland. 

My Boat is still Rocking!

It is Monday morning and I am getting ready to return to work. Too relaxed and still on island time I am afraid!

The funny thing is my land legs did not arrive with my luggage, I am still rocking and feeling as if I am still on the Azura!  Of course, it is not yet 24 hours since I have been either on a ship or a plane, and I am sort of enjoying the feeling.  I liked the rocking and rolling feeling of the ship and will miss this lovely way to be rocked to sleep.

Friday night now! boy how time flies when you are jet lagged and have meetings every night!
I wish we were taking time out and relaxing this weekend, but of course, we are very busy, shopping with Whitney, going to dinner with Jim and Jennifer, seeing Santa arrive and loads of other things.

Welcome home to us!

Little Switzerland locations

littleswitzerland.com

When we were walking through the duty free section of the port at Barbados, there were gift bags you could pick up from Little Switzerland.  I picked one up and used it throughout the day.  Only on our last evening in the Caribbean, when doing a last minute packing, I noticed the list of locations on the bag.  So here are the islands where you will find Little Switzerland stores:

Aruba, Barbados, Curacao, Key West, Nassau, Puerto Rico, St John, St Maarten, St Thomas and Tortola.  Enjoy!

St Lucia

Sorry for this, but we didn’t like St Lucia last year and our opinion had not changed…. Even though Cheryl Cole is supposedly vacationing there just now, and I have the picture of her house, it is not anywhere I would like to visit again.  Of course, if we are ever on another Caribbean cruise, we will make the most of it and visit the rain forest or something. We had hoped to see the Pitons this time around, since last year the road to the Pitons was not passable due to hurricane damage. But in the end, it was just too difficult to run the gamut of taxi drivers and find what we wanted.  The best option is a water taxi instead of the road, but this is a very long day and we were not prepared to do this.  If we had realized there was a option of the rain forest trip…..maybe it would have been a better day. 

We were told the white house right at the top of this hill was where Cheryl Cole was staying. But I couldn't find any reference to her being on St Lucia except when she was there in 2002.  Maybe she stayed at this house then?

However, Alan and I are never ones to have a bad day, and yesterday was no exception.  Our ship had to dock at the very farthest location ever and the walk into town was not good.   Not only were there loads and loads of pushy taxi drivers, and we wanted to walk, but the surfaces were uneven and sloppy and it was a sheer struggle to get to town.  Did anyone mention a water taxi just on the other side of the ship?  No!!!  We took it back and it was fantastic.  So if you are ever in St Lucia and docked on the Pointe Seraphim side instead of Castries, there is a great water taxi that takes you straight to town.  A dollar more than a regular taxi and so much better than either a taxi or walking.  And the best bit…..it ends at an outside bar where they have beer two for $3 and music, dancing, karaoke. To give you an idea how good it was….the last passenger had to be poured onboard before we could leave last night!

Taken from the water taxi. The pink roof to the left of the ship is the bar!

This is the Catholic church that we visited last time and knew it was worth a second visit. What a beautiful, colorful church!

Last year on our Princess cruise and this year on P&O - both British liners - we did a sail away party.  When we saw other ships leaving port, they never did this.  All the other ship's passengers would watch and wave as they went by.  This one was the Great British Sail Away since it was our last time leaving a port.

The entertainment team leading songs and dances during the sail away party

Alan in his "We be Jammin" shirt

St Kitts

Here is the map of where we started and how we crossed the Atlantic.  Everyday on the cabin tv's you could look at this and see your progress, like on a plane! 

We are already on Barbados and this is our last night on the Azura.  This is when my blog gets a bit confusing even to me.  But I would like to go in order of the places we visited, so this would be St Kitts.

I was a bit concerned about visiting this island because last year it got a lot of bad press due to violence against some tourists.  Many cruise ships chose not to go there and made other arrangements in their itinerary.  However, this is a darling little island, with so much character that Alan and I have fallen in love with it.  This island is undeveloped and so far, not ruined by tourism. But it is just around the corner. 

We got a taxi to take us around the island with a few other people. 

It was the best island tour we have had!  We saw rain forest, monkeys, volcanic rocks, an old sugar plantation that is now Carabelle Batik. They also sold and demonstrated batik there.  Fabulous! 

I had to take a picture of this one because it is signed by a "Patrice":

This idyllic day was not meant to last though.  After so many days of complete togetherness, Alan and I got a  bit impatient with each other.  Mainly because it started raining cats and dogs and we got stuck on the ship instead of getting to the bar with free internet.  Of course this was all Alan’s fault.  And he took exception to this.  Ok, did he not read the marriage contract?  Of course it was his fault, isn’t everything?  Anyway, we managed to swim to the bar and he went shopping while I stayed at the bar and got more caught up on Facebook and this blog.  We met some cruise staff and other fellow passengers and ended up having a great time. 

About this time, we also decided to give up on formal dining altogether.  It is a real waste of time – 2 hours spent dining with people who are not your friends and not interested in you anyway.  Actually I think we gave this up after how free it felt to go to the Trattoria the day before and enjoy Bollywood dancing. But then, my days are so confused now……

Murphy’s Law came in to effect with a vengeance though.  On the first night of freedom, Alan and I innocently arrived at the buffet after 7pm and learned that it was a seafood buffet. Alan does not like fish at all, and there were no alternatives.  And the pizzeria closes at 7.  Hence, he had 3 different kinds of potatoes for dinner, while I really enjoyed my selection.  The next night was another Indian buffet.  After reacting to airborne cumin at the week before’s Indian buffet, I didn’t even want to be in the same room. So he enjoyed his Indian dinner and I sat poolside with a delicious pizza!  Last night, the third night, was country/western buffet, lots of barbeque and spicy fried chicken and loads of things that might have cumin, so I went a bit hungry again.   Our last night onboard is tonight and it is a carvery.  I think this will be a good last dinner….fingers crossed anyway!

St Kitts is shaped sort of like a guitar. At this smaller part of the "guitar" you can see the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other.

I am going to finish this now and start a new entry so that next time we visit, I can see the individual islands as titles.  I didn’t do this last year and St Lucia and St Vincent are actually in the blog chapter listed as Trinidad!

I have also run out of proverbs.  I saw a cool book of island proverbs today, but felt it did not warrant the space in my overfilled suitcase.  Sorry!

St Maarten

Good morning again!  This is the first time I have actually slept until 5;30am!  With only 3 days to go, my sleep pattern should be just about normal by the time we get back to Ayr and have to deal with jet lag!

St Maarten was as special as always.  Actually this is only our second visit, but it is just a wonderful and beautiful island.  We wandered in early and found an internet café on the beach.  I even got a Pina Colada while waiting for Alan to finish sending emails and checking his Facebook.  (it was only 9am so I did have the presence of mind to get a “Virgin PIna Colada”, very tempted though, for only $1 it could have had rum in it!). 

The little beaches in front of Philipsburg and perfect in everyway and I really had intended to swim there.  But once I got  my feet in the water, I remembered how sticky and grungy I would feel afterward, and this was supposed to be shopping time!  I do have my priorities and went back to the bar!  I must have been on St Maarten a grand total of 30 minutes before I made my first jewelry purchase!  I had just wandered into a jewelry store, not intending to buy…….

The connection was so slow that we finally gave up and went shopping. 

 My favourite jewelry store of all time is only located on some Caribbean Islands, I cannot figure out the reason why it is on some and not others though.  It is Little Switzerland and I cannot walk by one!  It seems a common myth that jewelry in the Caribbean is a good deal and that is true.  But this is mainly if you intend to buy top quality stones and name brand jewelry.  Anything else is usually too expensive for me, but there is a section in Little Switzerland that makes my heart sing and I can find a variety of necklaces, bracelets and earrings that I love. Last year, I discovered this and did not buy enough, thinking I would wait until the next island.  But that was the last one I saw in that trip. So this year, I made up for it!

The red bag over my shoulder is the free bag I got from Little Switzerland after shopping there!

Alan also wanted to buy some camera equipment and was not sure what he really wanted, so we went to quite a few shops until he made his mind up. And we got a table runner for our new dining room furniture, thanks again, Sue!

Alan also hoped to go to Maho Beach, where the planes take off and land at what looks like 20 feet over the beach.  He wanted to go later in the day this time because he believes larger planes come in later. Last year, we saw a few smaller planes, but every so often you see a Boeing 747.  In fact, one flew over today at 12:15, but we were not there then.  In fact, we never got there.  Once inside the taxi to go, we got stuck in a huge traffic jam.  It was obvious the driver really did not want to go and I was remembering just why we went so early last year – traffic!  He told us it would take an hour to get there, when it is usually a 20 minute drive.  So that was approximately a 3 hour trip, and a struggle to get back to the ship in time (potentially).  Alan thinks he really did not want to go but I think it might have been good advice.   But, this also makes another island we have to return to!

We have also now abandoned formal dining altogether!  With the dining room all filling up at the same time, dinner lasted about 2 hours with everyone in the room being served at the same time.  This was causing us to rush to see the early shows, then spend 2 hours sitting and eating and then literally sleeping through some tremendous entertainment.   With this being our first night of “freedom” we were really looking forward to a relaxed evening, after disembarking from St Maarten. 

Best laid plans and all that – sadly there was a medical emergency about 5 minutes before sail away and we had to wait for island medical staff to deal with this.  We were sad about this person, but delighted that it meant we were last of the 4 cruise ships to leave!  First was the Royal Caribbean Grandeur of the Seas, next was the Norwegian Epic and last was Disney Magic.  What beautiful sights these large ships are as they sail away.  And an added bonus – the Disney ship’s horn plays “When You Wish Upon a Star” instead of HOOOONNNNNNKKKK.

First cruise ship to leave St Maarten

St Kitts on Port side, better go get breakfast and visit a new island for us!

“Walk too fast or be too impatient and you will miss much!

Leaving Antigua while watching God’s Fireworks

What a wonderful feeling to be off the ship and back to one of our favourite islands from last year!  It was also very comforting not to leave and be unsure what to expect.  I had hoped we could locate Dennis – our taxi driver from last year.  He would be 71 now and possibly no longer working.  The good news, he is still working, but the bad news was, we could not find him. When you leave the ship on most of these islands, you run the gamut of taxi drivers offering tours of the islands.  It can be a very random choice who you pick but they all offer essentially the same thing.  We wanted something a bit different.  Looking back, we possibly could have tried to contact Dennis prior to leaving the UK.  I think he has a website…..but it was not meant to be. 

Alan and I tried to find a tour that did not include Nelson’s Dockyards.  We did this last year and wanted a bit more exposure to the rain forest, and also to see a different beach.  With 365 beaches to choose from, that was the easy part.  On the information about Antigua, it really stresses Nelson’s Dockyards and I am afraid that is why everyone wanted to go there.  What the literature does not tell you is once you agree on your taxi route, with the cost $25 per person, once you arrive, there is an additional fee of $8 just to get in!  Last year, we had a vote with the 8 people in our taxi whether we wanted to pay the extra and go in, and it was a resounding no.  So Dennis took us up to Shirley Heights, where you could look down and see the Dockyards anyway.  Then he dropped us off at Darkwood Beach for a few hours before returning.

With no success for a rain forest trip, we found another couple who only wanted to go to the beach. We found Hercules and he offered to take us to Dickinson Beach for $3 each way.  The first appearance of Dickinson Beach is beautiful.  Long stretch of sand and various colors of blue and turquoise water.  However, as I look back at the day, I realize I would not recommend this beach.  The water is murky and very surprising.  It gives the impression of being clear, but looking down, I could never see my feet til I brought them about one foot from the surface.  By comparison, I could always see my feet at Darkwood Beach, even in shoulder deep water.  And the man with us was actually stung by something!  Thankfully, it was only uncomfortable for a short time, but never the less, I like to swim in clearer water…..

Then the jet skies began arriving, I have always hated the noise pollution they cause, not to mention how unsafe they are.  Luckily, they only came out on hire one at a time and we were so early, this did not really become a problem.  Next?  How about a huge catamaran that landed right in front of our sun loungers?  Not so bad?  Well, Alan and I were in the water in front of what became their path.  How did we know they were going to swerve in and land?  It looked like any other party boat, certainly not a boat acting as a bus and coming to a stop!  About 15 people, including a screaming little girl had to run out of the way as it plowed right where we had been swimming!  It felt like a scene from a horror movie when the monster appears from the sea and has his eye on you!

On the way back to Azura for lunch, I stopped by a few jewelry stores, as you do when in the Carribbean!  And discovered some lovely rings, at affordable prices.  I was hot and sticky and uncomfortable so decided to come back after changing clothes.  Certainly not the dramatic way I bought a ring in Curacao, running back to the ship, jumping a moving drawbridge and just about having heat stroke!  No, this time, I calmly returned to the shop, asked for Olive, who showed me the rings. Of course, none were big enough, that was probably why they were on sale.  But then she showed me the first ring that had caught my attention and one I thought I could not afford.  I was wrong!  And now I own it!  This one is silver with an assortment of gem stones including amethyst, peridot, blue topaz and one other I just can’t think of right now.

Next, my return to Cheers Bar to check emails and Facebook and put some entries on my blog.  Just like last year, the connection is very slow, later on I realized the bar up the street had cheaper beer and also free wii fii.  Maybe next time….

I also met a DJ from the other cruise ship here today, the Norwegian  Dawn.  His name is Alex and this job is only for a month!  How cool is that?  He seems to also have a job in New York and is just doing this short term.  But what a way to see the world?  I am thinking of all the young people in Scotland who are unemployed and know, if it was me, I would be applying to a cruise company!

Although it sounds like I was not as enamoured with Antigua as I had hoped, this is not the case.  It is all a learning curve and there are still 363 beaches to see! 

After leaving Antigua, we were beside a tremendous thunderstorm!  All we could see from our balcony was the skies lighting up, not good enough. So we went down to the Promenade deck, still not good enough. So we ended up on the top deck with about 30 other people and oohed and aahed at the beauty of nature.  These lightning bolts were stunning and some travelled up and over the entire sky.  Alan spend over an hour trying to get the perfect shot.  Once it began to rain, we all had to come in though.

St Maarten is now just outside the balcony and I need to go feast my eyes!

Bollywood on Board!

Good Morning!  I think this will be the last time I ever start a blog entry with – The clocks went back again last night!  As of now, we are on “island time”!

Yesterday was bittersweet though, there were many goodbyes and the end of life as we have known it now for over a week, with the exception of the day we were on Madeira.  Alan and I attended our last ballroom dance class.  We mainly videoed it though so we might be able to practice and achieve these more involved dances – the Tango, Foxtrot and Samba, in the privacy of our own home.  Maybe one day you might see us on a dance floor.  Ryan did the Foxtrot with me for a while so I was able to dance a bit at our last class. But I think the videos will be more help in the long run.  We all thanked Ryan and Ksenia and wished them well with their competition.  Their website is RyanKsenia.com.  I can’t wait to watch what this young couple will achieve.  Who knows? We may see them on Dancing with the Stars one day!

Next it was time to do our favourite line dances at our last class with Lisa.  Always fun! But not the total end, she has invited us to perform at the Xtra Factor on the night before we arrive at Barbados.  I do hope it is only to perform and not to compete!

There was supposed to be a huge barbeque poolside in the afternoon, but the sky opened and this had to be cancelled.  There was so much water on the deck I was glad I had changed my shoes to flip flops.  I saw lots of people just take their shoes off.  What a shame to miss that.  However, we spent the next hour and a half just chatting to a couple from Yorkshire and a woman from Devon.  (we always try to sit at a big table so we can meet people but this was the most fun result so far)

One of the line dancing people had arranged to teach advanced line dancing a while ago and he is a good teacher.  But I only went to a few classes because they were in the afternoon and I felt I was missing too much time with Alan and also too much sun time.  (there has not been a lot of sun time anyway, come to think of it).  However, I am considered part of this group too.  And, as usual, I have volunteered Alan in his photographic role. So we had to go to the Manhattan and take a group photo Dave hopes to submit to a line dance magazine!  With the weather being so awful anyway, I was able to stay for yet another last class and big thank you to Dave and Mary.

During our luncheon conversation, we learned about the Trattoria Restaurant on Deck 15, it is actually one of the buffets but they transform it at night into an Italian Restaurant.  Perfect!  We had different plans for the evening and our normal seating time would not have allowed us to go, so we went to the Trattoria!  While I was there, I began to wonder just why I was so excited about ordering lasagne.  Then I remembered when my friend, Dana, returned from a week in France.  I phoned her to see how she was and if she wanted to go out that night. I was living in Atlanta at the time.  She waxed lyrical about how much fun she had and how beautiful Paris was.  But she said she was really hungry for American food and could we go out for some?  Question from me – Where did she want to go?  Answer – I don’t care, Chinese, Mexican, Italian, anywhere American!  You know a good long term marriage when your husband of 25 years looks at my face after the first bite and asks if I am enjoying my American food!!!!

Apart from the sheer joy of eating American food, the main reason we ate early was so we could participate in the Bollywood Hour!  This was privately arranged by the group of young Asian women on board.  Apparently one night the disco had morphed into Bollywood dance lessons and everyone thought it would be a good idea to arrange a more formal night.  Alan got us a fantastic seat, actually next to most of the Asian people who were there hosting the evening.  There were possibly 50 women in the most beautiful saris imaginable!  The first dance was a formal dance to welcome us all, but after that anyone could join in and be part of the magic.  What magic it was too!  Women of all ages danced with us and showed us various moves and footwork.  I cannot resist a good dance and spent the whole hour on the dance floor!  Once or twice running to our table to get  a well deserved drink.  One beautiful Asian woman in particular was beginning to look a bit tired and as if she were going to sit down when the music changed, but then she would just go on dancing.  Finally, another woman I was dancing with and I asked her to please sit down because she was beginning to look exhausted.  Their saris were much heavier and many were beaded and must have been too heavy to do the amount of dancing we were doing.   But most of them never stopped and by the end we were all hugging each other and getting loads of pictures taken. 

Bollywood Dancing!

It is 5 am now and we should be docked at Antigua by 8.  It will be nice to see land and I am more excited than I thought about returning to this island.  With any luck, I will also be able to check my emails and send some of this blog on its merry way!  While rereading this, it sounds as if my main focus of the day is the internet café, let me assure you this is not true!  My goal is to find a nice beach and enjoy the sand between my toes!

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”

Dance the Night Away

Here I am awake at a ridiculously early hour again!  Yes, the clocks went back one more time.  As far as I know, there will only be one more time when we have to change our clocks before we arrive at Antigua.

Last night was the Black and White formal evening and it really was beautiful.  I would guess most of the passengers followed this guideline, with the exception of one (beautiful) purple dress and another yellow one.  Even the bridal party followed the black and white theme.  This would not be difficult for a bride and groom, but I did think how much easier it must have been for the family and friends to have a limited scope for what they were going to wear!  The people at our table looked absolutely stunning in their evening clothes and all of them  took pictures of our table, except me!  We had arrived late due to having a formal picture taken and the men were seated on one side with the women on the other.  This worked very well.  I noticed Alan taking a picture of the women’s side and we all passed his camera around to admire it.  But it never occurred to me to take the men’s side!  I must have such a departmentalized brain and that was Alan’s camera – not mine.  Tonight, I will take my camera and make up for this!

Following dinner, Alan and I went to the Malabar for the Black and White Ball!  Ryan and Ksenia hosted this and would either dance with people or at least explain what the next dance would be.  They noticed us coming in and Ksenia invited Alan and I to join in on a waltz!  The surprising thing is – we did!  I was grinning like a Cheshire cat because we have never danced a waltz together on a dance floor or anywhere else for that matter!  We were not as good as the other dancers and once or twice, we got barged into, but we managed two waltzes!  A couple we have spoken to a few times are really good dancers and they came up and complimented us!  Knowing that Alan could not dance at all when we boarded, they could appreciate our progress.

Ryan and Ksenia will be travelling to Blackpool at the same time as we all leave the Caribbean:  They will be competing in a national dance contest there.  I hope we will be able to follow their progress because they seem like exceptional dancers.  Not too sure about Ryan’s dance instruction though!  Our class yesterday was the salsa.  We chose not to go to the morning class and wouldn’t you know it, that was when the ship video was done.  However, I arrived at the Manhattan to see the tail end of the class and Ryan was teaching a progressive dance with the salsa.  It looked like so much fun we had to go back in the afternoon.  The salsa is a simple dance and Alan and I seemed to get the basic alright, just like all the other dances we have been taught. The problem is, Ryan is too ambitious and wants to give us more than the basic.  This works for most people, but not sheer beginners. 

At the end of the class, we were placed in a circle and the progressive dance explained.  However, due to this being the afternoon class, Ryan had added another dimension to this dance.  To cut a long story short, the dance was a train wreck. But we all had never laughed and had such a great time together.  Even Ryan was laughing when he told us this was the worst dance class he had ever done!  If they were all that “bad”  there would not be a room large enough to hold his dance classes!  The class ended with thunderous applause for our instructors!

Oh! Did I mention the chocolate buffet?

Having a balcony really makes this journey so much better.  I just looked over my shoulder and noticed the sky is lightening up a bit.  Maybe I can catch a few more ZZZ’s before it is really time to get up!

“You can collect the nuts that have been provided along the way, but you must crack them yourself.”

The Early Bird Catches the Machine

Good morning!  Since my last entry, Alan and I have learned the jive and the foxtrot!  Today it is the Salsa!  Our dance instructors are Ryan and Ksenia. They look like a perfect couple together and we all wonder if they are a dancing partnership that looks romantic or a romantic partnership that also dances beautifully together.   It is funny though; obviously Ksenia’s first language is not English, but there are times when she needs to add more substance to what Ryan has said, or even just to say hello and welcome us back.  Regardless of what she says, Ryan always repeats it, as if he were translating. This in itself is not funny, but the whole class has finally relaxed enough to laugh about it.  What is the joke?  Ryan is Irish with a very heavy accent, Ksenia speaks very clearly.  We all can understand HER just fine! 

The other thing that has happened is the clocks went back – again – night before last!  On our last cruise, a couple advised us if we ever did cross the Atlantic to go West toward the Carribbean, not to do it the other way.  I am having enough trouble with sleep patterns gaining an hour almost every day.  I cannot imagine how it would feel to lose one at the same rate! 

Life at sea has developed a pattern similar to what I have described before.  I wonder how we will cope when we have to get up, dressed and go have fun on the islands?  One advantage we have over most other passengers is last year’s blog!  I am very grateful to Alan for having the presence of mind to copy it and bring it with us.  Now we can remember exactly what each island was like, what we did, who we were with, what we liked and most importantly, who our taxi drivers were!  I am hoping that Dennis will still be working on Antigua, but will have to be patient. 

I have to cut this entry short though, it is laundry day for us.  Laundry day should have been yesterday but I could never find a time when any machines were free.  I even got to the laundry room 5 minutes before it was supposed to open and all machines were going helter skelter.  So today I decided to be early myself.  I was one hour early this time, with only one other machine going.  Anything else I accomplish today will pale into insignificance when compared to having clean clothes!

“He who arrives late is almost always happier than he who has been waiting for him.”

Where is NOAA when you need him?

Once again, the clocks have gone back one hour, so here I am awake too early!  With the sleep disruption I have had, it would have made more sense to have jet lag.  But I can’t blame it on that!  I am also not upset by the weather conditions we have been experiencing. The only thing I am upset about is not being able to access the NOAA website to see what tropical depression we are actually living through!

The captain came on unexpectedly last night, so we knew something was up.  He announced that this depression would worsen and we could have up to 30 feet of swells by midnight.  After waking up to gale force winds on the decks, the day had gotten busier and busier weather wise, so there were rumours that we were experiencing  a hurricane.  (this is certainly not hurricane weather, but it is very impressive, so if you had not ever seen hurricane weather, I can understand the assumption).  The “motion discomfort” bags have discreetly made their reappearance, and I can safely say, this time I am ok!  Whew!

With the ship being tossed about like a toy, Alan had thought (read hoped) dance class would be cancelled, but no such luck!  Ballroom was ok, but line dancing was funnier than usual.  Doing  a grapevine sometimes causes you to not have any feet on the floor for a second or less. But when your foot does get back to floor level, the floor has moved.  It is a very funny sensation!

These sea days are much longer than the ones on our last Princess cruise.  Not only was the entertainment more spaced throughout the day, but you could also just sit out in the sun and relax.  It is not the same when you have to get your jacket and hold onto your possessions when sitting outside, with no sun!  On this cruise, we have to make a judgement whether to attend dance class or the occasional cooking demonstration, or other activity.  Everything happens at 10 or 11.  At one point yesterday, Alan and I were kneeling at the floor level window in the library on deck 4. The waves appeared to be as high or higher than we were.  Not only were they very impressive, but it was also really fun to feel the motion and power of them!  Of course, when you are a bit bored any form of entertainment will do.  Never thought I would use the word bored when talking about a cruise!

We have also bitten the bullet and abandoned our first sitting dinner partners.  We had opted for formal dining in order to meet people.  Looking back, this did not work well on our last cruise and we bailed out and did “Anytime Dining”.  We thought we could easily do this again if we wanted to, but have now learned there is a waiting list of either 100 or 1000 people wishing to do the same.  We are at table 26 and it is supposed to seat 10, but there have never been more than 8, with 4 of them being a family that includes 2 toddlers and the other 2 a lovely, older and very quiet couple.  There are nights when the young family is unable to make the seating time and the table is just so big and empty.  As a result, we changed our seating time to 8:30, but at the same table.  Last night was our first night and it was like the first day at school! We didn’t know where to sit and we had no idea who our new tablemates would be!  The evening turned out to be a great success, with Alan and I being made to feel very welcome.  More lively dinner conversation and more like an event to look forward to than a social obligation.

cruise ships leaving Madeira

This is the Costa ship leaving Madeira before our ship.  Hard to imagine anything this big being tossed about the ocean by waves!

I would also like to make a correction.  After rereading these blogs a number of times before sending them, I usually am happy with what I am saying.  But it occurred to me the drunken men statement might have given the wrong impression.  The little area of Camara des Lobos is very traditional feeling.  The buildings are very close to each other and you can tell the people probably depended on fishing for their well being.  On any other day, I think this area would have been crawling with tourists and it would never have been as pleasant as when we were there.  The added bonus were the little bars where there were loads of local, relaxed and happy men. For some reason, it just felt right and I think that is not the impression I gave for this place.

“The best journeys are not always in straight lines.”

Misty’s Madeira

Knowing nothing of Madiera, I was very excited to be visiting this island.  When my nephew, Bobby, learned we were going to visit Madeira, he said his wife, Misty, would be so envious as that is where her ancestors were from.  I assured Bobby that we would have plenty of pictures to show her.

But first, an update – Alan caught onto the Tango with no problem at all!  I think he has been holding out on me and is really a dancer at heart!  The Tango was fun, but the shortness of the lesson is very frustrating; it feels as if you just get the dance and the class is over. There is no place for real beginners to practice either.  The only dance music is in the Atrium and is mainly older couples who have danced together for at least 40 years, or so it seems.  It is a pleasure to watch them though, especially after learning just how involved all the steps are.  We are at sea again today and the dance instructors must have realized the frustration of learning a new dance and then moving on, so today was a recap of all three we have learned so far.  Ok, not a great idea either – we have even forgotten the waltz!  Got the basic back and was able for me to actually count in a ChaCha,  but the Tango is gone.  No loss really, I would really just love for us to be able to Waltz and we can.  I then told Alan he really didn’t have to come to these classes anymore, until we learned it is Swing tomorrow! 

I go to line dancing following this class and the cruise video camera was there today.  Of course, they don’t film the ones we know, but the challenging ones, and I am in the front row!  I expect we will have to buy this video now to see just how funny we look!

Ok, back to the subject meant to be on this blog today – Madeira.  What a beautiful island!  We did have the misfortune to arrive on All Saints Day, which is a national holiday. So most shops were shut and there were only a few people in national dress – Alan spotted them at the door of the flower market.  All I saw was the shut door of the flower market as we went by on the tour bus.

There were only 3 stops we planned to make on the tour bus, but the frustrating thing was no one got off! So we had to go twice around the island to get where we wanted to go.  The first stop was the highest point, but it wasn’t really – it must have been the highest point of Funchal. But it was beautiful.  Then we had a fantastic 2 hour break at Camara de Lobos. This is a little fishing village made famous by Sir Winston Churchill’s painting.  Here I had a Madeira wine and Alan had a beer.  Not having tried Madiera wine before, I was pleasantly surprised how sweet it is, in fact it is more like a sherry to me.  We wandered all over this village enjoying the ambiance.  Even the drunken men were part of the wonder of how lovely this life style must be.  We assumed that on any other day, these men would be off fishing, but today, they had a well- earned day off.

Due to the confusion on the walk on/walk off tour bus, we lost a valuable hour and ½, so I did not get to go to the shopping centre that was open today.  No great loss, I had not intended to go shopping anyway, that is until I heard it was there!

Madeira  is famous for its wine, but its second most important export is bananas and the trees are everywhere!  In the picture, you can see them all up the cliff.

Madeira is also famous for linen and embroidery.  Although Alan and I thought we would buy a nice tablecloth on our travels, we did not intend to do this on Madeira, luckily!  Not only had we forgotten to measure our new dining room table, but we also had not intended on paying over £500 for a tablecloth we saw that was just gorgeous. 

An unexpected delight about arriving in Portugal was we could phone home!  Instead of “latching onto Maritime connections” we were texted that we were now in Portugal and the connections were affordable!  I was so excited it was all I could do not to phone people at 6am.  As it happened we did wake Martin up, but we meant well.  It was funny to watch so many people on their phones.  And an added bonus, I was able to text Sue and ask her to measure our table!  Now we are ready for the Caribbean market and possibly an affordable tablecloth.  (thanks, Sue!)

We both really enjoyed our day on Madeira, even though I was unable to buy seasickness medication, or anything else I had hoped for, we also could not find an internet café.  However, our searching allowed me to get a delicious Madeira cake!

Once boarded back on the ship, we were immediately involved in the sail away party poolside.  This was fantastic and so much better than the one leaving Southampton.  The majority of the 3200 passengers appeared to be there and the sun was shining!  We sang and danced and left Europe.  Ok, a bit of a strange feeling to realize we were so committed to crossing the Atlantic, but this should not have been a surprise since this is what we signed up for. 

And now for the bad news – due to the busyness of the day, Alan was unable to review his photos. This is unusual for him but we had every minute catered for, including searching for the internet, which never happened.  It was not until we arrived at the bus going back to the ship that Alan had a chance to look at his pictures.  And they were not properly there.  Absolute heartbreak!   This was a problem with his memory card and could easily have been corrected, if only Alan had had a chance to look.  There are a few decent photos, but the majority of Madeira pictures will be mine.  So promising Bobby and Misty pictures was not a good move. 

On the other hand, why don’t we just go back and do it again!?

Happy Halloween!

Anyone who knows me knows I am really silly when it comes to Halloween and I am a  bit disappointed that this cruise is causing me to miss Halloween at home, don’t get me wrong – not so unhappy that I didn’t want to come along!  However, my grandson is going as Buzz Lightyear today and I can’t wait to see the pictures!  I had read that there was a 60/70’s night and I assumed it would have been tonight, so I jumped out of bed this morning to see our little newspaper – and it is not. So it looks like I might have to be a grown up today, all day.  I think I can handle this!

Yesterday seems to have established an at sea pattern for us.  We got up and walked the promenade, ate breakfast, went to ballroom dancing and line dance, lunch then a movie at the seascreen. The weather is still too cold to do much at the pool except watch movies!  In fact, I had to go back to the room and get my big black cape that Mom bought me from Begg’s of Ayr.  It is huge and wool and was perfect to lie under while watching “My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend.”  We also managed to squeeze time at the gym!

Ballroom dance update – Alan excelled at the ChaCha yesterday!  The instructor is very good and can be really funny, but he did teach us very well.   Apparently there is the American way to count into a ChaCha and the correct way.  Even though I never knew the ChaCha, I had problems because I wanted to count in the way he said was wrong, maybe it is a genetic thing. It was fun anyway.   Today – the Tango!

The ship is still bumping and jumping but the feel of it has changed and I no longer feel seasick, thank goodness. In fact, when the captain announced that we had left the Bay of Biscay at 7am, I thought back and realized it was about 7:30 that the nausea went away! 

The highlight of the day was while doing our morning walk – I had just said to Alan that I wondered if we would see any whales on this trip and he calmly said “there they are over there”.  Anyone who knows Alan know  that you often have to take what he says with a pinch of salt, but this time they really were over there!!!  It was a pod, apparently, the captain had announced this but we were outside and did not hear the announcement.  Later back at our room, we spotted a huge pod of dolphin!  We are so high – on deck 14 – that they looked like birds until we saw them jump up out of the water!

Before dinner, we went to the Planet Bar on deck 17, arriving at sunset.  This is a beautiful setting as high and as far back as you can go.  In addition to the sunset, we also had a nice pre-dinner drink and were entertained by watching fantastic scenes of various locations in Europe on 3 huge screens.  Every home should have this set up!

“Somewhere in your journey don’t forget to turn around and enjoy the view!