Today was not the first day that we enjoyed an extra hour thanks to the time zones that we are zipping across. And it’s not as in the Mediterranean where you both gain and lose the time as you go and then come back again. Here we are going west. The Captain had informed us that now that we’ve left the sanctuary of the Mediterranean that we would be exposed to the more robust seas of the Atlantic. We could expect the waves and swells to be increasing over the next 48 hours where we should anticipate seas reaching 20 feet… not quite the 45 foot seas that Sharon experienced off of the Falklands. Sharon went to mass and I worked some on the blog. When she returned we decided to start this sea day with ... read more

We started today in the Lido, I had some muesli and Sharon had waffles. We went into the Showroom and the tour dispatcher was trying to get people to sit down. Many were milling in the exit where we’ve been departing for tours on the portside. There was some murmuring when he announced that we would be departing on the starboard side today because they are replacing a window on the port side. We left the ship and were confronted by a rainy day. Our daily planner suggested partly cloudy. Well, there is no “partly” about it today! We got on a bus and were greeted by a woman speaking heavily accented English. She apologized about her accent, saying that she learned English from someone with a heavy French accent, so we got stuck with the ... read more

What a glorious Sunday. We weren’t rushed this morning with our expected arrival in port around 10 AM and also the gaining of an hour overnight. We’d gone to the Vigil Mass the day before so there will be no church today: unfortunately, we hear that that also means that many things will be closed to us in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) including the cathedral which will be opened only to those attending mass. We went to the Lido for breakfast and I had an American breakfast with eggs over medium with sausage, adding a bit of a continental touch with a couple of croissants. I still haven’t seen those warm chocolate dipped pastries from the first morning again. Sharon had waffles with blueberries. We stopped by the Exploration Lounge and picked up suduko and returned ... read more

Sharon went to mass while I got caught up on the blog. We went to the Vista Dining Room where we were seated across from each other at a table for six with two other couples. I had French Toast, link sausage, potato cakes and Swiss muesli. The steward did a double-take on “potato cakes” and then corrected me as “…oh, hash browns.” Well okay; but, they really are tiny round hockey puck-like potato cakes. They just don’t call them that on Holland America. Sharon had scrambled eggs and potatoes. We went up to the Crow’s Nest to do our Sudoku challenge, and I brought the sheets from yesterday that we hadn’t had a chance to do yet. We found the Crow’s Nest nearly deserted and sat down at a table. I’d beaten Sharon on both ... read more

We woke and were happy to contemplate that tomorrow we would arise back onboard a ship and hopefully have a relaxing final leg of our trip. We finished packing and made our way to the hotel reception and from there to breakfast. We checked in with the hostess who confirmed that we had pre-paid for our morning meal. It wasn’t the sumptuous spread that would be available to us tomorrow; but, after our late dinner and ice cream the day before we weren’t exactly starving. John was our driver again today. We were streaking through town on our way across the Tiber, and I noticed how he would alternately choose to drive on the center lanes (one in each direction for the cable cars, although some cars were using these lanes as well) or on lanes ... read more