Crossing the Atlantic

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Friday 31^st October 2014



THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, ABOARD NCL “EPIC”



Before we left Funchal we were able to buy poppies, which was unexpected and pleasing. We shall wear them each evening on the ship. At the port there was no customs check, either going into the port in the morning i.e. entering Portugal, or leaving in the evening. We had been reminded by ship announcements, to take passports ashore for customs checks but then carried them around all day for nothing. This is amazing (a word that our friend Pat says, quite rightly, is over- dramatically used), but not in this instance. There are passengers of 54 different nationalities (and the majority are non-European) and crew from 67 different nations on this ship. Open borders even for non-Europeans? No customs? What is going on? The Portuguese need to get their act together. This is the first time we have ever walked off a cruise ship without passing through customs.



We awoke yesterday morning (the clocks went back another hour in the night, so we were then GMT – 1, so two hours behind Spain) to see a stunning sunrise. The problem was that it was in the wrong place. It was in exactly the same place as the stunning sunset seen the night before! When we went to bed we were heading west. It took our sleepy brains a few seconds to decide that we were now heading due east instead of west, back towards Madeira. We switched on the TV to the navigation channel and the map confirmed that we were heading back to Madeira and had been doing so for several hours. We phoned the consultant´s desk. They had no information other than “Yes, we are heading back towards Funchal. An announcement will be made later.” We then heard a helicopter above the ship and shortly afterwards the ship turned around. An American lady just a few cabins along from us had had a heart attack in the night and was taken to intensive care in Funchal. She wasn´t very old. Her son (in his early twenties) and daughter-in-law, newlyweds, are still on board. He told us that they were not allowed to go off the ship, only his father went with his mum. They now go on to Miami praying that she is OK. The crew are allowing them free communication with the hospital in Funchal. It all makes my stress over a lost mobile phone seem totally insignificant.



This ship is colossal! Too big really. We tend to prefer smaller craft! A bit less quantity and a little more quality. It is big, brash and rather noisy with a huge casino. More Las Vegas than Monte Carlo! The service and food, however, are excellent. The entertainment is really good. They have a great Beatles tribute band on board and The Blue Man group show is spectacular. Most of the passengers dress casually to the point of scruffiness, which has really surprised us but actually suits us fine, since we haven’t got our glad rags with us. We don’t feel out of place at all, as we feared. People dressed up more on cruises we have been on in the past. Tonight, however, there was a lot of “dressing up” because it is Halloween. Several American witches and Count Draculas have been prowling around the ship since lunchtime! The Halloween disco under the stars was pretty rammed and rocking; we wished that we had improvised a costume. One good thing about this cruise is that, not only is there a mix of nationalities, there is a wide age mix as well. Also, there are quite a lot of singles and also same sex couples, so a lot of people want to party. In fact, it’s a pretty gay cruise ship! There are also a significant number of children who should presumably be in school!



We have been most fortuitous with the climate, experiencing sunshine and gentle seas all the way so far. Yesterday, after a leisurely breakfast, we went on deck to find that all of the sun loungers had been claimed, mostly with just NCL towels and a few odd belongings; the owners of these belongings were having breakfast. Today, we decided to be more Germanic ourselves, placing our towels on two loungers in prime positions on deck and thus we enjoyed a morning lounging by the pool.







We have not seen another ship since we left Madeira. As large as the “Epic” is, and she is the third largest cruise ship in the world, she is just a tiny spec in this vast expanse of water. When out here in the middle of the ocean, one realises that this world of ours really is a very lonely planet. We have four more full days out here on this ocean before we reach the Caribbean. Wonder if we´ll see any other ships on our way? This seems a strange thought. Surely we shall, or maybe not! After all, this ‘ere ain´t the English Channel! We keep looking for wildlife i.e. dolphins or whales but haven’t spotted anything yet. In between peering at the waves through our binoculars, we are really relaxing, eating and drinking exceedingly well, being entertained and enjoying the sunshine. Pretty damn good stuff! Next stop, the island of Saint Maarten in the Caribbean, from where we shall send this blog. Tonight we have set our clocks back another hour, so now we´ll be two hours behind the UK and three hours behind Spain. We like gaining all of these extra hours. OK, sure, we´ll have to pay them back, but not for six months!



Sunday 2^nd November 2014



We are now well over half way across “The Pond” and Poseidon hasn’t whipped up any rough water to confront us. The ocean is calm, some cloud about but plenty of sunshine. Lovely weather! We were a bit lazy last week, so for our second week aboard we are determined to be a little more active, so we are visiting the gym now each day, to compensate for the cruise food! Two more “sea days” and then we’ll get to St Maarten.



Wednesday 5^th November 2014 St Maarten



“Land ahoy!” After six days at sea, seeing land is quite thrilling. We have now crossed 3,774 nautical miles of ocean. Just imagine how those ancient mariners felt, after months out there! Then, they frequently encountered hostility trying to get on to terra firma. The natives are no longer hostile. Shopkeepers are rubbing their hands with glee. We are now GMT – 4, five hours behind Spain. So, we are about to disembark. The island beckons!

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