First Entry - Madeira

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First port of call today: Funchal, Madeira, a beautiful island off the northwest coast of Africa. We had a wonderful day, filled with sunshine and exercise. The ship's shuttle bus dropped us in the middle of the city where we jumped on a red hop-on, hop-off double-decker tour bus that wound around the sights of Funchal. Hugh has been here many times before, so he was eager to point out his favorite places. We then took the cable car up to Monte where we found a restaurant and had cheese sandwiches on yummy local bread. After visiting the church where the last Emperor of Austria is buried, we came down via the cable car and walked through the city. Since it was Sunday, almost everything was closed -- including the shop with free Madeira wine-tasting -- but it was lovely to wander through the narrow streets and see all the flowers blooming. If you don't know, Madeira is a Portugese island, so it is part of the European Union, with all the economic plusses that go along with that. Hugh says it goes for the upscale tourist market which was evident with all the nice hotels and restaurants. Not like the Canary Islands we visited last time. It is a lovely place that I would happily go back to.

Before we returned to our ship, we took a tour of our sister ship, the Balmoral, which was docked next to us. It left Southampton the same day we did, but is on a round-the-world itinerary. Mom and Dad had been on this ship about ten years ago when it was called the Crown Odyssey, so I was eager to check it out. It is much bigger and newer than our ship, but has the exact same carpeting, which felt a little odd. I recognized a few of the passengers who had been on our ship two years ago, so going around-the-world is not a once-in-a-lifetime experience, apparently! The captain of the Balmoral now is one of captains we had on the Black Watch two years ago.

There was also a humongous German cruise ship in port. It dwarfed both of the Fred. Olsen ships. Incredibly ugly!

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But to start at the beginning: we left Nisswa on Monday. The roads were horribly icy until we got to Little Falls, then it started to snow, so it was a long trip to the airport. Our flight to Heathrow was completely full, but uneventful, and our driver was there when we came out of customs. Unfortunately he couldn't quite remember where he had parked the car, so we wandered around the parking ramp a bit, hauling our luggage. Not an encouraging start, but he turned out to be fine after that. We spent the night in the Novotel in Southampton, making two trips to Boots to purchase all the toiletries we need for three months. No sense in wasting precious luggage space and weight bringing them over from America! We also visited IKEA, Marks & Spencer, and, my favorite, John Lewis, picking up a few things at each store. (I got the cutest evening bag at John Lewis. Just perfect for formal nights on the ship!)

The boarding process on Wednesday went extremely smoothly. Both the Balmoral and Black Watch left out of the same terminal, so it could have been a mess. But the cruise company had staggered the check-in times, so when we arrived we breezed right through! I was VERY impressed. We were so excited walking up the gangplank. We were finally here! Coincidentally, our cabin stewardess, Allana, was assigned to take us to our cabin. She remembered us from last time and welcomed us with a big smile. Our cabin is very nice, with a lot more storage space and a far more convenient bathroom than Mom and I had. No balcony, but a big-enough window and a great location mid-ship.

We are seated at a table for four in the dining room. The other couple lives in Stavanger, Norway. Colin is Norwegian and Pat, his wife, is English (from Leeds.) So we have quite the international table! Our head waiter is Lito, one of the waiters Mom and I had before. I was so glad to see him, although sad that our other three waiters were off on their annual leaves. Many of the other dining room staff are still here, however, and quite a few have come by to say hello to us. Makes us feel very good that they remember us.

It feels like home being back on the ship where we met. There have been a few updates to the decor and we have a new captain and cruise director, but otherwise it is still the same old Black Watch. The first few days we didn't do much at all except read and relax, especially since the weather was extremely rough. It was certainly rougher than anything we had last time. For two solid days and nights we bounced around with the ship making all sorts of creaks, groans and bangs. We weren't sick, in fact, we ate very well, but getting around the ship was a bit tricky. There certainly is a reason there are handrails everywhere! The captain, on his semi-daily broadcast, just kept saying "Buckle Up and Enjoy the Ride." So we did.

There is Wi-fi available on the ship now. Not free, of course, but it should make it a little easier to update the blog and write emails. I won't be on Facebook at all; it cost about $4.00 just to get my homepage up! We are charged by byte transmission, so all those pictures added up! Speaking of which, I hope to be able to add some pictures to the blog as we go, but not today. Hope you enjoy reading this. We certainly are having a wonderful time.

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