itchyfeetforever

A beautiful Caribbean sunrise greeted us this morning and I decided to make the most of it with a run on the jogging track. Bearing in mind it was 7am I was shocked to find it full of walkers, more kind of made running impossible as there were so many going back and forth, it kept slowing me down (not that I am fast by any stretch of the imagination!) so I gave up and decided to go to the gym. Again it was so busy, out of about 15 or more treadmills and bikes, they were all taken. I knew there was an early abs class so decided to give that a try and found that also full!! I have no idea where all the fitness freaks came from! Certainly not from the garden café ... read more

Quite breezy and a little overcast when I woke up but followed my usual routine and went up to grab our favourite bed. Seems to be the same bunch of early risers every morning. Mr tall and mysterious who has a super-sized coffee mug which he fills regularly until he then. Oves on to chilled white wine, he seems to be on his own, possibly gay but keeps himself to himself. Then there's Larry from Cambridge with a house in Barcelona, with his wife who's name escapes me, always lively and an early drinker, enjoys his football and a friendly guy. The Canadian lady who has been on all our cruises is also usually up early, despite late nights in the casino. Another early bird is a petite blonde with her husband who I think are ... read more

Today was a port day on the island of Tenerife. I worked here during two winter seasons and frighteningly realised that the last time I was here was 20 years ago! Anyway, as usual woke up early but Alex was pleased I did this time as we had an amazing view of the island as we sailed alongside into the port of Santa Cruz. (Jeez, I am drinking a coffee from the breakfast buffet as I type, man this is strong stuff, if this doesn’t propel me round the jogging track nothing will). Anyway, back to Tenerife. We had decided to rent a car and drive up Mount Teide, the volcano on the other side of the island. I had a couple of emails to do so Alex went off to grab us a croissant for ... read more

Up at the crack of dawn to go and secure sunbeds in the so called ‘quiet area’ which Alex discovered had nice sunbeds at the front of the ship. Got there at 08.30 to find it didn’t open until 09.30 so messaged Alex in the room to hurry and come up to the buffet for breakfast. Enjoyed a nice. ‘trying to be healthy and not put back on the 3 kilos I lost’ type breakfast! Spent the morning in the quiet area which ended up far from quiet as the ‘Cruise Next’ folk were still kicking off over their non-existent drinks packages! Popped down to switch the credit card we use for onboard credit as preferred to use a more dollar-friendly one and found the guest services area rammed with the ‘Cruise First’ guests with the ... read more

Up early to go for a run (well not as early as I run at home, but still). We ran 5k down to the port, over the bridges to the cruise ships and back, stumbling across a new shopping mall we hadn’t seen before, noted that down for later. Lots of activity down by the port with dozens of men dressed as women in crazy drag costumes, men and women in leather ‘gimp’ suits proudly displaying their butt cheeks and hundreds of multi coloured balloons. It appeared they were filming an LBGT movie, set around the Barcelona Pride day. The American tourists certainly looked bemused, with lots of comments like “these crazy Europeans” being bandied around. Back to the hotel to shower, then, following the fitness theme, we rented two city bikes and embarked on a ... read more