Funchal, Madeira

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We arrived at Madeira at our due time, but had been advised by fellow passengers as to what to expect and they were correct. We did not dock at Funchal but tendered in. Why? Because there was a cruise ship traffic jam with, seemingly, half the cruise ships in Europe trying to dock at once. There were two or three super cruisers and all the big companies were there, including Black Watch from Fred Olsen. We eventually anchored about 3 kms to the east of the main harbour about half a kilometre out and, following clearance, were on the second tender. However, when we arrived in the harbour - which only had three slots for landing tenders - we were in a line of boats sent from about nine other cruise ships. It took until 5 pm to disembark the tender - and our last tender back was 6.45 pm - because they won't tender in the dark.

However, this was enough time to quickly check out Funchal as we will be back in early April. The place was fab with cute narrow lanes, mostly pedestrianised, a beautiful cathedral, nice restaurants and an excellent prom. However, we had to search down a cash machine, post our blogs and acquire some liquid refreshment for the remainder of the cruise. However, we did all this this fairly efficiently in about 45 minutes and spent the rest of the time sauntering around before lining up for the last tender. Inevitably, there were still guests coming in to port on the last boat who were given a whole half hour to look around. We were lucky, but Funchal on New Year's Eve is a busy place!

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