Cruising - again!

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Sunday, October 30

We were up, packed, fed and away by 10:00 am. We drove to the cruise ship terminal in Palma hoping to drop our luggage off so we could use the car to sightsee before taking the car in. We arrived at 11:30 only to find that the clocks had gone back an hour for daylight savings, and it was actually 10:30-- two and a half hours before we could check in. Despite the time, we were able to send our luggage on board and check in. Before boarding, we drove back to Palma, parked and did some sightseeing.

We walked along the mallecon in the warm sunshine looking at the yachts, ships, boats, etc. There were lots of huge private yachts. It makes you wonder how people can afford them.

Soon we came to the cathedral of Palma. I'm not sure what the difference is between a church and a cathedral, but based on my limited European experience, churches are like cathedrals the way a Volkswagen Beetle is like a Cadillac limousine! They are much larger and more ornate. This one was amazing. It had flying buttresses, a dozen or more spires, gargoyles and it was enormous! It filled the equivalent of a city block.

We did some shopping, then took the car in and Max, the car agent, drove us back to the ship. The first thing we did was go to lunch. It was very nice having so many lunch choices. We unpacked our bags and went on deck for the sail away.

Jill and I had a wonderful dinner together at a table for two. We have open dining so can eat whenever we want. After dinner, we took in the show and sat with Maureen and Fred.

The clocks go back tonight. It looks like we'll have a much more gradual adaption to the time change going home, as we drop 6 hours back in 14 days during the cruise.

Monday, October 31 -- Happy Halloween

I woke at 5:30 am! That darn time change may be harder than I thought! The crew had put up Halloween decorations overnight; especially in the teen and children areas. Jill and I went to a 7:30 stretch class followed by a workout. Then we had breakfast in the dining room. Later in the morning we took merenga lessons. Lots of fun!

Jill played duplicate bridge, and I lazed the afternoon away as we approached the Strait of Gibralter. It was pretty cool seeing Morocco (Africa) on the port side and Spain (Europe) on the starboard side as we cruised by the two continents. We spent some time lounging around the pool as it was a very sunny day.

Tuesday, November 1

We arose to do more exercising; Jill did an "abs" class and I did stairs (450 of them!) and laps around the deck. We met for breakfast and as we sat down I was struck by a nauseous wave of seasickness from the 7 foot Atlantic swells. Jill had breakfast alone as I lay in the cabin. I ended up taking some seasick pills (which Jill got for me from the doctor--What a great wife!) which helped enough that I was able to eat a light lunch.
We had another relaxing afternoon...mainly reading on deck. Fred and Maureen had met a German couple, Barney and Anna, and the six of us had dinner. It was the first formal dinner, and we were all dressed up. We then attended the Captain's Reception, has some champagne and went to the evening show in the Palladium Theatre.

Wednesday, November 2

We arrived at Tenerife, the largest of the Canary Islands. We left the ship to wander around. When we got into the main town, we saw a double-decker bus and boarded it for an hour-long ride through the city of Santa Cruz. We had earphones on, and were able to hear the running commentary of the history of the islands. We split up after that. Jill and I went to the African Market to shop. When we finished, Jill went to a park, and went to find a Wifi bar. Eventually, I found a McDonalds that had a Wifi zone around the building and outside as well. Unfortunately, there were 37 people on computers and cell phone on the main floor and outside at tables on the sidewalk, plus quite a few more upstairs on the second floor. Needless to say, I was not able to access the Internet with that number of people logged in at once, so I went back to the ship.

After lunch in the dining room with a nice group of ten people, we went on deck to await the ship's departure at 2:00 pm. At precisely 2:00, the Captain made an announcement that two people were still not on board, giving their names and nationality (They were Canadians), and asking if they were on board to check in with any crew member. At 2:10, he announced we were leaving without them and that their passports would be left with the customs to be given to them when they returned to the (empty) dock. The ship pulled sideways away from the dock about sixty feet and stopped! It then returned to the dock where the two people had been strolling back to the ship, and had seen it pull away! Then had run to the ship gesticulating madly, and I guess the dock crew must have radioed the captain who decided to pick them up. We all agreed they had been very lucky, as the next chance to board the ship is 6 days from now in Barbados!

At 4:00, we went to Spanish lessons with Fred and Maureen. (Hola, mi nombre es Gerry.) We had lots of fun with about 50 other people.

We spent the evening dining and dancing.

Thursday, November 3

We had all our meals in the dining room as it is on the 4th deck, which is much less rocky than elsewhere on the ship. We played bridge with Maureen and Fred, Jill took some exercise classes, and I read.

I should say here that our days at sea are quite routine. Basically, it's three meals a day and we sleep. In addition, we read, go to Spanish and dancing lessons, read some more, attend the nightly show in the Palladium Theatre, and generally relax.

Friday, November 4

Same as Thursday, except it was a formal dining night and we attended the Crown and Anchor Society reception held in honour of those passengers who had previously sailed with Royal Caribbean.

Saturday, November 5

Rest and Relaxation at sea continues! The seas had calmed to the point that there really were no rollers to toss the ship around. The temperature was in the high 20's. Very nice!

Interestingly, the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean where we are is 28.8 degrees Celsius! That's warmer than the ship's main pool. The ocean seems very clean when you look at it. It has that beautiful aqua blue colour which is seen best when you watch the bow wave of the ship curl over. Jill enjoyed a long swim in the pool by herself.

We had a nice dinner with the six of us, then attended the theatre where a pianist was playing with the regular orchestra. He had been playing piano since he was three years old; he's now in his fifty's. He played various songs--jazz, classical, pop, etc. Then he said for his finale, he would ask for requests from the audience and play them as a medley! He spent about ten minutes taking suggestions from the audience, then sat down.

It was truly amazing to see him play about 18-20 songs from a wide variety of genres. Here are a few songs he played...Canon in D, Great Balls of Fire, Lara's theme, Rhapsody in Blue, Blue Moon, Duelling Banjos, and many more--all one after the other without stopping. He played for almost an hour to get through the list and he played it all from memory--no music at all! When he finished the audience went crazy and gave him a standing ovation. It was a wonderful concert.

Sunday, November 6

The ship continues to head for the Caribbean. The ocean is very calm with almost no rollers at all. It's very warm and humid out here in the middle of the Atlantic. We had more dance lessons. Today it was Latin line dancing. The instructor gave me a number of Latin songs and artists so I can get the music when I get home. So far we've learned the salsa, marenga, rumba, swing and line dancing.

The six of us had dinner together, and it lasted two and a half hours. Went to the show, then back to the room, set our clocks back one hour again and fell asleep.

Monday, November 7

The sea temperature is now thirty degrees Celsius as we head closer to the Caribbean. We've read several books each, had lots of rest and are looking forward to St. Maarten tomorrow. Many people have said they're anxious to get ashore after five and a half days at sea, but we've enjoyed the relaxing days at sea and the 25 hour days when the clocks got back an hour - four times so far! Cruising home is a really great way to avoid the nine hour jet lag you get when you fly home in one day.

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