Today was our last day at sea for nearly a week and tomorrow we begin our visits to various ports. We thought we would record our activities of the day and we hope this doesn’t put anyone to sleep. Just how do we while away an entire day?
Believe it or not, we set a wake up call for this morning so we could go to the fitness center and work out. Each morning I check the weather out the balcony and we had the greyest day yet today. We may have seen the last of the sun.
The night before getting to Ponta Delgada we watched The Artist out on deck. This is called the Movies Under the Stars. It is a fun way to spend an evening. They serve popcorn and you curl up under a blanket.They even come around with milk and cookies during the show. May not be doing this again as it is getting cooler as we head north towards Ireland.
As we were walking around town we say this great mural down by the industrial part of the waterfront. There were cars parked in front so it was hard to take pictures of more than just parts of the mural, but this is one of my favorite scenes. The whole style of the mural is just to strange for words, which is of course why I liked it so much. In the part you can’t see there are more fish coming to eat the fish hamburger.
Finally, I saw this on a wall on a street we were walking down. I have no idea what it means. It was in a shopping area so it may have had something to do with a shop, but I’m not sure what. Doggie lingerie?
Tami got a bad case of the tired feet soon after (can you believe she plays that much soccer?), so we went and had a beer and checked email.
-M
Yesterday we finally made landfall! I don’t know when we first were able to see land, and I was undoubtedly either eating or sleeping when we could, but it was exciting to see the island looming quite large as we approached. We pulled into Ponta Delgada at noon and were soon off the ship to explore the town. It is full of cobbled streets and sidewalk cafes, and lots and lots of cruisers. At least it was yesterday!
I have been quite struck by the color of the water as we cross the Atlantic. It is the most gorgeous deep, deep blue. The color varies depending on the skies, but when it is sunny, it is a beautiful blue that cannot be caught on film (or computer chip).
The ship’s navigator posts the chart with our course and it is fun to see our progress. This picture is quite fuzzy since it was shot through glass, but you can see our route across the Atlantic. They pointed out early on that we had passed through part of the Bermuda Triangle, but we exited unscathed and I don’t recall seeing any UFO’s.
Following our series of astronomy lectures, we had an evening of stargazing on one of the top decks the other night. They turned off the upper lights of the ship for it, so we got a great view of the stars and planets. Unfortunately, there were broken clouds, so we had an added challenge. Of course, about 10 seconds after the bridge turned the lights back on, the clouds cleared up completely! No matter, even with the lights we were able to see Venus, Mars, Saturn, and lots and lots of stars. Very cool.
On our last sea day as we headed towards Ponta Delgada in the Azores, we finally picked up a little more chop and swell, but the ship’s stabilizers really give a pretty smooth ride. The night before we pulled into Ponta Delgada, though, we hit even more swell and we could really feel the difference. Rather than long, wallowing rolls, however, the motion is a little more jerky and unpredictable. That probably helps with seasickness, and I assume that is what the stabilizers are doing. It kind of reminds me of how it feels when you are in bed and there is a small earthquake. Sometimes it goes on for a bit, other times it is quite brief. I don’t mind it at all, but it can make things creak in the cabin a lot! And you want to move the hangers so they don’t rattle all night.
Sperm whales are regular residents of the area around the Azores, so I have been on whale watch on and off for the last couple of days. It’s hard to fit that in, though, between sleeping, eating, reading, etc, etc. I did, however, spot two small spouts in the water two days ago and I am sticking to my story that it was a small whale. Had to be!
-T
As our friends know, Tami and I like to look at art. (Not Art, we don’t know him that well.) A major feature on board cruise ships these days is the art gallery and art auction. They will hold an art auction several times over the course of a cruise, and with a largely captive audience they sell a ton of it! Tami and I like to go to see if there is something we might like, as well as to hear about the various artists they represent.
Of course, to sell as much as possible to this audience, they have to carry a selection that will appeal to a lot of different people. At the same time, it tends to be somewhat homogeneous to broadly appeal. In the gallery right now there are two small Rembrandt sketches, and a Picasso I like very much (unfortunately a bit out of our price range). At the other end of the scale is a piece Tami and I have dubbed the “Worst Piece of Art Ever”.
-M
The food in the main dining room has been very good, though after a while it does get a little monotonous. Despite all the nationalities in the crew, they don’t push to get creative, ethnic, etc. with the food. Of course since the passengers are mostly American, they have to offer what will most broadly appeal to that crowd.
There are a couple of upgrade restaurants on board, i.e. you can eat at them instead of the main dining room or the buffet for an extra charge of $20-$25 per meal. We splurged the second night on the Italian restaurant, Sabatinis. The food was definitely superior to the main dining room. Tami had her Lobster Three Ways (tail, risotto, and sauce). I had a soft shell crab appetizer and duck for my main course. However, I was most impressed by some of the small touches. The duck was accompanied by some small candied fruits (looked like cherry, grape, apple, etc.). They looked like little translucent blobs. What was most amazing was that when eaten, they weren’t just candied, they had also been infused with some kind of essence of mustard! They were both sweet and spicy.
Then with my dessert there was a garnish that looked like a candy lemon slice, but it turned out to be infused with a licorice flavor, probably anise.
Unfortunately the upgrade restaurants have the same menu every night, so you wouldn’t want to eat there too often.
-M
This is a very large ship with many, many decks. Most of the restaurants, shops, bars, events, and the theater are on the 5th, 6th, and 7th decks. Our cabin is on the 11th deck. We take the elevators a lot. There are hallways that run along both the port and starboard sides of the ship. Some of the places we are headed are towards the stern of the ship, and some are towards the bow. Every time we get off the elevator, we have to make a decision about which way to head to get where we are going. We invariably choose the wrong way. We often have to look out the windows to see which way the ship is steaming, and then we know which way to head. Sheesh! You’d think we’d have this down by now! And then when we get off the elevator on the 11th deck, both sides of the ship look the same, so we again usually take the wrong way. That’s how we’re staying so slim and trim.
-T
As we make our way across the Atlantic Ocean (we are nearing halfway), we are also moving through the time zones. Every night we turn our clocks forward one hour. It’s really a very civilized way to move from North American time to European time! The hard part is keeping track of what day of the week it is.
We continue to enjoy good weather. The seas have increased a bit, but nothing too dramatic. For part of today (Sunday) we had some whitecaps and a bit of a swell, but it is not too noticeable on the ship. When we are sitting or in bed we can feel the slow roll of the ship, but I am amazed how calm it is considering how far out in the ocean we are. Clouds have increased, but we still have mostly hazy sunshine.
-T
When we booked this trip, my main concern about the itinerary was this stretch of five days at sea and what would happen with Mike. Would he be completely bored after one day? I know I can read for days on end and be happy, but Mike likes to go and do and see. Well I needn’t have worried—we have found many things to keep us busy, and I am in fact wondering if one of these days soon I should just not look at the daily schedule so I can get in some solid reading time. I’ve only made it through one book so far!
They really do provide a great variety of things to do. One of my favorites is the series of lectures that they offer. I haven’t made them all by any means, but have made a point of catching the entire astronomy series, which has been very good. Tomorrow the lecturer leads our first star gazing, so we’re hoping it’s clear out. There is also a lecture on sea navigation tomorrow which I plan to see, but I understand they will not let us steer the ship afterwards. Darn!
Tonight we caught the Movie under the Stars, which they show on the top deck on a big screen. The audience sits in the deck chairs and they provide blankets and cookies. We watched “Midnight in Paris” and enjoyed it very much. We also had a very nice sunset just as the movie started.
-T
As I was lounging on our balcony in shorts and a T-shirt, and basking in the warm sunshine yesterday afternoon, I overheard a comment from the next balcony over. The woman outside was calling in to her companion inside the cabin, “you’d better bundle up if you’re going to come out here.” Guess they’re not from Seattle, are they?
-T
