Barcelona and Transatlantic Cruise 2008 – Day 12 – Las Palmas, Canary Islands
December 7, 2008
Today we had another port of call in the Canary Islands. Today’s stop was the island of Las Palmas. The Canary Islands are part of Spain. This would be our last port of call before making the Atlantic crossing.
We had already decided to pretty much just stay on the ship this port of call as it was our fourth straight day in port and we wanted to relax (yeah, I know we had five sea days upcoming). The weather pretty much reinforced our decision as it was overcast with on and off rain. We had considered getting off the ship and doing some souvenir shopping but decided to forego that with the weather and the trinkets we had bought thus far.
Despite the late night the previous night we had all risen by 9 but again decided to skip breakfast. I think we have skipped breakfast more on this cruise than we have had it. We have not made it to the dining room yet for a single breakfast. Normally on a cruise, we go to the dining room most mornings for breakfast. We have ordered room service breakfast a couple of times and I have grabbed a Danish once or twice while preparing my daily blog of the cruise, but in general, we just haven’t eaten breakfast. I think not eating breakfast has helped me not feel as full as I usually do on a cruise.
During our late night yesterday with our English friends Roy and Jennifer, we made plans for a sail away and start of the crossing party on our balcony. We had a bottle of Cava we had purchased in Spain and they had a bottle of Spanish white they had purchased that we would consume. We worked with Ramon, our stateroom attendant to arrange for some appetizers to be brought to our balcony for the party.
We spent the morning enjoying the views of Las Palmas from the various decks of the ship and as usual, the family enjoyed lunch together. After lunch, we did a bit of straightening of the room (it doesn’t take much for us to mess it up after Ramon cleans it) and even snuck in a short nap.
Roy and Jennifer showed up just as we untied the ship from the dock and pushed away from the pier. There was a slight mist in the air as we started moving and beginning the Atlantic crossing. Our three day visit to the Canary Islands was very enjoyable despite the colder than expected weather and overcast of rainy days.
Despite working with Ramon, our attempt at some appetizers failed. We tried to get a variety of stuff, but he ended up bringing only cheese and crackers. Savannah said “I got this†and disappeared out of the room. While we sipped our Cava and chit chatted, she reappeared with a tray of goodies from the afternoon tea set up in one of the lounges. She had some wonderful cookies, pastries and desserts. After setting down the tray, she went back out and returned with another tray of a variety of bite sized sandwiches. I am not entirely sure how she did it, but she did a wonderful job. We plan another balcony party for one of the sea days and have already hired her for the catering job.
We took some wonderful video of the sail away and snapped some good pictures of the island and our guests. The kids even talked Roy and Jennifer into playing a short game of Balderdash which they appeared to actually enjoy. We have had a great time with our new found British friends.
Before dinner, we attended another show in the theater which was a Holiday show. It was basically a instrumental and singing of holiday favorites. Many of the different acts from the show participated.
The four of us ate dinner again tonight after our boy’s and girl’s night out last night. Savannah, Sean and myself enjoyed a very good chicken fettuccini alfredo. They had a Veal loin that I had planned to get, but our waiter steered me away from it saying some folks had said at the early seating that it was a bit on tough side. The alfredo was quite enjoyable. Suzanne enjoyed some sort of fish dish. Tomorrow night will be another formal night and the kids are looking forward to getting all fixed up again. On this cruise, we will end up with a total of 3 formal nights.
After dinner, we went to the White Night party in the Revelations lounge though we didn’t dress for the event. The party band played lots of good dance songs and Savannah had a blast dancing to Hot Hot Hot, Macarena, YMCA, Electric Slide and other of her dance favorites. Sean hung around for a few minutes but returned to the room to watch a movie. He has definitely picked up my love of movies.
We stayed at the White Night party for about 40 minutes before we hooked up with Roy and Jennifer again in the Martini Bar. We reminisced about the cruise thus far and the crossing ahead. We were all a bit tired from our previous exploits, so we only hung around for one drink and retired about 12:30. Last night also started a string of five straight nights as part of the crossing where we gain an extra hour on the clocks – definitely an advantage over heading the other direction.
As mentioned, tomorrow is the first of five straight days at sea as we make our way across the Atlantic Ocean.
Barcelona and Transatlantic Cruise 2008 – Day 8 – Day at Sea
December 3, 2008
Today we enjoyed another day at sea after having visited Malagal, Spain yesterday. During the night, the seas picked up a bit. At the noon time update, the Captain reported that we would be experiencing a sea state with about 10 – 12 foot swells. The ship did a fair bit of moving, but we enjoyed the day.
Having stayed up late again the night before, it was 10:00 before we arose for the day. The kids headed to the Fun Factory for some more kid time, while Suzanne and I relaxed in one of the lounges chit chatting and watching the ocean go by.
As usual and actually required, we enjoyed another family lunch together around 1:00 pm. While we let the kids spend pretty much as much time as they want on days at sea in the Fun Factory, we still require that they eat their meals with us and the spend the evenings with us too. It’s a policy that has worked out well for us. We’ve seen some families that essentially drop their kids off at the Fun Factory and pick them up at the end of the cruise. That’s not our idea of a family vacation.
In the afternoon, Suzanne and I attended an Around the World Wine Tasting. It was a special event with the cellar master and his sommeliers where they had 12 wines from around the World available for tasting. We enjoyed the event with our English friends Roy and Jennifer that we have met on the ship. We tasted some good wines and some not so good wines. It was interesting to ask our sommelier after the event what he thought about the wines and compare notes. It was refreshing to hear what he thought were the bad wines. He didn’t pull any punches either. I would say in all our cruising on Celebrity, he has been our favorite/best sommelier.
The kids spent some time in the afternoon working on a couple of the school projects that they needed to be working on for missing two weeks of school. They might get to miss some school for the cruise, but they don’t get a free ride. I figure we have maybe one more year where we can take them out of school if needed for a cruise. When Sean hits high school, we will have to match our cruise schedule to the school schedule.
The evening entertainment was supposed to be one of the song and dance production numbers from the Celebrity Singers and Dancers, but due to the unpredictability of the current sea state, the show was postponed. Instead, Jack Walker, the singer from the second night gave another performance. On the way into the theater, the Cruise Director joked to Suzanne that they almost called her to see if she could do a show. The staff and the other passengers were still complementing her on her singing at the karaoke show the night before.
Broken Record Alert! Dinner was again fabulous. Savannah opted for the vegetable penne pasta while the rest of us enjoyed a Veal Cordon Blue. Actually, Suzanne wasn’t nearly as impressed as I was. She thought it was a bit mass produced (which all food on a ship kind of is). Sean and I both thought it was wonderful, so not sure what we saw differently. Dessert was tiramisu which we all enjoyed except for Suzanne who went with her standard mixed berries for dessert. That is one way she tries not to put on a bunch of weight on a cruise – she foregoes the dessert on most nights – definitely more will power than I.
After dinner, we headed straight for the cabin to get to bed at a decent hour for a change. In addition, we gained an extra hour of sleep due to a time change during the night. Tomorrow we will make a port of call at the island of Madera, Portugal. We will be visiting the capital city of Funchal and have some tourist activities planned.
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