Barcelona and Transatlantic Cruise 2008 – Day 14 – Atlantic Crossing
December 9, 2008
Today was second sea day as part of the Atlantic. The weather remained nice being warm and mostly sunny. In the afternoon, we could see a storm ahead of us and on both sides, but we were still in the sun. The Captain pulled up close to the storm and slowed down as it was moving the same direction as us. It was kind of interesting to see the foul weather ahead of and on both sides of us but yet, we remained sunny. Tomorrow, depending on how the storm goes, we may actually enter into it.
The weather remained nice for shorts and a t-shirt as it stayed near 80 degrees with minimal wind and sun. The seas were also quite calm with still only 2 foot swells. The ocean floor sits more than 20,000 feet below us. The water is very deep blue and the wake of the boat has an aquamarine look to it.
This has been a wonderful cruise thus far but the time is slipping away from us. It’s hard to imagine we only have 3 sea days and one port of call in St Maartan before we arrive in San Juan and the cruise will come to a close. Where does the time go so fast? We have already begun talking about our next cruise but that’s another post for another time.
I spent a good portion of the morning sitting in the Revelations Lounge just sitting and staring at the water. For me, it’s so peaceful and relaxing just to be staring at the water. I like to alternate between our balcony, where you can hear and smell the water too, and the Revelations Lounge where you are a bit higher and at the very front of the boat. Savannah joined me for about 15 minutes, but no one usually does – they are too much on the go.
Suzanne was again running from trivia game to trivia game. She has been competing in the Battle of the Sexes trivia game which pits men against women in trivia across about 7 days. Yesterday was Savannah’s day to spend all day in the Fun Factory. She has been wanting this day all cruise. She gets one or two counselors to play video or board games with her all day. They don’t mind as they have to be there anyways despite only being 6 kids on board.
Sean spent a little time in the Fun Factory too, but this was really his day. In the afternoon, the Cruise Director was hosting a game show called Who Wants to be a Bazillionaire based on the TV show. Anyone, including Sean, who wanted to give the game show a try, put their name in a hat. As fate would have it, Sean’s name was the second one draw to compete. The “competition†was really geared for no one to lose. He surprised the Cruise Director and the audience by knowing a bunch of the questions right off. Coupled with the lifelines and help from the audience, Sean was able to make it all the way to the top and win the top prize. He received an assortment of trinkets including a cruise bag, pillow, t-shirt, passport holder, lanyard and other miscellaneous things. The rest of the day he was congratulated wherever he went on the ship.
But, he had to run pretty fast from the show as our British friends had managed to get him on the invite list for the bridge tour. He was also able to take a camera for some pictures. He said the bridge tour was cool as the 2nd Mater walked them around and explained the various instruments and how they were used for navigation or controlling the ship. He even managed to complete the tour without pushing any buttons! So, it was a pretty good day for Sean.
We spent some time in the afternoon at the Mast Bar near the pool enjoying the sun, the band and the company of Roy and Jennifer. After a couple of drinks we plotted our course for the night. It was British Invasion night in the Revelations Lounge and they were having a buffet of British Pub food. We decided to forego going to the restaurant tonight and eat the British Pub food instead. The highlight of the meal was the authentic English pub style fish and chips. They were very tasty.
I think the crew was unprepared for the turnout however. When we showed up, we ended up being about 50th in line for the food. The line moved a bit slowly and there wasn’t a lot of crew around to help out. There were three or four officers including the Hotel Director near the line who were busy talking on their phones trying to get more help. As we were eating our food, about a dozen new staff members arrived to help out and things moved a bit better. I heard the Hotel Director (who is British) talking to a group of British folks. They were telling him how good and authentic the food was. The Hotel Director apologized for the slow start saying that they didn’t expect this big a turnout and did not expect folks to make this their dinner for the night. They thought they might stop by for a quick snack before dinner and that there were only 50 or 60 Brits on the cruise so having 300 or 400 people show up was a surprise. They reacted pretty quickly to the situation though.
After dinner, we went to the theater for the Fred Klett comedy act. He was a nice family oriented comedian who didn’t swear once during his act and was very funny. The kids really enjoyed him too. They enjoyed his show so much that after the show, they pitched in together and bought a live comedy show DVD of his.
There was a bunch of other events going on late night on the ship, but everyone was a bit tuckered out from the busy day and cruise that we decided to turn in early for a change. We went back to the cabin and just relaxed while the kids watched their new comedy DVD. We went lights out a little before 11:00.
Tomorrow will be another day at sea and providing we can continue to avoid the storm, should even have some more warming and poolside time in store for us.
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.
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