Barcelona and Transatlantic Cruise 2008 – Day 12 – Las Palmas, Canary Islands

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.