Sea Days have a way of blending one into another....treadmill, breakfast, reading ( on my third novel now), chatting with friends, occasional lecture, Trivia, lunch, lounging on deck, reading again, dinner evening show, drinks with friends, to bed and start all over again. Truly a relaxing and restful cruise.
We had the pleasure of celebrating Tina's birthday with Champagne in our cabin on the 25th! Dined at the rest of the specialty restaurants ( with inconsistent service). Have been a bit disappointed with the lack of evening activities, especially music venues (piano player in the Martinis Bar and string quartet in the lounge near the Main Dining Room before dinner). After the evening show, there is a program and dancing in the Horizons lounge - a large lounge on Deck 15 that is underutilized ( except for Trivia and such during the day).
Have enjoyed meeting new people and feeling younger than most onboard :). And can't believe that we only have one more day before we get to Miami. We have been blessed with good weather, reasonably calm seas and love being rocked to sleep at night.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Posted with Blogsy
Santa Cruz de la Palma, Canary Islands
What a delightful surprise this stop was! We walked into a charming town with lots of shops, old church, beautiful wooden balconies on many buildings, and views of the volcanic cliffs and mountains. Since we didthe national park and got our fill of volcanoes on Lanzarote, we didn't do the tour of the deep Caldera here....but heard it was beautiful from fellow passengers who did. Art bought his first requisite tee shirt here figuring that no one else that he knows would even know where this island is much less have a shirt saying La Palma :). We walked though town and along the waterfront and picked up a few souvenirs then headed back to the ship. Since sail away was scheduled for 2 pm and we arrived at 8 am, we had just enough time to get a taste of the culture and do our shopping.
Several Spanish naval ships were docked at the same dock and one had a gun pointed right at us - a bit disconcerting. On the way back to the ship, we stopped to watch the ceremony of a ship receiving its new captain...very interesting.
The weather has been beautiful...getting warmer each day and sunny. Relaxed onboard until time to meet Tina and Tim for dinner. Good show focused on Andrew Lloyd Weber music followed by a terrific and very funny singing and stand-up comedy act by Nolan, our cruise director. A very talented man from Ireland/Scotland who now lives in Eastern Tennessee.
Several Spanish naval ships were docked at the same dock and one had a gun pointed right at us - a bit disconcerting. On the way back to the ship, we stopped to watch the ceremony of a ship receiving its new captain...very interesting.
The weather has been beautiful...getting warmer each day and sunny. Relaxed onboard until time to meet Tina and Tim for dinner. Good show focused on Andrew Lloyd Weber music followed by a terrific and very funny singing and stand-up comedy act by Nolan, our cruise director. A very talented man from Ireland/Scotland who now lives in Eastern Tennessee.
Glorious Sea Days
So now we begin our favorite part of a transatlantic cruise - relaxing days at sea. Lots of activities on the ship ranging from lectures about the sea to cooking classes, card games, sunbathing, reading, wine tasting, putting tournaments, Bingo....you get the picture. Something for every taste! We really are enjoying the Spa terrace at the front of the 14th deck with double Lounges, peaceful music and a Tallassotherapy pool. We have access since we are in a Concierge Class cabin. Spent a good part of our first two sea days there! We've also worked at taking care of at least a few of the calories we seem to ingest all day by going to the gym and putting in our miles on the treadmill. So far, no weight gain even after 5 days in Paris, 2 in Barcelona and continuous feeding since we boarded the ship on the 15th! And that included a sumptuous brunch today!
Met a very nice couple from Arizona at Happy Hour at the Martinis Bar yesterday and had breakfast with them today! Making new friends is a fun part of cruising and we keep meeting such interesting people.
Enjoyed a lecture this afternoon by a geologist about projected ocean conditions during the 21 st century! Just the impact of the increased population projections was enough to give me pause!
Off to dinner at the Polo Grill tonight with a review tomorrow! Forgot to say that we did had turkey with the trimmings last night...nice try but really missed a real home made dinner and we were so grateful that our family indulged our wanderlust by coming for an early T Day before we left for Paris!
Met a very nice couple from Arizona at Happy Hour at the Martinis Bar yesterday and had breakfast with them today! Making new friends is a fun part of cruising and we keep meeting such interesting people.
Enjoyed a lecture this afternoon by a geologist about projected ocean conditions during the 21 st century! Just the impact of the increased population projections was enough to give me pause!
Off to dinner at the Polo Grill tonight with a review tomorrow! Forgot to say that we did had turkey with the trimmings last night...nice try but really missed a real home made dinner and we were so grateful that our family indulged our wanderlust by coming for an early T Day before we left for Paris!
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Sunday, Lazarote, Canary Islands
Left the ship about 9:30 AM after checking with the Destination Expert re: getting a taxi to tour the Northern part of the island. We had been here about 5 years ago and loved the tour to the national park which contained lots of volcanoes. 95 € for a taxi to take 4 of us to two resort towns on the coast ( Playa del Carmen and Cabrera) and into the park. Quite a deal as the cruise line tour was $99 per person for 3 1/2 hours!
We left in just a few minutes on surprising good roads. The island is very clean - no litter, sidewalks swept clean ( in one place using a palm frond as a broom), and whitewashed buildings. Playa Del Carmen had streets lined with shops and restaurants and a lovely beach (bathing suit tops optional). Perfect photo op spot ... Then on our way to Cabrera, also on the water and with a large marina filled with sailboats, waterbuses, and chartered boats taking people around the coastal area. Menus posted outside of restaurants had very reasonable prices. Lots of tourists from Greece, Germany and Sweden according to our daily info sheet. Back In the taxi and off to the Timanfaya Naional Park (the terrain looks like it did after the last major volcanic eruptions in the 18th and 19 th centuries). The island has 100 volcanoes and is 70 miles off the coast of Africa - the most easterly of the Canary Islands.
Car and bus traffic is monitored into the park...due to limited parking. We paid 8 €/ person for a 45 minutes bus tour of the park and its amazing scenery. Will post links to pictures later. Then off we went to briefly visi a Wine Bodega and souvenir shop and explore a bit of downtown Arrecife, the town near our dock. We paid our very nice driver who with minimal English managed to tell us a bit about each of the places where we stopped. Art finally found a pair of shorts....he had forgotten to pack any and the weather is getting warmer! Now he is set for our stop tomorrow at another of the 7 Canary Islands..
Back at the ship, we relaxed until time to dress for dinner ... Tonight at one of the specialty restaurants - Jacques - with Marilyn and Wally and Ann and Steve. Food was good with, as always, lots of choices and good service. Although we are really enjoying the many dining options and open seating on Oceania, we are missing some of our favorite things from Celebrity! Especially the evening cocktail hour for Elite level Captain's Club members and the specialty restaurants ( even though they entail an extra charge and are free on Oceania) clearly each line has its own best features.
Off to bed early since we weren't interested in listening to the Violinist who was the featured artist tonight!
We left in just a few minutes on surprising good roads. The island is very clean - no litter, sidewalks swept clean ( in one place using a palm frond as a broom), and whitewashed buildings. Playa Del Carmen had streets lined with shops and restaurants and a lovely beach (bathing suit tops optional). Perfect photo op spot ... Then on our way to Cabrera, also on the water and with a large marina filled with sailboats, waterbuses, and chartered boats taking people around the coastal area. Menus posted outside of restaurants had very reasonable prices. Lots of tourists from Greece, Germany and Sweden according to our daily info sheet. Back In the taxi and off to the Timanfaya Naional Park (the terrain looks like it did after the last major volcanic eruptions in the 18th and 19 th centuries). The island has 100 volcanoes and is 70 miles off the coast of Africa - the most easterly of the Canary Islands.
Car and bus traffic is monitored into the park...due to limited parking. We paid 8 €/ person for a 45 minutes bus tour of the park and its amazing scenery. Will post links to pictures later. Then off we went to briefly visi a Wine Bodega and souvenir shop and explore a bit of downtown Arrecife, the town near our dock. We paid our very nice driver who with minimal English managed to tell us a bit about each of the places where we stopped. Art finally found a pair of shorts....he had forgotten to pack any and the weather is getting warmer! Now he is set for our stop tomorrow at another of the 7 Canary Islands..
Back at the ship, we relaxed until time to dress for dinner ... Tonight at one of the specialty restaurants - Jacques - with Marilyn and Wally and Ann and Steve. Food was good with, as always, lots of choices and good service. Although we are really enjoying the many dining options and open seating on Oceania, we are missing some of our favorite things from Celebrity! Especially the evening cocktail hour for Elite level Captain's Club members and the specialty restaurants ( even though they entail an extra charge and are free on Oceania) clearly each line has its own best features.
Off to bed early since we weren't interested in listening to the Violinist who was the featured artist tonight!
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Seville Saturday
Ship docked after a bit of rocking this AM, in Cadiz. Since this is an overnight port, we had booked a tour to Seville with a group from Cruise Critic. Seville is about 2 hours from Cadiz. Everyone was on time at the buses and we were ready to leave as planned at 8:30.... However, we were unaware that there was a Summit of countries from South America hosted by Spain in Cadiz. It was quickly apparent, after circling the same area twice, that we weren't going anywhere until 10 AM because the streets were closed to all traffic for security for the dignitaries from the various countries represented at the summit. Seems like politics continue to haunt us! Long story short...we finally left about 1015 as the cloudy day gave way to sunshine.
Arrived in Seville to more clouds rolling in....and rain on and off most of the day - a few times torrential. We thoroughly enjoyed the Placa Espania, walking through the quaint narrow streets and squares of the old Jewish, section, the Alcazar, and viewing the Cathedral ( the 3rd largest in the worl and the largest Gothic cathedral ). We had free time to shop for gifts and souvenirs, lunch ( for some...we had Gelato :)), and exploring the area. Very nice introduction to Seville with a good guide and tour director - it would be nice to return and spend more time in this lovely city.
After 1/2 hour spent searching for a missing person in our group....don't ask...we returned to Cadiz....had a quick drink in our room and decided that an informal dinner in the Terrace Grill would be just what we needed. Too tired to change for dinner or any activity tonight. The buffet was wonderful. Lobster and Salmon for me and Lobster and Lamb chops for Art - grilled to order with salads and baked potatoes.....much better than a 5 course dinner tonight. We joined Ann and Steve ( new friends) and enjoyed travel talk and getting to know them better....then off to catch up on blogging and looking forward to exploring Cadiz tomorrow with Tina and Tim and finding an Internet Cafe! The Internet fees on Oceania are outrageous so we will save those minutes for the sea days when we cross the Atlantic - thus the delays in posting my blog posts and checking email!
Must say that we are loving this ship and Oceania....looks like Celebrity has competition :)
Arrived in Seville to more clouds rolling in....and rain on and off most of the day - a few times torrential. We thoroughly enjoyed the Placa Espania, walking through the quaint narrow streets and squares of the old Jewish, section, the Alcazar, and viewing the Cathedral ( the 3rd largest in the worl and the largest Gothic cathedral ). We had free time to shop for gifts and souvenirs, lunch ( for some...we had Gelato :)), and exploring the area. Very nice introduction to Seville with a good guide and tour director - it would be nice to return and spend more time in this lovely city.
After 1/2 hour spent searching for a missing person in our group....don't ask...we returned to Cadiz....had a quick drink in our room and decided that an informal dinner in the Terrace Grill would be just what we needed. Too tired to change for dinner or any activity tonight. The buffet was wonderful. Lobster and Salmon for me and Lobster and Lamb chops for Art - grilled to order with salads and baked potatoes.....much better than a 5 course dinner tonight. We joined Ann and Steve ( new friends) and enjoyed travel talk and getting to know them better....then off to catch up on blogging and looking forward to exploring Cadiz tomorrow with Tina and Tim and finding an Internet Cafe! The Internet fees on Oceania are outrageous so we will save those minutes for the sea days when we cross the Atlantic - thus the delays in posting my blog posts and checking email!
Must say that we are loving this ship and Oceania....looks like Celebrity has competition :)
Sea Day - Friday
Glorious sea days...one of the reasons that we love transatlantic cruises! Breakfast at the Terrace Grill then off to do our own things...day full of Trivial Pursuit, Putting tournament, etc for Art and Laundry, reading, relaxing on our balcony for me. And, of course, chatting with old and new friends and eating and drinking for both of us. The welcome cocktail party consisted of complimentary drinks from 5:45 - 8 pm in all of the bars ( topped with a glass of wine to take to dinner for anyone who wanted one). Another delicious dinner and off to bed...early tonight since we weren't interested in the Violinist who was playing tonight.
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