Tuesday, December 5 – The Days Dwindle Down As advertised, tonight was the last of the formal nights. D noticed that none of the passengers was in formal wear; only the officers wore their finery. Many of the larger tables had officers present for dinner, a nice touch especially because the wine is free for the passengers. We had asked about dining with officers yesterday. On most of our previous cruises, the captain or his designee has hosted a table of 8 or 9 passengers several times each week. On long cruises, these are usually the 5 Star Mariners who have spent more than 500 days on HAL ships. On the World in 2015, it was everyone who had booked the entire 114 days. On this cruise last year, we ate at “the big table” with the hotel manager. Maud, the assistant dining room manager responsible for our section, told us that this year, officers were being sent to the 6- and 8-person tables but that she could arrange for us to eat at one if we wished to dine with an of
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Sunday, December 3 -- Merrily We Roll Along It’s a good thing nothing of consequence has happened since Wednesday because internet service was spotty at best. We are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean heading west toward the Bahama Islands, but the satellites the ship uses for internet connectivity don’t know that; they are somewhat motionless over the earth. Seas the past few days have been bumpy and, on occasion, downright rocky. Still, they were nothing extraordinary and tended to rock us to sleep, sometimes 2 or 3 times a day. Now that we are in the home stretch we are making lists of chores which have to be done starting Friday. For example, the hurricane shutters have to be opened until the next storm season and all of the patio furniture needs to be taken from the living room and put back on the deck. There meals to organize for the coming invasion of the grandchildren and presents to buy. Now that we know we have to return to Baltimore for another round of s
Wednesday, November 29 – Funchal Again Today was at least the fourth time we have been in Funchal. We usually take a ship’s shuttle to town and just walk around although we did take a ship’s tour in 2001. The local market, filled with local produce and handicrafts, is a must for us as is a visit to the fish market behind it. Last year, there was no shuttle offered and the nearest stop for the HoHo bus was almost a mile away, so we stayed on the ship. This year, there was no need for a shuttle as we were docked at a new facility [new to us, at least] near downtown. The problem for us was that the gangway was at water level and the terminal, such as it was, was at street level. There did not appear to be an elevator available and the incline from sea to street was quite steep. To compound our difficulties, MA twisted her back last night and was unsure if she would be able to walk the incline in either direction. Our plan to go ashore for lunch in one of the cafes was shot
Tuesday, November 28 -- Good News We continued west today heading for Madeira. Seas were calm and there was almost no motion to the ship. Apparently the noro-virus plague has been conquered. Yesterday we noticed that silverware, napkins and salt & pepper had reappeared on the tables in the Lido restaurant and on the tables by the pool. Today, the self-serve taco bar was open for the first time since the noro scare began. Naturally, we celebrated with ooey, gooey nachos for lunch. Other than that, we spent the day reading before our regular afternoon SCAN and mentally prepared ourselves for what we consider the last real port. TOMORROW – Funchal, Madeira
Monday, November 27 – Casablanca The Casablanca port is strictly commercial. There is no cruise terminal and the only way out is on a ship’s tour, a private tour or a shuttle bus. The walk to the assorted buses seemed to be a half-mile or so although that may be an exaggeration. It was long enough that the walkers and wheel chairs were moving very slowly by the time they returned from their tours. We have been here several times, starting in 2001. On that first visit, and on the advice of Jon and Briton, we took the ship’s tour to Marakkech. Jon had told us that Casa, as it is known was just a big, dirty European city. He was right. Further visits have taken us to Rabat and, last year, on a Jewish heritage tour of the city which included a visit to, and tour of, the Hassan II mosque. So, we’ve “done” Casablanca and did not even consider the 5 euro shuttle to the UN Plaza. We’ve seen it, too, and did not want to do any shopping in the adjacent souk. As a result, we
Sunday, November 26 – Cadiz, the Final Frontier Cadiz, Spain, sits on the southwest corner of Spain and was our last stop on the Continent. We will be in Casablanca, Morocco, in northern Africa, tomorrow and Madeira, a Portuguese possession in the mid-Atlantic, on Wednesday. So this is absolutely the final frontier. We love Cadiz. We have been here several times before and taken the HoHo; followed a painted path through old neighborhoods; and just wandered the pedestrian shopping area. Cadiz is like Cartagena, Malaga and Katakolon because we can literally walk off the ship and cross the street and we are there; in Katakolon we do not even have to cross the street. Other ports make it easy, but these are the best. We did, in fact, cross the street around 11:30, allowing plenty of time for the Mongol hordes to disembark for their tours and hunts for WiFi. We walked through a park to get to the pedestrian area, passing a Burger King on the way. We did not even get clos