The first full day at sea was, as expected, quiet. At breakfast I tried the buffet scrambled eggs (terrible), bacon (good) and lox (excellent). I then, while waiting for Jett’s cappucino to be made, joined in on the attack on a 2,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. In the afternoon I attended an “international beer tasting” event that was somewhat disappointing as none of the international beers were unfamiliar (Becks, Stella Artois, Grolsch and Blue Moon) nor were they from any of the countries we would be visiting. I did, however, learn a few things about beer (e.g., ale is “top brewed” and lager is “bottom brewed”).
I sat with a couple, Marty and Judy, at the beer tasting, had a lovely time getting to know them and discovered, at the end of the event, that they are our neighbors. Small ship.
I read up on Barcelona (Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Ports, a wonderful guide to most of the cities where we will be docking, but excludes Portugal and most of Spain). I was amazed at the detail of the advice he provides: the Barcelona section is 98 pages long!
Both Jett and I chose the prime rib at dinner, which I thought was excellent but Jett thought was just okay. However, the spinach bacon salad that Jett accidentally ordered (she got two different salads – not sure how that happened) and passed off to me was terrific. I had Dutch apple pie for dessert, which was also very good, while Jett chose a chocolate mousse cake infused with hazelnuts which she judged to be excellent.
We hit the hay early and watched several movies: Downsizing with Matt Damon, which I thought was pretty good but Jett fell asleep, and the first half-hour of La La Land with Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling – the Best Picture of 2016 – which I didn’t like at all. Maybe I will change my mind when I finish it. If I finish it.
Portugal port talk
Day 3 began with a breakfast featuring “eggs blackstone” – a concoction similar to eggs benedict but with Canadian bacon. Not bad. While Jett slept on I made my first foray into the casino and left $30 richer. Yes, I won money at the casino – a rare event for me. I also attended two informative talks about Portugal. The first was all about the available shore excursions and I left early as I have no intention of paying for tours of either Funchal (in Madeira) or Lisbon. The second was about the cities themselves and was much more interesting. I learned that in Funchal it is possible to take a cable car to the top of the 2,000-foot mountain overlooking the city, then ride back down in a wicker basket sled guided by two men. The narrator’s advice: ask to see the soles of their shoes before booking the ride, because those are the only brakes you will have. The idea sounds intriguing, but the narrator also noted that the ride leaves you far from the port and it is either a 45-minute walk or an expensive taxi ride to get back. I will probably pass. Instead I may find a bar where I can sample a couple of local Madeira wines.
We skipped dinner in the dining room on Day 3 because it was a formal night and Jett was not eager to dress up. Nor was I. Instead we “roughed it” in the Lido Deck buffet where we both had beef tenderloain (very tasty). After dinner we played Hand, Knee and Foot under the stars until a sudden shower drove us inside. As we began play a couple stopped by to ask us what game we were playing. They actually stayed to watch a hand and we made a date to teach them the game on Day 4.
As we began to play cards we discovered that Jett failed to pack the scoresheets. We had to make do with a blank sheet of paper. One of my Day 4 chores will be to find a printer where I can print a few copies.
The day ended on a downer as we tried to watch a movie and found the entire DVR operation to be unusable (“connection busy, try again later”). We are praying that this is a temporary situation because doing 24 nights with no movies for late night entertainment would be nearly unbearable
I can see the headlines now: “Passengers Mutiny Over Faulty DVR.” It will go viral.