Barcelona

A foggy day on the Mediterranean

Barcelona

Getting prepared to visit Barcelona. The ship is docking as i write( well actually i have just returned.) Here are pictures from our travels. Only afew, more to come.

https://picasaweb.google.com/106694084206394420474/Crusin2013?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Now on to Barcelona.

Seaday 9
Finally, one more day until we set foot on Terra Firma. The Tuesday Seaday was uneventful we all were waiting anxiously for the passage Through the Strait of Gibraltar. Even if it is at 3:30am. Notice i finally spelled Strait correctly and even made it singular.
We mostly, just napped or read books. Nothing to report.
Well there was one thing. One of our table mates had a birthday today and the other will later this month so we made some cards and ordered a special birthday cake. Otherwise, When the novelty wears off, what remains is just a trip across the Atlantic Ocean.
One thing, however, our Maitre'd said that he was told that crossing the Atlantic was going to be rough, big swells and waves. We had non of that. Our weather was sunny and warm, some times a little cool but the most waves we had were swells of 10ft and choppy 4-6ft waves. Nothing else.Talk about a great crossing!
Since i write this after visiting Malaga you will here more about weather in the next installment.

Malaga

Malaga Cruise day 9

Malaga! What an interesting town... at least the part we saw. when one is as experienced in these travel matters as Deb and i are, being as we are on this cruise, one notices that the town you are in is only as good as the town you see. We visited the "old Town" and fell in love. Who knows what the rest of the Population 630K town looks like?

Most of us said we could live here. It is pretty and clean. Expensive in the places we visited, but then this is the tourist part of town and we know what that means. 

Here is a travel tip. when we left the ship we walked through the terminal and found a counter with the "Carnival" sightseeing service. when asked, they said,"We don't know what is outside but for 23 euro each we can give you an "on-Off" bus with 4 stops. We bought because "they didn't know what was out there". Over dinner that evening we found out that the double decker bus we passed had 25 stops, a headset for information and was 23 euro each! When we complained Carnival said they contracted that service and it wasn't part of Carnival. Now if you consider, they service was the only one offered in the terminal, we had "Carnival" stickers to identify us and we used "Carnival" labeled buses .. when it quacks and walks like a duck, even sub-contracted, it is a duck.

so one concludes don't believe anyone. Check it out for yourself.

Trip tip complete.

Malaga was founded in 600BC. You can see on the map that it is in a nice location found trade. We visited a castle and the Picasso Museum. Then we visited a Roman theater. I hope we can find a time to post the pictures. ship board our internet is expensive and slow, so uploading the pictures we have is not in the budget at least not all the pictures. Stay tune.

Seaday 8

Seaday 8
The weather has made a change for the cooler. We have clouds and temps in the low 60's. with a wind in the 30knts it is not conducive to go on deck, though we did attempt to see the ISS. The cloud deck prohibited same.
We have not seen the moon on our trip and wondered if it disappeared during our journey through the Bermuda Triangle. Google reports it rising at 9:35am and setting 9:35PM. when there was clear skies above i did not see it... daytime viewing isn't the best however. So we continue to live in the shadow of the triangle.
As i write this we are one day away from going ashore. I write the day after the titled seaday. Some of us, your author included, are getting a little tired of a featureless horizon.
Tonight we will pass through the Straights and to that end we hope to see land before sunset. I stand watch at 4:00pm GMT. Report at 11:00.

Seaday 7

Seaday 7

Before we go any further, i must admit to a confusion of riches. We have so many islands out here that i confused the Azores with the Canary islands. Again, i wasn't wrong merely confused by prevailing conditions. Moving on.

Here is what we did on seaday 7. 

Rose around 7:am. Cleaned up and went to breakfast. After breakfast rummaged around the room for a while then to the Lido deck to read books. The 40 knot headwind was too much to attempt. Walked aimlessly about the ship. Some of the onboard distractions just don't make it for me. Bingo, while profitable when won, costs more than any enjoy gained by it. Tossing things, bean bags, balls on rope and other things, again dont' make it.

Finally, lunch was upon us. More salad. Then a walk around the deck and determined the weather, though 68F and sunny, was not conducive to watching "Casablanca" in the 40 kts wind. Settled for "The Avengers" on the little screen. Today, looks like, "Tangled". oh joy, oh joy. It is a musical maybe we can do it next year.

Did i tell you that i lost Sunday? Yup, i was looking at the weather report posted outside customer services and noticed it said Sunday. Laughed at it then told Deb how silly they were. That is when she informed me that it was Sunday and i was silly. Now i will check the calendar everyday.

Moving on in our day, we read some more then played "Giant Jengo" again. That was fun. 

Dinner came none to soon. Heard that we had to turn in our passports since we land in Malaga in two days. Yea.

After dinner we waited for the "Liar's show". This show has the 5 onboard comedians making up a definition for some obscure word. Only one of them is telling the truth. The audience votes. Who cares?

Still trying to answer the question would i do this cruise again?

Evonne, at out our dinner table said if we were on a regular gruise we would be going home today. We have 11 more days, 7 at sea. 

  

Seaday 6

Seaday 6

Went for a walk on the track, level 10. Walking counterclockwise on the track. The ship is steaming at 18kts. There must have been a head wind coming from just off the bow at more than 15 kts so the effect was a walk into a wind of 30-35 or more kts. That is close enough to mph for government work. Makes 10 times around the track or a mile that much farther. Got some nice pictures though.
Read a book the entire morning.
The Captain gives a short position/weather report at noon each day. Today he announced that we will pass through the Gibraltar Straits around 1:00am. I will be there but will not guarantee the photos.
If you type 35.50N and 29.24 W into Google Earth you should get close to the Canary Islands. They lie about 100 miles North of our position. Since we passed the continental rift we float over the Euro-Asian Plate. I just made that name up but the idea is good. We have about 1300NM left until we reach Malaga. We have this in room display similar to the displays on airplanes that track our position on a map. It shows the Straights of Gibraltar a hand width distant. Translates to 1100NM.... or so. It is getting shallow here. I hope our captain knows where he is going. The sea depth is 9500 ft. I can almost touch bottom if i jump overboard.
In preparation for our first port of call, we had a Spanish lesson. I, now, have four sheets of paper with many words that i can point to if i need help.
The question was raised at the dinner table if we would take this ride again. Interesting.

Seaday 5

Seaday 5
We are more than half way. We passed that mark yesterday, as i write this the day after, with so much as a "hoorah". It was just a position on a map. We arrive in Malaga at 8:00am so i started doing some math and realized we would pass through the Straits of Gibraltar at night. A visit to customer service who talked with the bridge confirmed my suspicion. Now what? Stay tuned for further
developments.
Yesterday was largely uneventful. We read quite a bit. We did play the "Giant Tower". A jengo game with pieces many times larger. We had 15 people all taking turns making a 3 foot high tower larger by removing pieces from the bottom. An additional problem was the rolling of the boat. Very entertaining!
I did loose control yesterday as well. I am trying to be good with consumption of fruits and salads for lunch and breakfast. However, lunch offered Key Lime Cheesecake. I faultered and consumed a very large piece. I am not ashamed. though it may not look like it i am mortal like everyone else!
Last night we were told to set our clocks ahead one hour. This morning the ship's clock remains an hour behind if one set one's clock forward. It really doesn't matter what time it is so long as i pass by the dining room at half past the hour from 4 to 6 and sit down when it is my turn. We are on the early service which sits at 5:30pm. whatever time!
I have been thinking about this time thing ever since the first time change. We really don't need to change until we reach land. The ship may as they are in contact with the outside world but for us passengers anytime is good so long as we aren't late for dinner. More on that later.
Our main course last night was several selections as usual, but my choice was the Filet Mignon. mmmmm! Not that i make a big deal of it but my table mate received a larer piece. I am not one to point this out so i kept silent but i will watch his plate from now on!
Today (Seaday6) we pass over the mid-Atlantic ridge. Remain seated it is not a big deal.