Month: April 2024

Today is our destination expert Jessica’s last presentation….. She will disembark in Florida and we will get a new one…. We really like her presentation as she did it with such fervor and joie de vive… Through her presentations we are seeing the places we traveled through her lenses and they are amazing!!

On every segment of the trip (this world cruise has 5 segments) there’s an invitation to go to the captain’s circle party where they give out sparkling wines to lucky draw winners and surprisingly we got picked this time and won

Jessica was also at the party and her 40th birthday is just 2 days away, we gave the prosecco that we won to her and thus concluded a happy festive day.

Not many things to report here except the usual….. Zumba, ukelele, enrichment class, quiz,dance parties… Etc… Btw We managed to finish the champagne that P won couple of days ago🤪

Many fellow ship mates who are leaving us in Florida are getting nostalgic about leaving the ship already….. Their world cruise started 13 days earlier than us in Florida… Some said they will miss the buffet, some said they will miss the friends they made on the cruise… After all it’s 111 days on the ship, more than a quarter, almost 1/3 of a year on the ship… I asked a friend who left us in south africa and then rejoined us in Rome what home felt like, as if it’s something exotic and unreachable … I guessed we all miss home alot, can’t wait to get back but also hard to leave the life we were already acustomed to…

Great sunrise show today 🌈

Also saw some whale activity from afar in the afternoon

2nd time in Lisbon allowed us to go outside the city, like the famous Sintra. Still the foods in Lisbon got us really hooked. Many people said they have friends who live here. We can see some of their friends’ joys in the sweet tarts and great dishes.

This is our truest Arabic experience in this trip. The desert, camels, souk, rub el hizb (octogram), … all remind us where we have been.

First time trying the ship’s salon service since $50 spa certificate was one of the item in P’s winning package from art trivia.  I’m way overdue for a hair color service… I was amazed that I don’t even need to move from my seat to have my hair washed, the hair washing station is movable and they situated it right behind, I just need to lean back. Very cool!

Also we indulge ourselves with another seafood bucket lunch, same as the one on day 67…

Other than that it’s ukelele for R and Ping pong for P and trivia games and karaoke (we haven’t summon up the courage yet to sing but watching others perform with friends is fun enough already) and the nightly performance… Before you know it, one sea day is over..

An autonomous region of Portugal on an island off the northwest coast of Africa… People called Madeira the Island of the eternal spring….and it surely lives up to its name…Funchal is the capital of Madeira and that’s where we stopped today

Ever heard of toboggan? Neither did we… And its the first thing we target since many ship mates who did it before highly recommended it and warned us of likely long lines…. .. We hailed a taxi as soon as we get off the ship and arrived second on the line… It’s super fun indeed where two crew members who dressed like gondoliers with thick shoe sole helped navigate a sledge like basket where you sat and roll down the hill for 2 km…. We enjoyed the thrill of sliding down the hill and the scenery…. Not scary at all

For those interested to know more about Funchal’s toboggan ride, here’s a link to a youtube video that has already garnered 1.5 million views: https://youtu.be/19o8yPaVp58?si=DrOqI6ss_fX-SI-R

After the ride we walked down the hill to the city for a little sight seeing in the historic city area

Coffee stop next to the Jardin municipal

Rue de Santa Maria for lunch… We found a restaurant at the famous Narrow alley of rue de Santa Maria and had a feast while tourist walked by taking pictures of the alleys painted doors

Mercado de Lavradores, biggest fresh produce market in town

Also, we need to mention the painted doors trend of Funchal and here’s just a few examples… It was started by a Jose Maria zyberchem back in 2010

This final stop of Europe ended with a bang! Funchal Madeira is glorious and memorable…

So next will be 5 sea days until Bermuda…. Hopefully we don’t pull a dissappearing act in Bermuda…. Lol

P won the art trivia yesterday!! Super excited as that trivia has the best price!! Other trivia price is a pen, or luggage tag or coaster … But art trivia which sponsored by ship’s art/auction department has the biggest price of them all…. Champagne plus spa certificate, plus a pendant, art bid value of $100… Etc.. We were so happy!!!

Today’s evening performance was by a husband and wife team of flamenco dancing and violin playing…

The 6th most populous city in Spain and our final destination in the Mediterranean. Also known as the birth place of Picasso

Our morning stroll starts from the Port through Malaga park….

Castillo de Gibralfaro… A fixed up ruin of 1300s moorish castle and fortress over looking the sea and provide 360 degree view of the whole city

Alcazaba, moorish style medieval palatial fortress with lush fountain and plantation filled courtyards…. Very romantic and pretty…. The moors built many spectacular palaces in the andalucian regent of Spain. 

After alcazaba, we plot ourselves down at the busiest square of the city center and get ourselves a light meal and drink…. This is our strategy now, although the restaurant might not have the best food but it has the best spot to soak in the vibe of the city….. The iberico ham and cheese we ordered was quite decent and it goes down very well with Sangria and beer

Cathedral of the incarnation, 16th century cathedral with baroque facade

Waterfront promenade walkway is buzzling with locals and tourists… It has 100 stores and restaurants… Very touristy

Malagueta beach…. The ships weather says it’s around 60F but it’s definitely way more than that so the beach is kind of crowded, P who went for a swim says the beach feels nicer than San clemente’s

Again we were blessed with beautiful weather and a beautiful city thus having a great day here in Malaga..  Now I understand why Spain is on the top of the list of many seasoned travelers..

So since this is the birth place of Picasso, there’s a Picasso museum… We did not get to go in because there’s a very long line and we were not really fans

We have been here before, so we are going to forgo the excursion and be on our own to explore  famous Gibraltar rock and monkies again … And just take it easy.

Saturday Morning stroll from Port to downtown is so pleasant and easy we decided to stop at a English pub for some coffee and warm up a little ….. (back story:Gibraltar still belongs to the British even though the Spanish had tried many times to get it back, through war and then referendum ….. Last referendum in 2002, 99% of people still voted to stay Britain…)…. There are lots of British pubs , red phone booths, red mail receptor here

Rode the cable car to the top of the Rock… Long line but it’s worth the wait

For lunch, we searched a while for non English pub food (the whole downtown area is full of English breakfast style pub food) and we found a Spanish restaurant that serves Spanish style grilled meat and cheese 😋

Gibraltar is small (so small that the airport runway runs through the middle of the city, and every time there’s a take off or landing they need to block off the street) and we had an easy stop, we did not get to see the monkeys this time at the Rock but thats perfectly fine with us as we already saw those mischievous famous Gibraltar monkies last time