Off on the New Carnival ship to Miami, then it’s a train journey up the East coast
Drove down to Southampton, headed out later than normal, but it’s a Saturday so we didn’t expect too much traffic. Which we didn’t until we reached the M6 section between Manchester and Stafford. But the incessant rain caused the visibility to be atrocious. Especially when overtaking buses and lorries.
Kept stopping for what Americans call a comfort stop. We call it a pee and a stretch of the legs.
Eventually arrive at Tothills near Newbury, rather stressed after manoeuvring round Oxford on the 70 mph ring road in the dark and rain with boy racers darting in and out of the traffic. Nothing new then.
Only took 50 minutes to drive to the port and dropped off our bags and joined the masses. Never seen queues like this since we started cruising back in 90s. Mental. Must be problems in the hall, as everyone is being marshalled outside. After 90 minutes we start to move, only to be held up in the arrival’s hall for another 30 minutes before they open up the checking desks.
So we arrived at 11.15 and eventually walked up and onto the ship at 2.15.
Straight to the cabin, where my suitcase was awaiting my arrival. Unfortunately Judith’s was nowhere to be seen. But that’s another drama. Her luggage tags were on the floor by the cabin, but no case.
You can tell it’s a party ship when you enter the sail away. Open deck, Southampton, and they are in the pool.
Headed to our allotted table, a small table for two in a corridor, next to another couple who’s personal hygiene left a lot to be desired. Always joke about the great unwashed. So we headed out and we’re able to change to open seating and found a glorious table in a perfect position upstairs.
Food was good, but as you would expect on the first night, service was a little slow. The staff were great.
By 9pm, Judith was able to relax, after having thoughts of losing, jewellery, clothing and shoes. The latter being the most difficult to be replaced whilst on a ship. It materialised in lost luggage. Big sigh of relief.
Drinks all round. Then it’s entertainment in the central atrium. Amazing. Such a spectacle.
Checked out all the decks, most popular venue. The casino, two floors dedicated to it. Made our way through a haze. Virtually all the slots were occupied by smoking guest eagerly feeding the machines. In fact, that’s an untruth. These days you use your cruise card to pay, it’s quicker.
All the bars and entertainment venues were pumping with energy. Floors and floors of music, of all types and styles. The mixologist were busy tossing and shaking, whilst the speciality restaurants, all ten of them were heaving. Such choice.
Completely cream crackered, we headed for bed.
Judith had a poor nights sleep, perhaps too many stimulants, coffee, laughter, wine.
Nevertheless, we rise and have a Mexican Burrito. Freshly made with our own choice of fillings. I had tried a poached egg on Smoked Salmon, coated in Hollandaise on a muffin. It was disgusting. Cold, muffin rock hard, smoked salmon black, mainly the blood vein. The crew are all new, so need to be understanding.
We had arrived in La Caruna in Spain rather late. Fortunately the captain therefore delayed our departure from 4.30 to 6pm.
So off we jumped and walked the 30 minutes to the train station.
Managed to buy return tickets to Santiago de Compostela. It takes an average of 30minutes to cover the 34 miles (55km), on the high speed Madrid train. Not bad for €12.
We had always wanted to walk sections of the renowned long distant walk, but never got round to it as yet. Although we have done sections around the Pyrenees.
So we decided to take advantage of the close proximity and jump on a train for a day out.
And by god, we are so glad we did. Truly magnificent in every respect. The city is so much bigger than expected, wall to wall historical architecture. Narrow streets, with medieval buildings overhanging. A complete mismatch, filled with monasteries, cathedrals, churches, universities, ancient homes, alleys, arched covered walkways. But it wasn’t a stuffy museum style of city. It was vibrant and busy with little independent shops and restaurants catering for the locals as much as for the tourists. The local food market was tremendous, the quality of food was outstanding. You just want to fill your basket, head home and start cooking.
We opted for oysters and a glass of wine. The oysters we’re humongous. So we only bought three from the market. They opened them, cleaned them and gave us lemon to go with them. Took them round to a little bar/kiosk and ordered wine. He was used to doing business this way. Brought us cutlery and two glasses of the local white wine. Delicious.
Santiago Cathedral with enough gold to fund all the third world countries.
Met up with Budies in the Alameda park that overlooks the city. Love Judith’s two ladies.
Back on board, a drink then into Chibang, Chinese and Mexican dishes side by side, in a festival of flavour’s.
The place was mobbed, very popular. Unfortunately the staff were running around like headless chickens. Took the boy ten minutes to find our table. Poor lad was totally lost. Didn’t help that they didn’t have any table numbers on the tables.
Ordered SLOW-BRAISED PORK BELLY
Caramel chili sauce with black vinegar and crisp onion and POT STICKERS Steamed shrimp dumplings, with a green apple salad to start, followed by BEEF AND BROCCOLI
Stir fried with hoisin, five spice and toasted sesame oil and SINGAPORE CHILI SHRIMP
Sweet and spicy with chili sauce, garlic and onion. With a side of HAKKA NOODLES
Shredded vegetables, green onions, garlic and soy. Must say it was delicious once it arrived.
Arrive at 7am leave at 4pm
Judith had a bad night, second in a row. The boat was pitching and lurching all through the night, which didn’t help. And when she is sleep deprived she changes into an Schizophrenic Ogre. With a blood lust.
Left her in bed and headed up to the running track for a couple of miles, then Tai Chi before heading off the boat.
Walked through the city, but got caught out by a heavy downpour.
Back at 11.30 and took Judith a coffee, changed and cloned upto 16 got a Burrito. Must say they are totally delicious and quite healthy. That is if you discount the chili wrap , cheese and sour cream.
Then the two of us headed back into the centre and did a little shopping. Jewellery for Judith and a bottle of Rioja for me. I say jewellery, it wasn’t the expensive stuff it was the recycled aluminium tin cans, melted and reformed. Vestopazzo from Italy. Chunky stuff. Get more for your bucks.
The queue to get back on board stretched the whole length of the ship, but they put on more X-ray machines and three gangplanks, do it didn’t take too long.
Offloaded our goodies and climbed up to the buffet for some fresh fruit, and of course the odd cookie. It’s something they do really well. Then couldn’t help myself. Temptation too great, just a small swirl of soft scoop ice cream whilst l watched people shoot round on the BOLT, the ultimate sea coaster.
Find the running track, up amongst the roller coasters, high line climbing and crazy golf course. It was blowing a gale, so we had it to ourselves. After a good stretch it was breakfast time. Once again masses to choose from, albeit mainly fast food. Well it is an American based ship. Persevered and found many healthy options. It’s like all ships, they are different and need time to get used to. So many little shacks serving different styles and types of food. A cornucopia of edible delights to suite all tastes. And as the breakfast ends lunch seamlessly takes over. The main restaurant even has brunch. Can see us coming off this ship totally overweight. Let’s do another couple of miles around the deck. The thought of all the eating options is putting weight on.
As per usual, everything is on an app. Dining options, reservations, diary, entertainment, the lot. No menus any more, you have to scan QR codes at the table. God knows what the non smartphone user does for ordering and booking.
Meander through various eateries for lunch, pot stickers, pad tai, fresh salad. Then Judith couldn’t resist the soft scoop ice cream. But only one spoonful.
Back to the walking track. Still blowing, still empty.
Then into the atrium. A unique venue area, spread over three floors. Lucky enough to see the singers and band rehearsals. Absolutely top notch.
In fact the whole evening is taken up with eating, drinking and watching some form of entertainment. Including three sessions at the comedy club. The last being rather smutty and over the top for me. Although the audience which was predominantly American thought it great, if the clapping and howling was an indication of pleasure.
Madeira , Funchal
After breakfast of a taco with a fried egg on top we headed out. Walked along the coastal path which climbed and descended till we reached the black sand beach in Praia Formosa, five miles away. Found a delightful beach side cafe full of locals and rested with a gloriously refreshing coffee and a giant glass of chilled local wine. Delightful.
Also the drunken stupor enabled Judith to climb back up to the top of the ridge to catch the bus back to Fuchai centre. Looked around the markets, after which we sauntered along the promenade back to the ship.
Finished an amazing book. So enthralling, a real page turner. Once started, just couldn’t put it down.
The Midnight library by Matt Haig.
Nora's life has been going from bad to worse. Then at the stroke of midnight on her last day on earth she finds herself transported to a library. There she is given the chance to undo her regrets and try out each of the other lives she might have lived. Which raises the ultimate question: with infinite choices, what is the best way to live?
You definitely don’t go short when it comes to the varied foods on board. Albeit, many of them are of the processed food category.
Especially around the pool area. The shacks offer amazing street food. Can’t get enough of the freshly made Burritos, Tacos and salsa bar, then you have the Chinese pot stickers and Bao buns. Just a couple at a time. It’s great to just graze. Dipping in and out of various flavours.
Another vender is serving satay, stir fry’s and kebabs. It’s the aroma that catches your attention first, the your eyes capture foods that are so tempting, you have to really force yourself to walk by. Especially if they are loaded fry’s, topped with all manner of fattening goodies. Something l try and give a wide birth to. Perhaps later in the cruise l might succumb. But l will need to keep using the stairs and maintain our walking regime on the track to even consider it.
Too many other delectables to lay on the calories. If you have deep pockets you can also try the seafood shack. I suppose $15 isn’t bad for a lobster roll, $25 per pound for just lobster, oysters $2.50 each. But when you have all these other delicious options that are included in your package, why would you. As one lady retorted, “because l can”.
But she was struggling to stay within the confines of her cloths. There is always a price to pay.
Entertainment
Circus spectacular, so popular they put it on for four performances over two days. On the first night watched from the highest point, teetering on the edge of an overhang up in the gods. Vowed to get a better seat the following day.
Went down to try and find a seat on the ground floor on the second day. Only to find two chairs, stuck out on the periphery with limited viewing. And that was two and a half hours before it started. They were the only ones left unoccupied. So we drank, took advantage of the Deli for a toasted sandwich for dinner. The choice was amazing, although half of them had names that sounded amazing but meant nothing to us. It was a good job there was a lengthy queue. Enabled me time to truly delve down into what each roll contained. Opted for a BOCADILLO SALUMERIA. Sounded interesting. Although hadn’t a clue what many of the ingredients were. Lonzino, jamon, salami, provolone, manchego and roasted peppers on bolillos. Think the Bolillos was an Havana Roll. In fact it was truly delicious. Left Judith looking after my seat whilst l climbed two floors to get them. Was well worth it. Messy, but scrumptious. So much so, decided to get a couple more, but this time tried a toasted sandwich filled with turkey bacon, tomatoes and cheese and masses of other stuff l couldn’t determine. Whatever was in it dripped a lot. Thank god for proper napkins, two layers to preserve my best trousers. Makes a change. Judith always comments that she can’t understand how l can’t find my mouth.
Movie under the stars
Elvis
The life of American music icon Elvis Presley, from his childhood to becoming a rock and movie star in the 1950s while maintaining a complex relationship with his
manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Everyone is diving into their freshly cooked burger with all the fillings and toppings whilst waiting for the film to start.
All wrapped up in preparation on their loungers as the sun goes down. In fact it’s still warm so the blanket and fleece are kept in reserve for the night to get cool. Cocktails are being sipped whilst listening to the Caribbean music on the steel drums. People are still splashing around in the pool. But it soon will go silent and everyone will focus on the big screen whilst munching on choc chip cookies or popcorns. The latter only if you brought them with you.
Weather
Since hitting the Canaries we have had superb weather. Virtually non stop sun, 22 degrees, rising to 28 as soon as we headed out into the Atlantic. And as we have seven days to reach Miami the ship has been coasting along at a slow pace through surprisingly calm seas. So it’s been morning to night warmth. Playtime.
Even at 10.30pm the sports area up on the top deck 17 under the stars was busy with enthusiastic people playing basket ball, corn hole ( great name for throwing bean bags at a piece of wood with a whole in it). We walked whilst others ran around the track. We even had a solitary round on the crazy golf course.
Food
Starting to enjoy the ship now we have gotten used to sourcing the wheat from the chaff. As can be expected, a new ship with new staff takes a little while to get its sea legs. And there were glimpses of what it will be like in the future.
It has some amazing restaurants, offering all manner of culinary delights.
Must say it’s great to be able to see all the restaurant menus for the whole trip on the app. Easy to navigate through your favourite foods in the main dining room. You can decide when to opt out and hop into to one of the other dining options around the ship. You have so many to choose from.
Favourites include the Pig & Anchor smoke house with craft bears, the half chicken special was so tender, tasty and juicy. The Italian is ok, but portions too large, but their freshly baked bread dipped into cold pressed olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Wow.
In fact there have been some memorable dishes. The one restaurant that smashed my expectations was the Asian and Mexican restaurant, but you also have all the street food stall. The stuffed steamed buns, tacos topped with all manner of wondrous concoctions, shrimp burritos and my delectable French toast and caramelised bananas, to name just a few.
The earlier mishaps resolved, enjoyment ensued. But when travelling you have to remember to bring the following when trying a new ship. Patience, a good attitude, a smile, common courtesy, kindness, tolerance of people and things.
And a sense of adventure and wonder, ears to listen to the stories of others, and the courage to try something outside of the box, doing something I have never done before. Like getting up high on the rope walks. Hate heights, but was encouraged by one of our new American friends. After two laps of the circuit, felt more confident. But can’t say it was that enjoyable. Yet pleased l managed it.
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