A total surprise! This was the cutest little town – great buildings, architecture and street scenes! oh, and food and wine too!
The clock tower and church
Looking at the town from the marina
Street scenes – those cool cobblestones!
Solstice and Constellation in port
Awesome restaurant – English translation – The fish market:
Sailaway
More photos……
Bermuda – beautiful as ever:
Lunch at the White Horse and Pietro in Stockades in St. Georges:
High atop the hill that used to be home of the club med! Now totally demolished:
The park from which Cathy made her conference call!!!!
On the ferry back to the Dockyards!
Hello everyone – we’re trying a different tact with this blog. It’s quick to upload on the ship with no photos – but not so good with photos. So – since we are ashore in Lisbon –we thought we’d upload a bunch of photos on one page so you can see where we’ve been. More blogging later with our experiences in Portugal – but for now – enjoy the show!
Our cabin’s window seat! our lowly view on the world!
Nassau – various scenes from around the town:
Queen’s staircase
Government house and cool shutters
Jail-Library:
Beer break!!!!
it’s another day at sea, but this one is totally an inside day – it’s getting colder every day and the wind is still vicious. Plus we are really rocking and rolling now! We were sitting up in the casual dining cafe listening to folks talk about how bad it was in their room – they started out on deck 2 but got an upgrade to deck 9 and “what a mistake that was”.
We were very happy we decided to stay where we were on 2. It’s moving down there as well – can’t imagine how bad it must be elsewhere! Arg!
Today was another Sunday brunch – but to be honest – I was so stuffed from last night I barely ate anything. Had eggs benedict with steak (a thin steakum like slice), a bit of bacon and then some fruit that I did dip in the chocolate fountain. They even had sushi which I had to pass on….just didn’t feel I could eat it. Hoping we’ll have that again on the next leg so I can have my sushi lunch since we don’t really feel like having app’s upstairs and then going to dinner. Again – too much food!
After brunch went upstairs to sit and watch the water and do some work. Watched the Solstice as she steamed behind us – she’s going to Lisbon tomorrow as well – and can obviously travel faster than us – since she left Porta Delgada 2 hours after us and has now completely caught up to us. We’ll see who gets into port first tomorrow!
Nothing else going on today – no more trivia and the movies are not the best – so it’s been reading, writing, and … well…that’s about it!
Report back from Lisbon later.
Sailed in right on time today – but then had to wait again while the captain slowly propelled his way to the dock. No matter though, we had to wait an hour for the shuttle anyway. Town looked very cute from the ship – like a miniature Funchal in Madeira. Great architecture, beautiful stone buildings and a cool looking fort at the end of the docks.
We hopped off the ship and got the first shuttle, which doesn’t really take you very far, but far enough for right now. Ed is having a terrible time with his shoes and his feet are killing him, so walking very far has become an ordeal – and our first order of business is to find new shoes!
It was extremely early on a Saturday in Porta Delgada, so most everything was closed. We wandered through the town, scoping out shops and restaurants and the cute little pedestrian streets (or what we thought were pedestrian streets! They are all so pretty and cobblestoned that they look like walking streets, but are actually for the cars!!!)
Found some signs for a big liquidation sale and discovered that a bunch of the merchants had gotten together for a warehouse type sale starting at 10 at the marina. Bonus! Shoes! So we had some cappuccino and waited until 10.
In the meantime, we watched the Solstice sail in and take the primo dock position – no shuttle for them! By then it was time for the sale to open – and we did end up finding a cheap pair of sneakers for Ed. They seemed better, if not 100% – at least they were much lighter than his others and hopefully will help.
Afterwards, we just continued to wander – soaking up the sunshine and the atmosphere – crowded as that atmosphere might be with cruise passengers! Found free wi-fi at the mall (of all places) and then had a great lunch at a restaurant called the “fish market” where they showed us all their fresh fish caught right off the island. We passed on a huge lunch, and opted for appetizers – they had a great antipasto platter and octopus salad – which made Ed very happy! A small bottle of wine and a beer later and we were ready to head back to the ship.
We plopped ourselves up on the top deck to watch the sailaway and I promptly fell asleep in the sun. Oh well! Ed woke me up in time to go to the enrichment lecture - “confessions of a customs agent”. Reputedly a hilarious look at the speakers 20 years as a custom’s agent. We both promptly fell asleep! Oops!
Fortunately we woke up in time for the final trivia match of the cruise. We thought we were doing so well! But in the end we lost by 6 points. Bummer! The team with the most points – ended up not being the team with the most points! Oh well, just means we don’t have to get up on stage to accept our award. I’m good with that!
later went to dinner at Oceanliners, the specialty restaurant aboard. It was a fabulous dinner and experience – but OMG – way too much food. There is no way we could eat like that every night – I was sick afterwards! So, very nice, the goat cheese soufflé as good as ever, the chocolate soufflé the same! But that’s it for the big splurge.
We stayed awake for the awards show and watched our trivia adversaries collect their award. Then headed off the the 2105 lounge (our cabin!!!!) for a night cap and a good long sleep.
Well, we won’t bore you with our life at sea these last 4 days. Suffice it to say we’ve slept, ate, drank, worked, played trivia (we think we are doing well) and read our way through 4 sea days. Weather was good the first 2 days – nice sunshine and decent temps if you could avoid the wind. The last 2 days were pretty chilly – that wind was wicked – and then the water has become rougher too – so we’ve been rocking and rolling out here on the open seas. No Mal du Mar yet, knock on wood.
So – the steerage cabin is working out like a dream because of the motion. Except for the fact that it’s noisy down there (we swear the toilet vacuum system is right under our cabin and it has to energize itself every so often – so you hear this huge vacuum sound at odd times of the day and night), being down below is great for the motion – or reduction of said motion!
The two biggest complaints are the noise – and the darn elevators. Geez – we are used to walking everywhere, but even the fitness addicts are not walking up 8 decks to get our coffee or exercise – so we’ve been riding the elevators. Every floor, every day….express is not a notion that has found this ship! We are looking forward to moving to our 8th floor balcony next week – just for the lack of elevator riding!!!
(Ha – that and a lot more!)
Entertainment is the entertainment, although the DJ has a “power hour” in the disco every night before dinner where he focuses on one band/singer and provides a historical overview of their career. The first night we went it was the Eagles. He has a really good history of the band copied for everyone – then he asks questions from the overview. It was fun – won a luggage tag (woo hoo! just what we need!) That’s a fun way to waste some time before dinner. The Elvis background document was as big as a book! Won another luggage tag that night as well. Will watch for the Elton John one next week….
More later from Porta Delgada
Our favorite island! We’re very excited to be here – even if we’re working around phone calls all day! Once again, the weather is cooperating – it’s sunny and warm – but there some threatening black clouds we are trying to ignore.
The captain took forever to dock, so we ended up being very late getting off – we missed the first ferry to St.Georges, which meant we had to totally rearrange our plans. But we were ok with that – we were waiting to disembark with a couple who were getting married on the island and they were so calm even though they were late and worried about missing the ceremony! (PS – we ran into them later as we returned and all worked out well – ceremony, pictures on the beach, lunch and then the return to the ship for their formal portrait sitting and special dinner in the OceanLiners specialty restaurant).
After completing the phone calls, we decided to take the next ferry to Hamilton where we walked around staring with gaping mouths at all the empty storefronts. There are a ton of businesses that are no longer here. It’s really quite amazing – and probably points more to the state of tourism than anything. We were pretty shocked. The Beach ( a great come as you are bar) is no longer –it’s now the Bermuda Bistro. Bees Knees (a precious little store) is gone. Goslings – gone. Wild!
So after our walk down Front street, we headed to the bus depot to catch the St.Georges bus. Just missed the 11:15, but waiting for the next one turned out well as we got seats for the 40 minute ride. Fun seeing a different side of the island since we’d never ridden the bus to St.George but usually sailed in.
Walked around town – and again – it’s a ghost town! So many empty shops! Had lunch at the White Horse, right on the water. Onion soup (good, with cloves we think), fish chowder and a fish sandwich we split. Then we headed up to the golf course, past the unfinished church to see what was happening with the old Club Med. Nothing – or less than nothing to be exact – they’ve demolished it – so now there’s a gaping hole on what is probably some of the most valuable real estate in St Georges. We had heard they were going to tear it down and rebuild. Good luck with that! What a shame!
Back on the bus, into Hamilton, stocked up on our liquid supplies, completed the last phone call from a park in the middle of town and hopped the ferry back to Dockyards. Rode back upstairs in the sun and admired all the houses and basked in the sun. One interesting note – the pool with the statue of the girl (we have tons of pictures of it from previous trips) on the city side while you sail into Hamilton – is no longer! The house is still there and the dock, but the pool has been bulldozed. Wonder what the story behind that is?
Back in Dockyards, we stopped in at the Frog and the Onion for a final Bermudian beer and Italian wine (LOL). Sat on the patio we didn’t know existed and looked out over the Victualling Garden where they prepared provisions for the troops. It was gorgeous, green and peaceful. I very nice farewell to Bermuda.
Sat on the fantail with coffee for the sailaway, looking longingly at our aft cabin we won’t have until the next cruise! Then off to the gym, the hot tub where we met up with a great group of guys, and off to dinner. Tomorrow is the first in a stretch of 4 sea days. Won’t report from all of them…..to keep you from dying of boredom. Will give you the synopsis somewhere later….
The Cruise director had announced that we might encounter rough seas leaving Bahamas and on our way to Bermuda. We know all about rough seas to Bermuda – don’t we Maggi and Richard? Well, as bad as that crossing was – this one was like floating on a sea of glass. Not a ripple! Beautiful day – sunshine, not too much wind, and no seas to speak of at all. We (well, me in particular!) were very pleased.
Won’t bore you with all the sea day details, but suffice it to say, it was a nice relaxing Sunday with a big “special” buffet brunch in the dining room (replaces those silly midnight buffets where nobody really eats all the stuff they put out at midnight!), lots of time to read and relax, and formal night. We met with the cruise critic folks, who all seem very nice, and ran into another couple we’ve cruised with in the past. We’ve partnered with them for trivia – and so far – so good. They are doing a cumulative game this time, so no prizes until the end. We’ll see…..
Also ran into, of all people, Bailey! Our favorite bar server from way back on the Horizon in 2004. We’ve seen him elsewhere as well, most recently on the Galaxy, which he sailed until the end two weeks ago. It’s nice to have him around to take care of us…and to joke and laugh with.
Oh, and btw, yes, we are sailing with 2 engines. So far, so good. No problems to report!
Got in on time – at the crack of dawn! Nice day, sunny and warm but a wicked breeze. We got off early and followed a great little walking tour through the town. It’s a Frommer’s tour – and really was fun – but not exactly accurate. At one point they told you the exact opposite directions – but we figured it out…we can fight our way out of paper bags!
Walked around the town – which surprised us with it’s charm and people. The tour took us past the library which was a jail until converted in 1876. The books are actually housed in the little cells! It was quite interesting.
Then the walk took us up the the Queen’s Staircase (which is where they gave us the opposite directions!). Also, the staircase is located at the back of the parking lot for a hospital. It is completely unmarked and when we came through there was a van parked by the entrance. Thus, we walked the wrong way up to the Fort and almost missed the staircase.
On the way down from the fort, we were exploring whether we could climb the lighthouse (no, you can’t) and we find the stairs quite by accident. Glad we did too – they are carved out of the stone and provide a very narrow pathway that leads up to the top of the hill where the fort is located. It was incredibly tropical, lush and dark because the 66 stairs are literally carved out of this narrow canyon type area of rock. Did I mention it’s right behind the hospital parking lot? Oh yeah….well….just thought I’d make sure you remembered!
It was fun to see – and discover the way we did! Then we went off to the other end of the town to see the arch that led from the ritzy part of town to the old workers part of town, and down into the main area of Bay street – lined with Diamonds International and Tanzanite International and all those other shops that weren’t busy in the least.
We had coffee at this little walk up breakfast/lunch place, then wandered around waiting for the library to open (we couldn’t go in first thing in the morning). Later we had conch fritters at a restaurant with big decks right over Bay Street. With Kulik beer. Very good! Then back on the ship for our first day at sea and formal night.
We’re off again – boarded the Celebrity Constellation in Fort Lauderdale for a back to back cruise across the Atlantic the the Baltic – and yes – Russia again. This time St. Petersburg, probably the antithesis of Vladivostock, but…that is a long way away…..
For now, this is the start of our 15 day crossing. The ship is great – actually well taken care of – as opposed to the Galaxy which they let go down before they sold it last month. We are in the hold on the crossing – floor 2. The only thing below us is the medical center and gangway! And all the crew of course. It’s not too bad, we hear the water – but it sounds like a freight train against the side of the ship – and we have a great window that we can sit in and watch the waves go by.
there are some interesting things down here in the hold – like an escape hatch. Ok, don’t want to know how to use that! And an oxygen suit/mask in case of fire. No doors down here for the fresh air to come in…so I guess that’s necessary. Pretty wild! The only real negative with being down low is that the sun deck, gym and buffet are WAY up there. We’ve never taken so many elevator rides in our lives! But no way we’re walking 9 decks every day to get up to the sun/food/exercise. We’re not that nuts (yeah, I know you all wondered!)
So – first day – staff is great, ship is great, table for 2 at dinner, waiter great. It’s all good. Off to the Bahamas for Saturday.
