Friday The Trip Home

We arrive in Southhampton on time to a cool rainy English morning. We are up at 5:00 am to get dressed and finish packing. We have "early departure" which allows us to take our own bags ashore and depart about two hours before the normal departure time. Our clothes are packed, Rafael (our ever smiling cabin attendant) tells us goodby, while Mellany and Robert join us for one last photo before we head to the elevators.

We travel to the National Express bus station via cab for the 2 1/2 hour trip to Heathrow airport. The bus is ontime and we arrive in time to check our luggage and have lunch before boarding the Air Canada flight to Toronto. Our flight from Toronto to BWI was delayed about an hour.

Once we arrive at BWI the luggage is collected, Jimmy loaded and we travel home. Twenty five hours after we awoke Friday morning we are home and ready for bed. It was nice to be home. Our bodies remain five hours ahead but we hope to adjust before work Monday.

Thursday Last Day at Sea

The ocean was rough on our last day at sea. As we entered the Atlantic and proceeded north to Southhampton we felt the ship rolling the most since the trip began. No seasickness, but walking down the halls were a challenge.

We began packing early in the day. Marsha participated in three exercise classes through out the day. I read and spent the day preparing for our departure.

We ate dinner in the main dining room. Our primary waiter, Arnold, joined us for a farewell picture.

Wednesday Chef's Galley Canyon Ranch Spa Cuisine

Tonight we ate in the demonstration kitchen for the final time.  The menu was billed as healthy options, but the Chef indicated that he added a few “extras” to add some flavor.  The total menu was 900 calories (plus our wine count) not counting the “extras” added by the chef.   The appetizer was an Arugula Salad with Roasted Tomatoes.  The tomatoes were fresh and tasty with a lemon-olive oil dressing.  Main course was a Natural Beef Tenderloin with Wild Mushroom Jus. The meat was tender, well prepared and the sauce magnifique’!  The meat was served on top of a crisp Potato Pancake with Mashed Cauliflower on the side.  Dessert was Peach Cobbler with a hint of  strawberry.

Another excellent dinner followed by a song and dance review in the Royal Theater and then watching the ballroom dancing at the Ascot Ball.  Looks like we need to take some dance lessons before our next cruise so that we can join in the festivities.

Wednesday Lisbon

We arrived in Lisbon about sunrise passing under a large suspension bridge to dock in port.  Lisbon reminded us of San Francisco.  The city is built up the hill from the water, most of the town was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1800’s and they have cable cars that you can ride up the hills.  We took a shuttle to the center city and decided to take a double deck, hop on hop off bus tour around the city.  We saw a variety of old and new areas and stopped in the Belem area of town.

This water side area west of the port and downtown had a fort to protect the harbor dating back to the 1400’s and several museums.  We went to a museum of coaches that is housed in a former mansion.  The coaches were made for the kings and queens so they were very elaborately decorated.  There was advanced technology designed to reduce the road shock by using straps to hold the passenger compartment.

Following the museum tour we stopped for lunch in a local restaurant called Caseiro.  The dining room was decorated with a variety of gourds.  They had sheep cheese and Serrano ham as lagniappe.  The menu offered options of fish and meat prepared in Portuguese style.  We choose meat and enjoyed the sauces and flavor.  The pastries are local favorites that have a cream filling surrounded by a light flakey crust.

Tuesday Gibraltar

 

We passed through the Strait of Gibraltar about sunrise and weighed anchor in the Gibraltar harbor.  Tender craft began taking the passengers to shore about 9:00 am.  Marsha and Mellany went to shore for shopping.  Robert and I took an excursion to the “Rock & Fortress”.  We walked through about 10% of the tunnels dug in the Rock of Gibraltar during World War II.  These tunnels held soldiers and supplies needed to keep the Strait of Gibraltar open for Allied operations.  The working and living conditions for those men and women were less than ideal but vital to the security of the area.  If you would like to see more about the tunnels go to http://www.rockandfortress.com/ to see more pictures.

Our tour ran late, so we did not get to meet Marsha and Mellany for lunch.  We connected and returned to the ship about 3:30 pm.  Marsha and I went to afternoon Tea in the Queen’s Room for tea, scones w/butter and jam and sandwiches.  These snacks helped us prepare for dinner in Britannia a couple of hours later.  Following dinner we were all tired from our day on “The Rock” so it was an early to bed night as we prepared for Lisbon Wednesday.

Monday at Sea

We are en route to Gibraltar today after four days of shore excursions we are ready for a day of onboard activities.  We started the day in the laundry to wash a couple of loads of clothes.  While we brought most of the clothes from our closet and drawers, the exercise clothes need some freshening up.  It is quiet an experience to share the laundry with the British ladies in their robes and men who had little clue about washing machine and dryer operations.

I attended a lecture on Lisbon in preparation for our port of call Wednesday.  There was also a cooking demonstration that included one of my favorites:  Seafood Bouillabaisse.  Marsha participated in four exercise classes-two in the morning, two in the afternoon.  By the end of her “core” class at 4:00 pm she was tired and ready for a break.

Tonight we dressed in formal attire and ate in the main dining room Britannia.  Following dinner we attended a comedy show.  The Irish humorist kept everyone laughing with his insights on cruising, aging and parenting.  It was a nice way to close our day at sea.

Sunday Chef's Galley Italian Cuisine

Sunday night we returned to Chef’s Galley for our third demonstration dinner.  The appetizer was Gamberi Burro Fusco:  shrimp w/prosciutto ham with a lemon dressing. Pasta course was fresh Linguini with Meat Balls.  The sauce was light and tasty; the “chip” was made of parmesan cheese, parsley and mixed herbs.  The main course was Stuffed Chicken Breast w/mushroom and Mascarpone Polenta and Marsala Sauce.  Desert was Tiramisu (please excuse the half eaten desert in the picture).