Atlantic crossing& Gibraltar

Apr 20th Monday on board the Horizon
Well we are indeed floating about in the Atlantic. I just figured out yesterday that we will not be stopping in the  Azores... I had myself convinced that was in the itinerary, but no... That must have been from another crossing that I saw when shopping about.
The whole thing started when we decided to go on a bicycling-boat tour in Italy in the fall.  I asked Kim if we should make that a long trip and go see all of our British family then. He suggested we do that this spring instead of combining it with the tour.  Well,  I'm not the biggest fan of flying long distances anymore. No hatred or fear,  I just find it very uncomfortable for long stretches. Even wearing compression socks, after hour 5 my legs and ankles are unhappy and let me know.
The most civilized way, IMHO, is by ship.  We will arrive in Europe rested,  well fed,  sunned and without  jetlag (we change time almost every night of the crossing but only one hour).
So I looked at the ships doing Trans Atlantic repositioning in the spring and this one stood out.  I actually thought there'd been a typo on the site. How can a 14 day cruise (all inclusive of drinks even) be $125for an inside cabin or $190 for Oceanview? They must have missed a zero in there somewhere, I thought. When I called and it really was that inexpensive, I booked it. Of course the taxes and port fees were more than the base fare but it is still cheaper than a flight would have been.
The ship is older, 20+yrs, and smaller than most on say NCL, Royal or Holland these days. This means that it is a little shabby in certain areas, there is a LOT more ocean movement since I'm not sure this size ship even came with side stabilizers, and there aren't many 'things to do'  like the more modern ships. There is a grand theater for the evening shows, although we haven't gone other than the preview on the 1st night. The day before yesterday was a Beatles tribute and last night was  Abba.. Oops missed 'em. There's early and late seating in the dining room,  a buffet upstairs, small busy gym with 3 treadmills 2 elippticals a few weight machines, a card/game room,  library and a few lounges with dance floors.  But no,  there are not 5 different specialty (premium extra$) restaurants, no ice rink, no bowling alley, no movie  theaters either indoor or out, climbing rockwall, waterpark, zip line, surf simulator,  thermal spa suite etc etc etc.... We'd need to be on a newer ship with at least twice the  passengers for those things. This one's not full but there are about 1200 passengers.
And yes we are eating well. The ship is definitely French /Spanish and the cuisine reflects that.  Although this morning I walked the buffet and ended up  having  fruit and a slice of baguette(really good baguette though) as that's all that sounded good. Dinners have been spectacular.  I'd put this cruise up at the very top if I was purely rating on food aboard.  I've cruised on Norwegian, Holland,  Royal Caribbean, Azamara, Princess, Carnival,  Celebrity and a few lines that don't even exist anymore. And some of you know what a foodie I can be, so this is high praise indeed.
I have to admit we are not 'dancing the nights away' as the music on board is terribly French (live accordion!) or Spanish.
We did dance one song, a Bachata/salsa last night just before the recorded 'ballroom' music stopped for the evening. Those are just not our preferred styles of music let alone dance. We talked about trying to stay up tonight and make it to the Disco hour at midnight but it's difficult since we keep having slightly shortened nights with the time change an hour almost every night.
I lost a couple days because I got sucked into Reamde by Neal Stevenson.   It's a total action thriller and hard to put down once it gets going.Kims reading it now so I figure another chapter in and he'll be  lost for a bit as well.

I'm actually reading Trent's Last Case. It was one of my Dad's favorites and I'm surprised that I'd never read it. I have been fighting the melancholy that comes annually, as this is around when he passed 6 years ago. But overall I'm doing ok and encouraging my normally cheerful nature to prevail.. We all can agree tax day is particularly awful it's just more so for my family than most.

Kim and I have been playing games quite a bit.  We brought along Splendor, Star Realms, DC Comics Rivals, and Citadels. Mostly we've been reading, relaxing and talking a lot about our plans for the future, work and home projects and travels etc. It's been a nice reconnect after months of running at high speed and high social schedule and not really taking the time to talk one on one on those fronts.
One of the other things we've been doing is working on a new game that we are creating. It's pretty well rounded conceptually and has us both excited to get home to mock it up and get playtesting!

Apr 23rd Thursday Gibraltar
Well I had hoped to be back in signal range even if there's a 9hour time difference. Unfortunately there's no data services here so it will have to wait another few days. We are in Gibraltar which means we are now in the Mediterranean Sea and by Saturday we will disembark in Barcelona to fly to London. Then the more active and social part of our trip begins. 
I have appreciated the recharging and relaxing of this time on board but I will also be glad to see people and catch up, as it's been over two years since we have been to the UK.

Apr. 25th Saturday Barcelona

Apr 11-25 Cruising!

After staying on board for the Dominican Republic stop, I thought we might disembark at either St. Maarten or Martinique. Because of the timing of the stops, both were nighttime/evening, my thoughts of hopping off and swimming in the Caribbean were thwarted.  Besides that, the ports were the large cities of each island which meant a significant taxi to any decent beach. It would have been nearly dark on our arrival there so not worth the effort.
If that sounds bad I have to let you know that I'm a funny cruiser.  I actually love being on the boat more than the port stops. SO, my favorite parts of the cruise are the days in port when we stay on board and have the run of the ship while light on passengers and the 7 straight days at sea.  The Transatlantic crossing,  which is the remainder of this cruise other than a stop in Horta in the Azores and at Gibraltar, will take us the next 10 days. During that time we are nearly 'unplugged',  there's no phone service (that is not unreasonably expensive),  superslow limited Internet at .30-.55Eurocents a minute, no TV really to speak of. Although we did watch a couple of silly action films that we hadn't seen yet, The Equalizer and Edge of Tomorrow.
I've finished a silly mystery, Aunt Dimity's Good Deed and Wicked, which I really enjoyed,  and no, I've never seen the movie or play). I'm  just starting a Neal Stephenson now.
We've spent time on deck, in the pool and hot tub, playing the games we brought along in the card room,  eating a bit too well and scouring the ship in search of danceable music but finding more Latin options than anything else.
So you can see we are having a nice relaxing time. With the ridiculous low fare on this cruise we are arriving in Europe well rested,  without jetlag and for the same, or less than airfare would have been. The fancy coffee drinks are even free so I'm not quite sure what we will spend our on board credit on.
I will report back once we've been to the  Azores as this post pretty well sums up the rest of the cruise ship time.
Hugs,
Dana
Ps. Sarah A the windblown pic with umbrella fancy drink was just for you...am I properly on vacation now?

3 x Sorry, April 12 Cruising!

Now I hopefully have the hang of it.
Aboard the Horizon cruise ship.  Formerly a Celebrity ship it is now in service on Pullman tour's French line,  Crosieres de France. All announcements and entertainment in French...then Spanish and English third. It's making me practice my language skills!
Writing this post from a deck 12 lounger...now in the shade as 2 minutes in the sun was enough for me!
Enjoyed a light rocking to sleep last night and woke up with the ship docked part of the way around the island at La Romana.
Tomorrow is St Maarten and the following day in Martinique. I expect that we may talk ourselves into leaving the ship for one of those... We will see.

Apr 10-11Dominican Republic

April 10:
We started the day with a little jaunt into medical tourism with thorough eye exams and fittings for glasses.  My first since lasik 14 years ago.  Small corrections for both but nice to have on hand. Instructed to return by five to pick them up, we had time for more sightseeing and pool relaxation.
Since we had seen the Museo de Las Casas Reales, that left the  Palacio Virreinal Alcazar de Colon. Positioned overlooking the river and showing some cool artifacts.  Not quite as good as the Casas Reales but fun lamp holders and decorative beams.
Snoozed by the pool and then went to get our new specs.
Decided to go out and have a nice sit down restaurant meal for dinner.We had a lovely time at Meson Bari, only one block from the hotel. Yes Anna, I did take a picture, but since I had steak with grilled onions I won't subject you to foodographic proof  ;)
The highlight of the meal was the tostones (fried green plantains) which is a favorite of ours.
April 11th
The tostones were so good we decided to have lunch at the same place and spent most of the day relaxing in the room and then by the pool once we'd checked out.  The Horizon cruise ship wasn't scheduled to depart until 10pm, so we hung out until about 6 and then taxied to the port to catch our ride across the Atlantic. Two minor blips on a fabulous day were the unexpected gouging by our taxi driver who decided to add 100pesos to the fare (only about $2.70 more than expected) and the surprise country exit tax of $20 per person as we were getting in line to check in on the cruise. I'd known about the $10 entry fee to get into the DR but no one had mentioned an exit tax!
Overall we had a fine time in Santo Domingo thanks to a comfortable hotel and decent food but unless I was going for the ultra luxury all inclusive beach resort thing... I think I enjoyed Puerto Rico and it's old forts better. When I commented on the fact that it felt more poor and with all the  roadworks seemed to have a rougher time infrastructure-wise... Kim reminded me that the other half of the island is Haiti after all, which does put it into perspective.

Apr 9, Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic

First,  I'd like to apologize for not using bcc on the last post. I promise not to do that again.

We spent Wednesday in transit making our way from Sacramento to LA to Miami and finally on to the Dominican Republic.

Thursday, today we managed to get up in time for a nice breakfast, even with the 3hour time difference. 
Since it is quite warm and sunny here we decided to walk to a nearby  museum to stay out of the strongest mid-day sun. Passed several bustling parks and the large Cathedral before entering the Museo de Las Casas Reales.  I feel well informed as to the history of the DR as well as the surrounding islands. Amazing ship models and weapon collection in a great historic building.

Naps and swim and sun was the order of business for the afternoon and then we went exploring for dinner along the busier walking Street.. complete with stalls,  street food,  beggars and touristy shops.

 Rounded out the lovely evening with an ice cream and a few games (Splendor and DC's Batman vs Joker). 

D

Kim & Dana's Spring Trip underway!

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Well other than a few road trips (Disneyland jaunts mostly) and the week cycling in Oregon last August, we haven't gone anywhere exotic in over a year! It's about time. The excuse is that we haven't gotten to see our dear friends and god- daughters in over 2 and a half years. So lookout Hall family,  Haughtry-Eastwood-Collier clan and Mills dynamic duo... We are on our way! Of course it will be taking us a while to get to the UK... Wouldn't be right to just fly straight there... Too easy. 

First fuzzy selfi... On the plane from Miami to The Dominican Republic: