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
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