Last two days

We awoke to,a much more threatening sky this morning. And not such good news for our home coming, as we heard about Sandy!

Yesterday was a quite day, there was lots of sun and it was very warm, felt like the Caribbean, high 80 s. I guess that is what is feeding the storm. Some one on the elevator this morning said they saw a water spot, ugh, we don't need them!

Today we will do some packing, and fill out the customs forms, not going to be a pool day I don't think

It was beautiful when we finely arrived in Fort Lauderdale three hours late

I don't have a picture of the last night on the ship, but I can tell you it was rough!!!

We are now in Savannah Ga, and it is and was beautiful. We will leave for home in the morning, but we have really enjoyed our extra day here. I will post some photos when we get home,,,,,,, if we have power.

Another sea day

We awoke at 0645 but luckily, we had gained an hour, last night so it didn't seem so early. The dawn began to break outside our cabin balcony, as we are heading due west, so the sun is coming up on the aft of the ship. The sea had calmed to a mere 8 - 12 ft swells and the sky was clear for miles.

Ed went to the buffet line for coffee and pastries for me, before heading off to meet Jack for breakfast in the main dinning room. Jack and Ed had arranged with the head waiter last night to have eggs Benedict for breakfast because it was not on the regular menu, and they both enjoyed every morsel!! After breakfast we got our suites on and went to the Lido deck and found a location to spend the day poolside. The seas continued to be calm and the skies clear with the temperature in the low 80s. Who would think we could swim, and sun bathe on this trip, usually it is quite cool, but because we are traveling so much further south it is warm and sunny. For those of you that like such info, we are traveling, 26 degrees north and 30 degrees west, a magnificent day!!!

Cheese Burgers were for lunch along with Bloody Mary's!

We adjoined to our room early in the afternoon to get ready for dinner and an evening at Skywalker's lounge, to meet up with the group.

We it is another beautiful day, we had a great time last night, but I got a sunburn yesterday, and what did I wake up to???

Sea days

The begging of our sea days, the weather is great, today, the sun is shinning, yesterday was a bit gray, but nice. Seas have been calm.

Yesterday they announced that we had an outbreak of Norovirus, ugh! So our ultimate ship tour was canceled, bummer. We hope the tour will go if this outbreak doesn't get worse, but I am not counting on it.

Oh well it is a very pretty day and smooth seas so who am I to compline. We are well and sure hope to stay that way.

Funchal Madera

We arrived at the port of Funchal Madera at 0650 after a very bouncy night at sea, I am glad we skirted the storms,,, as this was some of the biggest seas I have been in! It was still dark and sun rise wasn't until 0852 because of the manner that they set their clocks. The clouds were gone and the sun came brightly to invite us to the island. It is truly beautiful!!! Since it was Saturday, we decided to spend the day shopping the many markets of the city including the large fish market where they were dressing the large tuna and other game fish. It was fascinating. The vegetable and flower markets were also interesting with their world wide variety, also the varieties of plants that will grow on the island. The city of 100000+ people was very clean, there are many sights to see (simply beautiful), excellent golf courses, friendly welcoming community, and the infrastructure was excellent. Everyone agreed this was to be a future destination again! I would love to come back, it reminded us of Hawaii, before it got so populated.

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When we were back in our room, the replica of Christopher Columbus's ship the Santa Maria was sailing past our deck.

Now that we were all aboard again, it is on to our seven sea days back to Ft Lauderdale, heading southwest to avoid the seas left behind by the hurricanes and tropical storms.

Day 2

Once again we awoke early, and now it was on to getting things ready for leaving the Locanda Orseolo and embarking on the Ruby in the afternoon. After completing packing we enjoyed another beautiful breakfast.
The morning was bright and the streets were lively. After having a full day on Monday we decided to take a gondola ride this morning. Cindy and I have been coming to Venice since 1972 and each time have not been in a position to take a ride. This time we took the time. IT WAS BEAUTIFUL
We then went to the hotel Europa for late Bloody Mary's.. We returned to the hotel where they had held our bags until our arrival to pick them up. The water taxi arrived at the window and we bordered it through the window with our bags. What great fun! Almost like Harry Potter. Arrived on the Ruby at 1530 to begin our journey.

We got back from our shopping, . our bags were still not at the cabin, so we went to get some liquid refreshment. Then on to dinner, every one was there, except John and Ilene, but and we still had a lively a conversation.
When we got back to our room, late our bags were there, so it was on to unpacking, Ed was not feeling well, and we thought it was just fatigue, but it proved to be food poisoning! He was one sick puppy for the next couple of days.

The next morning Ed was still not doing well, but he made a valiant effort to go on. After breakfast, The group immediately decided to walk to the co-op to purchase wine for the cruise. Cindy enjoyed the trip since see had never experience the general market store.

We invited everyone to our room for sail-away, as we are the only ones with a balcony. We have a nice size balcony, but the cabin steward Jirasin (J for short) opened the door for the service balcony next door, so we would have a lot more room. He is a great steward!
The group arrived at our cabin at 1330 to ready for sail away from Venice, once again it was beautiful and the weather cooperated pretty much, and once we cleared the barrier islands we made our turn for the heel of Italy

Sea Venice we set alarm for 0700 and requested room service at 0730. Unfortunately they never came,, not sure what was going on. The morning events included the Cruise Critics group get to together (meet and greet) nice group over all, followed by the gift exchange. Not sure where the time goes, but very soon it was time to dress for formal night and time to round the group up for cocktails. As usual all the preparation paid off and all was in place for formal night.
We had a good time, but Ed was sick, he left early, poor man.

Naples, we set our alarm for 0600 and again requested room service for 0630. This time they showed up 0530 with half the order. Not good! We met Val & Jim at the international coffee bar for an egg muffin and go ashore and begin our tour of the Amalfi coast and a visit of the Herculium ruins. The weather was not too cooperative as it rained as we preceded down the coast with Jim taking pictures through the rain drops. As we hit the bright spots the vistas showed their beauty and as we stopped at a village the rain would stop. What fun! We finally pasted Amalfi and joined the UNESCO heritage site road to the outer most villages where we had lunch at a family restaurant on the hillside. Our driver was telling us that his father's first job was leading donkeys along the old donkey trail to carry water back to his village, the travel time was three hours each way along the cliffs. The only village water was that brought in by his donkey group. After a great lunch with wine and water for 11.5 Euros each, we headed back for a guided tour of Herculium. The skies cleared and we even got a good shot at Mt Vesuvius. We returned to the ship onetime with Ed's pedometer reading 11572. And Ed was feeling human again, but I think he lost 10 lbs as all his clothes are loose now.

Casablanca, Marco

Casablanca,,,

We set the alarm for 0515 but awoke at 0500 and ready for our arrival in Casablanca at 0630. Our tour began at 0655, but we sat around waiting for the tour to go until after eight, then we briefly toured Casablanca (second largest city in Africa) and then on to the ancient city of Rabat it took us about an hour and a half to get there. We toured the outside of the Royal Palace, and on to the Oudaya Kasba, and we were suppose, to stop for sweet tea, but there was a mix up, and all we got was a potty stop, that was ok as it was a western toilet! I think Ed was the only one who had ever been to Africa, I was not impressed. This country is still half in the third world, toilets were few and far between and most of them were two foot prints and a whole!

When we returned to Casablanca we asked the bus driver to let us off in town; we hopped a couple of taxis and were off to RICK's CAFE! Jack had made reservations for all eight of us, what a treat! It is dressed out like the movie, and although expensive the food was pretty good. As we ate, the clouds moved in and the rain poured down. So after lunch at Rick's we hoped taxies back to the ship.

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When we returned we were notified that our next port had changed to Madeira moving our Atlantic crossing track further south because of hurricane Rafael. Ed had warned us a few days ago, that we might have something like this happen, in fact he asked the Commodore about it at the chefs table when he met us, and he had said they were watching it. So it's off to Madeira tonight! This is exciting we have never been there

Canne

Canne, the lazy sun didn't rise until 0755, and the clouds were hanging around but it appeared it would clear and it did. We took the Princess Nice city tour and enjoyed a leisurely stroll and a visit to the Nice Flea market with antiques and such! Just a couple of purchases, but Ed found a big gold ring on the sidewalk, by the beach, we looked around to see if anyone was looking for it but,,, nothing! It was an interesting morning, we could have spent more time in the market that is for sure, but like all tours they had other plans.
The took us on a little train around the old city, and up to the top of an overlook of Nice, it was cute. Then an hour and a half back to the ship, but where we were dropped off there was nothing to see, our ship was parked in an alternative anchorage away from the main section of Canne and therefore no shops or cafes in the immediate area.. we returned to the ship about 1400, pedometer reading was only 7245. This was a small hint of events to come!

As we weighted anchor, Capt Speaking noted that the harbor master had located us at this anchorage because of high winds in the future! Guess what Lee and Colleen, this was an evening event like 2009 with the highest wind at 74 knots and seas running between 15 and 20 feet from 1730 until 0330 with us running a full speed and a roaster tale behind us. Another French - Mediterranean adventure! Well, we arrived in Barcelona about 20 minutes late this time, so we must have deviated around to some extent.