The first four days of my cruise holiday was spent on board the ship as we cruised down south towards Spain and Portugal. It's the second time I've done this route and was expecting a bumpy sail. That, plus the recent storm made the sail especially challenging.
DAY 1
On day 1 I slept till 11 am as I was so exhausted from wandering around UK for two months. We had lunch at noon, and after that popped by another eatery for fish and chips because it smelled so good. By 3pm we sat down for afternoon tea, I mean who doesn't love a good old traditional English afternoon tea? Dinner was booked at 6pm, a bit early I know given that I'd been eating non stop since noon. It's a tough life on board 😉
After my main at dinner, I was feeling really sick. I'm not sure if it was from eating too much food during the day, or motion sickness as the sea was very choppy. I had to excuse myself and return to my room where Snowflake was waiting for me. The choppy sea accompanied us thoughtout the night and I could feel myself swaying in bed. Sometimes left to right, sometimes a little up and down in my big bed even when I was half asleep. Had I not been so tired I'm pretty sure it would have been a very sleepless night.
DAY 2
The next morning the Captain announced we'd be sailing past the bad weather by the evening. Half a day to go before I'd be out of the woods. I spent the afternoon exploring outside as the weather was a bit calmer. It was a gorgeous day despite the bumpy sail. The blue sky reached out and touched down onto the torquouse sea, joined by the infinity pool from the the cruise liner. If there is no motion sickness I can stay here all the time.
DAY 3
On day 3 every one was in full swing and basting themselves under the sun. Brit's love the sun and will never pass on the opportunity to soak up some vitamin Sun. Pretty much every lounger was taken up, a sharp contrast from the two previous days when everyone was staying indoors away from the rough weather. As an Asian, we like the sun but tend to stay away from it, we're tan enough, don't need to get any tanner.
After a walk around outside, I went back indoors for more food. This meal was a posh afternoon tea on the 18th deck. Some of the finer meals had a supplement charge and I figured I'd treat myself as I'm a sucker for pastries and sweet things. Just see how exquisite this tea set is, plus the gorgeous seaview to go with it.
It was so mouth watering that I couldn't wait to tuck in. My favourite was this pistachio topping bun filled with rose water cream that was as light as feather. Lychee bubbles hid inside and when you find them, they pop in your mouth releasing a lovely burst of fragrant lychee juice. It was devine.
Sadly the overall experience didn't quite make the mark. The food and presentation were superb and we started to tuck in after the waiter introduced the tea set to us. However, it took them a whole 15 minutes to serve tea by which time we were dying of thirst as the pastries were quite dry. And to top it, I didn't check the price before hand and got a bit of a shock when I saw the bill. £17.50 per head, £35 for the two of us!!! Considering food was included in the cruise price and this was supposed to be a supplement, this was rather steep in my opinion. Luckily I got some free onboard credit to spend so this didn't cost me anything. But still!!!
DAY 4
On day 4 we were due to dock at our first port Maderia, Portugal. After 2 years in UK and 3 days on board the ship, I was looking forward to get on foreign land. At 8am the captain announced that after two failed attempts, he had to abort Maderia as the weather conditions was too bad and the liner couldn't dock. I'm not sure how the rest of the 3700 passengers on board felt, but I wasn't awfully upset. A day wasn't going to make a massive difference, safety first. I decided to make use of the extra day on board and joined a dance class. It was really fun and everyone had a cracking time laughing at ourselves and everyone else as we struggled to remember the moves. I felt so accomplished afterwards and decided that a deck side rest under the sun was a good way to round off the morning.
After yesterday's rather disappointing afternoon tea, I opted for the free one today from the buffet restaurant. This doesn't have the fancy three tier cake stand but I think I russled up a decent looking afternoon tea.
The extra day on board also proved extremely useful to write this post. I couldn't even look at my mobile phone the first few days as the sea was so rough and it gave me motion sickness. Not that I had anything to look at anyway as I had no internet. I'm currently sitting in a fancy bar at the front of the ship on the top deck, deck 19 looking out towards the beautiful sea as I'm writing this post. We're cruising on the calm sea towards our next destination and by the time you've finished reading this post I would have moved onto my next destination.
Catch up again next time!!
You can checkout all my travel post on the Pinmapple here or click on Mr Pinmapple below
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I always associate cruise ships with really old folks I guess because my mum is seemingly always on one. She describes the passnas a sea of grey haha
Wow what an update. And aside from the bumpy sea, this cruise is just perfect for a vacation. Very nice and comfortable and yes, classy. The free pastries are just fine with me 😊
Been looking forward to this update and it did not disappoint save for the rough seas. Well we have to take the bad with the good, as they say. 😊 Looking forward to the next.
Oh Wow, everything looks amazing here!! Food, weather, surroundings, vibe, everything. I hope you had a fantastic time, it is so nice to see people getting away on holidays again, I will be joining the party in April and July for a well earned break away from work and the rainy weather here :)
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Bad seas would put most off of travel, finding the right spot on the ship is the secret of enjoyment 😂. Rock and rolled to half sleep, at least it was only part of the journey, weather settled enabling you to enjoy tea.
Nice update.
Looks like you're having fun, despite the seasickness. I get that too sometimes and it's never a good feeling. Sometimes you can buy dramamine at the store on board or get it from the front desk.
The ship look really nice.
From what I remember the supplemental charges are never really a supplement, they're pretty much just full price. They always seem to want to nail you with extras wherever they can. One time we pre-bought a bottle of wine for dinner from the cruiseline itself. Then at dinner they informed us that they didn’t have that particular bottle on board but would bring us a different one. Then they charged us extra for the new bottle because it was more expensive. It's like, "What??? Are you insane?" They refunded us when we complained but still, it was absurd and ridiculous they they charged us for their blunder.
The pastries look really good though and it's a good use of an onboard credit. The free version looks pretty amazing too.
Have fun with the rest of the trip!
Seasickness is the main culprit that ruins the voyage in the beautiful blue sea. Despite that, you seem to be enjoyed the cruise at it's most. The foods look delicious btw.
Very cool. I have never been on a cruise. I think it could be fun, but there is something about the close quarters that just bugs me a little. I don't know, Maybe I am just paranoid from all of the Covid stuff. It looks like you are having a great time though despite the bad weather. I hope things clear up for the remainder of your trip!
It looks like you are really enjoying your beautiful trip.
It looks amazing and the food looks so delicious.
apart from the motion sickness, it looks like a very interesting four days at this cruise. With all these foods, it is more enjoyable for sure 😁.
I feel the motion sickness just by reading your post ☹️
Must be lovely though, change of scenery is always good and a cruise especially.
Enjoy your time! Save some sweets for me as it's too much for you 😁
looks awesome. I love cruising x thing is ya clothes don't fit at the end due to eating too much food, and that food looks awesome
I like how you described the "Vitamin Sun" 😁 Honestly, we do crave the SUN! I never had this feeling living in Latvia, but here I am depressed by the weather.
I never thought a cruise could be this much fun! Are there any other courses on board?
And of course, continue to enjoy the vacation!
It's so obvious that you really had a nice trip....you've got a nice view over there.
I wish I could also have a nice cruise like yours one day. Looking forward to it.
This post is nice Champ!
haha, so much food on board, don't even know what to do;))) great to hear about your cruise vacation, i've never been on one, really exciting to read! i can imagine that the swaying in bed leads some people to sleep more quickly, i imagine it like a cradle;) but maybe this idea is too positive
I'm curious what you write about the next places you head for, nice way to publish a blog post with this kind of a view!
Sounds like you didn't get the cruise you were expecting, it seems the weather didn't work out for you.Indeed, if you're a bit seasick, it's pretty hard to last a few days at sea when the weather isn't too good.
But it's nice when it all ends well, four days you won't soon forget.
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