Day 9: At Sea

I may have retired to our room early last night, but I was up until the wee hours of the morning for the second night in a row watching football on my iPad.   The website below, which I got from my guys, is working perfectly on board (must survive all the pop ups for online gambling). 

https://the.streameast.app/v78

With not nearly enough sleep despite the extra hour we got last night, we made it to breakfast in the Allegro Dining Room. Our “two meals a day” theory fell by the wayside today as we’ve met amazing waiters and we want to return to see them time and again. In fact, if we miss a meal we almost have to present a note from home as an excuse. 😉

Keeping it light with fruit and a mimosa (naturally)

The Terrace Deck is G’s favorite hang out, and apparently the favorite of many of our fellow cruisers. There’s the same “save a chair” mentality that exists on the pool decks, though, frankly, it was the frequent deep coughs that kind of turned me off. How ironic that, at the same time the weather improved enough to enable sitting outside, the coughs are multiplying and deepening. So far so good with us though. 🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼🤞🏼

The rest of the day involved food, The Enclave and listening to live music in the Piazza and the Wheelhouse Bar. G also went to tonight’s Princess Theater show but it was a hypnotist and I consider life too short to watch hypnotists and ventriloquists. Instead we met up afterwards at the Wheelhouse Bar where we enjoy all the musical entertainment, especially the Lilo Duo. They are from Argentina and play lots of contemporary music. 

Today’s dining room lunch was the pub lunch menu

Salad with goat cheese- fantastic  Next time I will order two of these. Maybe three. I love big salads!!

Roasted red snapper -decent but a little dry

And, finally, McGee sent me his running stats for the last four weeks. He is a machine, and despite an injury (not running related) keeping him from competing right now, he still manages to log 100 miles a week. I don’t know how he does it, but I remain in awe of his commitment and ability. In fact, it reminds me of a story, perfect for today’s telling, that I’ll call Running Spikes and Rear End Collisions. 

On a very busy day in May 2022, McGee and McGuy’s separate high school sports required all day spectatorship in two different venues. McGee had a divisional track championship, with a few events spread over several hours. McGuy had a basketball tournament. We decided that I would start the day at McGee’s track meet and watch him run in two esrly events, go home for a short time and then drive downtown to the college campus where McGuy’s tournament was taking place. Meanwhile, their parents would go to McGee’s later track events and then when the meet was over, join me at the tournament.  It was a beastly hot day, and that early schedule outdoors followed by an air conditioned afternoon suited me just fine. 

The track meet was at a stadium perhaps 35 or 40 minutes away, and I left home at 7am because I knew that my only hope of finding a nearby parking spot would be to get there before the start time of 8am. I watched McGee compete and drove home. My plan was to have a quick breakfast and then head into town. As I walked into the house, McGee texted me. He had blown out one of his running spikes. Help!

Fortunately, I had at least minimal experience with running spikes repair. A couple of weeks earlier, he had brought one by for a repair, so I knew what I was going to need. I immediately felt bad that the repair hadn’t held, but later found out it was the other shoe that ripped, and much worse than the one I’d already fixed. 

I ran upstairs and grabbed embroidery floss, heavy duty but sharp pointed needles, thimbles, scissors and an old bath towel (those spikes are sharp!), packed a couple of water bottles and started to drive back to the track I’d just left. By then it was around 11am on a Saturday and traffic was fierce.  I was waiting at a light near home to turn left onto an expressway on ramp when I was rear ended by an SUV (larger than mine). Ugh. 

I got out of my vehicle and walked back, and the teen aged girl who was driving was already in a flood of tears. “I was just looking at my phone!”  I offered that maybe that wasn’t a great idea, which brought on more tears and then I realized that I was going to have to do the adulting here and suggested we pull into a shopping center parking lot nearby and I would report the accident. 

Luckily my SUV was driveable; hers was, too, and I found two small trees with a little shade to park under while we waited for the police. By the time we drove that short distance, her mother, father, grandmother, sister and brother were all showing up, with the adults sniffing around the back of my vehicle and saying things like, “Well, that’s not so bad” and “How old is this SUV anyway?”  

It took awhile for an officer to arrive, and meanwhile McGee was texting me for my ETA and telling me when his next event was taking place, and, yes, I was definitely stressing but I also sure as heck hoped I’d get a good story from this debacle. 

Finally, a police officer arrived and I explained that I was really sorry but I needed to be somewhere immediately and since it was obvious who was at fault, to her credit she took my information and got me away from the situation as fast as she could. 

So I drove the 40 minutes back to the track, but by the time I arrived, the stadium was packed and the closest parking was a 20 minute walk away. I texted McGee and he instructed me to drive to the back side of the stadium where he would meet me. I parked along the street where there was an uninterrupted eight or ten foot chain link fence enclosing the stadium. McGee was already there; he tossed his shoe up and over the fence and I sat in my vehicle (for shade) and started working on trying to do….something to make this shoe wearable and strong enough to race in. 

If you’ve never seen running spikes, they are basically mesh and a sole and spikes and little else. He had obliterated the mesh on the inside edge of the shoe, so I had to first use the embroidery floss to create a woven mesh, and then attach that mesh to the hard sole.

Even using a thimble was not strong enough to do that, so I tried using the road to push the needle but it was so hot the asphalt was swallowing it up and then I had to get the needle out of the blacktop. Finally, I saw that dented bumper on the back of my SUV and, with nothing to lose, used the steel to push the needle into the sole, over and over again. I closed the gap, tossed the shoe back over the fence, and it survived not only the rest of that day but got him a third place finish in the state championship two weeks later. 

I was so happy when he was recruited by a D1 college. I knew my running spike repair shop would be closing forever as he is now awash in new Nike swag every season. 

But there was still a basketball tournament to get to. I don’t know what made me happier:  watching McGuy’s team win their first and second games, or sitting down for a few hours in a cold gym on a 100° afternoon. 

These guys:  never a dull moment since 2003.

Day 8: Funchal, Madeira

There was much excitement last night about porting in Funchal today, and I think that everyone was looking forward to a stable ship just as much as beautiful Madeira. The Concerto Dining Room had been emptier and emptier the last two nights as many of our fellow guests were feeling the effects of the ocean motion. We were not similarly affected, but I found getting around on the ship pretty difficult. 

We awoke to a new experience this morning:  bright sunshine, warm temps and no wind whistling through the cabin. It was a beautiful morning and we actually stepped out on our balcony before we headed off to breakfast. Good things await us for the rest of this cruise, and I might pack away my cold weather gear on an upcoming sea day. Yay!

I made it to breakfast in the Allegro Dining Room morning!

(I really just needed to get my Michael and Valenton fix. They are so good to us.)

Caribbean sunrise with berries on the side

Veggie egg beater omelet

So happy Princess has egg beaters again!

G was feeling sleepy this morning, which actually worked out perfectly. While he returned to the cabin to catch a little more sleep, I wanted to get to Mass on this Sunday morning, and my research had indicated that there was a church within walking distance of the pier, the Chapel of Our Lady of Penha de Franca, and that they had a Mass in English at 10am with a social gathering afterwards. I walked down the pier and up a steep hill (that wasn’t shown on the map!) and when I had just about reached the church, two couples were walking back my way and told me it was closed. 

Closed on a Sunday?  Very strange, but information was posted on the door about Mass at the Funchal Cathedral, a 20-minute walk away. They started walking but I knew I’d never make it in time for the 10am Mass, and grabbed a taxi returning to the port to take me instead. I felt so badly…I told the driver we might stop and pick up others on the way, and looked for these couples walking along the waterfront road but there were so many couples and I had only met them for minute. I never saw them again. Having ridden there in a taxi, I knew it would take more than 20 minutes to walk, but there was another Mass at 11am and hopefully that worked out for them. 

I arrived as the church bells were ringing. This was a very old cathedral (late 15th century!!), but still beautiful. The stone floors really showed their age, as they were worn and grooved. Fortunately, Mass was in English,  and speedy, too, with that next Mass starting at 11am. And talk about another grief bomb (as dear reader Fran called them in her email to me)…the entire time Mom was on hospice care, I played a Spotify Catholic instrumental playlist on my iPhone in her room.  It seemed to bring her peace and was calming for everyone who visited, too. Having heard that at least a hundred times, I’ll never forget it, and three songs from today’s Mass (Done Nobus Pacem, Panus Angelicus and Ave Maria) were on that playlist. 

This was our third or fourth visit to Madeira,  and on all of our previous visits we had toured outside the city of Funchal, so we decided to stay in the city today.  I had texted G to let him know that my plans had changed and I was at the cathedral further from the ship, but quite close to the cable car that we planned to ride, and that I would meet him there after Mass. I walked, he ran (literally) from the ship and we rode the cable car up to the first stop where we bought tickets for the botanical gardens. This was more trees than flowers, so we next hired a taxi to go to the tropical gardens and what a ride that was. 

Driver August took us along the same road that the toboggan baskets the island is known for run on, but they don’t operate on Sundays. Very narrow, very steep roads edged with tall stone walls (that act as bumpers), this was the ride of a lifetime and so much fun. We spent an hour wandering around the beautiful tropical gardens while August waited for us and then drove us back to the ship. 

The cable car, exactly like a ski gondola 

The tobaggon road

Madeira has a semi-tropical climate and we saw many unfamiliar flowers

Building roads on Madeira must be extremely expensive due to the steep hillsides. Check out that elevated road and tunnel. 

We had both been overdressed for the day, me because I started with church and G because he didn’t knew it would be so hot and sunny, and changed into shorts and sat on the Terrace Deck and drank until it was time for dinner. The scenery from there was spectacular. But I was wearing down at dinner, and knew I would be skipping tonight’s violinist in the Princess Theater. 

I think the vegan menu was our first repeat, which makes sense as it was day 8 of the cruise and I think there are 7 different menus,

I had already had two margaritas on the Terrace Deck, and stayed with that theme. 

I started with ceviche…

…had a very spicy guacamole

…and actually had beef fajitas. 

Serving sizes are very small, but I kind of like that as I can try more courses. 

We asked for the dessert menu tonight (we usually don’t) as soufflé was an option. 

And that was my evening. Sore, tired and tipsy, I didn’t even go to The Enclave tonight. Instead, I changed into jammies and enjoyed our balcony as we sailed along the southwestern coast of Madeira. G must have sat in the just in case seats at the show, because he joined me soon after. It was an early evening for both of us, and we were going to move clocks back an hour overnight, the first time of many on our crossing. 

Day 7: At Sea

I was up really late last night (actually, this morning). First, we are on the windy side of the ship and everything is rattling and shaking and squealing, I finally threw a pool towel over the hangers in the closet to calm them down, but was still pretty noisy. And about the time I started to drift off, my guys, in their typical “It’s Friday and we survived another week” fashion texted me to get caught up. No complaint here, not one, but I did have to finally mention that it was after 1:30am here and I needed to get some sleep. Love those guys!

Still, G was awake early, and snuck out of the cabin as quietly as possible. Between you and me, I did hear him but promptly fell back asleep…

…until our next door neighbor opened their sliding glass door and left it open most of the day. It’s wildly noisy, and it also renders us incapable of cooling our cabin. It’s not as much as issue now as it will be when we reach the Caribbean. Stay tuned to see how this works out. 

Life in an inside cabin is so much simpler. 

I was happily starving by the time lunch was served in the Allegro Dining Room starting at noon. I am finding so many good choices on this new lunch menu. Even though its options initially seemed more limited, I haven’t run out of choices yet. 

Today I again started with the collard greens from the chicken and waffles and then ordered the fish curry and the salmon poke bowl. It was all delicious and reasonably healthy. We’ve been served by Michael from the Philippines and Valentin from India for three days in a row and they simply can’t do enough for us. I do love that part of cruising!!

Fish curry

Salmon poke bowl

It was still very rolly (side to side) today. I risked the slippery floors in The Enclave simply because I love it there so much. In fact, I’m glad I set an alarm for 3:45pm, because I fell asleep on one of the heated tile loungers. That is remarkably relaxed for me. 

Cruise director Olivia announced that tonight’s champagne waterfall was postponed to another night, and G told me that all the pools are emptied and netted over, only a couple of hot tubs are open and several of the outer decks are closed off.  We’ve been on a ship when the champagne waterfall actually did collapse due to rough water. Postponing was wise. 

It was a Dress to Impress night, which is really no different for me than a formal night. I arrived in Crooners for a pre-dinner drink (Empress Kiss, an upscale gin and tonic) and was entertained by the Twins Tripp, a busker-type juggling act that everyone seemed to enjoy. They certainly had the audience engaged. I had seen them scheduled in the Patter but had no idea what they did and am glad I caught their act. 

Empress Kiss

They were so many good choices on tonight’s vegan menu that I ordered two entrees and ate part of each. I have no need to special order a meal a day ahead of time any longer. I can always count on something being available that I will like. 

Seaweed and tofu starter

Vegetable lasagna (wasn’t there a Seinfeld episode about that?)

Mushroom bourguignon

(I made this for Christmas dinner last year)

We arrived in the Princess Theater a full 30 minutes before show time, and there was barely a seat to be found. That is insane on what is supposed to be a relaxing retreat at sea. Luckily we like front row seats, except for comedians and magicians. 

Part of the seat shortage tonight was surely due to the fact that both vocalist Tom Ball and pianist Kyle Esplin have already performed on this cruise and we all knew how good they are. They actually performed one song together tonight and the crowd went wild. 

We finished our evening a little earlier tonight at the Wheelhouse Bar because of our port day tomorrow. Actually, I can’t wait to step on solid ground. Or even a stable cruise ship. This has been a little rough for those of us (me) with bad knees. There is no cushioning to absorb the deck going up and down and every step is a death defying exercise. 

And finally, I have no story tonight, but I will answer a question that was emailed to me yesterday. For years we had T-Mobile as our cellular provider and while we were overseas, we would have free data (albeit not speedy data) to use in ports. It worked great overseas…but we never had a signal at home and seldom had one around our town. They had no 5G towers in our area and we finally got tired of paying for service we didn’t have. At the same time, we were ready to cut the cable and ditch Xfinity also. 

Our house is located between two Verizon 5G towers, and we moved our home internet and cell phones to them. It’s been perfect, without a single issue, but we lost that free international data coverage. No matter. We purchased one eSIM through Airalo and it has worked great for mapping and using Uber while in Europe. 

To use it, I take my phone off Airplane Mode and turn off Verizon cellular data and turn on the eSIM data coverage. I paid $20 for 5 GB of data in Europe and since we lost a port, I’ll probably have some left over. It’s also 5G coverage, so it's much faster than T-Mobile’s international coverage. 

My phone in Airplane Mode here as seen in Settings

Choosing Settings> Cellular

I named the eSIM “Travel”

Turning on Cellular data on the eSIM

 I just have to remember to put my phone back in Airplane Mode before I reboard the ship.

We don’t arrive in Funchal tomorrow until 9am and 9am arrivals are my favorite way to start port days.  We’ve been been there several times, but are going to do something new tomorrow.  The weather forecast is calling for rain showers in the morning but improving later in the day. We can deal with that.