| I had finally found the Diamond Club that afternoon so went along for the 5pm gathering. The bar was open for free drinks (soft, hard, bubbly!) while our Diamond Concierge, Columella Arania, was there from 5-8pm. Afterwards did a bit of shopping before going to the 7pm show, Invitation To Dance. It was okay. I think I've been spoiled by the superb shows on Constellation! The Crown & Anchor party was afterwards in the Pyramid Lounge. Bless Captain Remo. He did go on but had been with the company decades so rattled off their history. He did, however, get the date of Indy's naming wrong but then he wasn't Master at the time. He said it was the 2nd May 2008 and she sailed the same day. It was the 30th April and she went on a two night jolly. The C&A girl came on once he stopped to breath and she repeated the rumour I'd heard on Vision that we would be getting one of the new ships. I spoke to her afterwards and she thought the second in 2015. I told her what I'd heard about Indy not returning in 2014 and she didn't know. After dinner I handed in my disembarkation form then went to bed since it was going to be an early start for our arrival into Lisboa! |
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| The 3rd November we arrived in one of my favourite places. I got up early to watch us come under the 25 Abril bridge and wasn't the only one. It was quite mild and dry but I could see a squall up ahead, which we went into as we neared the bridge, blasting as we sailed beneath to let everyone know a big white lady had arrived (as if anyone could miss her!). In port with us, though around the corner, was Columbus 2, on charter to Hapag-Lloyd for two years before reverting to Insignia in 2014. |
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| As the rain came down heavier, I went for breakfast. There was a lady who looked like Barbara Knox from Coronation Street but I think she was American. Then it was to the theatre for my tour. It was a river cruise and panoramic tour with our guide called Oriana. It wasn't raining when we left the ship but poured after we'd passed Indy on the water. It seemed to dry up after noon, which was great, so I was able to take photos of the ship. |
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| Despite having been through security when re-entering the terminal building, they made you go through it all again boarding the ship and the hand held one was set off by tissues in my pocket - stupid machine. It was becoming a really nice day after such a lousy start and there was a bright hallucination in the sky for a few hours. I went to the Diamond Club until 5.45pm when I headed out on deck for our sailaway. It was quite mild even with the sun gone. We didn't move at 6pm but Columbus 2 did thirteen minutes later. Apparently our delay was due to someone being taken away by ambulance. My attention was on the other ship, since it looked like she would be first and we follow but then we gave three blasts. I looked around to see the bridge getting nearer - we were sneaking off! Columbus 2 parped as she neared the bridge too and for a while we sailed in tandem before she dropped back. I sat on the deck for a while before returning to the warm. |
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| Bless Russel at dinner. When I said I didn't like broccoli and stuff he got me a Caesar salad on the side. With my no salt dietary requirement, I shouldn't have had it at all but it was very nice. I chose what they called Wimbledon for dessert which was strawberries, champagne jelly and something else but was really a variation on trifle. Killed time while John did the room and skipped the comedian Tucker so went to bed. |
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| We had another sea day as we sailed to Madeira and it was a lazy day. Rain, force 7, gorgeous rainbow which I got from the deck outside the Diamond Club despite the rain It was our second of three formal nights but I just went to dinner then bed. There was a letter on the bed informing of a few norovirus outbreaks during this cruise. I'll give the crew their due, they forced you to have a hand wipe before boarding or going to many eating places. They made it clear NO food should be taken out of those places, but people did. If they got sick they'd blame the cruise line rather than look to their own irresponsible actions. |
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| Gran Canaria was our first Canary Islands call. I'd missed our arrival but knew we had AIDAbella with us, which would sail at midnight to our 7pm. I was surprised to receive a text from my Australian friend Juanita saying she'd seen Voyager of the Seas in Fremantle and, "It looks really nice." She also seemed impressed by the ice rink and size of the pools. This from someone not interested in cruising, just seeing it as a method of transport like a train. She had loved our Celebrity Equinox cruise but the boredom on Aurora to Greenland and Iceland put her off. Perhaps she was seeing the light again! I decided to take some photos of the similar parts on Indy and send them to her. But lunch! I popped into Cafe Promenade and chose the egg mayonnaise roll and chocolate chip scone. The roll contained red bell peppers, but there was nothing to indicate that in the description. Egg + mayonnaise = simple! I only found out after biting the bloody thing. The scone was nice. Bit of a wander for these photos. It was boiling outside which was such a nice change from wet stuff. |
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