| Back to the Diamond Club in time for nibbles! The Fred Olsen Express was on its way back. Hopefully it would be a nice evening. Dry anyway! I skipped the show, which was Tracey Shield performing Celine Dion. No ta. At dinner, service was pretty slow so I was unable to escape the dancing waiter. That was a new one! It was a bit bouncy again with quite a bit of wind. One half of the Prom deck was closed off but port wasn't so I could pop out and see AIDAbella, who we'd caught up. It would have been nice to stay as we passed but it was too windy. |
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| The next day we were in Madeira! And it was raining! Balmoral was ahead of us docking so we swung port a while before going to the entrance to back in. Many of those up top like me sheltered but I gave up and went to the Prom deck in the end, still getting wet from the wind direction. Sea Cloud, the sailing ship, was in already and would be sailing at 1pm. I spotted AIDAbella on the horizon so went for breakfast, sitting with a nice couple, before going back out now the kiss chase was over and she'd caught us. |
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| The shuttle cost $10 so I took one as it was easier than walking with my back. I was glad we had two gangways open on deck 1 and weren't using the upper level of the new terminal (like QM2 a year previously) so hopefully reboarding queues would be a minimum unlike the nightmare of November 2011! Rather annoyingly, the shuttle dropped you by the cable car instead of by the marina so it was twice as far. There was also a lot of building work going on. As there was no way I could walk to the marina for photos then back to the shuttle, I had to fork out €12 for the tour bus to get me to there, which was stop 1 compared to the cable car being stop 3. Absolutely ridiculous. There was an elderly couple behind me from Balmoral who had also been dropped by the cable car and not told about it. Despite the sunny day, it kept raining, even after I'd got off the bus. I had no choice really but to walk back so hoped my back would hold out. It's the pain which limits what I can do since my useless doctors are doing nothing about it. My umbrella came out for part of the journey back. I really didn't like what they'd done to the port. It was much better when you could walk along the dock without fear of being run over now due to the reduced space. Back at the terminal there were poppy sellers and I bumped into Alan and Barbara as I was taking photos before going back to the ship. |
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| After a spot of lunch in the Windjammer, I went onto the Prom deck to await the departure of Sea Cloud and got talking to people about various aspects of cruising, especially prices when you're solo to a familt of five. Mutual moans about waiting sometimes up to twenty minutes for a lift (the ones actually working!), lack of seats and boring daytime activities, especially while at sea, because everything happens in the evening. A tug helped pull the yacht out, turn her then off she went, tuggy parping before returning to the dock. |
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| Back to the room and John noted I was out early. He said he wasn't sure whether or not to go in in case I'd put the wrong notice in the slot. I replied, "I know. It's not like me!" I relaxed until it was time for our 3pm sailaway. Our ropes were going by the time I arrived on the helipad so another early departure. Also it had become hot while the rain appeared to have gone. In the distance, I could just make out Sea Cloud with her sails up. Once we hit open sea, the wind whipped up suddenly. |
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| After dinner I went to kill time in the library and the books were back - yay!!!!!!!! Unfortunately, it also increased the number of thickos with no understanding of the term, "Quiet Zone", so yakked loudly to each other while perusing them. Sometime this night we had been due to pass QM2 but she was nowhere around, plus it was extremely windy. I appeared to have snapped some ferry heading south to somewhere instead of a well lit, big, fat lump. |
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| The 8th November was another sea day and our final formal night. This is what I like. None of this fancy-pantsy semi-formal (where many wore their normal clothes anyway) but just a few poshing up nights with the rest casual. Saves on luggage for one thing, especially if you have to fly. I got up late as normal. Well, didn't want John to think I'd completely flipped by being up early again! Had to stick to my routine of lie-ins. After lunch in Jade, I spent some tme on the Prom deck. |
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