The decorations were being put up on the aft deck ready for the new year celebrations. Aurora tootled off at sunset, while our Entertainment team were rehearsing for the New Year's Eve deck party, which was to be Queen's music from We Will Rock You to a virtually empty deck. Dinner and it was the third formal night. Arun took my phone for selfies. Balloons were flying around the restaurant, which Arun said was worse during first sitting. He also made a rather rude balloon appendage for Doreen! As we drifted, the other ships came into view, including Aurora which had returned from her tootle. After dinner, I dashed outside to grab two chairs by the rail before they were all taken. One by one, those around disappeared as people sat in groups. There was a game before the main party. AIDAcara and Amera arrived in time for midnight. Then it was time for the main event as we said goodbye to 2019 and hello to 2020 with ship horns blasting out as the fireworks went off. Unbeknown to us, we had upped anchor and were slowly moving away rather than at 1am. We stayed out a bit longer before heading back to the cabin after a fantastic night. |
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| An 11am start on New Year's Day, which was spent at sea as we headed towards Lisbon and our fourth and final rendezvous with Columbus. She had overtaken us during the night and could be seen up ahead with a long camera lens or binoculars. A lazy day just enjoying being on this fabulous little ship. There was a barbecue on the aft deck but we had a normal buffet lunch. A bit of a snooze in the afternoon as I had a bit of a sinus headache then dinner, my usual stroll around the deck and bed. |
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| We were originally due to arrive in Lisbon on the 2nd January at 1pm but it was changed to 11am. We docked around 10.25am behind Columbus. It was a very misty and murky day. Clearance was after 11am due to the gangway and I had arranged to meet my Facebook friend Rui Minas to give him a CMV mug. Due to the new passenger terminal, you can no longer just walk along the dock taking photos of the ships so I got so far then turned around and returned to Marco. It was a very busy time between then and Columbus sailing - Captain's Club, lunch, Captain's Club. Columbus was due to sail back to Tilbury at 3pm with us four hours later and again, there was silence between the fleet mates. Once she'd gone under the 25 de Abril bridge, we went into Scott's for drinks then afternoon tea. Because they'd hidden bell peppers in it, some fresh were made for us without. Then my dad had a sleep while I did other things. Our 7pm sailaway was delayed due to the pilot being on Black Watch, which arrived over twelve hours early for a medevac. Ironically, Black Watch was our next cruise in March. The pilot was them brought over by forklift truck. Gangway down and away we went twenty minutes late. Dinner, my nightly stroll around the deck then bed. |
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