The lovely Captain Vago left us in San Francisco. Our new Captain was Julian Burgess.
He announced that there had been an incident on the Panama Canal and it was closed to shipping. He said he had been in touch with Southampton, and would keep us informed as to what action he would be taking. It was of course his April fool’s joke. Is it me? I didn’t find it funny.
3rd April Cabo San Lucas, Mexico
This was a tender port again. It was really hot here.
When we had been here before on 2013,we had a boat trip out to the rock formation called the Land’s End Arch, which in fact you could see from the ship. It was a very enjoyable trip with refreshments and we were then taken to a nice hotel(which I’m not sure is there now), for more refreshments.
I remember too sitting on the balcony and seeing lots of whales in the sea. We were here earlier in the year last time though. This time it was the end of the season for the whales but even so the bay was so much busier with water sports that I doubt I would have seen many this time.
This time we just got the tender in, to look around the port. The Mexican flying dancers were there and we watched fascinated. They climb up to the top of a very high pole and tied with ropes they fling themselves around the pole to music. They collected money at the end of their display and it was well deserved. They were happy to stand and have their photos taken with people too.
We did some shopping and then made the mistake of looking at some jewellery by one of the many people walking around selling their wares. He told us he had exactly what I wanted and if we sat in the café behind he would go back to his shop and bring the goods to me. Well, my son was keen to try the local beer, so we thought why not. Oh dear, he was back and forth trying to convince us this what I wanted until I finally succumbed. He had tried so hard what could we do.
Meanwhile, my husband spotted someone drinking margaritas and decided he’d have one of those. I think it was called a frozen margarita. My son of course had the local beer. I wanted to carry on shopping but the boys were happy sitting in the shade with their drinks, so I went off by myself to have a mooch around. I spotted a really nice Italian restaurant on the way and thought I’ll go back and get them and we’ll have something to eat there.
Too late, when I got back my husband had ordered a pizza. OK it’s Italian but not exactly what I had in mind. It was tasty though and as a consolation I decided I’d have one of the delicious margaritas too.
We had 3 days to rest and re-coup and then we were in
Puntarenas, Costa Rica. It was 37 degrees here. Phew!!
My husband and I had booked the rain forest skywalk excursion. There was an hour and a half walking involved and no turning back. As I couldn’t walk far without coughing I wasn’t sure what to do. We’d been advised a few days before that our excursions had all been brought forward to much earlier times and I mean much earlier times. It wasn’t that I wasn’t awake early each day, my husband has always been an early riser and strangely I always seem to be woken up shortly after. I hadn’t been getting much rest though with my persistent cough and was feeling very tired. That made up my mind and I decided I wouldn’t go. My husband enjoyed it especially when he saw loads of crocodiles.
My son and I walked up into the town and looked around all the stalls and waited for my husband to come back from his excursion. His coach driver recommended a restaurant for us to eat in and when he found us we went off looking for it. We found it easily, and noticed that people from the medical centre and shops on the ship were there too. So they obviously knew about this restaurant. The food was quite good too. After lunch, my husband and son wanted to go back to the market stalls but I’d had enough. So I caught the little train, which took you back and forth to the ship.
One more sea day and we would be going up the Panama Canal.
April 9th Panama Canal
We very rarely ask people back to our cabin for a meal but we had become quite friendly with the table for 3 in the MDR and they had been around for a meal earlier on in the cruise. So we thought it might be nice if they joined us as we went through the canal. The husband is wheelchair bound, and we thought he’d enjoy sitting on the balcony with a good view of things. We all had lunch and such a good time although, I think I did more talking than looking at the view.
11th March
Curacao 28 degrees sunny and warm, but very windy
Again when we were here before it was earlier in the year and it was hot and humid. On that cruise, we booked an excursion with P&O where we had a car for just the 3 of us. We were taken to the Hato caves . It turned out to be quite a challenge for my son as it was very dark inside and there were rock formations that he had to duck underneath. He’s quite tall so he had to duck quite a lot. Unfortunately he wasn’t actually able to see anything and the fact that he was bitten on his legs by mosquitos didn’t add to his enjoyment.
We also visited a museum and the Curacao liqueur factory. We saw how it’s made and tasted the various types of liqueurs, and of course bought a few bottles.
This time we were in Curacao we decided simply to go across the bridge to Willemstad. It looked quite pretty when you saw it from the ship and we hadn’t had time when we were here before, but to be honest it wasn’t particularly nice when you got up close. We went to see the floating market , where people come from Venezuela to sell their wares. We were going to find somewhere to eat but preferred to go back over to the Rif fort. On the way back over the bridge some chap came rushing up telling everyone to hold on the side. I wondered what was wrong then realised the bridge was moving. We rather enjoyed being on the bridge while it was opening. When we got over to the other side we walked to the Rif fort and found a table outside one of the many cafes. As we were sitting there a huge wave came over the wall and soaked the tables of the café underneath. We were so glad we weren’t sitting there. I’d heard a few people who were walking up on the wall screaming, and a little later a lady from our ship came by. She was soaked as she was one of the people who’d been up there walking. She was much more good humoured about it than I would have been. We did a little more shopping and then walked back to the ship.
One more day at sea
Antigua 28 degrees here.
We’ve been here twice before. The first time my son and husband did an excursion called ‘Fish and swim’. They went on a boat trip , did a little fishing then were taken to a little beach where they could swim. I went on a tour of the island taking in Shirley Heights and Nelson’s dockyard. The next time we went I wanted to do the ‘fish and swim’ but it seems P&O no longer do that excursion. So as my son wanted to go to Nelson’s Dockyard I did that excursion again.
This time we just got off the ship looked around the shops and had lunch sitting outside near the quayside. My son of course enjoying a few bottles of Wadadli beer.
I used to wonder why people didn’t do excursions in every port. Now after doing excursions only when we really wanted I found this cruise more relaxing. I missed some of them, because I wasn’t well but those I did, I really enjoyed. Just getting off the ship this time and looking around I found to be really relaxing and made our cruise more enjoyable.
We had 5 sea days to Ponta Delgada and now I started to think about packing. I had a couple of my cases brought to the cabin and started to pack clothes and shoes I knew I wouldn’t need now. I’m not the best packer so I knew I’d need plenty of time.
On the 16th we were to have another World lunch and the people we had become friendly with suggested we all sat together. We were very happy to do this as we normally were on our own. We all got on well together and our son was very comfortable with them. So we arranged it with the restaurant manager who was always very obliging, and we all had a
very enjoyable time.
19th April
Ponta Delgada it was cooler here 14 degrees.
This was the 4th time we’d been here. The first time of course we did an excursion which took us up into the mountains to the blue and green lakes. Since then we have just walked around the town and the shopping centre. Last year we had to take a shuttle bus from the port which dropped us off at the top end of the town. This time we were docked where we had been before and once off the ship, it was just a short walk to the shops and cafes.
3 more sea days
My husband and I were both frantically packing now as time was running out.
We’d had many enjoyable lunches in the Glasshouse but never actually ate there in the evening. So on the 21st our penultimate night, we decided with our friends to eat in the Glasshouse instead of the MDR. It was really busy as other people had obviously decided to do the same thing. It was one of the Headliner’s birthday too and they were also there celebrating. The manager had to call on other staff from the Crow’s Nest as they were overwhelmed. It probably wasn’t the best night to have chosen and when our food came it wasn’t actually that hot. Nevertheless, we all had a really good time and wished we’d done it earlier in the cruise.
22cnd April
Our last night and time to say our goodbyes to the waiters, the wine waiters and our companions in the dining room. After dinner, we’d decided to finish the last minute packing and have an early night. Our friends though talked us into a final drink in the Crow’s Nest and we succumbed. We were joined by a few other people and having a good time we stayed far too late. It was a good night though and a very good end to the cruise.
23rd April
We decided to wait until the rush to get off had died down a little. I remember what a zoo it had been in 2013. There was still a huge queue to get out of the terminal when we got down, but it was much more orderly than 2 years ago.
Although we’d boarded at the Ocean Terminal we came back to the QE11 terminal. My husband went to get a porter and they found all of our cases easily. We told him our car was with CPS and followed him out of the terminal and across the road to a car park. Unfortunately he was new to this terminal and hadn’t a clue where our car would be. My husband went back over the road and came back 10mins later to say we had to cross back over as we had in fact walked past the cars parked by the CPS . After that little delay we were off and on our way by 11.15 am.
We made good time because when we stopped at a service station on the M40, there was a coach with people from the ship who had left at 9am.
We stopped at a hotel near Chester, and caught the boat home the next day. It was so good to be home.
Although, I wasn’t well for a lot of the cruise I did enjoy it very much. As a lovely young Welsh couple we met on the cruise said it was a privilege to have been to so many places and to have experienced so much. They were quite right.
.
