Day 9 Azores and Sea Day

We finally got to see dry land yesterday as we stopped at the city of Ponta Delgado on one of the Azores Islands. It was a beautiful island with about 500 years of history. When the Portuguese discovered it in the early 1500's it was uninhabited. The islands are relatively young as they were formed by volcanic eruptions starting about 8 million years ago.

Here is our view of the port from our ship. We booked a 4 hour bus tour with a guide that took us around the Island of San Miguel that included stops at a beautiful town, Fire Lake, a Mountain top and a Pineapple farm. Our first stop was at the town of Ribeira, which was a wonderful little town. We took a stroll through the downtown which featured a nice church and bandstand.

From there we started up the mountain to Fire Lake. It is used for the drinking water on the island and is a lake that was formed in the cone of a volcano.

We also discovered that the parking lot is a well known lover's lane on the island. Or perhaps they have water balloon fights up here.

We proceeded from there to the top of the mountain, but due to zero visibility, there will be no pictures. On the way back to the port, we stopped at a pineapple farm and spent 30 minutes learning much more about pineapples than I ever thought I wanted to know. They have their own variety of pineapple which they claim is the best. (No surprise)

After we got dropped off at the boat, we went for a stroll around the promenade at the port and found a Christmas Ornament for the tree. We also visited a grocery store that had some lovely pastries as well as a very lumpy looking soft drink.

We chose not to bring any Kima home with us. It was a great day and it was nice to get our feet on good old terra firma. Today has been fairly quiet. Angie went for her morning walk and I went to hit a few putts on the grass on the top level.

The grass wasn't very smooth and every putt broke towards Portugal. We had a light lunch after with the highlight being the chocolate fountain which we both took advantage of.

Angie's Best: Passed immigration test on the boat this morning. Angie's Worst: Temperature is getting cooler. Currently about 15 degrees. Mike's Best: Town of Ribeira on the Azores Mike's Worst: The self proclaimed world's smartest women with the loudest voice in the world sitting two rows behind us on the bus. She also had a walker and made us wait at every stop.

Day 7

Well, we are on the last of 4 straight days on the ocean and looking forward to stopping tommorrow at Ponta Del Gado. It will be fun to post some pictures that are not on the boat and not of us. I look forward to that post. Again we have had a couple fairly uneventful days, but that is a good thing to have on a transatlantic cruise.

Here is Angie enjoying her dinner last night in the dining room. It was a lovely dinner and we both enjoyed the pasta. Service is good as is the quality of the food.

After supper we went to see a comedian/magician. He was pretty funny, but should probably choose one skill or the other. ALl the shows are about 45 minutes, which is too short if the act is good or too long if it is lacking.

Once we got back to the room, we waited until midnight for the Jets game. We were hoping to watch it on the computer, but couldn't find a stream. I ended up finding it on the radio, so we were able to listen to it in bed. Nice win!!! This morning Angie went for a walk around the track after breakfast. It wasn't very busy as you can see.

After the walk, we went to the front of the ship and they let Angie drive the boat. Thankfully there isn't much to run into out here.

The sun came out in the afternoon and it was a beautiful afternoon. We couldn't see closely, but there were a few whales spotted off the side of the boat.

We went to the buffet for supper tonight and snuck down to the casino for a visit. Nobody got rich, but I did manage to get a decent bonus.

Early to bed tonight, just like every night, as we have a big day tomorrow. I hope to have a more exciting post coming out soon! Angie's best: Facetiming with the kids. Angie's worst: Mike forcing her to listen to the Jet's game at midnight last night. Bit into her beauty rest. Mike's best: Watching the sea and seeing the whales. Mike's worst: Not coming back from the casino with as much money as I should have

Day 5

Not much has happened in the 2 days since we left Bermuda, but I will try to provide a couple stories. Of course not much happening is what you are looking for on a trans-Atlantic cruise. We have two more sea days before we get to Ponta Del Gado. That is an island controlled by Portugal and we have a bus tour of the island scheduled. The seas have remained fairly calm so far. I would describe them as maybe irked or slightly grumpy. Here is the lovely Angie on the balcony with the lovely ocean in the background.

Here is another picture of the morning sun from the balcony as well.

We've split our meals between the buffet and the fancy dining room depending what is on the menu. Last night we were in the dining room and here is a picture of me eyeing the desserts.

A neat thing on the boat on the top level is a large grass area they use for lawn bowling or bocci. I should have brought my golf clubs with me as I'm sure they would have been thrilled with me taking big divots out of it.

Since it was dressup night for this evening on the ship, we chose the buffet for supper. We didn't feel the need to dress up tonight. We followed dinner with a nice bowl of gelato.

Angie's best: Weather and calm seas. Worst: Turning the clock forward three nights in a row and losing beauty sleep. Mike's best: Watching the Jets beat the Capitals last night while in the middle of the Atlantic. Worst: Dropping and breaking a plate at breakfast this morning. Wasn't the most popular guy in the room.

Day 3 Bermuda

Day 3 was a stop in Bermuda. It's a British property and important strategic island about 1000 miles of the US Coast. It played an improtant role in many wars from the US Revolution to World War II. I'm pretty sure my dad made some stops here during WW II before protecting convoys crossing the North Atlantic.

This is a picture of one of his ships, the HMCS Huntsville. Looks pretty luxurious compared to our ship.

Once we got off the ship this morning at the Naval Dockyards, we jumped on a ferry to the capital city of Hamilton. We both thought that Bermuda is a clean and beautiful Island with very friendly people. We walked around the town for a couple hours looking at the shops and managed to make the big purchase of a Bermuda Christmas ornament. Look for that this fall at the house. We jumped on the ferry back to the dockyard just after noon to ensure we wouldn't miss the 4:00 final call. We made it in good time, but enjoyed watching the late runners trying to catch the ship. Pretty sure they weren't going to leave them behind, but fun to watch the panic as they run to the ship.

Pretty boring evening as we went to the buffet for supper and went to a show with the piano "legend" David Shmuck. Yes that is his name. Back at the room waiting for the Jets game to start. Angie's best of the day: Seeing Bermuda Worst of the day: Mike took her back to the Casino. (She didn't need much convincing) Mike's best of the day: Seeing the Dockyards Worst of the day: Angie agreeing to go to the casino.

Day Two at Sea

We had an eventful day at sea today. Current sea depth is 5090 metres. I'm not sure even if I held my breath I could touch the bottom A couple of observations. I never thought I could go anywhere and think I was one of the younger people, but this cruise has proven me wrong. Definitely an older crowd, but this makes me feel confident that they won't run out of rum before we get to England. Not as much of a party boat as other cruises, but that's ok as I think both of us might be past that stage. After breakfast this morning, Angie went for a walk near the top deck. Made lots of friends walking in circles.

While the sea was quiet yesterday, there was a little more action today. While not angry, I would say the sea was miffed or maybe slightly annoyed.

As it turned out, today is National Cocktail day and we would be remiss if we didn't take part. Thankfully our bartender let me know that a rum and coke qualified as a cocktail.

During our 3 hours celebrating cocktail day at the pool bar, I made a good friend with Martin from England. We kept talking each other into one more drink as I kept him informed of the England Latvia World Cup qualifying game. He was a passionate England fan and his sons and grandsons were at the game at Wembley. Thankfully England won 3-nil as he might have jumped into the ocean if it had gone the other way.

After drinks, Angie and I went for supper and sat at the back of the boat and enjoyed one of the best views you will ever see.

Tomorrow we are in Bermuda and will update with stories after that. Angie best of the day: The sunset Angie worst of the day: No good books in the library Mike best of the day: The sunset and making a new friend in Martin. Mike worst of the day: Picked the strudel instead of the crumble for dessert at lunch. (not that bad)

We have completed our first day at sea on the beautiful Celebrity Eclipse. I will start however with yesterdays action! We checked out of the Vacation Villas around 10:00am and were generally happy with the accomodations. We returned the rental car to the airport with no surprises. I must recommend signing up for a rental companies loyalty program. I am a member of Budget's Fastbreak program and we are able to bypass all the lines and go directly to our waitng car. Combine the hour saved there and the good rates with Costco Travel, it's a win win. We Ubered over to the port, about 10 minutes, and arrived at the boat for boarding. We were on the boat by 12:30 for our scheduled 3:30 departure and did a tour of the ship

Our 3:30 departure came and went, but we eventually left port by about 8:30pm. Despite the late departure, Angie and I managed to find the pool bar and a bartender who was willing to pour us a few drinks. About 6 drinks later it seemed like it was time to go to bed even though it was only 6:00. We did manage to stay awake long enough to see us leave port. Morning came soon enough and our day at sea began. After a nice breakfast Angie settled at the pool and spent a few hours there reading and relaxing.

Thankfully the sea was not angry today and the ride was very smooth. Not sure that will be the case all week, but we will keep our fingers crossed.

After lunch Angie made a quick visit to the Casino and managed to win about $350. She thought Baba was sitting on her shoulder, but since it is a non smoking Casino, I doubted that was possible.

We spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Jets game on the laptop which was a nice luxury to have in the room, despite the result.

We went to dinner after and a highlight was Angies apple crumble for dessert.

We are now back at the room waiting for another sea day tomorrow. Angie's best of the first two days: The weather Angie's worst:Trying to stay awake past 8:00pm Mike's best: First drink on the boat and meeting a guy in the bathroom in a kilt. Mike's worst: Sixth drink on the boat (in 2 hours) and the guy in the kilt leaving his bagpipes at home.

Hello blog watchers! I'm sure you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for the first post from "the trip". Here we go! We took off yesterday morning from Winnipeg on our way to Fort Lauderdale via Ottawa. We flew Porter Airlines for the first time and our initial impression is positive. Nice to have only two seats on either side of the aisle and the free internet. Beer and wine is included which allowed me to have a beer and enjoy Perry Mason on my phone.

Both flights were on time and we arrived at our hotel by 9:30 last night. Thankfully we had a car as our room was about a mile from the registration desk. ANgie might have been a little cranky if we had to walk it. After a gourmet meal from McDonalds we got to bed for some much needed rest. Day two began with breakfast at Chick Fil A on the way to Sawgrass Mills Shopping Mall.

You know it's a big mall when Angie requests 3 hours for shopping. I managed to kill a couple hours there and thankfully Angie was done in two and a half hours. A couple more stops included Total Wine for a bottle of wine for the boat and Publix for some food for dinner. We bought a frozen pizza for what we hoped would be a nice dinner. Our room has a kitchen, but look and see what might be missing for cooking the pizza.

You are correct, there is no oven. Not sure if it would be good microwaved, but I don't think we will try. Angie spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool while I made a run to Costco for swimming trunks and some microwavable dinner. We are back at the room now having a beer and watching some March Madness. Getting on the boat tomorrow and hoping for some better stories to report.