Thursday, August 29th, Ponta Delgado – the Azores

This is our one stop between continental Europe and North America. We awoke at 5:30 before heading to the gym at 6. We were able to watch the ship come into port while exercising. Our goal was to arrive at the dining room when it opened at 7:30 so to be ready for our excursion. Janice was ready “on time” for the second day in row and we had a leisurely breakfast during which we were cleared to go ashore. We headed out at 8:15 and met Sarah from Harmony Trail Azores and 5 other shipmates. The forecast was for a 40% chance of rain and it was a 100% experience of rain.

Sarah shared that the original plan included overlooks that had zero visibility. She suggested some changes to our plan and we all agreed.

We began by visiting a factory where dishes are produced. We saw the clay being mixed, some being made with liquid in forms, some hand formed, first firing, glazing and finally painting. They use a cobalt paint that is red but turns blue when fired. We were the only tourists present and the employees welcomed us warmly. We then continued driving up to chapel that overlooks the Island. It was surrounded by flowers.

We then went to visit a local cheese maker. The company was started by an 18 year old woman (now 20) who used the milk her father produced. The farmers here have 20-30 cows and move them from field to field for grazing. They have mobile milking trailers and then there are local places for the farmers to deliver the milks for testing and production. Holstein cows are the only cows present on the island. At this stop we sampled cheese and Janice and I ordered a small cheese board which was very generous and then had a local beer each.

We then headed to the village of Furnas that is inside a crater from the volcanic activity and has fissures from earthquakes that allow steam from the magma to come to the surface. The locals us the natural heat to cook a local stew inside stone containers in the ground covered by stone. We then headed into the village to see locals cooking corn in the boiling water and sampled mineral water. Springs just feet apart had significant different tastes and most were naturally carbonated. Most had heavy iron and sulfur which most did not enjoy. Here we bought some corn which most thought quite good but which Janice declared to be field corn and it didn’t come close to sweet corn from Ohio. We also sampled so local liquor and pastry.

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We then headed to a TEA farm and factory that dried and packaged the tea. There is not strict insurance/ OSHA regulations and we could wander around and see the whole process

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We then took in some views before being dropped off in the town square – a ten minute walk to the ship. Here we tried some local mussels which were the largest and best tasting we have ever had. Janice even ate 5 of them.

We sailed at 5 PM on time.

We had a dinner in the Canaletto before attending our favorite show onboard – BBC Planet Earth II. It is incredible cinematography with a live scored orchestration with narration. It is fantastic. We then headed to bed.

Sea Days 1 & 2

After very little sleep in the days leading up to our flight and embarkation we headed to bed the first night before 8 PM and slept for 12 hours. Neither of us remember sleeping 12 hours in years. After cleaning up we headed to the dining room for breakfast before heading out to the deck to walk around the ship. 4 laps = 1 mile. How often can you exercise while watching the ocean pass you by?

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At 10 we had a meet and greet in the Crow’s Nest for our cruise critic roll call. The cruise director attended and we had the chance to meet some that we had arranged private excursions with. One person shared a book her son had written and I am now 1/3 through and it has been a great, though scary read. Janice attended a cooking class in America’s Test Kitchen and we met at noon for lunch in the Pinnacle.

Lunch in the Pinnacle is a treat and a great value. We each had 2 crab cakes for a starter and I had tomato chicken lemon grass Asian soup. The main was a seafood cioppino with crab, shrimp, mussels and halibut. Janice has a Pinnacle burger. We skipped dessert.

In the afternoon there was additional walking around the deck, more cooking classes and time spent on the deck reading.

At 5 we cleaned up for the evening, attended the sip and savor at 5 PM. (Sip and Savor allows the cellar master to sample great wines at a discount and we love to attend prior to dinner.) We then had dinner in the main dinning room. The showroom at sea featured David Copperfield (not the David Copperfield) and we watched about 10 minutes before deciding that it wasn’t that entertaining and headed back to our cabin for the night.

On Wednesday we awoke at 5:30 and headed to the gym at 6 AM. There is something amazing about watching the sun rise on the elliptical or treadmill. After cleaning up we headed to breakfast after which I attended coffee with the bridge team. They answered questions regarding ship’s operations and docking. This is the smallest ship (Veendam – only 1350 passengers max) we have traveled on and the first to have the old style propellers instead of azipods for propulsion. This means that the ship has both bow thrusters but also stern thrusters.

We then spent some time walking before grabbing lunch in the dive in. The afternoon included walking, a visit to the thermal mineral pool, sip and savor and then dinner in the dinning room. This was the first Gala evening and included shrimp cocktail, escargot and lamb chops for me and shrimp diablo for Janice. After dinner we picked up a movie from the front desk and Janice watched “Trainwreck” while I napped. The Veendam doesn’t have the new TV’s with the interactive system and instead has the 20” desk mounted tv with DVD players. We would really prefer the newer entertainment as it is a better experience and frees up desk space but we figure this ship’s future with HAL is short having entered service in 1989 and so no significant capital improvements are likely.

For being in the open Atlantic there has been slight swells and a little rocking but really nothing to cause discomfort or seasickness.

To Lisbon and Floating Home

In June we were offered a very inexpensive opportunity to fly to Lisbon, Portugal and then take a Transatlantic crossing back on the HAL MS Veendam. Not having taken any time off since our Asia adventure and the opportunity to get a bucket list item off our list at an ideal time, we jumped at the opportunity. Not only did this allow us to hit a new country, it provided 5 sea days to rest and relax.

The days leading up to the trip were quite full. On Friday we hosted the annual choir party with pizzas made on the wood fired oven. On Saturday I officiated at a memorial service and we attended the German American Festival. Sunday had me up at 1:30 AM adjusting to the new time zone as well as packing a getting ready to go. We left for the airport at 12:30 and dropped my car off at Valet connections. A quick ride to the airport followed by baggage check in and TSA pre-check and we headed to the Delta Sky Lounge near our gate to have lunch before boarding our first flight.

For a number of reasons we couldn’t leave before August 25th so we wouldn’t be able to arrive several days before embarking. Our flights were to get us to Lisbon before 7 AM on the 26th and we could board around noon and we had a little buffer in that the cruise didn’t leave until 11 PM in the event that our flights were delayed or missed. We flew from Detroit to Boston and then on to Lisbon. We actually flew on the same plane but it wasn’t a continuous flight so we had to change seats and get off in Boston which was no big deal. We had requested comfort seats with more leg room which we have found make the longer flights more bearable and allow us to get a little more sleep. On transatlantic flights Delta calls our seats premium select and are considered a coach seat though we were seated in the same seats that were first class from Boston to Lisbon. We had great service and were served with real dishes and glassware.

We landed 30 minutes early and had to wait a bit for a plane to vacate our gate. After arrival we went through passport control which had quite the line but moved very quickly. We picked up our luggage and hit an ATM, went through customs and then exited into the arrival hall to wait for our tour guide. We had arranged a private tour and transfer via top ten tours. Alex met us at 7:45 and had a full sized Mercedes van to show us to best of Lisbon.

Our first stop was an overlook over the city that allowed us to see the old part of Lisbon as well as the new. Parts of the old wall could still be seen.

The impact of the great earthquake and subsequent rebuilding were apparent. We then drove through the ancient part of the city with the narrow cobblestone streets. We then walked around and saw a cool square and the elevator.

We then headed to Belem named after Bethlehem and experienced the “Pasties de Belem.” Our guide helped us select some local port to take onto the ship and we stopped by a key monument.

We then headed to the port to prepare to board the ship. The baggage check and check in went fast. Sadly the rest of embarkation was worse than China and left a bad experience for Portugal. Normally boarding begins at 11:30 beginning with those with limited mobility followed by suite guests and four and five star mariners. There was no area provided for the suite guests and mariners which was sad, particularly since we just achieved the 4 star status and this was to be our first time to experience this welcome. When we arrived at the airport we were “stamped” into the EU. When we boarded the ship they wanted to “stamp” us out even though we wouldn’t be leaving for 12 hours. There was only 1 agent provided to do this when boarding began and it took 2 minutes per passenger while 600 people waited in line. We got on in less than an hour but we are told that after we boarded 4 more people arrived to help process passports. We originally had planned to dump our stuff in our suite and then head back into the city for lunch and exploring, but fearing the trouble going through the immigration officials we and many other guests stayed on the boat. Lisbon lost out on lots of spending as a result of the immigration mess.

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch on the ship, unpacked our suitcases and then after our muster drill we had dinner and went to bed sleeping 12 hours. While we slept the ship left port and began the journey to Ponta Delgada in the Azores