Ships Position:

38°42′49″ N 9°7′15″ W

Distance Traveled: 3,675 nautical miles.

Today we docked in Lisbon. The weather cleared as we were coming into port, so we had some very nice views.

The bridge on the approach to the city looks a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco & also the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver.

As we passed under the bridge we had a great view of the massive statue of Jesus on the opposite shore of the river. Apparently it was inspired by the famous statue of Jesus in Rio, Brazil.

I took a bus tour of the city this afternoon. Our first stop was the statue. It is magnificent from a distance & even more so up close.

This location also gave us great views of the bridge that crosses the river back to Lisbon.

Next we drove around the city to see various historical and significant landmarks.

We left the city just after sunset. I wish we could have spent more time in Lisbon. It’s certainly a place that I would really like to come back to & stay for a week or two.

Tomorrow we spend a full day at sea & will arrive in Bilbao on Wednesday. The Captain announced that we will be encountering high winds gusting over 60 knots & waves 4 meters or higher for part of the day.

Should be a good ride. Guess I’ll eat lightly tomorrow.

Cheers!

Ship’s Position:

38°0′52″ N 17°30′40″ W

Total distance travelled so far: 3275 nautical miles. We are now about halfway between the Azores & Lisbon.

Last night I went to the Princess Theatre to see solo singer Ms Ngo Ngofa. She is a petite woman from England with a very big voice. She was wonderful & sang a variety of songs from broadway musical theatre & the big band era. I really liked her rendition of Etta James’ songs. Be sure to go to see her if you ever get the chance.

Today is a very grey day, only 16 degrees C, with scattered showers & strong gusty winds. The apparent winds, i.e. the oncoming wind plus the speed of the boat, have been constantly over 40 knots & frequently peaking at over 50 knots!

Fortunately the waves are relatively small & the ship is progressing without a lot of discomfort to the passengers. However, the winds are so strong that the Promenade Deck has been closed for safety. I’ve been brushing up on the ship’s safety procedures – just in case……

With no access to the Promenade Deck my outside walking routine has been interrupted so I’ve come up with an alternate routine – circling the two buffet restaurants on the Lido Deck. It’s actually worked out pretty well, ’cause I can stop to “graze” any time I feel my energy levels dropping. Only disadvantage is that there’s a lot more traffic around the buffets!

The inclement weather has actually done me another favor. With the ship pitching about It’s not safe to be walking around too much. It’s Match Day for the English Premier League so I decided that the wisest thing for me to do is stay seated in a comfortable chair and watch the back to back football games that are being broadcast on satellite TV.

Gotta go for now – kickoff is coming up soon for the match between Manchester United & Chelsea. Should be a good one!

Ship’s Position:

37°44′16″ N 25°39′46″ W

We docked at Ponta Delgada, Azores Islands this morning at 7:00am local time. It was still very dark as the ship tied up without a sound. We were greeted by a steady rain as the sun rose so I took a nap after breakfast hoping the sun would come out before noon – and thankfully it did.

Of course the first thing that caught my attention was the marina adjacent to the cruise ship terminal.

Ponta Delgada is 2,885 nautical miles from Fort Lauderdale. We still have another 800 nautical miles to go before we arrive in Lisbon, so another full day at sea tomorrow.

I got off the ship & walked around the town’s waterfront for about 90 minutes. There’s an old fort at the southwest end of the sea wall that dominates the harbor entrance.

The architecture in the town is a mixture of “modern” concrete buildings along the waterfront and more classic on the streets further back.

Ponta Delgada is on Sao Miguel, the largest of the Azores islands.

It was good to stretch my legs on land after being on the ship for 7 consecutive days & Ponta Delgada was a nice place for our first landing.

Ships’s Position 1:40 pm Local Time (UTC +00:00)

36°19′14″ N 31°56′33″ W

We have now traveled 2,570 nautical miles & the ocean is getting shallower – “only” 8,800 feet now.

The weather is very nice today. The sun is shining warmly & the seas are much calmer, deep blue in colour & there are no whitecaps in sight.

The time changed again last night. We’re now on UTC +00:00 & moved a total of 5 hours forward since leaving Florida. I’m hoping that’s the end of the time zone changes until we head home. A fellow passenger was commenting that the repositioning cruises from Europe back to North America are much easier on your body because you gain time along the way – rather than losing it – as we are on this trip.

A couple of other interesting statistics:

FIRES

So far we have “only” had two small fires on board. The first one was in a crew level restricted area inside a special waste incinerator. (I thought that that was what an incinerator was supposed to do.)

The second one was a small grease fire at one of the food concession grills on the Lido Deck.

In each instance the fire was quickly extinguished before a general alarm was required & the Ship’s Captain calmly & clearly explained over the ship wide PA system what was going on. None of the crew or passengers (myself included) seemed to be upset by either of these incidents. I think everything was handled very professionally & I appreciated that we were quickly given reliable information – as opposed to hearing stories created by passengers & then embellished by others as the information spread around the ship by gossip.

MINOR INJURIES

I have seen several people walking around with slings on their arms. I never saw anyone fall but the ship has been pitching about quite a bit for the past 3 days so it would be pretty easy to take a tumble.

I have also seen a lot of people walking around like this (see below)

This could well be the cause of some of these injuries.

In addition to paid access to the internet, Princess is broadcasting the ship’s own intranet website (for free) to all passengers with a smartphone or a tablet. This is pretty handy because you can access the full cruise itinerary, see all of each day’s activities, book excursions, send instant messages to other passengers & do many other things. But, the downside is that many people are walking around entranced by their devices & not paying attention to where they are. Heads up & eyes forward everyone!

Last night I went to see the headliner act with comedian Tom Briscoe in the Princess Theatre.

Visit: www.tombriscoe.com

This fellow is really funny & had the entire audience in stitches through his entire performance. A lot of his material was based on a man’s perspective of married life & it was pretty easy for all men (& women) in the audience to relate. He skated close to the blue line a few times but never used an four letter words & you would have to be overly sensitive to be offended. Goes to show that you don’t have to cuss to be funny!

If you ever get a chance to see this fellow in a local comedy nightclub, in Las Vegas or somewhere else I encourage you to go. Be sure to bring a hanky to wipe the tears (of laughter) from your eyes.

Gotta go for now, they’re replenishing the desert section at the buffet & I need a little something to hold me over until dinner time.

Cheers!

Ship’s Position:

34°26′59″ N 40°18′29″ W

We have traveled about 2,150 nautical miles so far. As you can see in the photo below, we have traveled in a straight line almost since we left Florida on Saturday. Glad to see that the folks at the helm are paying close attention to where we’re going.

It won’t be much longer until we reach our first destination, Ponta Delgada on the Azores Islands. We dock there on Saturday. Hopefully they will have time to re-provision the ship before we head off to Lisbon. The lineups at the buffets and dining rooms are still pretty long. All that fresh sea air is giving everyone big appetites. The ship’s cupboards must be getting bare.

Speaking of food, unfortunately I missed yesterday’s “Eat More To Weigh Less” seminar. I had a schedule conflict because the poolside restaurants had limited time specials on double cheese & meat pizzas. They were having a customer appreciation battle against the ice cream parlor on the opposite side of the pool – which was offering double chocolate fudge sundaes. Who could refuse opportunities like that!

I expect that the weight control seminar will be offered again. In the meantime I will follow the advice given in the seminar’s title. I think I’ve got the system figured out.

Happy times are back (for me) in the sports world. The ship’s satellite has now picked up a European TV sports channel that broadcasts several football (soccer) games each day. Gotta figure out how to fit those into my routine.

Better go for now. BVB just scored a goal against Monaco & are pressing hard for the equalizer ⚽️

Cheers!