Cagliari, Italy

I woke this morning not feeling as good as usual. I think it was because of the big meal which caused a restless night of sleep for me. We usually don't eat that late and now I know why.
We docked at 8am in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. We went up to the buffet. I am very tried of the breakfast food at the buffet. There is way too much fish, (served 3 different ways and who eats fish for breakfast??), beans, black pudding and soupy scrambled eggs. All I have been eating is bacon and pastries or waffles and now I am even tried of them. Carnival does a much better breakfast buffet.
We left the ship and boarded the complimentary shuttle to town and were in town by 9:30am.
We walked up to the old part of town and there is an old tower. For 4 Euros you can walk up to the top. Since I am not a fan of heights, Wayne went up alone and took some great photos of the town.
We walked around looking at stores but since today is Sunday not many were open, so we did a lot of window shopping. We did find a couple of places open like grocery stores, cafes (where we stopped and I had real Italian gelato – strawberry and it was delicious!!
There were also lots and lots of stores selling things from India (and each store sold the same as the next store) but we were looking for things from Italy. I did find one store selling authentic Sardinia stuff and bought some yummy pink almond nougat (to bring home) which they were taste tasting!
We walked around a while longer and then decided to head back to the ship. We were back on board by 2pm for a 3:30pm all aboard. As we were on the shuttle headed back to the ship we saw the Queen Elizabeth 2 had docked next to us. I forgot to mention we were docked starboard side next to the pier and we had a great view of the city until the QE2 docked.
We headed up to the buffet again because it is so close and easy to get there. The lunch also doesn't change very much. Beans again, lots of curries, rice and stir fries. There are hot dogs and hamburgers but the burgers are not tasty and neither is the pizza (tastes like frozen) I find the food very bland on the ship. Maybe they are trying to appeal to the Brits but not sure how popular it is with people from North America. I ended up having a small slice of pizza and fruit salad and Wayne had salad and cold cuts. We both had a small dish of ice cream.
We then went to the pool bar and bought the bucket of beer special and headed back to the cabin to sit on the balcony and watch sail away.
We went up to the buffet. Again and dinner was the best meal we have had there. Still lots of curry choices but I had the Chicken Supreme which was chicken and veg's in a cream sauce. I also had a baked potato. Wayne had another salad. I had a crepe for desert and Wayne had a caramel square.
After dinner we went out on the Promenade for a walk and met up with David & Carol. We all got our cameras (well the guys went and got them) and we stood at the stern of the ship and took pictures of the sunset over Sardinia.
Now I am in the library again on the Internet and Wayne is here having a coffee.
Tomorrow Naples, Italy!!

Sea Day #2

As today is a sea we decided not to ordered room service ahead and just phoned when we woke up. We just ordered coffee to have out on the balcony and then went up to the Blue Lagoon for breakfast. Wayne had the special breakfast – eggs, bacon, sausage, hash brown, grilled tomato and beans and I had the French toast with bacon. We then came back to the cabin and sat out on the balcony reading/writing. Wayne then went out for a walk around and I met up with him at noon at a NCL future cruise presentation (they had free mimosas!!)
We are not big fans of sea days and there is not a lot going on that interests us but it is a good chance to rest and relax. Wayne went down for a coffee and I spent more time on the balcony (I will never cruise without one)
For lunch we went up to the buffet and had burgers.
The Captain had a presentation at 3pm about the building of the Jade and behind the scenes which was really interesting.
Now it is time for a drink on the balcony before getting ready for dinner. Tonight we are going to the French restaurant “Le Bistro” which is part of the romance package that we ordered. Dinner comes with a bottle of wine. We missed the cake and champaign party this afternoon because it was at the same time as the Captain's presentation and we wanted to see that.
When we arrived at Le Bistro at 7pm for dinner, a window table was not available so we waited for one – it took 30 minutes but was worth the wait.
For appetizers Wayne had the foie gras and a Roquefort salad and I had the seared scallops. The bottle of wine that came with the Anniversary package was a lovely Chardonnay. We both had the beef tenderloin as an entrée. For dessert they brought out a little Anniversary cake and sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart”. We asked to take the cake back to our cabin for later so we could try the yummy deserts on the menu. We couldn't decide so we split the chocolate fondue and the chocolate hazelnut torte. Wayne also ordered a cheese plate. We waddled out of the restaurant a little after 9pm. It was a lovely meal and everything was delicious!
Now we need to do a few laps around the ship.
Tomorrow Sardinia, Italy!!

Photos from Malaga and area

My feet are in the Mediterranean

The marble condos in Puerto Banus

Malaga Main shopping area

The Coffee Chronicles part 3

Today is an “at sea” day, so I didn't bother writing my blog yesterday knowing I was going to have time on my hands today. Cruising isn't about the ship activities for me, I like the floating, moving, wake-up-in-a-new-city hotel part of cruising. So today I'm trying to remember yesterday's coffee... Oh yeah, Marbella! That's where we were. We took a bus tour to Marbella and Puerto Banus from Malaga. In Marbella we stuck our feet in the Med and then found a cafe. I ordered the usual and tried to get a Churro, they didn't have any, how about Magdelane's? None of those either, the waiter made some hand motions of what looked like a little cake, I accepted and he brought a... donut. Plain glazed donut, fresh, but otherwise just like home.
The coffees were very good. Tasty and smooth cappuccino, and Linda's cafe con liche came with just a small pour of coffee and he brought heated milk to add at the table (the waiter poured the milk and took the decanter away). We were pleased with the drinks, but we were rushed. Typical bus tour issue, get sat down order, guzzle, try to find the waiter and get a bill, pay and run. There was another couple from our tour who ordered a full breakfast and almost missed the bus.
Since I'm enjoying an at sea day I thought I would have a Latte from the coffee bar on board. I'm drinking it now. They use fresh ground Lavazza coffee from a doser, and the espresso machine is a Simonelli. I've kept an eye on the bar over the last few days and it's almost always the same guys working, so I was hopeful that they knew what they were doing. It didn't really matter, the machine seemed to do most of the work by push buttons. He did have to steam the milk, which he did to such a high temperature that the hot milk hid the taste of the coffee. I've had the coffee in front of me in a take-out cup for about 15 minutes and I still can't taste it.... Well, eventually I could taste it and it was unimpressive to say the least. Hardly worth the 3.45 they charge for it.
In the cafeteria you can get a Latte or Cappuccino from a full automatic dispensing machine for free, even decaf if you prefer. When the machines are working they're not bad, but the staff has to keep an eye on them because they often seem to need cleaning or refilling. Nevertheless I'll probably stick to these machines for the rest of my Lattes on board.
Tomorrow we are in Sardinia, I can't wait to finally reach Italy! How do you say cappuccino in Italian??

Malaga, Spain

We woke to our room service call today at 7:30am and the bacon had returned!!.
We have booked an excursion to Marbella and Puerto Banus for this morning. Both towns are on the Costa del Sol. We boarded the bus and were on our way by 9:10am. The drive to Marbella was lovely. We arrived in Marbella at 10:10 and had an hour to explore. We headed to the beach. Since it was early the beach was empty but we had to put our feet in the water. Not as warm as the Caribbean but still much warmer than home. We then decided it was coffee time so we stopped at a cafe for our usual. Then we wandered the old part of town until it was time to board the bus. The distance to Puerto Banus is 6kms and the drive passes lots of 5 star hotels. We arrived in Puerto Banus at 11:30. After we left the bus the first store we see is Cartier and it is across the street from condos made of marble. We walked toward the water and docked along the pier are HUGE yachts. The further down the pier we walked, the bigger the yachts were. One yacht had a family sitting at an outside table with their guard standing watch behind them.
I LOVE this town. I loved looking at the yachts, the cars and window shopping at stores like Prada, Versace, Dior, Hermes, etc...
We would have preferred to skip Marbella and just have spent all our time in Puerto Banus..
The bus ride back to the ship was long due to an accident and Friday traffic.
We came back on board and had lunch and then went into to Malaga. The ship has a free shuttle into to town since it is too far to walk and the area is under construction so it would not be safe.
We walked around town and noticed it is not as nice as the other ports in Spain. The sidewalks were dirty and smelly. The other ports when we arrived , the storesworkers were outside washing the sidewalks and windows (In Spain there are no public washrooms and the sidewalks get used for this purpose at night which if not cleaned is very smelly) This is another reason to stop for a coffee because then the cafe will let you use their washroom.
Malaga just didn't seem as friendly and nice as Vigo and Cadiz (still my favorite but Puerto Banus is a very close second))
On the way back on board the ship we met up with the couple from Tasmania (David and Carol). We invited them up to our cabin for a drink before dinner. David had some photos of Tasmania and they were lovely to see. They then went off to dinner in Alizar and we went to the Blue Lagoon. We split an order of chicken wings for an appetizer and Wayne had the fish and chips and I had chicken tenders and fries. We both enjoyed our meals. We decided to go walk around before stopping up at the buffet for desert – peanut butter pie which was tasty.
Another early night. We are both usually very tried at the end of the day from all the walking we are doing. We haven't gone to any of the show in the main theater and from what I have heard we haven't missed much. I do miss my trivia buddy (Carleigh) since Wayne does not want to go to trivia.
Tomorrow is a sea and our feet can use rest!!

Marbella, Puerto Banus and Malaga Spain

Since we had a long day today and the couple from Tasmania stopped by our cabin for drinks before dinner, I am going to write about our day tomorrow. I will post a couple of photos but since tomorrow is a sea I will have lots of time to write.
Until tomorrow...

Pictures of Gibraltar

The first 2 photos are of Ceuta - so close and yet so far.



Wayne in the sunny haze on our way to Gibraltar