Docked in Funchal, Madeira

We enjoyed watching our skillful captain back our giant ship into the port early this morning.  



Here’s the view we scored for the day from our balcony.


Once docked, we went for a 30-minute walk around the top deck, noting some bumper cars for the grandchildren to see.


We had a nice breakfast in the Solarium Bistro, then went back to our cabin to get ready for the day.  We opted to stay on the ship, as did a surprising number of other passengers.  Judging by the occupied chairs on the pool deck, at least a third of us remained aboard.  We had originally booked a walking tour, but Charlie’s knee decided otherwise. All the streets head straight up the mountain, so it’s good that we didn’t attempt the tour.

We spent the rest of the morning on our balcony, and we enjoyed seeing a large group of what appeared to be high school age kids in individual sailboats.  Maybe a class?  


We saw them again when we went to the opposite (starboard) side to Coastal Kitchen for lunch.  


I had a very nice roasted beet salad, followed by an especially good grilled shrimp-spinach salad (which I forgot to photograph).


Then I spoiled all that virtuous salad consumption with the royal chocolate cake for dessert.  Yum!


Overnight, we sail to Tenerife, the largest of Spain’s Canary Islands. More tomorrow!

Comments

  1. RachelJune 6, 2024 at 6:35 AM

    What a gorgeous view! And, I am sorry about Dad's knee. Hopefully resting will help.

    ReplyDelete
  2. PatrickJune 7, 2024 at 3:46 PM

    Bumper cars???

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 7, 2024 at 5:09 PM

    The view is amazing. The food also looks nice. I wanna ride the bumper cars!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ice Skating and Sushi

Image
Yesterday afternoon, we went to the ice-skating show, which was Tarot-themed. Costumed skaters portrayed the Lovers, the Empress, the Joker, etc.  We were as impressed with their skills as we were with the skaters’ on the Wonder in March. Lots of fancy spins, lifts, and jumps! Charlie told me that our ship (Voyager, launched in 1999) was the first in Royal Caribbean’s fleet to have an ice performance rink. There are servers who bring you drinks, so Prosecco it was!  We had reservations at Chops Grille for dinner, and we enjoyed our meal as the sun set. We both tried the appetizer crab cake (not as good as Charlie’s), the lobster bisque (okay), then petite filets with baked potatoes and asparagus. Once again, we failed to capture a pic of the excellent chocolate cake with ice cream.  As I mentioned yesterday, ship’s time moved ahead another hour, but so far we’re adjusting all right. We did have some loud noises overnight from the pool deck on the deck above ours. It sounded like a dump
Read more

Epic Lunch at Chops Grille

Image
On our last day at sea, the sun rose almost directly behind the ship, so the suites deck was too sunny for us this morning. Luckily, our balcony was shaded and cool, so we spent much of the morning out there. I read, and we spotted several container ships to the east.  Before moving on to our lunch, let me insert the description of last night’s dinner.   For dinner in Coastal Kitchen, we both had an excellent wedge salad, then Charlie also had a bowl of seafood bisque that he said was very good, if not quite up to his favorite at Joe’s in Chicago. Then I had poached lobster in a good sauce, served over a few fava beans and bok choy. It was really delicious! The woman next to me ordered two servings at once!  The servings on the ship are smaller than in most restaurants nowadays, where they often seem to serve on individual platters, but they’re certainly adequate! Charlie had lamb chops and wished for more. For dessert I ordered baked Alaska, and Charlie got the chocolate cake. I mostl
Read more

Embarkation Day!

Image
After a fairly smooth flight yesterday (apart from a delayed departure and no lunch), we enjoyed our short stay at the airport Marriott. We had a great view of the east runway and saw lots of trains and trams, too. For dinner we enjoyed Caesar salads and a tomahawk steak for two at the restaurant in the hotel.  This morning a driver picked us up at 9:00 and drove us to Port Canaveral. Check-in was quick and easy in the suites line. We walked in exactly the wrong direction to find our muster station, but eventually got checked in there. It’s right by a huge spiral slide, which I would love to try, but it’s pretty scary-looking.   By 10:45, we were comfortably seated on deck 15 with our first adult beverages of the day.   Charlie booked us into the Mason Jar, a Southern restaurant, for lunch. I had to try the PB&J Old Fashioned for Rob.   Our server also brought out jalapeño cornbread with pimiento cheese and flavored butters to start. We ordered deviled eggs, then I had a fried chic
Read more