En Route to Funchal

In case you’re wondering, Funchal is the port for Madeira, a Portuguese city on an island off the northwest coast of Africa.  So we’re not yet to the Canary Islands. Here’s the map from our cabin TV.


We sat on our balcony for Happy Hour yesterday, as the ship left La Coruña, and I took this photo of the Castle of Santo Antón.  


Of course, I had to find out about it.  Built in the 1500s, the castle was able to fend off the British Navy in 1589 and served as a prison from the 1700s until 1960. Now it’s a museum.

We met an interesting couple from Savannah in the suites lounge before dinner.  They have a daughter in Houston, so of course we compared notes.  The conversation went well until the husband said something negative about Biden, trying to blame him for Texas’s power grid problems. Never fear, I corrected him. 

We again had dinner in Coastal Kitchen. I think we’ve tried the entire menu (which changes nightly) over the past month!  We both had wedge salads, then I had Moroccan-spiced chicken breast and Charlie the roasted cod with fingerling potatoes and spinach. 

This morning we walked on the top deck, despite strong winds, so I could get a photo with Gigi the giraffe. You’re welcome.


For lunch today we had reservations at Izumi, and we enjoyed ourselves.  Charlie had warm sake, but I opted for the Japanese Strawberry cocktail, made with sake. Probably very Americanized, but tasty!


We both had the shrimp firecracker spring rolls to start.


I had the champagne lobster roll, as well as chicken teriyaki, both very good. 



The sea has remained calm, so we’ve been lucky so far.  I’m still taking a nightly Bonine just to be sure.  No other adventures to report!

Comments

  1. EleanorJune 5, 2024 at 8:59 AM

    Wow Gigi is a lot bigger than I thought!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJune 5, 2024 at 9:30 AM

      32 feet tall! Here’s a link to her installation: https://www.royalcaribbeanpresscenter.com/video/550/meet-gigi-the-giraffe-on-anthem-of-the-seas/

      Delete
  2. RachelJune 5, 2024 at 10:54 AM

    The map is helpful as I didn't have a good sense of where you were going! Very cool!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousJune 7, 2024 at 5:11 PM

    Wow Gigi is huge

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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

St. Thomas and St. Maarten

Image
As I mentioned yesterday, our St. Thomas tour was canceled, so we stayed on board the ship. We  had a cooked breakfast in Coastal Kitchen before repairing to the suites deck to read (me) or otherwise spend time. It was perfect weather again. We finally showered and dressed for the day about 11:45, then went in search of lunch. We ended up at Taco Loco, with make-your-own tacos and premade quesadillas, plus margaritas, of course. Very good!  And no lines! Yesterday afternoon we lazed about, with me mostly glued to my book. We also spent time watching a crew preparing to load a giant yacht (see opposite side of the barge) onto a barge that already held two smaller sailboats. It took all afternoon, and it still wasn’t on board when the men quit for the day.  We had a nice dinner, again in Coastal Kitchen, where we enjoyed chatting with a couple around our age seated next to us. They are Pinnacle level, and they’ll also be on our transatlantic cruise. They’re from McKinney. I had a seafood
Read more