7th November- Arriving in Ponta Delgado, The Azores

A group of large Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and owned by Portugal and is also part of the EU. We arrived in the small harbour and tied up virtually in the centre of town as it would only be a short walk from the Ship to the main shopping areas and Churches etc.

Upon leaving the ship we were struck by the newness of the Harbour Facilities with new shops and open air cafes and the streets were clean. Even the pavements did not have the large Ian Lake holes in them. We noticed several of the cafes were offering free Wi-fi internet and if we can’t find a computer internet place we will pop back to the ship for our own notebook later in the day. We also didn’t want to be late as the Cruise Directoress had promised a big screen production of the Brazilian Formula One Grand prix starting at 3pm.

As it was a Sunday most of the shops, apart from the ones at the Port were pretty much closed but we walked from one side of the town to other and were pretty impressed how well kept this place is compared to Lisbon. Most of the houses had been recently painted and there were no obvious signs of graffiti and very little rubbish on the streets at all. We were unsuccessful in finding a computer internet place, everybody has their own notebook, netbook or I-pad today and so this type of shop is failing. Noel darted back to the cabin and picked up the notebook but we could not make a connection at the first place and

then we moved on to a mall where they also advertised free internet, we could find the signal but could not get access until a person at the next table said you need this code and from thereon it was ok but very, very slow connection indeed. This is not surprising as there must have been 30 odd people with notebooks etc trying to connect.

We did a final walk along the beachfront to the Old Fort at the end of the town then headed back and came across a local drum band with mostly teenagers and some people dressed up in cow outfits, not sure why.

On board we settled in to watch the Grand Prix and were getting nervous that it must have started and then it turned out they could not find a suitable satellite and so they would show the film ‘Mama Mia’, Noel does not like ABBA anyway and Jennifer has already seen the film so after ten minutes we decided there were better things in life than watching this.

We went topside for a cuppa and cake and I forgot to mention that since leaving Lisbon it is all silver service and you cannot even make your own cup of tea. During the first few days perhaps because we were close to a port you were allowed to help yourself to certain foods and make your tea or get iced water but now this is all done by the crew as they state they want everybody to be healthy and reduce the risk of on board illness.

Tonight we tried the Grand Main Dining Room which is at the back of the ship and seats about 900 people. The food was OK but not especially brilliant and we felt that the food in the garden café which is always served piping hot is perhaps better. It was worth the experience however.

During dinner we discussed the merits of cruising, Jennifer felt that it might be better to go on a more expensive ship where they don’t push extra items at you all the time, On Jen’s previous ships they have given talks about where your are going and the history of the place and nice places to visit by experts. On here it’s more like selling their own bus tours which are expensive and presented by people who read a script. Noel felt a little cramped and missed the freedom and also the opportunity to see more of the places we visited and having the complete freedom to do it our way. We are now not sure if we will do the Valparaiso to Buenos Aires cruise when we go to Latin America as we feel we will miss all the good bits that you can see from land and perhaps on a smaller ferry which does Island hopping. Food seems to be the main hobby of the largely American population on board and god knows where they put it all. Sometimes one plate at a time is not enough, quite off putting really.

We both agree that the opportunity to eat at the different restaurants is good rather than sit in the same seat at all meal times but somehow this will most likely be the last cruise for quite a while and we stick to our old routines.

After dinner we did a walk around the decks and put our heads in to the big Theatre where there was a group of youngish guys who may be failures from the X-Factor doing their best to sing Freddie Mercury and failing quite well really.

Shame Chelsea lost to Liverpool we did not see the game but know the result. This is quite depressing as I believe Chelsea may have been playing a weak team due to injuries and as I refuse to pay USD 5.00 for a minute to use the internet I will wait to find out when we reach New York next Saturday. Same applies to the Brazilian GP.

One final matter, as we pulled out of Ponta Delgado the Finnish Captain said that due to severe storms in certain parts of the Atlantic we would be taking a different route to that planned and that he would travel at a faster speed so that he had the opportunity to slow down if the weather got too bad. It’s quite encouraging really.