SarahHben

Morning Thank you for your messages after I took a tumble. I was ok by yesterday morning, a few bruises but nothing bad. I left my big camera behind to give my wrist a rest. My toe had ‘unlocked’ itself too so I could walk fine. I’ve had several operations on my hands for Trigger Finger so I’m wondering if it’s possible to get Trigger Toe maybe 🤷‍♀️ Yesterday’s trip was a later start so we didn’t have to rush and we’d slept in a little later. The ship had already docked by the time we’d looked out. It’s interesting how every island has looked quite different. I didn’t expect Lanzarote to be so flat. We had breakfast in the buffet, had a nice chat to a couple next to us. I forgot to take something up with us to save a table while we got our food so we took it in turns. It was a bit busier in the buffet than other days and we’ve noticed that not many people are using the hand sanitiser pumps on the way in to the food area. Lanzarote has been the only port so far where it was a bit chaotic waiting for and finding the correct coach for our excursion. We did the trip called ‘Discover the North’. Our first stop was Teguise, the ancient capital, we really enjoyed our time there. It was market day so it was busy but it was interesting to see that view with all the white market stall tents. You can tell I like photography and Mr B likes videography, we’re all about the views and what we can photograph rather than the best restaurants etc I’m afraid 🥴 The market was mainly knock off designer goods, bags & belts, ‘Louis Vuitton’ bags for €20…if only 😁 The little streets, main square and the church were very nice, pretty but in a different way to Puerto Mogan. We had opted to follow the tour guide down into the square before exploring on our own and she was great, gave us lots of historical background which we wouldn’t have know if we had done our own thing from the get go. Our second stop was a view point overlooking Haria, The Valley of a Thousand Palms. It was hot up there! All of our tour guides have said it’s unusual to have the high temperatures that we’ve had this cruise, i won’t be going home with much of a sun tan because I’m covering up and using a high SPF sun screen. The last stop was Jameos del Agua, a volcanic tunnel which was very interesting. Our tour guide explained how it had been formed. An artist had designed the surrounding underground gardens and outside space into an oasis area and also an underground concert arena, we both said we’d love to go to a music recital there, it was incredible. The cave had a very deep pool with tiny albino crab type creatures, my phone camera didn’t capture them well so I’m hoping my husbands video comes out better. When we got back we had a late lunch in the buffet and then had a dip in the adult only pool and spent the rest of the afternoon in the Retreat. We have found the open decks and pool areas are so busy that we’re avoiding walking through them. Even if we’re going to the retreat after the buffet, we walk back down the aft stairs to our cabin from the buffet, grab a bag and then walk along the length of the cabin corridor to the forward staircase to go up to the Retreat. Dinner was in Sindhu last night with menu B, it was very good. I had spiced ground beef in flatbread with onion relish & curry sauce for starter. The main we chose was the signature dish which was lamb bhuna, chicken tariwala curry and coconut prawn masala, it was excellent! for dessert I had a dark chocolate sphere with warm chocolate sauce poured over m, I think it was supposed to melt away to show the white chocolate mousse but it didn’t quite work, it tasted lovely though. We spent some time watching people ballroom dancing in the atrium, we’re not dancers ourselves but really enjoyed watching. There were 2 young lads, possibly twins, who were very good! The show in the theatre was the illusion & magic show ‘Astonishing’ which we really enjoyed. The clocks went forward an hour last night and it’s a sea day so we’ve had s lie in this morning. We have the Epicurean afternoon tea booked for later & it’s formal night, other than that I don’t intend to do much other than read today. I hope I’m not boring you too much.

I’m feeling sorry for myself tonight. My big toe had locked up, it does that sometimes, so I was limping a bit and didn’t see how wet the stairs down the outside of the adult pool and I slipped down them. Hurt my forearm, wrist and pride 😳. Nothing badly hurt but I need my toe in working order tomorrow as we’re doing a cave type excursion tomorrow. I even forgot to photograph my food. Anyway, we went down to Cinnamon MDR around 6:45 and we’re given a pager. We only had to wait 15 mins though. I had an Asian platter for starter, which consisted of a samosa, onion bhaji, cauliflower pakora and a satay sauce, they were all very good. Then I had pan fried chicken with root veg and potatoes with a small amount of garlic butter. What was on the plate was ok but it needed a gravy or jus. My dessert was a selection of ice cream & sorbets. We missed the 8:30pm theatre show and I don’t want to stay up too late tonight so we’ve returned to our cabin for a cuppa. Lanzarote tomorrow

Hello Its been very hot today, the deputy captain announced this morning that it was due to be 38° in port and in the 40°s elsewhere. We booked the ‘Leisurely Gran Canaria’ excursion which took us first of all to see the sand dunes, we had about 20 minutes there, then we went to a view point to see a view down a valley to the coast Then the main stop was in Puerto Mogan which we really enjoyed. We walked along to the marina after getting a few gifts to take home including a very tacky bright green lizard with googley eyes for our grandson 😂 and some nice tasteful china dishes for the grown ups. The marina was very nice, we’d like to go back one day. It’s possibly the nicest town we’ve spent time in this holiday. We had lunch in the buffet when we got back, I had a very nice haddock & leek crumble followed by an eve’s pudfing which I thought would be sponge with apple underneath but I think they forgot to put apple in mine 🤷‍♀️ I can’t remember if I mentioned yesterday that we found the Starbucks in Santa Cruz, Tenerife to buy a Starbucks Canary Islands mug, well my mum decided she wanted one too, so we walked across to the beach today and found another Starbucks to buy her one too. We both had a mango & dragon fruit cooler from Starbucks which was very refreshing, not too sweet. After a stroll along the sea front we came back onboard and had a dip in the adult only pool and then settled down in the Retreat. It’s very nice up here, peaceful.

That’s a good idea, thank you. I’ll remember that for next time. I do have one at home somewhere.

Thank you, we’ll try that! Fortunately I haven’t got a sore throat just an annoying chesty cough. Im looking forward to reading about your cruise when I get home. Temperatures could reach 38° today apparently 🥵

Evening. Today we have been, and still are, in Santa Cruz, Tenerife. It’s been jolly warm today, our sunscreen was melting on our arms and feet at one point 🥵 Our excursion was at 8:30am so we ordered room service breakfast. We had booked the Mount Teide National Park excursion, not the cable car one fortunately as that was cancelled due to strong winds up by the cable car station. As I’m prone to, I have developed a nasty cough, I feel absolutely fine and have tested negative twice for the dreaded lurgy but it’s embarrassing on a coach of people and the higher we got the more I wanted to cough, I’m sucking so many cough lozenges my teeth will probably fall out 🥴 There we’re a few others coughing too. Anyway the excursion took us up through the forests up towards the National park. It was quite hazy, the tour guide said it’s sand from the Sahara. We stopped at a view point for photos then went on to a refreshment & loo stop for half hour before going to the Roques de Garcia, a stunning area of rock formations at the base of Mount Teide. We had a 30-40 minute stop which was enough time to climb the path up to the rocks and back again, getting up there was easier than getting down! Study shoes needed. Then we walked up some steps on the other side of the area to get a different view. The trip is well worth doing in our opinion but we would have preferred to have had just a quick loo stop, no tea or coffee and a longer time at the main stop. On the way back the driver stopped at another spot where we could see the different layers of rock, very interesting! We got back, security was very thorough in the terminal, we had to take watches & belts off, & we went up to the buffet for lunch, it was almost empty up there. We thought if we went to the Retreat we wouldn’t get moving again so we had a little reading time/snooze before heading out into town. I have to say it’s not the prettiest town and port side 🥴 the tour guide said there are plans to regenerate the area, with maybe an artificial beach. It was so warm that we came back after a few hours. We went down at 7pm to Cinnamon restaurant expecting to be given a pager but were shown to a table for 2 straight away. We wondered if it was because quite a few people were ashore for the evening, we weren’t complaining though. We both had chicken satay starter which was delicious, wild mushroom risotto for main which we really liked but I won’t subject you to a photo because it wasn’t the most photogenic meal 😂 then I just had ice cream for dessert. When we got back to the cabin we found we had no water in the taps, shower or loo so we called reception and 2 decks had been affected by a leak, it was around an hour before it was sorted. I’d began to wonder if we’d be taking our toothbrushes to a bathroom downstairs in the communal areas. We are currently sat on our still very warm balcony waiting for sail away. Gran Canaria tomorrow with another fairly early start

Hello it was a late night last night and an early start this morning so I didn’t get a chance to catch up earlier. We very much enjoyed our Epicurean experience last night, we chose to go on a formal night and ate at 7pm, it wasn’t busy but there were enough people there to not feel like we were eating in an empty dining room. We started with the trip of breads, the beetroot one was very tasty and I don’t like marmite but I liked the marmite butter. They brought out an amuse bouche of pineapple & Bacardi which was delicious. Then we both had the snow crab starter, which we both enjoyed apart from the cucumber mojito that neither of us were keen on. For our main we shared the rib eye steak for two which was carved at the table, it was so good that we wondered if there was an extra charge but there wasn’t 😊 The palette cleanser was an iced blackcurrant & white chocolate lolly, it tasted a little bit aniseedy, very nice. We both had the crepes Suzette for dessert and it was cooked at our table, very theatrical. Then it was finished off with a selection of chocolates and a coffee for Mr B. We would definitely go again another cruise, we talked about going next week but there are still other things we want to try. After dinner we packed our bags for our Tenerife trip and then went to the late theatre show to see Tom Ball. He is so so good, one of the best voices I’ve heard. I’ll update about today later on this evening as I need to write some postcards, digital not real ones, can’t be doing with buying stamps 😊

Here’s a photo for you showing other seating in the Retreat, plus there’s comfortable sun loungers as well.

Sorry not sure why that last pic posted twice, I can’t delete it either

This one is the only bed like this but there are very comfortable sun-loungers, sofas, and big Whicker arm chairs, I’ll see if I can take some different photos later

Alcoholic drinks aren’t included, but the Retreat waiters take your order and Cruise card and fetch drinks from the bars for you.

Hello We are in very warm La Palma today. We were late down to breakfast, we had discussed our plans, I came away from the discussion thinking we’d decided to go the buffet so I wasn’t hurrying, unfortunately Mr B went away thinking we had decided to go to Saffron restaurant 🥴 so we only got there just before 9:30. It said in Horizon that saffron closed at 9:30 but we were given a pager anyway. We popped back to our cabin to pack bags ready to go out, we were called after 20 minutes. Food was good as usual. There have been a few things that haven’t bothered us but might bother other people, we had to ask for teaspoons for our tea this morning, a couple of the MDR waiters & bar waiters have been a bit stoney faced& I had to ask the cabin steward to top up something in the bathroom which she apologised for. None of it a problem. No excursion booked so we have really enjoyed walking around seeing all the buildings with such interesting balconies and carpentry details. The Cathedral area was lovely and the Cathedral itself was lovely and cool! Mr B wanted to walk along to the replica of Christopher Columbus’ ship ‘Santa Maria’ so we walked through lots of little streets. Walked back along the sea front & beach, Mr B hadn’t seen black sand before. Just got back on board and had a quick lunch on the balcony. Santa Cruz was very nice for wandering and taking photos but was getting too warm to stay out. I didn’t take loads of photos because it was a bit windy. I needed 1 hand to hold my dress down, 1 hand to stop my hat flying away, 1 hand to keep my hair out of my face because I hadn’t tied it back as I was expecting to be able to wear the hat 🙄 and 1 hand for taking photos, unfortunately I only have 2 hands not 4 🤷‍♀️ A band from the ship called The Privateers we’re walking behind us and I was quite worried that I’d loose my dress and they’d see my privateers 😳🙈 There was a very welcome chilled water station outside when we got back. We’re back in the Retreat, Pimms for me, Aperol Spritz for him 😁🍹 Sorry for my long winded rambling! Epicurean tonight followed by Tom Ball in the theatre late show. Tom Ball is such a lovely man. We had a chat with him the other day and he offered to do a video message for my sister who is a big fan & has been having a miserable week, we were blown away by his kindness.

My husband would like that, we’ll keep an eye out anything like that in the Horizon, thanks

Yes we did, very pretty 😊 I took lots of photos on my big camera

Thank you. We booked it in advance, I can’t remember the price but can check when I get home. I thought the Retreat might be busy but it’s been lovely, we’ve just settled ourselves into a lovely Whicker sun bed for two for a few hours 😁

Evening. We really enjoyed our day in Madeira. I woke up at 6:45 and could see we were approaching the port, it was still dark out so the town was all lit up, it was so pretty. We got to the buffet quite early, for us anyway, and had a quick breakfast. We haven’t had any issues finding anywhere to sit up there but I take a cardi up with me to save the table while we get our food. Our excursion was booked for 12:30 and we wanted to spend the morning exploring without wasting time so we took the free shuttle into town, wandered around lots of little quaint side streets taking lots of photos. We went into the Cathedral, which was beautiful inside. We walked along past the castle, bought a few niknaks, some Portuguese tarts 😁 and then took a slow walk along the sea front back to the ship via the Christiano Ronaldo statue. We popped back on board, quickly freshened up before going straight back down for our excursion which was called ‘Leisurely Scenes of Madeira. I can’t remember all the places names off the top of my head but we went right up into the mountains, round lots of hairpin bends, meeting several cars and buses along the way…very good driving by our coach driver! We stopped at 3 viewing points, the 2nd one being a hotel where we had cake & Madeira wine then walked up to a view point that had stunning views. One valley was clear but the other one was full of mist. Last stop was the highest cliff top in Europe, there was a glass walkway which I watched Mr B go on, Amazing views, well worth the trip! We then sat on our balcony watching the sail-away, eating our custard tarts. For dinner we went to Saffron, we went down around 6:45, were given a pager and waited 40 mins before being called. The 2 of us are quite happy to wait but are thinking of changing to fixed dining when we go on Britannia next May with my parents, I think dad might get a bit grumpy if he has to wait 40 mins or so. It seems like they are calling 4 couples at a time and then taking orders & serving the meals as if it’s a table of 8 which works quite well except I can’t be nosey and see what other people are eating before I order 😂 Again, we enjoyed the food, I had chicken noodle soup followed by very good roast beef, medium rare as requested and finished off with delice au citron, nice but I’ve had better. Then we headed off to Havana Club to watch The Privateers again, it was very busy but worth squeezing in for, they really are very good. Weve just had a cuppa on the balcony, Mr B is enjoying seeing various constellations that he’s never seen before. I forgot to say at the start that the Captain is David Hudson and the Entertainments Manager is Leon? La Croix. For those that mentioned the small looking portion of cream & jam and lack of butter on my afternoon tea yesterday, I realised afterwards that it might be because it’s in the Retreat where they serve healthier food? 🤷‍♀️ La Palma tomorrow, no excursion booked, just exploring on our own.

We’ve just got back from a delicious dinner at The Beach House. I had a prawn starter and then Lava Rock steak which was so good, the steak melted in my mouth. I didn’t really have room for a dessert but was weak willed and had a cheesecake which was actually quite a light texture. We’ve booked to go again on our last night. Madeira tomorrow 😊 we’re going to try to get up early and have a mooch around before our excursion.

I said to my husband that I’d have liked butter 😊 The scones were good though.

I didn’t think it would be enough but it was just about right.