Clay Clayton

Writing this on Tuesday morning from our balcony overlooking the Thames and London just before they arrive to throw us off. I will post something after we get home with fuller thoughts (don’t forget we have a week in London with our newly college graduated niece who arrives tomorrow morning) but for now I’m going to repost what I put up on Instagram last night: The last few weeks onboard Sky have been bittersweet as all aboard -passengers and crew realized this amazing adventure was coming to an end. That hit me like a ton of bricks this morning. One of the cafe servers made a special effort to thank me for suggesting to other passengers to let her and other crew board a shuttle bus back to the ship in Tenerife before the guests. This allowed them to get back before their shifts started. She said she would “never forget how kind that was”. While that brought me close to the edge, it was when she said, “ Smile when you get off tomorrow, please don’t cry” that the tears started and have been coming and going the rest of the day. While we always get to know a crew member or two, after four months we have really become so much closer to so many more. We have learned about their families, their hopes for their careers, the baby that is due next month back home, the toddler at home being cared for by granny while Mom is onboard making a better life for her family. Each of these people who work so hard to make our lives onboard a breeze have a story and it’s only because we have been together so long that we have heard them. We just finished our end of cruise survey and had to add paper to be able to commend all the wonderful people who have taken care of us for the last 120 days. Mike and I talked about it last night, and while we loved all our adventures and have great memories of so many places, cultures, and people it will be the memories made onboard with fellow passengers and especially the crew that we think will stick with us the longest.

When we got back yesterday afternoon, there were a few of the entertainment staff and other crew out on the pier with music playing. As we went up the gangway, the wait and bar staff were coming down. Soon there was a long line of welcomers. As each bus arrived the party got louder and soon all of us on the balconies were in the party too. I have always thought the welcome back on the piers was a bit much-the crew works so hard for us to then ask them to come out and clap and dance was not for me. But after watching how much fun they were having together between buses-when there were no guests on the pier has changed my mind. They aren’t being forced to be happy, they are having a good time together. We just docked in Dover after a beautiful morning of getting closer and closer to the White Cliffs.

When we got back yesterday afternoon, there were a few of the entertainment staff and other crew out on the pier with music playing. As we went up the gangway, the wait and bar staff were coming down. Soon there was a long line of welcomers. As each bus arrived the party got louder and soon all of us on the balconies were in the party too. I have always thought the welcome back on the piers was a bit much-the crew works so hard for us to then ask them to come out and clap and dance was not for me. But after watching how much fun they were having together between buses-when there were no guests on the pier has changed my mind. They aren’t being forced to be happy, they are having a good time together. We just docked in Dover after a beautiful morning of getting closer and closer to the White Cliffs.

I’ll do it! Just fyi-he is gonna be a dad in June!

Beautiful day for our optional excursion to Giverny and Monet’s House and Garden today from Honfleur. Our first stop after about a hour and three quarters was a beautiful wedding venue (né Pig Farm) for a nice lunch. Mackerel Terrine Poached Chicken and buttery Mashed potatoes with a cream sauce (sorry I forgot to take a phot before digging in🫢) Delicious apple tart and French vanilla ice cream After lunch we rode about another 20 minutes to get to Giverny. What a horde of tourists-they really need timed tickets! But the gardens were so beautiful and the house interesting to see. The most amazing fact to me was that they only had eight gardeners. We are now about 20 minutes into our 2 hour drive back to the ship. Mike and I agree we are glad we came but would only do it again if we were staying closeby and could be there when the gates open and/or enter just before closing. We saw lots of tourists on day trips from Paris as well as two groups from Viking River boats docked in nearby Vernon. Tomorrow we are in Dover…going too fast!

Thank you-I thought about you the other night at the farewell gala-it was a very memorable and emotional night. May 6th is likely to be another!

I spoke too soon! Yesterday was my birthday and we were awakened by a delivery of my favorite buns and a handcrafted artisanal birthday card of curated recycled materials made lovingly by Mike😂 After breakfast, we enjoyed the included walking tour of Cherbourg a very nice little town. We were lucky that Thursday was market day in Cherbourg. So many beautiful flowers, vegetables, pastries, breads, cheeses, etc. We decided to buy some cheeses, meats, and have a picnic. It was chilly and rain was threatening so we went back to the ship and enjoyed it onboard with our prepaid wine😂 We enjoyed the spa after lunch and had it all to ourselves! We had friends join us for dinner at Manfredi’s private room and had a great time. We had visits from Mukesh-the Hotel Manager, Sam-the Guest Services Manager, and Max-the Excursions Manager along with what seemed like most of the servers and chefs onboard when they delivered a special birthday cake-they even had me “blow out”’the candle😂 We got back to the room to find another little remembrance of Portugal waiting for us along with another beautiful sunset. All in all, a wonderful birthday!

Haven’t seen a pistachio bun in three months😢. Have a great cruise and the pool bar table is perfect for LCR and I think Clayfon will still be onboard when you are.

Birthday? You must have me confused with somebody else. I don’t celebrate them anymore! Mojitos have become my LCR drink because our LCR bartender Clayfon makes such tasty ones!

I won the penultimate LCR on our sea day before Algadir (boy that seems forever ago!). Join us tomorrow (May 1st) for our final game and perhaps you’ll be the big winner. All you need to do is be at the pool bar at 3:30 with 3 one dollar bills. No singles? No worries! Clay will have change.

Another beautiful day in Portugal! After the past six days of go-go-go while in port and because we spent so much time in and around Porto in 2018, we decided to have an easy day today. Sky is docked at the port of Leixões which is 45-60 minutes from Porto proper. Unfortunately, we are at the old cruise terminal which is across the Leça River and therefore while we can see the great market in Matosinhos from our balcony where we planned to have lunch, getting there involves a long walk the wrong way to mount the bridge and then up and over. So we decided to head the other way and explore the area on the north side of the river. We are glad we did. Like all of this part of Portugal the beaches are beautiful with wide walkways. In this case, in addition to an old fort that is now a police station, there is a public pool built into the rocks. We had a nice walk and enjoyed watching surfers ride the waves. After a nice walk, we headed back to the ship stopping for lunch and walking through the pleasant town. Lots of old buildings in need of a savior, some that had found theirs, and a couple of amazing new construction. We stopped at the end of the beach at Brasão Leca for lunch. This local chain has lots of traditional dishes and we split Porto’s heart attack on a plate - a Francesinha, Porto’s version of a Croque Madam if as Mike put it a Croque Madam was healthy! It’s a sandwich stuffed with sausage, steak, ham, and cheese. Then covered with more cheese, broiled until melty, then topped with an egg and served in a slightly spicy tomato sauce…with fries! So tasty! We ordered a bowl of vegetable soup (likely some sort of pumpkin or squash-very good) and a “Mustard & Orange” salad. We expected mustard greens with some oranges…what we got was so much better! Juicy ripe oranges with red onions in a mustardy vinaigrette. Unlike at the places we ate in Lisbon the last two days, here we were happy to see bread, butter (in this case smoked ham butter!), and a bowl of olives and capers delivered to the table. In Portugal these are usually brought when you’re greeted and you are charged for them (in this case €1,85 pp) but if you don’t want them you ask them to take away. The restaurant also had the prettiest driftwood sink in the restroom. After our wonderful lunch we walked back through town and found Sky at the end of one of the many little streets. While not as fancy as the new terminal, the old one is a great renovation of what we expect was an old port side warehouse. We leave in about an hour headed to A Coruña Spain where we will be taking a day long trip to Santiago de Compostela. Speaking of which, while strolling along the beach we saw 50 or more “pilgrims” making the hike to Santiago. We were asked and took a picture of three young ladies headed there, they said they had nine more days before they hoped to arrive. We think we like our mode of transportation better😂. But if you’re interested in more info: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago

Sorry to have not posted in awhile. The innerwebs have been very slow and CC wouldn’t even open. Typing this from Porto (Leixões really) on cellular so hopefully will load. We had long day tours in both Casablanca and Tangiers both of which were enjoyable but tiring. Lots of walking (and other guests complaining about it🤔). Rabat was interesting but a long drive to get there but a very tasty tagine lunch, visit to a former king’s tomb as well as the walk through the casbah and Medina. Our trip to Tetuan was equally long, the Medina even more interesting and the meal not as good but it came with a show. IMG_6226.mov We did our own thing both days in Lisbon since we had been there for several weeks during our nomadic years. Lots of walking but most enjoyable to be back. And we really enjoyed the destination performance of Fado onboard with a glass of port. Since we are docked an hour outside of Porto and also “lived” here for a bit, we are going to walk over to the beach and generally have a rest day here. Tomorrow we have a long long tour to Santiago de Compostelo so figure it will be wise to lay low today. Tonight, we are having a special Italian dinner in the Restaurant served “Family Style”. If it is anything like the other special dinner they did and the more recent special nights in the WC, it should be quite wonderful.

As I recall, it was quite a walk from where we ported to the gate, from there probably not too far. If y’all are at the new terminal might be easier. If not Probably better to take the shuttle to the Hyatt and walk, that isn’t too far. it is even harder to believe onboard!

Hopefully some other WCers will weigh in also. The last sea days before we started this stretch of final port days, I was melancholy. Not because the cruise was coming to an end (though that was certainly the root cause), but because I realized that taking a world cruise had always been a “some day” goal. With that goal fulfilled, what to look forward to? What to try to plan? Thankfully, we are now fully engaged with our port days so as Scarlet would have said, “I’ll think about that tomorrow.” 😂 To answer your questions: Not opposed to home and my own bed, but would be happy to stay on board Other than not having someone cook, wash-up, make beverages, go grocery shopping, clean our bathroom twice a day, the things we will miss the MOST are the wonderful crew. On a “regular” cruise you get to kinda know the crew but after four months, many have become more like friends and I will miss knowing how their lives are going. Our favorite bartender’s wife is due in June-would love to know how they are doing….will our favorite waiter and waitress end up getting married….etc. We have said we would definitely do it again! Never homesick. (See cooking, cleaning, etc😂)

Hope you have a great cruise and I haven’t raised your expectations too high. Hope you pass along anything you discover to others.

Our optional excursion today was called “A taste of Morocco”. It was held at the Argan museum and from what I understood, it’s a co-op mostly of women producing and selling this traditional product of the Berbers. The Argan tree only grows naturally in Morocco and is prized for its oil which is used for cooking and cosmetics. When we arrived at the beautiful museum we had a bowl of chicken, potatoes, turnips, onions, carrots, garlic, preserved lemon, tomatoes, olives, and zucchini waiting on us. We first placed the chicken in the bottom of the tajine and poked slits in it. It was then sprinkled with salt, pepper, turmeric, and dry ginger. After a generous dollop of Argan oil, we layered the veggies in a teepee around it topping all with more spices, oil and the preserved lemon. The top was then placed tightly on and each was placed on a charcoal brazier. While they cooked, we made a salad and dessert. We each made our own salad using tomatoes, cucumber, onion, peppers, parsley, Argan oil, lemon, salt & pepper. It was amazing to see how diffferent each person’s salad turned out…but all were delicious! Dessert was a type of barley couscous steamed three times (for a few minutes each time), the last two with the addition of amlou which is a paste made of ground almonds, Argan oil, and honey. The big bowl of couscous you see was prepared before we arrived. We each then made our own bowl of it with a well in middle and almond stuffed dates on top. Amlou was then poured into the well. It was a delicious and very filling dessert. I don’t think anyone finished their whole bowl! We were served delicious mint tea as the grand finale for our meal. We learned that the reason for the fancy pouring is to get some foam on the top of the tea! #whoknew While our tajines were cooking and our salads marinating, we did a tour of the museum. There was a section dedicated to information about the tree and the climate of Morocco, a section with a Berber lady showing us the traditional way the nut was opened and then later ground to release its oil. We also saw a more modern machine which grinds and oils them. We then were able to taste what our guide said was a typical breakfast-bread with bowls of oil, amlou, and orange honey for dipping. And then of course we exited through the gift shop!😂. The museum was beautiful and the people we met so friendly and warm. We are looking forward to Casablanca tomorrow (and a very light supper tonight😂) Unfortunately, I can’t get the rest of the pictures to load. If you’re interested see Instagram @ClaynMike

Not sure where you are but if anywhere near Milwaukee-then his addition to it is where I would go. Time it so you’re there at noon (verify I have the time correct) so you can see the wings flap.

Did you get to see it open?

Fun day day before yesterday in Tenerife-we did the included which took us over the mountains to Porta de la Cruz. Enjoyable free time there followed by a short ride to the botanical garden and time there. After returning to the pier, Mike and I walked to the Auditrorio for their guided tour. Easy to reserve online and only €5 (unless you’re like me and over 65 in which case it’s only €3.50!). This was the last major building of Santiago Calatrava we hadn’t visited so happy to get to tour it in person. From scuttlebutt, most everyone enjoyed the port. It was interesting to be back in a port with other ships. We were joined by Sky Princess, Norwegian Star, Celebrity Ascent, and a National Geographic Expedition ship.

Chag Pesach Sameach to all who celebrate Passover. We joined some of the Jewish guests onboard for Seder this evening. @drjj (who apparently has been leading the Sabbath services) asked Viking if it was possible to have a Seder and other than putting together the program and leading it, the great staff and crew onboard did the rest. This was Mike’s first Seder ever and my first in at least 45 years so to us it was perfection. Some of course said their Mother’s Matzo Ball soup (failed to take a picture) was better but then shouldn’t it be? 😂 All in all, an enjoyable and educational evening learning about our friends and fellow passengers. Happy Passover everyone! (and yes the two of us WILL be eating bread for the next 8 days-we just went to a dinner-we didn’t convert😂.

Linda won LCR again today-that’s five in a row! of course “Linda” was guaranteed to win today😂 even the crew was Linda! Join us the day after Tenerife at the pool bar after the “Voices of the Sky” concert for our penultimate match.

LOL-don’t think that is the case…..and the lamb chops last night weren’t a special request, but sure glad we got to have them.

OMG, new favorite main dish onboard. The feta crusted rack o’lamb is so so good. Sorry that it’s unlikely it will be offered again before they make us leave on May 6th😢.

Mike had corrected me (after I read your post)-we too tendered the 2nd day.

We have worn our WC jackets once, it was chilly in Cape Town. Other folks wore theirs between Santa Barbara and Hawaii. Google is your friend: https://www.wikihow.com/Play-LCR