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Sea day today! Great lunch in Luminae l (the halibut should be a dinner) followed by some blog writing and golf putting. Had a real yummy coffee cocktail.

After dinner, we hit the 9pm show. I was excited it was a comedian. He was quite good with a very different end to his show than most comedians. We really enjoyed it.

Dinner was in Tuscan Grille last night! Excellent service with great food. I had the crab cake and Caesar salad to start and Chris had meatballs and beet salad. I tried the meatballs and found it to be quite grisly but he thought it was ok. The beet salad was awesome. I’d like to try to recreate it. He had the veal and I had the filet. We shared a half portion of lobster rigatoni that was fantastic. For dessert, we shared donuts and cheesecake (which was no where close to Summit’s). We also each had a birthday cake even though I asked maitre’d not to but he said we must celebrate so I suggested candle in cheesecake. Who could eat all that??

The market and lunch location is definitely walkable which could be an option..

Beautiful weather yesterday in Malaga! We walked to the cathedral and toured inside. Saw the Roman theater as well. We were back around lunch for some relaxing by the pool

We did the flash sale too! Thanks for posting the price for me!! I’ll post more descriptions in my blog but we were chatting about this yesterday. We had ten i our group so very nice size. Not much was purchased in market…in fact the fine print says nothing is but chef said “packaged items” like cheese ok. He said he bought squid. He said he was going to purchase items after we left for tour. The lunch was super authentic. Galley tour was awesome. Dinner….not so much. He talked about Iberico ham in market yet it was prosciutto on the charcuterie. I tried to interact with him in market as he didn’t say much to anyone. The items are all pretty much Tuscan Grille menu. The fritto misto is the seafood lunch. The red snapper is garnished different. The rib eye seemed out of place. The dessert was too similar to lunch which far superior. It’s way too big of portions. So much was wasted. I’d book it at the discount price but full price is steep

After dinner, we went and did some dancing to help us digest our dinner. As we left the floor, a woman gave us high fives. Later, she came over to talk to us and we convinced her along with her daughter to join us for the 80s party and game show. As we sat down, Mariana was looking for a captain for our side and my husband waved and pointed at me and she ran over and grabbed me. I saw some women in the front who looked like they’d be helpful and fun. Let just say, my team destroyed it! Of course, we didn’t get the crowd singing points but after sweeping the name that tune, how could they let us? It was so much fun, we stayed to dance many songs afterwards. I gave the hat I won to one of the ladies in the front who was so excited to play and dance later.

This chef market tour was an amazing value! The chef made a huge meal for us with gigantic portions. We met in Cellar Masters for a toast then it was off to tour the galley during prime service time! Amazing seeing that in action. We exited through Tuscan Grill’s kitchen and were seated at a large table and saw our menu for the dinner. It started with an enormous charcuterie board flanked by two smaller ones for the ten of us! Everyone felt bad about how much was left and we all hoped someone besides the fish enjoyed it later. Next was tuna carpaccio that was so very tasty but way too large a portion for such a rich fish. The fish fry board was an entree sized dish that easily should have been one per couple!! It was followed by another large entree sized red snapper that while tasty, I knew how much more was still coming. The last entree was a massive rib eye. With this amount of courses, I expected it to be tasting menu sized but each course was full on American entree sized!!! Dessert was almost identical to the one at the restaurant which was better but at this point I don’t think anyone even wanted much dessert!

Today we did a tour with Celebrity, the chef’s market tour of Cadiz. Excellent tour of market, town and lunch. Looking forward to the second part of tour this evening which is galley tour and dinner by the chef

A great day yesterday after rainy Gibraltar. We spent time in Solarium and I worked on the blog. Alpacamybagsblog is the site but I haven’t posted and days there yet. The pool felt great! Chris wanted to see the archery activity. It was not as fancy as on Summit but it worked. He didn’t get his name picked though to try. We stayed for music trivia but it was musicals so I wrote a bit more until general trivia. We had our pre dinner in the Retreat lounge with the lovely Jocelyn. She seems to be a fan favorite!! Best service tonight in Luminae but it wasn’t as busy. We both feel it seems short staffed. Popped into show to stand in back for a little bit. Fourth night in a row of a headline singer. He actually sang one of the songs from first night. I’m ready for a production, comedian, magician… The party band was playing reggae so we went to silent disco in the Constellation. Even more fun and well attended!!!

Greetings from a rainy Gibraltar! Did a four mile walk but tram car wasn’t going today due to wind. But this is our second port stop here

Here’s a pic of June’s to show difference

Last night we dined in Luminae again. Starters were A plus and since I wasn’t too keen on the entrees and the delicious gnocchi I had in June were on the menu in Blu I chose that. Unfortunately, while the dish in June was memorable and spectacular, this was not. The gnocchi were more bland and very gummy. In June, they seemed pan fried with so much color and were pillowy light. A disappointment but I was not starving due to the starters. Chris had the ribeye and he enjoyed his meal. We each had the strawberry soup and afterwards they brought out a birthday cake so we sang to each other and staff joined in. We skipped the show as it was another singer (3 in a row) and opted for some dancing. The music wasn’t the best though as it was mostly reggae sound that seems odd on European cruise. It was Abba sing along which we skipped as I’m not a fan but popped in for a dance after it turned to DJ and that was very well attended. We did stop by live band karaoke and really had to leave after three songs.

Only free to the port gate but did offer a paid one to Porto which was 15 dollars. We opted to take uber

Even though we missed Vigo (and our Michelin lunch) it’s been a great day! Kudos to the captain for communicating the change early and so transparent his decision. So well communicated and thoughtfully explained. (Unlike some other cruise lines). Even a video on tv showing the weather conditions. Master class in customer experience. two wine tasting made turning 50 easier. And a perfect trivia score!!!

I’m confused. Do they want Spanish? Or Portuguese? I met some lovely crew from Mexico if I could help. I was actually just speaking Spanish with. And one who said she can speak a hybrid with Portuguese

Yes they do We walked past it the first day!

That balcony is nice!!!

Porto was devine!!!

The ship is in desperate need of cleaning…. just kidding….Happy Halloween!!

Watched the crew decorating last night for Halloween.

Dinner was very good in Luminae. Impressed we had a bacalao amuse bouche, we wondered if this is a normal one or only due to leaving Lisbon. We both had the asparagus and smoke hake starters. I had the fennel soup though and Chris had salmon sashimi. For mains, I had delicious cod while Chris went with the seafood pasta. Everything had very nice flavors which was something we felt lacking on our last cruise (Oceania). We attended the show, King Jamsheed who sang and played piano. That was followed by silent disco. The ship seems quiet. Maybe jet lag or motion? The ship was rocking all night! This is cruise 46 and I felt at times that I was going to roll out of bed! Usually rocking puts me to sleep and I had trouble last night. Room is very creaky. With all the wood paneling decor, it felt like I was on a very small ship bobbing around.

Di and Ringo went to search for the French one. Excellent service. We compared the Chandon to the French one. We preferred the French. They did say Cellar Masters for that one.

Boarding was super easy and fast! Granted we have Retreat but security and regular was not busy at 11:15. Nothing like NY or Florida for sure! Did a tour of ship since Chris wasn’t on Summit. The buffet at noon looked delightful. Not what I’d expect at that time on embarkation. We had a very nice relaxing lunch in Luminae. We both enjoyed the ceviche and lobster roll. After lunch, we returned to relax in cabin and unpack. Now, it’s music trivia with a cocktail

The Ivens. This is our third stay in Lisbon so we are just doing one night. Very nice location. The service is superb. I liked Bairro Alto where we stayed on our first trip and the Four Seasons was great too but location is far except for train but we went to Sintra twice that trip.