Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 2

[melsea]

Melsea's Adventures of South America & Pacific Adventures Part 2

Days at sea & First port. 9th - 12th,
Day 2. Evening Dress Code, Smart, Jacket Required..
Overnight the ship was rocking a fair bit. It continued to do so all day. Don't think many people ventured outside as many of the doors were blocked off so you could get onto deck 7 the prom deck. Much of the day was just relaxing and bumping into people we knew from previous cruises including one couple of whom we didn't know were going to be on the cruise and who were also present at our wedding in 2011, we had in fact bumped into them on deck 7 as we were sailing away. Some time during the morning the Spa had a raffle where you could win one of the few spa treatments they do on board, needless to say I did not win. Maybe next time on the next sector, they usually do one per sector.
In the evening the entertainment was a Cellist Andrew Scrimshaw. I didn't know he was going to be a Cellist until I got to the theatre. When he came on stage I immediately recognised him as the entertainer that had done an extra show on the 2012 world cruise when he teamed up with Richard Digence to do an extra very different show. It was absolutely hilarious and probably the funniest I had seen in a long while and very good.

Day 3. Dress Code this evening, Black Tie..
A somewhat calm seas for us today which was good as it made for getting around the ship easier especially for those who have difficulty in getting around and those who may be on their first cruise.
There was a speaker on at the Curzon Theatre today and I most definitely wanted to see them, so off I tooted to the theatre which when I got there was filling up quickly as I guess others had the same idea, I know you are shouting get on with it, who is it? It was 'Sue Holderness" better known for her role as 'Marlene" in Only Fools & Horses. Her talk was very entertaining about how she came to acting and how she got the part of Marlene, she certainly was a good speaker.
ONe thing I was determined to do was to try different things be part of different things, so I went to a morning coffee & tea meet with the on board photographers who were encouraging people to join the camera club. At this point I wasn't sure what that involved but there were seminars of talks of how to use the various settings on your camera and how to get the best out your camera and how to take a winner shot for the competitions they were to run during the cruise. As i have been taking photographers for almost 34 years I thought I'll go along and see what they say. I had spoken to the a couple of the photographers and hearing them about their passion was like being back at college. I was a photographic technician in my former life where I processed and printed many a photograph for a lot of photographers and agencies of advertisers so I know a little bit of what a photo might look like and say to you.

Day 4. Dress Code for the evening Smart, Jacket Required..
I went up to the Crows Nest to see if anybody from the Cruise Community website would turn up. I sat on the right hand side of the ship but no one looked as though they were looking for anybody. I stayed in the Crows Nest anyway until just after midday when I then went onto my next activity of the day, the Photography seminar which was all about using the Macro setting in ones camera. There was nothing new to learn but it did remind me of some aspects to taking close up photographs. The day seemed to be moving past at a rate of knots as it was soon to be time for lunch, since the disappearance of Cafe Bordeaux we now had lunch in the buffet which is now called the Horizon. We are trying hard not to eat too much and not of the wrong type of food as well.
At 2pm I made my way to the Crows Nest again where the Art class was to take place. I thought if I get there just after 2 then I will be early but the Art Teacher James Gray had already started before 2.15 and there was nowhere to sit with a table, it's looking as though I shall have to get there at 1.45! I had to balance my paint box on my art pad and have my cup of water on the floor. It was not an ideal situation. The art teacher said the entertainment team are wanting to move us elsewhere but as he remarked there are a large number of us and there are not many places where we could be transferred to, in fact I don't think there is anywhere!

Day 5. First port. Madeira. 8am to 4.30 (5pm)
The day started with both of us doing our walk, I did 40 mins & Bill walked 1 hour & 15 mins.
As we had some time to kill before we headed out on shore for our afternoon tea at Reids Palace Hotel 3pm, we booked it ages ago online of the hotel, we sat outside at back of the Horizon Buffet where we were basking in the sun which was a lovely temperature. Bill had spotted on the quayside a man who had a bird of prey which was being used to scare off the pigeons that do rather make a mess of the dock. I managed to take some photos of the man with it as he sat on the wall.
It wasn't long before it was time to get ourselves ready for our trip to Reids Palace Hotel for our afternoon tea. At this point I was still anxious for our return to the ship afterwards as it was going to be tight on the timings but as we were leaving the ship I noticed that the time to be back on board was not 4.30pm as advertised but 5pm. I checked with the guy who was at the security cruise scanning station and asked him is that correct, that we get back on board at 5pm; he said yes. Well knock me down with a feather, this is truly an answer to a prayer and miracle. It was just what was needed to make our afternoon much more pleasant of an experience, instead of being a nervous reck to get back to the ship on time and keep watching the clock.
As we made our way towards the Sharks sorry the taxis we asked the first taxi driver how much to go to the Reid's Hotel. His reply was 15€ at that Bill said no thanks I'll go down the street and pick up a cheaper taxi. We didn't walk many paces when another taxi driver asked us where we wanted to go and his price was 10€. We said yes even though this was still expensive. It turns out that this taxi driver was not of the same mould as the others and he knows not to be greedy when getting fares. His name was Johnny and he was a Roman Catholic from South Africa. The journey was not very long and we were greeted by the door man of Reid's Palace Hotel. We made arrangements with Johnny to pick us up at 4.30.
We arrived early so that we could explore the wonderful grounds & gardens of Reid's. We walked through the wonderful gardens in the beautiful sunshine that we were graced with today. We took a number of photos of us in the gardens. We continued towards the pool area, in fact there are two pools here which is very decadent for any hotel on Madeira as space is at a premium. We walked further down to where the rocks are and where there is an area that guest of the hotel can sunbathe and use a small pool. The showers here are carved out from the Rock, it certainly a good use of the surrounding area. To go back up we used the lift that is provided and then you have to walk the rest of the way to where the two pools are. We made our way into the building toward where we were to have our afternoon tea. We arrive just after 2.45pm. The young lady who we had met before asked us to wait a short while, which seemed a little odd when a few minutes later she escorted two separate couples out onto the verandah. We felt slightly put out but as it turned out we actually were given the option of where we wanted to sit and we choose the table that was both in the sun & we had a whole arch to ourselves and not sharing it, this was the same the last time only it was at the opposite end. The bonus of course was that we had the sun shining on us for quite some time, much longer than we thought. We chose our tea, I had Earl Grey & Bill had the Reid's Tea blend choice. We were asked if we wanted Champagne with our Afternoon Tea & we said yes. We noticed that no one else had this. For us that just makes the whole experience even more grand especially because of the beautiful surroundings we were in. And not forgetting the very famous people who have graced this place and have stayed here. None could be more famous than Sir Winstone Churchill, who had painted on the very terrace we were having our afternoon tea. We could not have asked for more. We had lots of photos taken of ourselves and of the surroundings. Others that were having tea left just before & after 4pm. We were determined to enjoy it all to the full. At just before 4.30 we made our way out to the front of the hotel where we were being met by the taxi driver that took us here. And in fact he was already there waiting. Our journey back to the ship was a mere 5 mins! Which is what Bill said it would be. So really even if the original time had been maintained we would have been back on the ship in plenty of time. It really was amazing that we were given that extra 30 mins on shore. We saw a sign at the hotel that said that high tide was at 5pm, so guessed that might have been the reason for our extra time. For whatever reason we were truly grateful for it. Once on board it was time to wait for us to sail away from our first port of the cruise. We started to move off around 5.20. I took some photos.
When I was finished I went back to the cabin where we both had a nap as we were both tired from the insurmountable food and tea we had and not forgetting the one glass of champagne!
We didn't go down to dinner, instead we went up to the buffet and had a little bite to eat. Which was more than enough. Back at the cabin I read for a while but I was falling asleep. I was to have no trouble in sleeping this night.
Next instalment will see us enjoying the world lunch, getting warmer weather and were we really going to the Caribbean instead!!

[GillD46]

Oh goody, anither World Cruise to read about. Looking forward to more.

[Jan Rosser]

As Gill said another world cruise to experience

One query Mel - the art teacher was he Jack Gray - I once did a 22 day transatlantic on Aurora and Jack was on board - amazing teacher - I think he was from Oldham.

Looking forward to reading more of your adventures

[Suekersh]

Great report Mel. Love all the detail you put into your reports.

[Dancing Queen]

Great start Melsea, I love afternoon tea at Reids something we always do if time permits.

[emjay45]

I found out on the cruise from someone on the forum that you had posted on the forum about the 4th Jan about a meet in the Crow's nest. I'm sorry I didn't see it, I would have definitely have popped in to meet you. I always say I'm going to do the art classes but they always seem to be so packed and they usually clash with Spanish don't they. Love your reports, it will be like doing the cruise again in the comfort of my home.

[melsea]

thanks for the comments.

Jan, the Art teacher was James Gray.

emjay, It was a shame that the time I chose was clashing with a few things but thats the risk you take. Also not having the free forum on P&O meant I could not set anything up for later. I ran out of time before the cruise to check on here and bring it to the front of the queue. Never mind.

[Manoverboard]

Afternoon tea at Reids eh !!!

In 1978 it was for some a formal event, has it been ' casualised ' a tad ?

We had our afternoon teas on the grand patio with Madeira cake of course at the old Hilton Hotel, ' The Palacio ' I think it was called ... very posh or so we thought at that time.