Sailing up the Tagus in to Lisbon is always a beautiful sight, and so it was this morning, sailing up into a sunrise. 

I had given up on our ebike tour of Lisbon, we were on the waitlist, and hadn’t received tickets before we went to bed. I was just getting ready to go to the gym when the phone rang, it was the tour desk asking if we still wanted to go and if we did, then we needed to be by the coaches at 08:20. Not a problem for me, but Jane was rushing around like a mad thing to get ready. We did make it with time to spare.

There were seven of us on the tour, along with our guides Xavier and Hugo. The ebikes were Btwin ELOPS 500s, the first time I’d ridden one, and after some quick instruction on the bike’s operation we were off into Lisbon. Lisbon is built on hills so the extra assistance offered by the ebikes electric drive was welcomed as we headed up into Alfama, through the centre and out to Belem. It was a beautiful sunny morning, but a little fresh, it was a bit cold when out of the sun, so I was glad to stretch my legs on the cycle path to Belem and warm up a little. 25km later and we were back at the ship having had a really enjoyable tour.

We went back aboard for a cup of tea and then headed back into Lisbon for lunch. Jane had her heart set on a cataplana, a Portuguese seafood stew. So we climbed up into Alfama and found a restaurant that looked nice. It turned out to be a good choice, the cataplana was full of lobster, prawns, razor clams, oysters….. and was delicious.

We then walked through to the shopping district to buy some tat, post postcards and find the Cunard shuttle back to the ship. Once onboard it was time for a rest before dinner.

The trip from Tenerife to Gran Canaria iIs a short one, we ended up bobbing off the port of Las Palma’s quite early and proceeded to Bob around for several hours just outside until our scheduled arrival at 8am. My legs were aching badly from yesterday’s run, and I could hardly drag myself out of bed for breakfast. There was a bit of a drama in the Britannia where the staff were mopping up a flood, it seems someone had left a tap running in one of the rooms above. I managed to do so though, and it wasn’t long before we were heading off the ship and into Las Palma’s on the hunt for some postcards. One of the guests at breakfast had told us that there was an exhibition of sand sculpture on the beach, so we decided to stroll along the promenade in search of those as well, needless to say we didn’t find either. Well, we found the postcards, but only after walking round in a massive circle back to where we’d started.

Postcards written and posted we’d decided to head back onboard to indulge in a little light sun bathing. The clouds had now parted and it was glorious and warm.
We lay in the sun on Lido deck before I was sent to the grill for cheeseburger and chips. The Lido grill serves up a fine cheeseburger. By this time I’d had enough sun an headed down to deck 3 for a more comfortable steamer chair in the shade where I could read my book without squinting, arranging to meet Jane back at the room at 4pm.

Jane has managed to wipe her card again, so we had to pop down to the pursers desk to get that sorted and then on to the Lido for a well deserved cup of tea. I made the mistake of picking up a pot of clotted cream to go with my scone, a pot does two scones, so not wanting to waste half the cream I felt obliged to have another scone. After that we waddled up to the Spa to check out the prices for a massage for Jane, and onto the Commodore Club for our pre dinner drinks, a dark and stormy for Jane and a Doombar for me.

It’s the officers carol singing tonight, so we need to get ready early for that, I have been told I am NOT to sing under any circumstances, don’t know why!

We had a full table again for dinner tonight, with an excellent price of pork for my main. Jane went off to see the Cunard singers and dancers performing Hollywood Nights while I trundled off to bed.

I was feeling a little better this morning, so when my alarm went off at 06:45, I was up and dressed in my gym kit and headed off up to deck 9 for a run on the treadmill. I’ve been cycling a lot in the last 6 months, commuting 10 miles daily into London, but it doesn’t help with the running. My fitness is good, my running muscles aren’t. A slow 5km later and after a shower and EastEnders it was time for a fry up for breakfast. I do like the new Cunard Signature breakfast, I know I can order the items individually, but its just less hassle to ask for it and there’s less chance of a mix up.

When we woke, the sun was on the balcony, but on looking outside the sky was a bit of a mixed bag, clouds with a few patches of blue peeking through.  After breakfast we strolled along the promenade deck, then sat in the sun on the steamer chairs and read, a very pleasant way to spend the morning as we hadn’t any excursions planned for today.

Lunch was in the Britannia, an excellent seafood linguini and warm treacle tart, it made me very happy. After lunch we went up to the Lido pool on deck 9, hoping for a little sunshine,  there wasn’t a lot, so it was back down to the steamers on deck 3 to read.

We went to to Commodore Club at 5pm where Jane had a glass of Chardonnay and I had a Doombar.

We were only 5 for dinner, there was no sign of the youngsters, Jason and Leslie. Nor were June, Ken and Katey in evidence, we can only assume that because Tenerife was a late departure, 11pm, they had decided to stay ashore. They missed a good dinner, chicken liver starter and roast turkey for me, Jane had steak Diane. The show was early again tonight, 7pm for the second sitting. So we had an early night all ready for Gran Canaria tomorrow.

We didn’t have a good night, although Jane is over the worst of the flu she contracted pre-cruise, she now has a persistent cough and was up all night with it, as was I. We’ll have a look in town for a pharmacy and see if they have some cough medicine.

We’ve arrived at La Palma this morning and it’s looking very nice out there, this was the view from our balcony at 08:00

Breakfast in the Britannia was another fry up, which I’m probably not allowed having skipped the gym again this morning. After breakfast it was time to head out into Santa Cruz, the very pretty town that we docked in. We had not planned any organized trips for La Palma so we took a stroll down the front in the sun to St Catherine’s castle before heading up to the maritime museum. 

There we found a pharmacy for some cough medicine, and headed back towards the centre on one of the shopping streets. About half way down there was a mariachi type band setting up in the lee of the cathedral. I sat on the church steps in the sun to listen to them for a while. 

When we had our fill of them we carried on our walk and came across three tenors who were singing to advertise their lunchtiemes concert. We did one more circuit of the shopping streets before heading back down to the front for a much deserved beer. Then we walked back to the ship for a pub lunch. The fish and chips were good, complimented by a nice bottle of hobgoblin. We headed down to the pursers desk to post some postcards, and get an account balance for the trip so far. We’ve managed to spend about half of our OBC so far, so we are doing quite well, Jane wants a massage in the spa at some time, so we will probably spend a little of our own money, but I don’t expect it to be much.

The sun was on our balcony for the afternoon so we got a couple of towels from the sun deck and sat out catching some rays listening to the football on Radio 5. When Commodore O’Clock came around we decided to give it a miss, choosing instead to have a tea in the Lido. 

Dinner was back up to it’s usual excellent standard tonight. I had soused mackerel for first starter followed by the duck terrine while the rest of the diners were having salad.I’m glad I did because this came with a very nice onion marmalade. This is significant because Jane is always disappointed by the chutney served with the cheese and biscuits, so she asked Adam, our waiter, to save some of this for her for later, she was really pleased with this. I had pork fillet for the main followed by lemon merengue pie, all very nice.

The show in the Royal Court Theatre was a 4 piece singing group, The Troubadours, Jane went along to this with Judith and Stanley while I snuck off to bed, I wanted an early night as I was determined to go the gym. I’ve been a bit out of control with my eating, I put the blame equally on my lack of self discipline and Cunard tempting me with a constant array of delicious food.

My alarm went off at 06:45 as usual, but I woke up with a very scratchy throat, I reckon I’m coming down with Jane’s cold, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. The Cunard beds are probably the comfiest I’ve slept in, so it wasn’t hard to go back to sleep. I’ll go to the gym tomorrow 😀. I opened the curtains to see sun on the balcony, which was nice after the 3 gloomy days getting down here.

After a lazy breakfast in the Britannia we headed out to the Pursers desk where we’d arranged to meet Judith and Stanley for a stroll around Funchal. The Xmas decorations on deck one are lovely.

We got the shuttle to the centre of Funchal, and from there walked through the Christmas market and on to the cable car. 32 euros later and we were sailing upwards towards Monte. Jane wasn’t happy, she doesn’t like heights, or the possibility of falling to her death from them. The ride though was uneventful, we arrived safely and took a stroll to the toboggan start point. I nearly persuaded Jane to go back down in one of those, but she decided that the cable car was slightly less terrifying. So with a coffee inside us we headed back down. Apparently it less scary going down, so all turned out well.

We walked back through the shops to the the shuttle, a mistake, we should have gone along the front as all the shiny stuff proved too much of a distraction for Judith. The Madeirans ?? not sure if thats right, certainly know his to decorate their town, they do like a nativity scene

We headed back for lunch in the Lido grill, my lack of will power resulted in a double cheese burger accident, they are very nice! After that Jane and Judith went and grabbed a sun lounger by the pool on deck 9 and I headed back to the room to read. The balcony was bathed in sunshine, so I took my book out there and coupled with Bluetooth earphones and Spotify I lazed in the sun for an hour or so before it was Commodore O’Clock. Jane had a breakfast Martini and I was thirsty so went for the mocktail, Red Apple Fizz.

I had my first “OK” meal at dinner tonight. I chose the chicken curry as a main, there was nothing wrong with it, it was OK, but since every meal I have had so far has been very good, I was a bit disappointed. I should have had the pasta! Even worse we had crumblegate, Stanley ordered the strawberry and apple crumble for dessert, which came out cold. So, he enquired whether it should be hour or cold, and it wasn’t back to the kitchen to be heated up. When it came back he still wasn’t happy, as the texture was all wrong, so he gave up on it. Well, it went all the way up to the Maître D, who was going to take it further.

I sat through my first full show, “La Danza” some faux ballet themed dancing, not my cup of tea but Jane liked it. Tomorrow is Santa Cruz de LA Palma, with a nice day forecast to be in the mid 20s