BARCELONA TO SOMEWHERE

ALICANTE:  Our first port of call after boarding in Barcelona was the lovely city of Alicante, where we met our guide for a day of wine-tasting.  Alicante is primarily a tourist city, but the economy is boosted by the marble industry, as well as by many shoe factories.  This was our last wine-tasting of this trip and we visited two beautiful wineries.  Monastrell is the main wine of this region, and we tasted both blends and the single varietal.  By the way, if you haven't heard of this wine, the French call it Mouverdre.  It is a flavorful wine that is heavier than the usual Tempranillo which makes up most Spanish reds.

MALAGA:  Our second stop was in the major city of the Costa del Sol.  However, it was light rain rather than sun for us.  Betty had hoped to do some shopping but soon discovered that she was unable to navigate the wet and slippery sidewalks, most of which were made of a marble-like material.  After unsuccessful attempts to walk around we broke down and took a horse-drawn carriage on a tour of Centro.  Political correctness should dictate not doing this, as it is unclear how well the horses are treated.  So apologies to our healthy-looking at least horse.

CHANGE OF PLANS:  After the first day of sailing the Captain informed us that we would not be making scheduled stops in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Santa Cruz de La Palmas.  Apparently there is a huge storm somewhere out in the Atlantic with 55 foot waves.  The Captain wished to run ahead of the storm.  Consequently we sailed down the east coast of Africa and will only turned westward once we were below the worst of the storm.

ON BOARD CREDITS:  When you sail with Oceania (and perhaps other cruise-lines) you are given "on-board credits", which you can spend on anything except the casino.  The more times you sail the more credits you are given.  Since we have now reached Gold status we find that we have trouble spending all our credits (which expire at the end of the cruise if unused).  This is especially a problem as we now get "free" unlimited wine and beer with our meals.

On Friday we decided to use up some of our credits by eating at a special restaurant called La Reserve (the only restaurant on board that has a surcharge).  Friday night's menu was all French with excellent wines matched with each of the courses (eight of them).  There were only 10 of us eating in the restaurant and we were attended to by three chefs; two supervisory chefs; a maitre d'; three wait persons; and two other supervisors.  At the end of the meal we collapsed into bed and decided that we would skip breakfast and perhaps skip lunch.

HIGH SEAS:  The first sign that our ship had not quite unrun the storm was the appearance of barf bags in all the public areas.  We were told to except two days of high seas with 21=23 ft. waves/swells.  We hit the swells Sat. night around 9:00 and there was lots of motion to rock us to sleep.  Otherwise the weather is warm and the skies are partly cloudy.  Unfortunately it is too windy to sit for long outside.  By Sunday afternoon the seas were less rough and we could make use of our balcony to sleep or read.

Walking around during the heaviest seas was a struggle for Betty.  However, most of the time a member of the staff would spot her, grab her arm and walk her to whatever was her destiny.

During our extended time at sea we have been enjoying the rest.  There are two lecturers on board, each giving a daily lecture.  One is a forensic scientist and the other a naval historian.  We attended one Captain's party and have been invited to two more.  At one of those functions we will be presented with our Gold status pins.