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I noticed that the Central Park Library was empty, so I went in to take some pictures. I feel like there were fewer books the last time I came on day 5 (I think). Perhaps people have been donating the books they have finished during the crossing. Outside the library, in Central Park, I found another small duck. I wanted to eat something sweet, so I went to the Café Promenade hoping they would have cookies. They had a chocolate and peanut butter mousse. If there’s something with peanut butter, I have to get it. It’s the law. It was all sorts of wrong. The top chocolate mousse was super hard. The peanut butter mousse had a strange texture. The cereals on the bottom were super soggy. I would stay away from that dessert unless you see them bringing fresh ones. And that’s how my night will end. I wish I could have made it to Rock the Room, but I’m just too tired and I need to rest before Valencia tomorrow.

It had been a while since I had witnessed a good horn battle, but when the TUI ship that was in port with us left, both captains engaged in a honk honk duel. It sounded like the other ship was having a fun sailaway party. Eventually, it was our time to leave. I returned to my stateroom to get ready for dinner. I was so tired that for a moment I considered skipping dinner and just going to sleep. I may have fallen asleep for a little bit. But I eventually dressed my best and headed to Central Park. I was hoping to sit outside, but the only available table at Vintages was inside, but it was fine. I was just happy to have a table. It seems like a very popular place to have a pre-dinner drink. I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The plan was to order a plate of ham and a plate of cheese since they both came with bread. But then I realized they had an actual bocadillo on the menu, so I ordered that plus some crab croquettes. I enjoyed both, but I wish the bocadillo didn’t come with tomato sauce. I found it eclipsed the taste of the cheese. It was still nice. I had been waiting all day for that sandwich.

Valencia tomorrow will be our fourth port day in a row (we had Cádiz, Málaga, and then Alicante today). I’m feeling rough for sure tonight. Hopefully I’ll be so exhausted by the time I get to the airport in Barcelona that I’ll sleep the whole way back home.

I have not and there’s so little time left! Maybe tomorrow!

I was feeling very hungry when I came back to the ship, so I went to El Loco Fresh to try some tacos. It’s rare that I do that, but I accepted the offered help to make the tacos. I wasn’t trusting myself to not put some ingredients all over the counter. One taco had the chili beef that I like to much and the other one was rice and beans. They were good, but they will not replace the good old chili over chips. Since I was on deck 15, I had to get some soft serve. And since I was in dessert mode, I ordered a Mudslide from my favourite Lime & Coconut bar. I really don’t know what I want to do for dinner tonight. It has to be something small, because I had tacos around 15:30. I was feeling Windjammer, but I’m tempted to try Vintages since I couldn’t get my desired dose of meat and cheese and crunchy bread. Any thoughts?

Out of the elevator, I had a weird encounter with a French woman. She tried opening a roped area for me, but couldn’t. I told her it was fine, thanks. She reacted like I had kicked her cat. I keep thinking about it, wondering what she thought I said. I know myself. It’s going to bother me forever 😂 They have a beach side promenade that’s very nice, so I used that instead until I had no choice but get on the boring sidewalk going back to the ship. I’m not a beach person. The last time I went on a beach I broke my back and severed my spinal cord. I’m on no hurry to go back. But if you do like the beach, they have those wooden paths that would make it easier for a mobility device to get closer to the water. It always feels good seeing the ship after a long day.

Spoiler alert, you will hear about the Papa Jac eventually 😊

Aaaand we’re back! There was a line for the elevator. I think in total I must have waited between 20 and 30 minutes. I saw a sign saying it was €2,75 to use the elevator, but no one ever asked me for money or a ticket. I’m assuming it has something to do with the wheelchair. You have to go through a very long corridor before you reach the elevator. It was pretty cool at the top. What’s in the pictures is the extent of what I could see up there. There were ramps that I don’t think even my 20-something self would have attempted, so it was a no go for me today. I’m sure I would have been able to see more if I had visited with other people. For the price (free) it was nice to see, but I don’t feel the need to see it again.

Peach is actually my second choice. I prefer passionfruit, but it seems rare these days. My favourite is the Peach Daiquiri. Very refreshing.

Cruise Critic is being difficult with images, so I will finish later.

The tour stopped at the market, so I decided to check it out. I was hoping to find a bocadillo, but sadly found none. Its’s a pretty good market, I think. And it’s bigger than it looks, too, because there is an underground floor. I was tempted by the Marvel cookies, but we had visited a non-accessible Nougat shop during the tour and too many people had brought me back some samples. I was so full of sugar already! I picked a street going towards the water and I followed that until I reached that red, white and blue promenade where our tour had started. I knew there was an elevator going up to the Castell de Santa Bàrbara that wasn’t too far from there, so I decided to check it out.

My tour started at 11:00. I was with two couples I know from the ship. It’s getting hard keeping track of everyone I’ve met while also preserving everyone’s anonymity. So there was the couple from Quest and the couple who was also in the same tour as me in both Cádiz and Málaga. Here are some pictures from the tour. On the last picture, we can see the Face of the Moor in the rocks. I already knew about the Face of the Moor for the most random reason. The last time I was in Barcelona, my goal was to go to that place called Rocambolesc and get a popsicle shaped like Jamie Lannister’s golden hand. Don’t ask… Unfortunately, they were out. Instead I got a popsicle shaped like the Moor’s Face. I thought it was fun to see it “in the flesh”. The tour was good. Thankfully the guide had a microphone, but it was still hard to hear her sometimes partly because the city was SO LOUD. Cars, motorcycles, people emptying a bin full of glass bottles into a bigger bin. At one point we swore a marching band was passing behind us. Accessibility-wise, I would rank Alicante as better than Cádiz, but not as good as Málaga. There wasn’t a lot of cobblestones, and most of them were avoidable. There were a couple of frustrating incidents. One involving a ramp that turned into stairs (why) and the other one was a sidewalk with no dropped curb (what’s this, Rome?).

We were in Alicante, today. I was feeling like experimenting something new last night when I went to bed so I ordered room service breakfast. I completely failed to document it, but they knocked on my door right on time. Once again, I had booked a free walking tour for our stop in Alicante. It was a 1.5km walk to the city center, so I decided to do it on foot. I think they had some shuttles that were wheelchair accessible, but I can’t say for sure. It’s a flat, albeit a bit boring, walk to the city center. Once off the ship, just follow the directions for the walking path. Eventually, you will come across a raised platform with an elevator. From the platform, you get a pretty good view of the beach. It wasn’t too long before I reached the city centre.

Day 13 Compass Info about Alicante provided by RCI

Oh, hey! Same show tonight! So it wasn’t just me who didn’t recognize the songs. I thought perhaps I was just out of touch with that the kids listen to these days. I love your “Top Gun” picture with everyone in the air!

They only had one participant, so they ended up canceling it. But thank you for your input! Maybe next time.

I didn’t love One Sky, but I’m not going to recommend not seeing it because it had its moments. If you think you might not like it, maybe sit at the end of a row so you can make a quick and quiet exit. I tried the brisket sandwich at Woody’s back in 2020 and I had the kid’s grilled cheese this time with the soup. I thought they were both excellent. Also excellent was their breakfast bowl with eggs, tater tots and brisket gravy 😋

I went to the Windjammer a bit later (19:00), tonight, and it felt less busy than last time (18:00). There were several tables available in the back section and it didn’t feel like pure chaos trying to navigate between the stations. It was Italian night, so I was really hoping they would have lasagna and some lemon tarts. Score! And score again! Notice my second Papa Jac of the evening in the background. After dinner, I grabbed a spot in the theatre for One Sky. To be honest, I had no idea what I was going to see. If I’ve read about it, it didn’t make an impression at all. But you’re starting to know me. You know I love all the shows. And, well…it was ok. I liked that we could see the live band. And I liked how people were flying through the air. And I liked the cast. It was good singing and good dancing. Oh, and there was an airplane! But I just didn’t connect with the material at all. I hadn’t heard of most of the songs, which made me wonder if they’re coming from a bank of royalty free music. The backgrounds reminded me of those fake backgrounds that people use on Teams, which reminded me that I work on Monday, which made me sad. So, yeah…that one wasn’t really for me.

Enjoy your last sea day! 😊 I enjoyed 50s Prime Time. I approve of anyone who puts fried Boursin cheese on their menu. How much food did you get at Roundup Rodeo BBQ? My friends were there last summer and the people working there said they bring the same amount of food for 2 or 4 people. They needed a three days nap after their meal there.

Back on the ship, I returned to my stateroom for my usual refresh, but unfortunately it took a bit longer than I expected and I missed sailaway. Bye bye, Scarlet Lady! You look beautiful! I found myself in what I can only describe as a reenactment of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. I ordered a Papa Jac, my first of the trip. The bartender (Ade from Indonesia, who is really nice) asked whether I was sure. 👀 Yes? Apparently people don’t like it. They find it too strong. He says he only makes one per cruise! Now I need to order 15 of them in the next days so RCI don’t decide to remove it from the menu. It should be a quiet evening today. I’m planning to have dinner in the Windjammer and then I have a reservation for One Sky at 20:00. After that, who knows! There a Finish the Lyrics game show that I don’t think I’ve ever seen. Can anyone comment on it?

I had booked a free walking tour with Explora Málaga and we were meeting in the Plaza de la Constitución. It turns out that the two Canadian couples I’ve been hanging out with were booked on the same tour, so it was fun to have people I know around. Málaga has a lot of very charming little streets with places to share a coffee or hide a body. Málaga’s cathedral, whose real name I don’t remember but they call her the one-armed lady because she is missing one tower. I enjoyed the tour a lot and I think the guide (Maria) and I could have fun together sharing a round of drinks. We certainly have one interest in common (Antonio Banderas). I do wish the guide had had a microphone, because it was hard to hear her sometimes. I was very terrible at taking pictures during our tour. If you would like to see more of Málaga, I invite you to visit my Wonder review. What I did take at least 15 pictures of was the candy store. We found ourselves close to the public market after the tour and we had bocadillos. Those little sandwiches are so good and satisfying! And they’re so simple! Just bread and olive oil and meat and cheese. But it’s so good! That one’s bread could have been crunchier, but it really hit the spot. And now I want another one.

It was a beautiful day today in Málaga. There was a shuttle available from the port to the city centre, but it’s a nice and relatively flat stroll for me and I like to do it on wheels. According to Google Maps it’s approximately 2km. Málaga has a pretty big terminal. The gangway today was on deck 5. Found some pretty neat art as I was exiting the terminal. If you want to walk to the city centre, just follow the people exiting the port area. There should be many of them if you’re getting off early in the day. The sidewalks are paved with small tiles. It’s not as flat as pavement, but it’s nowhere near cobblestones. I had to go pretty far, but eventually I was able to fit the Oasis into one picture. Just follow the sidewalk. Eventually you will arrive to a point where you can either go up or down. Both options are fully accessible and there are a couple of elevators along the way if you change your mind. You can find some accessible public washrooms in that area (downstairs). Once you see this waterside promenade, you’re close to the city centre.

I don’t remember what you ate (I barely remember what I ate), but I don’t think Hollywood Studios is where the best Disney food is. What you’ve been eating on Virgin looks better (I think) than most food in HS (perhaps Brown Derby being the exception, but I haven’t made it there yet).

Thank you and welcome aboard! Sharing snacks was such a game changer. When I’m alone, I can’t try that many things because I don’t like wasting food and I’m never hungry enough. We tried Satu’li Canteen the day I was there with my friends, which I didn’t report because I was so behind and couldn’t catch up. I love the bowls. They’re some of the best quick service food I’ve ever had at Disney. Also delicious is the blue mousse 🤤 Guardians is SO good. I was thinking about it last night during Aqua 80 because both soundtracks share some songs. I think I will make it a new life goal to get all the songs from Guardians. I’m not off to a great start, but it will give me an excuse to ride again (and again).

I had to miss sailaway, unfortunately. Otherwise I would have waved from somewhere you could have seen me with those binoculars. See you soon! Are you in port tomorrow?