Capnpugwash flies to Cape Town and sails on Sinfonia to Genoa Part 2

[capnpugwash]

The ship seems very warm and my cabin is hot in spite of the air conditioning being on maximum, I called an engineer and he came and fiddled with something and announced that it was ok, it felt slightly better during the afternoon but wasn’t in any way cold.

Tonight is a Gala night which is MSC speak for formal, there will be very few tuxedos in evidence but most men will wear jackets and ties and the ladies will be sparkling.

Cocktails followed by dinner this evening as usual, the meal was fine but there wasn’t much on the menu that I fancied. I ended up with a minute steak that tasted nice and some prawns.

A brandy and a cup of coffee completed my evening, or it did until I returned to my cabin and it was like an oven. I phoned reception and they send a receptionist who confirmed that I wasn’t a moron and knew how to operate the system and that it was hot. He called reception and they have called a technician to come to adjust it again. I really hope that this one is better than the last.

Looking at the programme for tomorrow I see that we are having the Crossing the Line ceremony in the morning, which should be a lot of fun as the entertainment staff are a very lively bunch.

The engineer turned up and was a very weary Italian who seemed to have the weight of the world on his shoulders, he was the boss of the one who had been earlier and knew all about the problem. He tested the cabin temperature and found that it was 25/77 degrees which he agreed was too warm. He tested the air coming from the A/C unit and it was 22/72 degrees which was slightly better but not great. He explained that there had been a problem on one of the decks where the carpets had to be washed and that this caused a nasty smell, in order not to circulate the smell throughout the ship it was necessary to bring in fresh, hot and very humid air from outside rather than recycling the cool inside air. It sounded feasible and logical but it also sounded too convenient. He promised to get on the computer controls in his office and to increase the airflow to the cabins. I was somewhat cooler now and went to bed.

 

Today is Sunday March 23 and the cabin feels slightly better, or at least I think that it does. It could just be my imagination. It is set on maximum cool and it is by no means cold so clearly there is a problem. The sea is calm and the sky is a milky white with some puffballs of cloud which I'm sure will burn off as the sun warms things up. My main problem currently occupying my mind is what to choose for breakfast instead of runny porridge or semolina.

I don’t know whether Baked Apple is a German breakfast dish but I had one this morning and it was absolutely delicious. It is cored and quite cool but it tastes very good with the merest hint of cinnamon. I opted for the standard ham and cheese omelette and asked for and obtained a sizeable portion of mushrooms. All is well with the world or, alles ist ordnung as a German might say.

 

It was so very hot and humid on deck today but after an hour the place that I was sitting became shaded and there was a slight cooling breeze. The aerobics class was held in the sun from 9.30 to 10.30 and I could see the participants wilting. The instructor was taking it very easy with them as well. At 11am Neptune appeared and about 100 volunteer passengers and 1 crewman were daubed with food colouring and then put into the swimming pool where they had tomatoes, flour, sugar, coffee and cream thrown over them all. It was great fun but the female master of ceremonies was screaming at the top of her voice and it became more than a little wearing after half an hour.

When the fun finished it was lunch time and I went to the main restaurant again, it was lovely and cool and I had a nice light lunch. I was sitting with an English lady of 93 who had married and moved to South Africa, she was still sprightly and had some great stories from when Britain ran things there. She isn’t as keen on it now though as she feels the Government are all crooks. I think she might just be right!

I went to the quiz and we scored 8/10 today which isn’t bad but we are lying about 6th out of 20 teams so we have a severe mountain to climb over the next 2 days. I think that as long as we finish in the top 25% of the teams, we will have done OK.

When I got back to my cabin it was like an oven again, I had left the curtains drawn to keep out the sun and the A/C was on maximum cool. I phoned reception again and this time I explained that it wasn’t working despite 2 engineers visiting and that I would really like it to work or I would like a new cabin.10 minutes later the engineer was back just after the air appeared to cool off a little. He faffed around and took temperature readings, the air coming out was 21 degrees and said that he would come back in an hour to check progress. It seems a lot cooler but it could be that I've cooled off or else my imagination. He’s due here quite soon so I can’t have a shower or anything and just have to wait for him. I gave him an extra 20 minutes and then I had a quick shower, now it’s almost 2 hours since he left and there is no sign of him. I don’t care if I see him as long as the room cools down. It is so unpleasant when it’s almost as humid in the cabin as it is outside.

It is now 6.30pm and we were scheduled to cross the equator 30 minutes ago, I tried to check but the on screen navigation channel on the TV isn’t working at the moment for some reason. It is an internal channel so shouldn’t be subject to the vagaries of the signal in Atlantic waters.

I went to the second classical concert at 6.45 but I didn’t enjoy it as much. It may have been the selection of music but to my untrained ear both the pianist and the soprano hit the wrong notes a couple of times. They are still very talented but it wasn’t to my tastes.

After a couple of cocktails I went to dinner and there were only 6 of us, the bariatric lady and her husband weren’t there and hadn’t left word that they were eating elsewhere. We waited 10 or 15 minutes but they didn’t show up so we ordered. I ordered something with a long convoluted Italian name and it turned out to be tubes of pasta which were slightly larger than penne accompanied by a spicy tomato sauce. It was delicious. I followed with pork with prosciutto which was just that, slices of hot pork with the prosciutto on top and grilled. It was ok but lacked vegetables and sauce of any kind. I do remember when I was doing business in Rome that we had lunch and the courses were quite discrete, with a starter, pasta and then meat. My host had a fillet steak and that was all that arrived on the plate. There was no garnish and nothing else other than oil.

After the brandy and coffee I headed up to my cabin, it continues to be hot so I've made an appointment to see the Hotel Manager tomorrow at 9am to endeavour to resolve whatever the issue is. It is very hard to get a straight answer in such a hierarchical organisation.

We gain another hour tonight for some reason.

 

Today is Monday March 24 and the sun rose at 6.30, the sea is calm and the sky is the palest baby blue imaginable, it might be the day that I see some dolphins! Today is another sea day and many on board are going stir crazy, I love it! Tomorrow is the last sea day before we arrive in Dakar, Senegal. I'm still undecided what I will do but I think that I’ll definitely go ashore for some time. I don’t have any of the local currency but I have Euros and US dollars and a credit card, if none of them are acceptable it is their loss.

 

My best guess is that we are currently due south of the Ivory Coast or Ghana and that later today or tomorrow we will pass Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. They don’t display charts on this ship or if they do, I haven’t found it.

 

After my breakfast of baked apple, which is absolutely great for breakfast, and omelette with extra mushrooms; I went and did some work online and then went at 9am to Reception. My meeting with the Hotel Manager didn’t take place but instead I spoke with the Guest Services Manager and he knew all about the problem and was able to offer me another cabin on deck 9. Before accepting it I went there with his assistant and it was gloriously cool. I immediately said yes and went back and packed up my stuff. The steward dealt with the luggage and the hanging stuff and I only needed to pack the small bits and clear the drawers. It is now 12.30 and I'm fully installed in my cool new cabin. It’s time for lunch now and I'm probably 50 yards nearer the restaurant and bar so it’s good news all round.

I had a nice lunch of pasta and oddly enough it was tubes of pasta with a spicy tomato sauce, it had a different name to any of my previous orders but looked and tasted suspiciously similar. This is one of the great things for me about being on an Italian ship.

I went to the quiz and the questions were very obscure, the answers were even more obscure but we managed to scrape 5/10. I don’t know what our main rivals scored but we were lying second or third before we started. Tomorrow afternoon is the grand final and may feature 20 questions rather than the usual 10.

There were a couple of sharks swimming near the ship today according to one of my quiz mates, I didn’t see them though. We had a heavy shower of rain this afternoon and I could see it sweeping across the surface of the ocean. It remains humid but not in my cabin! This is a vast improvement, I have to tell you.

Tonight is informal, which is treated the same as casual so I don’t understand why they distinguish between the two.

My new cabin is 4 decks and almost directly above the Manhattan Bar so the journey is minimal, I met a couple there who live in Hastings in the south of England. He is South African and she was born in New York State to English parents. They are both British passport holders but visit Johannesburg regularly. They were really charming people and I hope that we bump into each other again.

The cocktails were as good as usual and then it was time for dinner, we had a full table for dinner although the bariatric diva reports that she is still suffering from diarrheal problems. She was quite graphic and apparently is a regular customer at the Medical Centre and the treatment that she is now undergoing is the last ditch effort to cure her. It may be me but I'm really concerned that she might be contagious yet she is sitting at our table albeit eating very bland dishes. She was telling us that she had enjoyed spending time in the hot tubs on deck 11. I couldn’t believe quite how stupid she could be and felt compelled to give her the reasons not to ever use such equipment. It was a bit of a conversation stopper for everyone as I don’t think any of them had ever considered what gets washed from the body into the warm soup of detritus that sits and festers at just the ideal temperature. Regardless of medical advice I think that she is irresponsible to come to dinner whilst afflicted.

After dinner it was a pleasure to go back to my cabin and feel the cool air. I slept well as the ship moved gently along the coast of Africa.

 

Today is Tuesday March 25 and it is the last sea day before we arrive at Dakar tomorrow. The sea is fairly calm and the sky has an almost total covering of clouds, there are blue patches and the sky behind the clouds is discernible so it won’t be long before it burns off. We will make the turn north at the corner of the Horn of Africa and hopefully we may be in sight of land as we sail.

I decided to have a bacon roll for breakfast but it wasn’t a great success, the bacon was just too well done as to almost be impossible to bite through. The baked apple that preceded it was excellent again though as were the two hard boiled eggs which I peeled and just dipped in salt and pepper. Breakfast is a daily adventure on board this ship but I do miss my porridge.

 

I went onto deck 11 and spent a great morning watching the oily sea rippling by, there wasn’t a break in the surface apart from some flying fish and a few seabirds diving for fish some 50 yards away. It is cooler today as there is a slight breeze blowing. The lazy day continued at lunchtime, I had soup and pasta which was very nice. I also had a couple of glasses of South African rose wine which was cool and crisp. I skipped coffee for some unknown reason and then I went for the final quiz. There were only 10 questions and a couple were so very obscure, another was wrong but we needed an excellent score to get close and we only managed 6/10. We finished 5th out of the 22 teams so it was no disgrace.

Still no dolphins, passengers are talking about Dakar and are being very downbeat about it, saying not to take any visible jewellery or watches or cameras when going ashore. They advise to walk in groups and not to go too far. I would hope that most people with a modicum of common sense would know to do this anywhere.

It is now 7pm and I've showered and dressed ready for the evening. Tonight is Italian Night with a recommended dress code of red, white and green. I have blue and blue, so I'm pretty close! We are just passing the islands off the south west corner of Guinea Bissau and heading north towards Senegal. The Gambia is a small country wholly within the middle of the coast of Senegal so we will pass that during the night and then we will arrive during the early morning at Dakar.

I was sitting in the bar having my usual G&T and chatting to the couple from Hastings, they are really a fun couple. Before I knew it the time was 8.20 and we made our way into the restaurant. It was decorated in the Italian colours as were some of the people, while the rest of us were far less adventurous.

The meal was excellent; antipasto, salad tricolore, a wonderful lasagne and a pork chop Milanese. We were all there and the conversation was good, with hardly any mention of bodily functions. It seems that things are improving but not perfect although from the menu choices made by the patient, it was hard to believe that she wasn’t fit and absolutely well!

After dessert of Tiramisu was served, one of the head waiters came to the table with Limoncello in a tall frosted shot glass. He didn’t say anything and most of us took one. It was nice but was too warm. Anyway when it came time to settle for our wine and drinks, a charge of $4.20 for each glass appeared. Chris, the lady with the gastric disorder took exception to this charge and asked to see the Maitre d’. Instead we got the head waiter who had offered us the drinks; he told her that he had told us about the charge. We disputed that statement and as he was chatting to her fairly intently another passenger was walking by our table and without pausing he turned and smiling said goodnight to this man. It was quite rude for him to do that but it is the Italian way. Chris was livid and the conversation deteriorated from there. She now told him to go away and that she would write to his boss. He went and returned shortly with the Maitre d’ who saw how upset she was becoming and in an effort to reduce the tension gently put his arm around her shoulder. This was like a barb for her, she told him to get away and not to touch her. I felt great sympathy for him as that embrace is so Italian as well. Anyway he said that he would remove the charges from our bills, I thanked him but the gastric gorgon wouldn’t let it go for another couple of minutes. She is supposed to have been a senior police officer in London, not on that evidence I don’t think! During her tirade she said that when she had run a restaurant she had always told her staff never to touch the customers, it isn’t quite clear to me just when she took this financial venture but I feel that I must try and find out, not that I care at all but I think I should try to nail the seemingly many lies.

I had to have a brandy after all that excitement and then headed to bed just before 11pm.

 

I woke early this morning at 5.45am, it is Wednesday March 26. There was a hazy mist surrounding the ship and the crescent moon was so very bright. I've got laundry to get done today as I'm running out of clean clothes. They have a 20 item for $25 deal which saves me a lot of money as the normal pricing is very expensive, much more so than Cunard.

I had my usual breakfast and as I type at 8am we are entering the harbour at Dakar. It looks like a large city anywhere with lots of skyscrapers. It is set to be warm today reaching 32/90 degrees. I will go off to have a look around.

 

Having just posted the update, I was sitting here having a welcome cup of coffee and outside the window is a massive container ship called the Jolly Marrone registered in Naples. My Italian is poor but if French is a good guide Marrone might be like Marron and mean chestnut; that begs the question, why would anyone call a ship the Jolly Chestnut!

I just saw a Fish Eagle swooping down in the harbour to take a fish from the water, I thought it might have been a gull or similar but there were the tell tale feathery wingtips and a brown colour. It was a true “Attenborough” moment.

 

Afterwards I went up to the upper deck to look at Dakar and to try to ascertain what I might achieve by visiting there. Normally I like to stroll around and perhaps have a drink and something to eat but as this is Senegal in West Africa I thought that it might be imprudent to do either, other “attractions” are said to be the African markets and the old slave quarters. I have no great interest in either and I imagine that the stuff sold in the African markets has recently arrived here from China in one of the many containers in the port. I stayed on board and it was an absolute delight. 95% of my fellow passengers left the ship, a lot of them were fairly quickly back on board; even they weren’t gripped by the markets, it seems.

There was a full crew drill this morning that lasted almost 2 hours, that stopped many of the crew going ashore I think. There was a drill in Walvis Bay and there is another scheduled for our next port. It’s good to see that safety is taken so seriously. I'm sure that once the ship returns to Italy there will be safety inspections prior to her operating her European schedule and that is a vital component in ensuring that everyone knows what they are supposed to be doing and when and where they are supposed to do it.

The range of available beers and wines is shrinking; we seem to be running out of most things that I like. It can’t be my fault and my tastes may be shared by many people on board. It is annoying though. I was told that when they begin their European season once we arrive in Genoa, they will have a complete restock and be offering more European brands rather than South African, that seems to be sensible and I imagine that there prices will become European as well.

I was sitting up on deck when Chris of Limoncello fame came by; for some reason and without any encouragement from me, she sat and engaged me in conversation. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to see how truthful she had been. She persists in the story that she was a senior detective in London but also said that when her husband had retired in 1987 they had purchased a pub/hotel in the west of England. She used to commute to London for only 2 days a week and would work very long days, she said that she had received special permission to do this as otherwise she found it all very tiring to work 5. There are a couple of problems with this story; the Metropolitan police required that the officers reside within 20 miles of Charing Cross not over 100 miles away and that she would be working a 40 hour week so would need to work 20 hours each day! I don’t think so. I don’t intend to challenge her on it but it seems just so silly to make stupid stories up in my view.

The harbour must be full of fish as there are very many seabirds swooping and diving for them, I saw one bird actually swimming underwater just after lunch, I still haven’t seen any bloody dolphins though! I think that the fish must swim close to the surface because the warm water doesn’t hold as much oxygen deeper down. I'm sure that I read that fact somewhere and it seems to make sense, at least to me.

We are due to sail in 40 minutes, at 6pm and after a sea day tomorrow we will be calling at Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on Friday.

Tonight is the 3rd in the series of classical concerts at 6.45 and I will try it again, I hope that it is more enjoyable than the last one. We have a casual dress code this evening which is fairly standard after a port day. The difference is that here casual seems to include shorts and tee-shirts in the restaurant. My view is that the company sets the rules and whilst I quite like some formality where it is required, I don’t mind informality where it is allowed.

The Captain has just sounded the whistle to bid farewell to Africa until Sinfonia returns in winter, we are 20 minutes earlier than scheduled. We have let go our lines and our thrusters are working hard to push us off our berth, this is a busy port and there are ships moored seemingly everywhere, there is no wind to speak of so with the services of the local Pilot we should be able to safely manoeuvre out to sea. We did just that and now we are beyond the harbour’ walls we have off loaded the Pilot and are heading out to open sea where we will head due north to the Canaries. It’s strange because the ship has two distinct yet linked purposes, on the one hand it is a ship that must depart and arrive on time at a predetermined port and the other is the hotel, bars, dining and entertainment function. The latter gives rise to the need for the former yet without the former, the latter couldn’t operate. I think that they are equally important although the safety of the ship certainly is the most important factor.

It’s a beautiful evening as the sun sinks towards the west, Senegal may not be on my favourites list but Africa certainly is and I don’t want it to be another 18 years before I return. One thing that I can assure you is that it won’t be in economy on Emirates via Dubai!

We have to head south and then west to navigate around the peninsular on which Dakar is placed, then we head north passing Mauretania and then the Western Sahara off which lie the Canary Islands.

The concert was the pianist who accompanies the violinist, he was on his own and really shouldn’t have been. He played 5 tunes, I stayed for the first 3 and heard the intro to the 4th and left. There were a number of Les Dawson moments in the first 2 tunes and he reads the music as he plays rather than playing from memory, it really wasn’t impressive. He also turns his own pages so whilst he is doing that he has to mark time a little on the tune. Still that is three down and two to go, they must be an improvement, mustn’t they?

The crowd at cocktails seems to grow each night and there were 5 or 6 of us there after the concert, it was good fun chatting about how little they all enjoyed themselves in Dakar. All of them returned within 30 minutes of leaving the ship and apart from commenting on the obvious French influence with the wide boulevards they were all appalled at the squalor and dirt that they saw. I tried to explain that these are symptomatic of West Africa but they continue to expect first world standards in a third world country. At least we have the Canaries for them next before they get assaulted by the dirt and grime of Casablanca.

Dinner was a pleasant occasion again and once again my pasta dish resembled larger penne and the sauce was tomato, it was tasty though so I don’t mind at all. It does amuse everyone though. There was supposed to be a deck party and the area had been decorated, the weather didn’t co-operate unfortunately and the wind increased dropping the temperature a little too much for comfort. They relocated to the Manhattan Bar and it was jumping as we came out from dinner. I managed to get a brandy and a coffee though which brought a perfect end to my day.

 

Today is Thursday March 27 and the sun has just risen, at 7.10am. I don’t know what the temperature is currently as the TV navigation channel has another glitch. The sky looks quite similar to yesterday so I imagine that it will be pretty perfect but maybe a couple of degrees cooler as we are heading away from the equator.

I'm off to breakfast soon to continue my morning adventures, hard boiled eggs and baked apple will feature in my choices but I will also choose something else, and that is my quandary!

My imagination failed me unfortunately and I opted for a bacon and mushroom roll which was quite crunchy, I think that I saw a man eating smoked salmon with cream cheese and a bagel, I haven’t seen them on the menu but I will enquire tomorrow and that will make an excellent choice.

 

I'm sitting next to the internet centre on deck 5, there are lovely 4 foot round windows and the sea is only 10 to 15 feet below. It is a pity that Wi-Fi on board is restricted to the public areas but it has worked quite well for me as I tend to use it earlier in the day before the available bandwidth gets clogged up by lots of users. The reception staff are quite accommodating if there are logout issues because of loss of connection and I know a few people who have had plenty of time recredited to their account having encountered problems. Cunard used to be the same when the internet was run by MTN but now that Cunard have taken it over, they are very mean. It’s quite ridiculous that the costs are so high in my opinion as there is no real cost to the shipping line associated with supplying the link, the ship has to have it anyway for its communications and navigation. I suppose that if it was free, everyone would use it which would slow it all down horribly so they put a charge on in order to limit the usage by passengers. They could just print the instructions in English as that would reduce the usage significantly as well!

 

The swells are only 2 to 3 metres and there is no wind to speak of, the ocean surface is rippled but there are no wave crests or white horses anywhere in sight. I went back to my cabin and dumped my laptop and then went up onto deck 11 to sit in the sunshine, it wasn’t hot but certainly was a comfortable temperature of 25/77 degrees. Suddenly at about 10.15 the sea on the port side beneath me started to boil as a massive pod of dolphins charged towards and beneath the hull, seabirds were flying above them and diving to retrieve fish that this hunting group drove upwards. There were at least 300 to 400 dolphins and they were swimming very fast so it wasn’t playtime for them or for their quarry. They were gone as quickly as they had arrived and the sea calmed down as if it had all been my imagination.

I had a celebratory Bloody Mary as I had waited so long to see them.

The coffee game today was a competition played in teams of men vs women. There were 2 games in all; the first was to pass a tennis ball between team members by holding it under your chin, the second was called pass the banana and it was similar to the first but instead of a ball, a foam swimming noodle was passed between team members by gripping it firmly between your thighs and passing it to rest between the other’s thighs. This was then repeated many times and caused a surprising amount of squeals and giggles. It was decided that the whole thing was a draw so they all shared several bottles of “champagne”.

My lunch was pizza with a couple of Peroni beers; this is one brand that thankfully they still have in stock. I listened to my book for a lot of the afternoon as the wind speed increased, it’s fine on deck 11 but deck 12 is less sheltered and only the Germans are left up there as the less hearty have run into the sheltered areas.

Just before 5 I was sat on deck 11 and we were passing a couple of fishing boats, I would guess that we are about 18-20 miles offshore. There was one large one and one medium sized. They had attracted the usual contingent of sea birds looking for a free meal and they were circling this ship and leaving us presents on the decks. I wondered whether they were aiming at the open mouths of those sleeping on the sunbeds. Suddenly I spotted a much smaller rowing boat of no more than 20 feet which was about 300 yards west of us, my eyes are a bit dodgy but I couldn’t see whether it was occupied or not. Fortuitously the Captain was taking a stroll on that deck at that very moment and came to the window to see what the commotion was, he got on his radio and I imagine he was updated as to what it was and whether any action needed to be taken. He seemed unperturbed so I went back to my book. It is a long way to be out from the shore in an open boat though!

I'm back in my cabin now as I prepare for the informal evening ahead. The seabirds are flying alongside the ship and seem almost to hitch a ride as we push through whatever air resistance there is and they just glide above us sometimes and then swing out to the side. They don’t look like the usual seagulls as they don’t appear to have hooked beaks but I have no idea what they are, other than seabirds.

MSC is both the second largest shipping company and the largest privately owned cruise company in the world. I had no idea but they have almost 450 cargo and cruise vessels sailing in all corners of the globe.

Cocktails were a lot of fun as the couple from Hastings turned up and there was quite a crowd there. At 7.30 there was a fashion show in the bar, there were 12 outfits modelled and 7 of them were fashion tee-shirts, the rest were designer dresses which looked great on the 23 year olds who wore them who weighed 6 stone soaking wet. Thankfully it only took 15 minutes and we could resume our chat. We over-ran dinner time a little and didn’t get in until 8.25. I had salad, pea soup and pasta Bolognese, the pasta was large penne again, it held the sauce well and tasted like pasta. I thoroughly enjoyed it all. I've sorted out the shrinking wine availability as they’ve allowed me to buy a decent bottle of white and a decent bottle of red and charged me on my package. Perfect! They will keep the wines overnight as they do on Cunard.

Coffee and brandy finished my meal and I headed off to bed at 11pm.

 

Today is Friday March 28 and we are at sea again, the sun has risen but it is totally obscured by thick clouds. We seem to have left the wonderful African weather behind us and today’s maximum is forecast to be 25/77 which isn’t bad but would be nicer with a bright blue sky. The sea has calmed down after being a little bumpy overnight. With the thick clouds the morning looks quite grey and uninviting and we could easily be midway across on a transatlantic crossing.

I had breakfast but there were no bagels available, I don’t know what I saw yesterday but apparently it wasn’t a bagel. I tried toast under the cheese and salmon and then fresh mixed grain bread but neither were successful or satisfactory. Back to the drawing board, I'm afraid!

The clouds are parting a little and there are small patches of blue sky peeping through. Hopefully more will appear as the morning progresses.

 

I'm typing this in the area next to the internet café and the musak is blaring out. It sounds like a cross between an Arab souk, a wild rave and the white noise used by interrogators, absolutely intrusive and appalling. The volume and selection is apparently chosen and controlled by the cruise director who is very Italian, thin, head shaved, swarthy and wears ill-fitting but designer suits.

One of my tablemates is a 73 year old Scot who was telling me about the show last night, the performer was one of these people who pick your pocket and take your tie and watch without you noticing. Bearing in mind last night was casual dress, the act selected one man in an aisle seat wearing a suit and tie and took his watch. Next he selected another very well dressed man in an aisle seat and “stole” his bulging wallet which was full of hundreds of banknotes. All three were Italians it seems. No-one, let alone the Italians on board wears a suit and tie on a casual night and no-one carries a thick wallet when all that is required is your cruise card. We both agreed that they were plants and pretty poor ones at that. The crowd were in raptures as to how clever the act was. I must ask them if they want to buy a bridge!

 

The day was quite mixed, the weather went between being cloudy and cool and sunny and warm. It did this several times and was quite a pain really. The sea has remained fairly constant with swells of about 3 metres and only its colour has moved between deep blue and grey depending upon the sky colour.

I've had a quiet day listening to my book which was only interrupted by a wonderful lunch of fish soup and pasta with an Italian sausage sauce; you would already know that the pasta was penne shaped. I think that this sauce is one of my absolute favourites. I shared a table with Christian who is a recently retired history professor from the south of Norway. He has spent the last 5 months in South Africa to avoid the Norwegian winter. He is a really interesting man and we chatted for so long that we were almost the last to leave the dining room.

After the pasta and some wine I needed to have a little siesta, I would have liked to have dozed in the open air but I'm really not keen on the sunbeds so I went to my cabin and the comfort of my bed.

Tonight is the third Gala Night and I believe that it is the penultimate of those rare events; passengers dress a little more smartly than on other evenings but there is little or no enforcement of dress codes. I will wear a jacket but like the majority, I probably won’t bother with a tie. The sun will still come up in the morning.

Like most cruise ships the bathrooms on Sinfonia are small, it contains everything required but there isn’t room to swing a cat. The shower cubicle is triangular and has a curtain to prevent water spraying everywhere, against and protruding from the back wall is a 9 inch solid plastic partition that the curtain is intended to tuck inside to make the whole thing watertight. Unfortunately the steward hasn’t been informed of this as he has hung the curtain from the rail and the fixed end is inside the partition which leaves the moving end about 6 inches short of making any contact with the other wall of the shower. There is always a lovely little puddle on the floor by the door which soaks the bathmat. I've looked at redoing it but it looks very difficult so I don’t want to attempt it and I don’t have the heart to tell him. The soap and shampoo are good quality and are stored in dispensers in the shower and by the basin, it saves a lot of mess I suppose and seems to work well.

We have just passed a container ship to starboard and there was a very wide rainbow illuminating it, I don’t know why but there must be some moisture in the air. I haven’t noticed that it has been raining although the sky is leaden.

I almost made it to the show at 6.45 but didn’t quite manage it, just after 7 I went to the bar instead where a few of us met up for cocktails. We were joined by some others who had seen the show and they said that it was very good.

Dinner was good as well, seafood soup, seafood pasta which wasn’t penne shaped, turbot and coffee panacotta. After the meal a few of us returned to the bar for coffee and brandies and I headed to my bed at 11.45. The ship was bumping along a little, nothing major but it continued juddering slightly throughout the night. I think it might have been contributed to by our slow speed so we didn’t arrive too early.

 

Today is Saturday March 29 and we are due into Las Palmas at 8am, it is now 7am and we have just sailed into the inner harbour and are approaching our berth which looks to be very close to the centre of town. The sky looks promising but the forecasted temperature is only 21/70, actually that sounds pretty good after the winter that we’ve had.

The buildings along the water’s edge are typical of Spanish coastlines, high rise constructions with little or no aesthetic value. I don’t know why their authorities allow this over development, Portugal doesn’t and their coastlines are beautiful.

I've just had breakfast and opted for the bacon rolls again, the meat is slightly overcooked but it tastes ok. I couldn’t resist the baked apple either!

 

There are three naval vessels moored near us from the Turkish Navy, they really look eerie with just solid grey metal and nothing to relieve it. There are also Aida Stella and a Thompson ship visiting. At about 11 I went off with a tablemate and got a taxi, we sought advice from the driver as to a good local restaurant, he recommended and took us to a charming fishing village at Santa Cristobal which is about a 10 minute car ride. The restaurant is rustic and is called the Cofradia des Pescadores at Esplanada de Muelle. We had a marvellous meal of freshly caught whitebait, calamari and the catch of the day. All preceded by a stunning fish soup accompanied by bread and a wonderful aioli. It is certainly a place to visit when here. It overlooks a small beach of black sand and a boatyard where a man is making a 50 foot fishing boat by hand. It’s like stepping back in time.

We were back on board by 2.30 and I sat on deck 11 for a while watching all the returning passengers desperately clutching their purchases in bags from shops that appear on every high street in every town that I recall visiting. This is the stuff that memories are made of!

At 6pm precisely we pushed off the berth, whistled three times and sailed out into the busy harbour. It has been a lovely day with the sun shining constantly, I needed a sweater this morning but after lunch I just carried it. That might have been a consequence of the lovely 103 cognac that I had with my coffee after the meal. Our next port of call is Casablanca in Morocco on Monday.

I'm going to the 4th classical concert in 30 minutes time, so I have to get moving.

The concert was quite good; I think that I might have solved a mystery though. I believe that the pianist may be the man who makes the penne pasta on board which is why he keeps his job as his pianist skills are a little questionable at times. The baritone might be the brother of the Captain as he is not as good as the tenor. The violinist and soprano are here purely on their skills.

The ship is pitching in quite heavy seas as we make our way from the Canary Islands along the west coast of Morocco, I think that this area is quite prone to rough water because it is shallower as it nears land. Maybe in a similar way to the Bay of Biscay.

The show was better than the last and they had someone actually turning the pages for the penne maker. Afterwards I went to the bar but was still quite full from lunch.

The same applied at dinner; I had a bowl of soup and two cannelloni because it is my absolute favourite. After dinner I am back in my cabin, we lose an hour tonight and I feel weary. The ship’s motion will send me to sleep without any problem at all.

 

Today is Sunday March 30 and I slept like a top, the ship is still pitching a little but the movement is much less than last night. The sky is a beautiful pink and yellow tinged blue as I look east towards the sunrise. There is no church service today for some reason, maybe Italians aren’t as religious as everyone thinks or perhaps it would need to be conducted in so many languages as to be way too onerous to perform.

I think that I've finally settled on a breakfast menu after 14 days on board, baked apple followed by a ham and cheese omelette with a side order of mushrooms. Of course this will only last for the next 5 days until we arrive in Genoa and I disembark.

The swells are between 3 and 4 metres outside my window but there are no crests or white horses. The sky is the palest blue with some bands of mid grey clouds towards the horizon. I think the temperature will be cooler than my recent experiences but that’s ok as I need to ease back to the UK temperatures gradually.

 

The morning was absolutely lovely up on deck, the sun was shining brightly and there was no wind at all, at lunchtime I stood up to walk to the lift and found that once I was out of the shelter there was a really stiff breeze blowing. That would explain why the exposed deck 12 was quite deserted when compared to deck 11.

At lunch I was joined by Christian, the Norwegian professor. He has been suffering from a bronchial infection to which he is prone, hence his sojourn in South Africa to avoid a cold and damp winter. I think that he has already booked this same trip next year to take him home again. I had a lovely bowl of linguine with garlic and olive oil; it was a really fresh and tasty lunch. I was very well behaved and only had a coffee afterwards ignoring the Limoncello that was calling to me!

I went up on deck for a cup of tea just before 4 and the sun was shining brightly and the wind had dropped, it was like a warm summer’s day. There was a dance class being held and the participants were charged with rotating clockwise 45 degrees at a time to the count of eight, one, two, three, four etc. Judging by their ages I would surmise that most if not all would be car drivers which causes me a degree of concern. At least 10% of them went in the opposite direction to that instructed and most of them finished after only 6 or 7 steps. It doesn’t bode well for road safety in my opinion!

Tonight is an informal evening, and the entertainment staff are dressing as Elvis. I can foresee plenty of brushed back hair and stick on sideburns. They are a great bunch of youngsters and work tirelessly from 8 in the morning until the wee small hours with only a few hours break in the afternoon. Sea days are the worst for them as there is very little respite and passengers can be demanding of their time.

I went for cocktails as usual and noticed that the ship was rocking a little, nonetheless the dance floor was busy as the group was playing some old favourites. It amused me that with the number of Germans on board they still played Edelweiss, I was looking for the Von Trapps running out. They played a number of Strauss waltzes and I was surprised that with the amount of arm flailing no-one was injured. It was great to see though.

Dinner was very nice with Octopus salad, a lentil soup, Gnocchi and a John Dory fillet to follow. Some South African white wine and red wine meant that I was set for bed. There’s still some slight rolling but we’re going so slowly I wouldn’t expect the stabilisers to be deployed.

 

Today is Monday March 31, I woke at 5am and the ship was still. Looking out I could see the lights of the Moroccan coast as we sat stationary until we could pick up the Pilot and start to enter the harbour at 7am. It is now 7.25 and we are within the inner harbour and finally manoeuvring onto our berth. It looks like a lovely day, the sky is pale purple with pink hues where the sun is rising and a pale blue elsewhere. Casablanca isn’t a pretty port but I think that it’s an important one in the life and economy of Morocco, there are many cargo ships lying outside the harbour waiting for a ship to leave to give them space to enter and discharge their various cargoes.

We seem to be berthed in a very commercial dock area and are surrounded by containers, according to the Reception Desk staff there are no shuttles so maybe we are supposed to wander around on foot as the port vehicles trundle by with their heavy loads. All will become clear later, I think.

It seems that the Moroccan authorities won’t allow South African passengers or crew to leave the ship unless they have a visa. This visa costs in the region of $150 so I'm fairly sure that there won’t be many takers. It would be different if they were on an MSC tour but they don’t want individuals wandering around, I don’t pretend to understand their thought process as I imagine most would spend some money here which would certainly help and very few would be claiming political asylum. The reason that they have made such a stupid decision is probably because they have that power and can. The remainder of the ship are able to go ashore with only their cruise cards for identification and don’t even need a passport!

It’s all getting to be confusing; signs have appeared on the gangway deck pointing to Immigration Control. I don’t know why they'd need that if it is as simple as swiping a cruise card. I can understand jumping through hoops to visit somewhere nice, but Casablanca? It’s a dirty, dusty North African town made famous by Humphrey Bogart, and the film was made in Rabat anyway!

 

There was no need for any confusion; the Immigration was purely for South Africans. I saw 5 of my South African quiz team members heading into town on the quayside and they had all paid the $150 to obtain their visas, I didn’t say anything but I think that they will be sadly disappointed with the town. It was a good 3 kilometre walk into the centre and a further 2km to the Hassan II Mosque, that is about all that there is worth looking at here. It is beautiful and that in itself is truly ironic when it surrounded by such abject filth. There is a 12 Euro admission charge if you wish to enter the building itself.

I spoke to a few people who had been out independently this morning and unsurprisingly without exception they were all disappointed with what they encountered.

The weather for today was perfect for sightseeing, clear sunny skies with a slight breeze, it did warm up towards lunchtime though. We don’t leave until 9pm this evening as there was a long tour to Marrakesh, it is a 7 hour round trip by bus and I imagine that there will be 3 or 4 hours in the city to explore. 11 hours for a trip!! I don’t think so. There is also a tour this afternoon titled “The Lights of Casablanca by Night”. It left the ship at 4pm and sunset isn’t until 7pm so it won’t be truly dark until about 8pm and they have to be back on board by 8.30. More potential customers for my forthcoming bridge sale I think! It is 6.30pm now and the temperature is a lovely 23/73 degrees.

Tonight’s dress code is casual and apart from a Gala Night tomorrow, they will continue with that code until I disembark on Saturday morning. It’s hard to believe that the time has gone by so quickly, tomorrow is our final sea day as we creep towards Palma in Mallorca and then we have Ajaccio, Civitavecchia and Genoa. When I embarked on this 19 day cruise I thought that it stretched out way into the future, it has flown by. The passing of the days seem to speed up with tomorrow going much faster than today which went quicker than yesterday. Maybe all holidays are like this, I know that I'm grateful that I have 2 nights at the weekend in a hotel in Genoa coming up which will ease me gently back towards reality.

Cocktails were very quiet as a lot of people were still on shore or relaxing after their day. It seems that from now on there will be 20 minutes of recorded waltz music played in the Manhattan Bar instead of the very entertaining dance classes, I understand that this decision stems from complaints from some German guests who prefer the discipline of the waltz to the more flamboyant salsa or cha cha cha. While the tapes play, the musicians just sit, twiddle their thumbs and chat. As long as the Germans are happy, everything is good.

At 9pm we sailed out of port and immediately the ship started rocking and rolling, the sea is rough and the wind is strong. It will be a rough ride tonight and I'm looking forward to it immensely.

Dinner was an Arabian menu and it was great, rather like a Turkish or Greek meze with hummus, spicy fish balls, baba ganoush and falafel. It really appealed to my taste buds. A cup of coffee afterwards and I'm ready for my bed.

As the night and our journey progressed the sea calmed down significantly.

 

Today is Tuesday April 1 and I woke just before 7am and looking from my window to the starboard side I could see the southern of the 2 Pillars of Hercules which straddle the Strait between Tangiers and Spain, we are now in the Mediterranean Sea heading slightly north of due east on 81 degrees. We will be at sea all day today and are due to arrive at Palma de Mallorca at 11am tomorrow.

The sun has just risen and the temperature is only 15/59 degrees, I hope that it warms up soon!

 

Sailing through these very confined sea lanes is a ship spotters paradise, I'm seated on the port side and I have 12 ships of various types and sizes in sight heading west to exit the Mediterranean. This volume of passing vessels continued throughout the morning until the sea area widened sufficiently for them and us to pass each other at much greater distances. One thing that I noticed was how many of them bore MSC markings and until I read the other day that their fleet was so large, I'm sure that I wouldn’t have seen it. It’s like when you buy a new car, you see hundreds of the identical model from then on.

Today was a beautifully warm morning if you sat in the shelter from the wind, I was fortunate enough to do just that. At noon I went to the main restaurant and had soup and pasta. The room was jammed with the people who normally frequent the outside eating area and they were behaving so very badly. It is normal to attend the Maître d’s stand by the entrance and he or his staff will seat you at an available table, that wasn’t what happened today, there was a sneak attack through the rear entrance of the room and those passengers were just claiming tables. Sadly it goes without saying that the majority of these folk had German as their first language and hadn’t completed the course at charm school. You really need to be here to witness the crass behaviour by some people.

This morning as I sat on a chair by a table on deck 11, a sturdily built Italian lady who was sitting by the window behind me at the same table wished to squeeze through the non-existent gap between my chair and the neighbouring one. Without a word she hefted her massive thighs and buttocks into me and squeezed through. Nothing was said. She returned 10 minutes later and rather than walking around the unoccupied rest of the table insisted on repeating the same behaviour in reverse. I refused to move and was about to indicate the clear passage 3 feet away but the young girl sitting in a chair next to me gave in and moved her chair three feet to the right to allow her backside free passage. A simple “excuse me” would have avoided any of the unpleasantness or perhaps to just walk the other side of table which would have been even easier.

It is overcast now and it feels very chilly with a force 7 near gale headwind, everyone is crowded inside the ship except for the hardy few who clearly have no conception of cold. The sea remains surprisingly calm and is an uninterrupted dark grey.

I notice in the daily programme that there is a quiz this afternoon at 3.30, I shall go and perhaps will meet up with the South Africans again to make up a team. I'm sure that this will be the last quiz of the trip as we have ports on all the remaining 3 days. I can’t believe that there are only 3 days left; it’s inconceivable that time passes so quickly.

I went to the quiz but none of the others arrived, there were 15 questions and I managed to scrape 10 correct answers. I knew 2 others but neglected to write them down for some reason. A team of 6 Germans won and were very excited to receive their prizes of MSC Tee-shirts. I went back to my cabin as the weather has clouded over and rain is falling. I had a nice and welcome sleep for about an hour and am now showered and shaved and ready for the evening’s jollities. Chris and Pat, the bariatric top detective/hotelier/human resource director/investigator and her husband are disembarking tomorrow so have invited everyone from the table to have a glass of champagne with them just before dinner and to sample some of their competitors cheese afterwards; did I mention that she runs a cheese making business as well? So that is at about 8.10, she had wanted to do it all after our meal but I explained that it might be more appropriate to drink the champagne before rather than after dinner. They are disembarking a few ports early as they live in Spain somewhere and will only have a 35 minute flight from Palma for 35 euros each. We will miss them both but I will especially miss her stories!

We have continued our east north east track across the Mediterranean all day and now, following the curve of the Spanish coast, have turned more north east in the direction of Cartagena and Alicante. We lose an hour tonight to bring us in line with European time and we have 15 hours to cover the 200 or so miles to Palma. We are due to arrive at 11am which seems awfully strange to me but maybe it is all to do with port charges and length of stay on a berth. We are scheduled to leave fairly early during the afternoon as well so it’s all a little bit of a mystery as though they have just squeezed the visit in.

Naturally we had a wonderful evening, the cocktails were great, the meal was spectacular and the champagne and cheese worked really well. The whole thing was a delight. We had the parade of Chefs and Baked Alaska which was well received by all concerned. The loudest applause was for the waiters.

Our schedule for tomorrow has changed and we now arrive an hour earlier at 10am and leave at 6pm, that is a much more civilised arrangement. We dock about a 20 minute bus ride from town and the round trip ticket is $17.

A couple of us plan to get off and have a tapas lunch in Palma. We are due to dock at Palma Harbour and we may not need to actually go into town at all but rather stay within walking distance of the ship. I will know more tomorrow when I see the lie of the land and we can make an informed decision.

 

Today is Wednesday April 2 and I woke at 7.20 to a grey day, the sun is just rising but it is totally masked by cloud. I've become spoiled by the African sun and expect it every day, silly me! I'm hopeful that it’ll appear later; at least it is forecast to do so.

It is now 8am and we look to be very close to the southern tip of the bay in which Palma nestles and we are probably still 20 miles from the town.

I had my usual breakfast and now at 8.50 we are in Palma Harbour and performing our final manoeuvres prior to mooring. It was quite an eye opener this morning, a German family rushed into breakfast to secure a table by the window. Clearly they aren’t very bright because they all sat with their backs to the view as we sailed in. The “father” was approached by a very sweet waiter and he demanded a cappuccino, which has a cost. The waiter requested his cruise card and the man tossed it onto the table for the waiter to pick up. 3 minutes later he returned with the coffee and placed it on the table in front of the man and then put down the bill to be signed. Without a word or a glance the German signed it and continued with his breakfast. There wasn’t a shred of human contact between them and if I hadn’t seen his disgusting behaviour I wouldn’t have believed it. The problem is that Germans travel extensively and seem to exhibit this same ignorance everywhere they go. I can’t ignore it and I know that you might be sick of me reporting these instances but this is my way of fighting back for the little people.

We are docking at the western end of the very posh marina; there are more than a few million euros worth of plastic gin palaces moored. I'm sure that some of them actually venture out to sea on the odd occasion.

 

The largest of these is called Lady Moira and is apparently owned by the Saudi billionaire, Hatcheck al Binliner, it has 5 satellite domes on the upper decks but sadly is missing a landing pad for a helicopter! Shame isn’t it.

I have been here before and in the end we decided not to go ashore, it was lovely and peaceful on board and whilst the sun remained hidden the temperature was warm enough to sit out and read. Mallorca is a popular beach holiday destination for British and European tourists and Palma is a pretty town but for me having seen it once, I don’t need to see it again.

We leave this afternoon at 6pm to cover the 400 miles to Ajaccio; I've just noticed that we aren’t scheduled to arrive there until 2pm tomorrow! That isn’t going to help my lunch arrangements. We weren’t due here until 11am today however and arrived at 9 so I haven’t given up all hope yet. We are due to leave tomorrow at 8pm so I think lunch shouldn’t be a problem, fingers crossed!

It’s 5.55pm and the ship’s whistle has just sounded 4 times as we pushed away from the quayside. It is a fairly uncomplicated task to steer back out into the bay and the open sea so the Pilot won’t have too hard a job.

The sea was fairly calm as we sailed out and around the island, the ship was very quiet tonight during the cocktail hour and with a reduced number at our table we skipped through dinner. It was a Spanish menu and the highlight for me was a main course of suckling pig, it was cooked to perfection.

Very soon after I went to bed I think that the wind speed increased and the ship was bumping along very nicely with a delightful stuttering motion. I was gone within minutes.

 

Today is Thursday April 3 and I woke at 7am, there is a force 9 gale blowing straight into us from the north east. The sea remains fairly moderate with very small waves and there is little for the wind to catch. It is a misty morning here in the Mediterranean, I'm sure that once the sun gains any strength it will disappear or certainly become less dense. Looking at the navigation channel on TV, we don’t seem too far from Ajaccio. Perhaps 100 miles or so; if I'm correct, an early arrival seems possible.

 

I'm looking out onto an increasingly rough and stormy sea, the swells are 3 to 5 metres and they are cresting into white horses which are being blown by the very strong wind. It’s great but may not bode well for exploring Ajaccio later. I'm somewhat of a fair weather sightseer and wind and rain don’t feature highly on my like list.

I just remembered that yesterday morning while sitting on deck, I was chatting with one of the crew who is responsible for towels for the pool. He came on duty at 7.30 and found that already 95% of the sunbeds had towels and books on them. He cleared all of them at 8am and took all the personal items to reception. The ship had emptied out by 9.30 and no-one had returned to use these beds by then. This means that they were reserved before sunrise by people who wouldn’t possibly use them until they returned from their tours in the afternoon. This isn’t the action of a civilised people! He went on to tell me that most days Germans would take 6 or 8 towels and reserve 3 sunbeds each, one by the pool in the sun, one by the pool in the shade and one up on deck 12 in a sheltered yet sunny area. His time was spent wandering around policing this behaviour; it looked like he enjoyed doing it as well. I offered to help him if required.

 

It’s just occurred to me that we mayn’t be able to get into port today if this weather continues or deteriorates. I think that the port will be sheltered by the mountains from the worst of the weather so I may be worrying unnecessarily, there isn’t much else to do though when the wind makes sitting on the deck impossible.

We are getting closer to Corsica and are within 50-60 miles currently at 9.45am. The sea is wonderfully rough with deep long troughs, walking is becoming slightly difficult with the odd wobble creeping in but at least I know that I'm at sea!

 

I’d overlooked that Italians and keeping time don’t mix and of course we arrived 75 minutes early. We berthed stern in on a finger pier alongside an old ship called Island Cruises or that was what was written on the side. It only had about 20 balconies high up towards the stern and half the lifeboats were the open type, heaven knows how old it is.

I had a snack at lunchtime on board and was off by 1.30; I didn’t want anything to eat but had a few beers as I walked around. It is a very French looking place and I would like to spend some more time here exploring.

The sun came out as we docked and it was about 21/71 degrees, perfect really. As I walked back to the ship the wind has veered and is now blowing onto the shore. It might be fun when we leave. I got back to the ship by about 4.30 and went for a rest after such a strenuous day.

It is a beautiful sunny afternoon; I have no idea about the temperature as I'm in my cabin looking out at what could be a Tuscan scene apart from the boats. The buildings are a light umber with red tiled roofs and they look so right in this Mediterranean sun, it is a colour that doesn’t work in the light that we get in England but here it is absolutely perfect and I can’t think of any reason to use any other colour. I want to come back and spend more time in Corsica as a whole. There’s bound to be a ferry from Marseilles and I can be there in my car in just over 18 hours from my home.

We have a casual dress code tonight and it is the last evening that Colin and Rita will be at dinner, they are a lovely couple from Manchester and have been travelling since January 3rd. They went for 6 weeks to Australia and toured around visiting friends and family and then flew over to South Africa shortly before boarding this ship. They fly home from Rome as they can get a direct flight much more easily. I'm going to give my waiters an extra tip tonight in case I can’t stand the idea of coming down to dinner tomorrow and opt for the buffet. A lot will depend upon how many Germans disembark tomorrow, I think there may be quite a few which will make the buffet restaurant far more tolerable and pleasant.

I could do with a few glasses of champagne right now, I'm not sure if my drinks deal includes it so I shall have to see. It didn’t so I made do with G&T a couple of times, they were great. At 7.30 an announcement was made saying that because of rough seas and very high winds, all open decks are closed until further notice. 8.15 was dinner time and it was French influenced tonight. I had Moules Mariniere, Salade Nicoise, Bouillabaisse and Salmon en croute. The whole meal was excellent, it was sad to say goodbye to Colin and Rita and I've headed to my cabin as I feel weary. The ship is pitching quite a lot and rolling slightly, I anticipate sleeping well.

 

Today is Friday April 4 and we are just manoeuvring onto our berth in Civitavecchia, it is 7.30am and the sky is deep grey and leaden. I slept well and woke at 6.30 to a heavy rain shower drumming on my window. This port seems quite extensive and we have spent the last 15 minutes reversing through what seems to be a very complicated maze, we are now alongside what I believe to be the Cruise Terminal to where baggage should soon start to be unloaded.

There are many trips scheduled into Rome which I'm certain will be oversubscribed. The easy and quickest method is to catch the hourly train for 7 or 8 Euros return which also gives you access to the metro underground system in the city. I think the journey time is about 35 minutes. Someone in the past has created a legend that to do this is very risky in case the trains go on strike and you miss the ship. I've been here many times and never seen a strike on the railways, if I had I would catch a cab for 60 or 70 Euros back to Civitavecchia. The nice thing is that Italians normally announce in advance that they are going to strike and normally it is for a few hours only and those times are included in their announcement. I'm not going into Rome today but intend to spend time in Civitavecchia and maybe have lunch ashore.

I had breakfast and then made my way to my normal perch for typing this, the Manhattan Lounge was busy with a couple of hundred people waiting to disembark, and sadly most of them looked to be British!

The sky is lightening with large patches of blue sky appearing and the clouds that remain have lost that leaden look and are a very light grey now. It could be a very nice day.

 

I went up to deck 11 and it was lovely and sunny and warm, I decided that I wouldn’t need a sweater or a jacket when I went out. It was pretty perfect for a spring day. I had a couple of beers and watched the other passengers as they rushed here and there, lanyards are certainly popular on this ship; some just have their cruise cards on the end, others have cameras as well, one girl today had a clear pouch which was about 9” by 4” with documents inside. It would make a good game to guess what and why!

I got off the ship just before 12 and caught the free shuttle bus to the dock gate, private cars and cabs aren’t allowed inside and I strolled along the promenade. It was a delight! I found a nice restaurant and sat outside and ate a great Italian lunch with all my favourites, prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato, escalope Milanese and spaghetti pomodoro. Some Pinot Grigio and a little brandy completed the feast. I was back on board just before 4pm and returned to my cabin to start packing.

I really have no interest in doing so and instead I listened to my book for an hour or so. Now it’s 6pm and I need to make a start. As so many of the table have departed and two of those that remain are pains, I don’t really want to eat there tonight. I will probably go to the buffet later on if my appetite ever returns. The disembarkation info has just been delivered and I have to leave my cabin by 7am and then after breakfast head to the theatre at 8.10 for departure around 8.30. I think that I will ignore this and wait in the Manhattan Bar which is much closer and on the same deck as the gangway.

All passengers are to be on board in 45 minutes time and then we are due to sail 30 minutes after that. We only have 200 miles to go overnight so I can’t really see that it will take until our predicted arrival time of 8.30am. More Italian timekeeping, I think.

We left Civitavecchia at 7.15 and are now steaming north towards Genoa or Genova, as the Italians say. There is a beautiful sunset, I'm 98% packed and I feel that it is time for a farewell G&T. I didn’t actually make it to dinner of any sort tonight, but I did get my 5 a day in limes in my drinks. Plus I’d had a big lunch so I really didn’t need or miss the food.

Unless something exciting happens overnight, this will be my closing post. As always I thank you for riding along with me. I've had an absolutely wonderful time and I can’t wait for the next adventure.

As I didn’t post this yesterday I will update you, we arrived in Genoa at 7.30 this morning and are approaching our berth, it’s a large port with lots of commercial vessels and its share of white plastic palaces. Genoa is quite a pretty town with house built climbing up the hills that surround the port. They are mostly yellow as well and if the sun ever comes out I'm sure that it will be lovely.

I've developed a horrible cold and throat so am not feeling particularly human. I hope that it clears up soon.

Fin.

[Katgoesonholiday]

Excellent and very entertaining trip review. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you!

[Skier52]

What a great account of a repositioning cruise. It was all very real as I cruised on Sinfonia on her last European cruise before she went to South Africa last November.

 

As retired professional scientist, with a daughter who is a marine biologist, I can answer your question about why the fish swim near the surface. It's simply that that is where their food, plankton, is. The plankton grows near the surface because light can't penetrate very far in to the water in sufficient quantities for photosynthesis, which is the energy source of a large percentage of the plankton species.

 

The facts about oxygen in the water are that the warmer the water (ie nearer the surface) the less oxygen it can hold, therefore going deeper into cooler water enables fish to get more oxygen. So the fish near the surface are faced with a delicate balance of getting enough food whilst still getting enough oxygen.

 

 

Pete

Edited April 8, 2014 by Skier52

[Capricruiser]

We were on the Sinfonia for this same cruise from Cape Town and disembarked last Friday at Civitavecchia. I haven't the time today to read your review in its entirety but will in a day or so. The cruise was thoroughally enjoyable and will go down as one of the better ones we've taken. The captain, hotel director, and staff were all visible and available for conversation and/or questions.