Sunday, May 16, 2010

Diary Entry - Was unable to post on board, so catching up!!


12:25 13/05/2010

Today we are on the final leg of our journey, we left Cadiz at 5pm yesterday and are now heading for Southampton. Already the water is choppier and the wind stronger than we had grown used to in the Med.
We arrived in Cadiz early Wednesday morning, its a much smaller port than the others that we had been to. The city was originally built by African Moors so there were lots of domed temples with beautiful bright colours and lots of pale coloured walls, most places were white and pale pink,very pretty!

Dad and I decided to get off and take an open topped bus ride, the bus left from just outside the port gates, but there was quite a walk to the gates. It was a bit of a worry because the ground was very uneven and I was worried that dad would trip. there wasn't anywhere to stop and rest so the more tired he got the more likely he was to trip. Any how we got to the bus, had a 5 minute breather on the wall waiting for it to arrive. Once on board we went upstairs, the driver was great and waited for us to get settled before starting off. We had been on board for about 10 minutes when we had a light shower and it was a light shower a few spots. Dad said he wanted to go down, so at the next stop we went down and the only available seat was behind a solid wall so we could see very little, while transferring I had managed to pull one of the earpieces off of my headphones so couldn't hear where we were!! I went back upstairs and left dad downstairs in the front seat so he could see. I had only been back up there for 5 minutes when we came to the end of the trip!!! It had been very labour intensive and I don't feel I learned anything.Today dad feels exhausted so I think it was the walking he did yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon there was a chocoholics afternoon tea, we didn't really know what to expect, so I took mum down where we were greeted with an afternoon tea consisting entirely of chocolate based nibbles.There was a spectacular 6 tier chocolate fountain and trays and trays and trays of chocolate goodies. I am afraid that Mum rather over did the chocolate and felt sick for the rest of the day. She wasn't even able to eat dinner as a result!!!

Last night we had an after dinner speaker, Tony Gubba who used to present Grandstand and is now the voice of dancing on ice. He was quite amusing and made a change from the singing and dancing we have had on previous nights.

Tonight we have another formal night, the final formal night. (thank goodness) It does seem like a right faff around and its such a hang over from a previous era. Its funny to watch peoples antics so many people think that they are more than they are!! We have over the past two weeks met loads of very nice people including our dinner table partners. There are an awful load of snobs on board as well. They initially seem like 'ordinary' people and then they say something that shows their true colours. This is usually about the ethnic origins of the staff, their very out spoken opinions on the rights of Gay people and how cruising has gone downhill since the great unwashed can now afford to take part. That I find quite sad. It could be a generation thing as lots of people on here are elderly. They seem to have lost their tolerance (if they had any in the first place) There are only 29 children on board out of the 1900 guests, but some people are moaning because the children are in the swimming pools. How dare they use the swimming pools!! There are 4 pools on board, I am sure with such a small number there must be some child free pools! Cruising is great for people watching you get to see some great sights!!!

So last day tomorrow......

1 comment:

Jenn Jilks said...

I think you are right - it is a generational thing. Same thing with the seniors in My Muskoka !
It is sad, and unnecessary. Up here they refer to our Aboriginal peoples in the same way- in certain circles.