Grandpa's New Computer Part II : (The Boat)

 Repositioning cruises are supposed to be had for a song, True story as we purchased a Transatlantic Cruise, I'd say for a song, but actually not too  bad.  Ours was for Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona Spain.  With stops scheduled at Horta, (Azores) Gibralter, Motril, Allicante and Mallorca, before disembarking at Barcelona.  After we were to get off, the Boat, Holland America's New Amsterdam ,continued on to Venice.  An optional 14 or 30 day voyage.  We also intended to stay in Spain, or later Amsterdam for a spell following the cruise depending how the funds held out.  Kind of got off to a stressful start with Security jumping all over my case for having a small bottle of wine (more than the two allotted) consequently subjecting me to a little extra scrutiny while simultaneously giving me the ol "stink eye".   Didn't help that I had just blown my "good knee" and was having a heck of a time just staying on my feet, was also reflected in my attitude because they just seemed to piss me off.  After all that and they let us keep it anyway.

Forgive my real poor depiction of our travels.  It's supposed to show our transoceanic cruise and then flights from Barcelona to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Portland.  And then back to Texas obviously.  A trip of some 11,300 miles.  It's notable cruising into the Mediterranean that the straits are only seven miles wide at it's most narrow between Europe and Africa.  With Gibralter on the one side and Morocco on the other.


Lisa and I never check luggage for the mere fact we like to travel light.  This was a stark contrast to most of the rest of the folks getting on the Boat who lugged out massive trunk size bags to load on the courtesy shuttle to the Cruise Port.  This is probably the first instance that we could count as an actual  "Criuse" as we came to find out. Our previous experience being an outing of just a few days, whilst this would be two weeks.  Seven days before we even were to see land again.  The cruise veterans pack everything and change clothes several times daily.  A whole subculture exists of these veterans, some who bragged thirty or more prior cruises.    And Lord there is a dress up occasion each and every day, sometimes two or three.   This wasn't to work very well for Lisa and I.  She had a few nicer duds she had brought, but I packed basic;  four underwear, one pair of long pants (Levis) flip flops, large (siz 13 double E tennis shoes, the kind with the big N on them.  Couple of T Shirts including my favorite Walking Dead emblem T shirt I had bought a few weeks earlier.  So after being forcibly kicked out of Dinner for being underdressed (OK in truth they offered me a jacket) but I got all Huffed up anyway and we ate in general dining the rest of the trip A couple of points here.  Cruise lines make 0 profit from the price of the tickets.  All of their profit is made from amenities.  Overpriced tours, nine dollar Martinis (of which I had a few, maybe more) and numerous shows etc.  And an added point here: two items that took us by surprise was one, that a tiny bread loaf size plastic bag filled with laundry cost 30 bucks.  And that it cost an additional 23 bucks a day for the cost of the services.  Of course this  cost (which by the way I would never begrudge) was included in the body of the small print.  "Small Print" I have become accustomed to responding to in all cases.  Uuuuh huh, sure, click blah blah blah, sure uh huh click (accept) blah blah blah, yeah yeah yeah... The second problems was remedied by clothes washed in body wash and hanging to dry from every available point that would hold a hanger.    Consequently, when added to the martini's and twenty two dollar bottles of wine purchased while under the influence of said martini's, upon landing we were roughly 700 bucks short of expectations.  Anywhoo.

Love us or hate us, we just seem to meet the most interesting folks and got to sit at the cool kids table eventually. 

First

Blue, a really self effacing guy and part of the BB King show.  Part of the ship's most popular 
event.  Blue is supposed to be "nice" and mix with the passengers we knew, but along with being a very amazing trumpet player, he is also a bit shy and felt comfortable hanging with us for a smoke on more than one occasion. He told me that he has played the trumpet since he was eight.  Born and raised in Memphis TN, he said his Dad played with the original BB King and through him, as a child had met Elvis.   Now in his fifties he has played the trumpet all of his life and his amazing talent, to him, just doesn't seem that great.  He liked talking about other stuff.  

Pat, just a nice gal, Widow and first trip since her husband died.  From Rhode Island

Scott and Lynn from Denver, here we met for dinner in Barcelona.  Scott kayaked the Murtaugh run near Twin Falls at one point in his life, as well as some other rivers including the Middle Fork of the Salmon.  About the only thing I had to compare  was that I too had rafted the Murtaugh run, but since I had been with a maniac, I had the dubious distinction of running the Class V rapid at "Pair of Dice"  . , Lynn, an undiscovered photographer had taken some amazing amazing pics on her flipping "cell phone"  God if I had such an eye.  In any event after trading email addresses, they continued on to Athens to meet up with other friends whilst we spent several more days in Barcelona.

Some federal retirees from North Carolina.  Went on to Germany later.  Formerly in a related profession and we traded war stories. 

More views from the ship

 The previous three photos from Horta (Azores)

Sunset from the Main Dining area.

                        Sorry I have no idea the Cathedral in this pic.  The entire trip consisted of eye popping ,jaw dropping scenery.

I believe these are from Mallorca.  We did not explore the stops requiring paid passage to and from town.

                            A lot of Wine.  Thank God, a lot of really really good Wine.

We heard many stories of the Barbary Apes living on this rock, of attacking people for the smell of food about them.  The actual only apes living on the Continent of Europe.  A ship's tour cost in excess of a hundred and fifty bucks.  We learned that in town, a taxi was available for 28 Euro.  Nasty little fellas.  A woman sitting behind us explained how her pockets had been ripped out by the Monkeys seeking food and one had attached to her head and peed in her hair.  Lovely.  Hehehehe.

Standing and smiling in a square public executions at one time occurred.

                          Really love this pic.  Our ship in the background

The context of the places we visited and the vast lack of information I am able to provide is daunting.  I guess I will just have to get a bit defensive and suggest anybody who wishes more info to get their own damn travel book. I found it amusing the numerous statues in the small towns we visited.  I recall an article that various small town European politicians endeavored to persuade the locals to erect statues in thier honor. My final thoughts however are that in this case, I could never ever conceive of a more amazing way to travel than by cruise ship.  Returning to the security of the ship after each port of call contrasted sharply with the issues we encountered once we hit port and set off on our own.  So many amazing pictures were taken and selecting those to post is hard.  I suspect I will return to edit these as my memory serves. Next Barcelona and Amsterdam. UA-20271220-1 ga(‘set’, ‘&uid’, {{USER_ID}}); // Set the user ID using signed-in user_id.