Travelling Trio

Transatlantic Cruise – Fort Lauderdale (USA) – Civitavecchia (Italy)

• By Denise
• June 28, 2016
• No Comments

We are soooooo excited….and we should be. Oh my gosh – this is a wonderful way to spend the next 15 nights aboard the fabulous ship “Jewel of the Seas”. Royal Carribean have a number of ships and this one is about middle in its size and capabilities.

Leaving Fort Lauderdale – wahoo we are on our way 🙂 :-)

I must admit though we have been sad to say goodbye to the USA as we have enjoyed the hospitality and friendliness of the people. The vast open spaces and almost everything as large as life is brilliant and exciting for kiwis from little old New Zealand to experience. It is amazing where the time as gone and we cannot believe we have been in the USA for three months. Our time on the cruise will be a good time for reflection and to remind ourselves just where we have been and what we have seen.

Arriving at the port we were anxious, nervous and excited all at the same time. We arrived early and were expecting to have to wait for some time but the Royal Caribbean staff were expecting us and the process was streamlined and easy. Onto the Jewel of the Seas and the impressive size of the boat was enough to get us even more excited to explore the ship. We were guided to the Windjammer Café where there was so much food to eat it was incredible. The selection was enough to satisfy all cultures and all foodies and the quality seemed top of the line.

That’s our cabin – just a little higher than Carter’s finger.

Carter was first to find out about the Adventure Ocean club – otherwise known as the Kids’ Club and this was where we met Francisco from Panama. Carter was signed in and because he is 10 years old is able to sign himself in and out of the Club whenever he wants to. This is so cool because he has a form of independence and decision making all of his own and I must admit he is very excited about this. As far as Carter is concerned his parents are boring and the Kids Club is much more appealing. Perhaps that’s because there are not many children on board and Carter will get one on one attention from very willing teachers!!!

Our cabin – check out the size of the bed!! It’s actually a super King – bliss…

After a few hours on board and I had fluffed about in our cabin getting everything ‘just right’ we were right into relaxation mode and it was amazing just how quickly this occurred. The ship is big – it has a cinema, full on theatre for shows, full on gym, outside running track, art gallery, library, many many bars, casino, mini-golf, rock-climbing, shuffleboard, table tennis, basketball area, small waterpark area, cafes, restaurants and golly that’s just the start of it.

Carter giving it his all on the basketball court!

Each night our wonderful room attendant provides us with a schedule of “Events” for the next day and we spend our time working out what we want to do and what we can ‘fit in’ to our busy schedule. Carter also has a Kids Club schedule but he doesn’t bother deciding as he gets up, has breakfast with us then he is off to Kids Club for the day – only to return to us for the night meal and then back to Kids Club. He is having a blast and loving every minute of this independence he has been granted. They have their own sporting competitions, educational competitions and games and generally get extremely spoilt by the wonderful teachers on board.

Carter and two of his amazing Kids Club carers!!

The first eight days we have spent cruising the Atlantic with an incredibly smooth ocean. I had been prepared and have been taking motion sickness pills as I really wasn’t sure how I would cope but this crossing has been incredible so far. The days are beautiful and clear with the sun shining all day and very little movement if any, on the ship. The entertainment on board is fabulous and Dave and I have got ourselves involved in the daily Trivia games. One of the games is a progressive tournament and we can’t miss a day of this as it impacts on our final score. Oh, the pressures…..

We have a wonderful group of six, Nancy – a retired American living in Florida, Lily – a retired Englishwoman living in Florida, Richard – a wonderfully talented entertainer (used to be a cruise director himself) from England but living between Ireland/USA, Jenn – a single girl travelling with her grandmother and then there is Dave and I. Quite a varied team but we all get on well and enjoy the camaraderie between us. We are mid field on the table so our team just loves the challenge of trying to answer at least some of the questions!!!

At night Dave and I go to the Theatre and watch the different acts – we have had incredibly talented magicians, singers, pianist/singers, ventriloquists, acrobatics, full on shows and so much entertainment we have loved it. Our days are fairly full on – well, as full on as you can on a cruise.

A view of the pool area without the masses of people!

We eat, sit in the sun by the pool, go to our Trivia, almost always do another trivia, go to art auctions, eat, drink, read, go to the gym (well, Dave does this one!), go to food demonstrations, did I say we eat, more eating and drinking and by golly, it’s then time for dinner and then the late entertainment show.

Making it look easy!

Oh, we also take Carter to rock-climbing when he wants to go (he does have to have a parent with him while doing this activity – nice to see that we are need for something!!!!

We also have an ongoing family mini-golf challenge which is interesting. Started off with me winning the first few games, then Carter started getting a few holes in one and was winning some games too! Of course once this started happening then Dave had to win some too and he did! Then we do more eating. It is a standard running joke by the Dennis, our cruise director, that their intention on this cruise is to have us all put on a few extra pounds. Well, I can tell you Dennis, that has most certainly occurred for this traveller. Eeek – I really couldn’t afford to do that as we don’t have any more room in our back packs for having to buy bigger clothing!!!!!

During this Cruise we had five ports of call to the Canary Islands including Las Palmas, Gran Canary and Tenerife. After those stops we cruised through the Strait of Gibraltar and stopped into Gibraltar for one day and then onto Alicante in Spain.

Las Palmas and Gran Canary were sleepy little towns overrun by the influx of our cruise ship. It was in Las Palmas though that Carter and I were able to find the perfect birthday present for Dave. A new watch in both orange and black – his favourite colours. Carter also benefitted with a special on running shoes so got some new Nikes at a very reasonable price. By golly Carter is growing fast. I think this is his third pair of new running shoes since leaving NZ just 8 months ago!

On the Big Bus Tour!

At our stop in Gran Canary we took the Big Bus Tour which, on reflection, was a waste of money. While we were able to see the main areas of town from an open top bus in a short time there was really only one stop (by the beach) which actually appealed. Having said that, you really never know what you are going to see on these open bus tours and in the past we have had some really good tours.

We loved each and every stop all for different reasons but our stop in Tenerife was awesome. We hired our own taxi/tour driver who took us around the island stopping in at various points of interest and giving us plenty of information to absorb. This personal tour was for six hours so we certainly got a treat! A visit to Mt Teide was a must as has the third largest volcano in the world (measured from its base) and has some wonderful rock formations surrounding it. The views of the island and ocean from this mountain are painstakingly beautiful.

Just one of the many interesting rock formations!

While we were wandering through an older part of the main town of Santa Cruz we popped into an artist’s home. Here he was painting some incredible scenes of Tenerife. Incredibly all three of us liked his paintings and so decided to purchase one each. Goodness knows how we are going to travel with these for the rest of our time? The artist was very keen that each of us chose our own painting without input from the others so as to get the “one” which spoke to us. This was actually very cool as the outcome is that we have three different paintings but each sits nicely with the others. Awesome outcome!

Gibraltar was another good stop for us but not for why you might think. While we were able to see the Rock of Gibraltar funnily enough we were more excited to find ‘vegemite’ – yes, sad but true. We have been craving NZ marmite (not the English marmite) and not being able to buy this anywhere on our travels we have had to resort to the closest alternative, that being Australian vegemite. So, seven bottles later we are stocked for a while and heading off on our remaining travels. It was pouring with rain in Gibraltar so we only got in a quick sightseeing of the town and didn’t get a chance to go up the mountain as the clouds had closed in quickly not allowing much of a view. We did however feel it was a place we could spend a bit more time getting to know.

Our next port stop on our way to Italy was the town of Alicante in Spain. I remember some 25 or so years ago visiting Alicante on my Top Deck Tour and spending a night swimming in the ocean whilst tanked up on sangria! Can’t remember much if anything of the town itself 🙁 To the younger readers this is not a good look and certainly shouldn’t be repeated…. 😉 So this time in Alicante was somewhat more reserved and we were able to get a good feel for the town.  Afterward, Dave and Carter both spent time on the beach getting massages while I read my book.

Carter on the left getting his legs massaged and Dave a back massage!! Awesome…

Some of the people from the ship took taxis and private cars to the famous seaside town of Benidorm – where the English frequent in the summer. Carter’s little friend from Kid’s Club lives in Alicante so he had to say goodbye to Alexandro and wish him the best…This meant that Carter was now the only child left with all the carers – one other didn’t visit kids club much and the other left the ship back in Tenerife to head back to the States for a school play!!

We have had the best time on this cruise and truly, if you don’t go overboard on your spending on the ship with drinks, fancy restaurants and buying souvenirs then the overall cost is very reasonable. We added up the cost for the three of us to fly from the US to Italy, 15 nights accommodation, food, drink and activities for that time and the total was just a little more expensive. But the added bonus is that on the cruise you get treated like royalty and this is not what we would have been experiencing in our budget accommodation should we have chosen not to experience this way of travel. Dave, Carter and I cannot recommend this form of travel highly enough. It has been the most relaxing, interesting, fulfilling way to spend two weeks travelling from one continent to another. Go for it – we most certainly will be again.

More photos…

Cute..

Banana rum – yum yum yum! Found this in Tenerife – oh the memories from years gone by – and so cheap too!

A small BBQ lunch on board the Jewel of the Seas – restaurants still open too!