Our First Cruise
Our very first cruise in 2013 aboard a Carnival Cruise Line was quite an adventure. Initially, we were excited to head to the Bahamas, but a hurricane altered our plans. The ship's captain, with presumably the approval of his superiors, skillfully navigated away from the storm and took us to Puerto Rico instead—a more costly destination. This unexpected change solidified my loyalty to Carnival. After Puerto Rico, we visited the stunning Grand Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos islands, and the picturesque St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. In St. Thomas, the warm waters lured Marie and I into the sea, despite my usual reluctance to swim, even in my own pool. This trip opened my eyes to the joys of cruising and the beauty of the Caribbean, setting the stage for many more adventures to come.
Transatlantic Cruise To Barcelona
This cruise aboard the Carnival Legend started a bit rough because our plans changed when the bridge in Baltimore was struck by the cargo ship. Cruise liners couldn't get in and out of the ports so we chose to rent a car from New Jersey to the alternate port in Norfolk VA. We still could have gone to Baltimore and got on the free bus provided by Carnival but it was a 5 hour ride plus the chaos of getting in and out of the bus with all the other people. Lucky enough for us, the enterprise rent a car upgraded us to a Ford Mustang convertible instead of a Chevy Malibu. That was a fun drive! On top of that when we dropped off the car, they took us to the cruise terminal for free! Yey enterprise.
So this transatlantic cruise is 12 nights, Ponta Delgada in the Azores Islands of Portugal being the first stop. It took 6 days to get there. Thank goodness the ship has a dedicated dance club called Medusa's lair. We danced almost every night, and the one time we didn't go because I was exhausted, some guys saw us the morning after and said they missed us because we are the life of the party. That was cool 😁
Ponta Delgada is a very nice place, having nicely tiled roads and sidewalks. No harrassment from vendors here. Nice old buildings everywhere.
Next up, we arrived in Malaga ,Spain. The tour bus was already waiting at the port.very nice gentleman serving as our tour guide driving around the beautiful city and then on to the highway letting us soak up the scenery and passing beautiful towns like marbella and torremolino leading us to the final destination of the tour, Mijas Pueblo. It's like a district of the town Mijas but it's located on the top of the mountain overlooking the main town and the view of the ocean, and Costa del Sol. Marie and I would love to stay here for a while if we can. This is a place where all the buildings and houses are all painted white and you see flowers all around you, planters all on ceramic pots in spectacular colors. Moving around they have tuk tuks and donkey carriages. It's truly nice. Resting on the town square and seeing tourists and locals strolling around is a joy to see. Hopefully we can find a place here to settle a bit. In the near future. To be continued.