We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale after our one week cruise out of San Juan with our children and grandchildren.  That night we met Dorothy and Bruce Hoem and together boarded the Celebrity Cruise Lines’ ship, Equinox, the following day, Monday, April 27th. We had 5 days at sea during our Atlantic crossing. Each morning, the four of us met around 8AM for breakfast in the Ocean View Cafe where and variety of food is set up as a buffet.  During breakfast, we would work our Sudoku puzzles which I would pick up before breakfast. Over coffee, we would outline the day’s events each of us were interested in seeing.

During those breakfasts, we met a young lady, Iryna Kantsvieva, who is from the Ukraine. She pushed a cart with coffee, tea and orange juice which she served to anyone interested. She is 23 years old, quite attractive and is married to a Romanian who she met on board the ship. He also works as part of the crew. She is enrolled in a maritime university where she is studying to become a navigational officer. She expects to graduate in June 2016. Her sister is 1-1/2 years younger and is an officer on board a freighter.

Each day, there was an extensive list of activities that one could attend.  We had presentations by Ronald Bowers, retired from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office.  His presentations included cases such as “Was Marilyn Monroe’s death suicide or murder?” “How did Natalie Wood disappear?” “What was the evidence in the Nicole Smith’s death?” “What evidence was there in the O.J. Simpson trial?” And, other topics such as “Unusual Suspects” and “Does Crime Pay?” We also had presentations by Lisa Didlier who we’ve seen on a previous cruise. She is a specialist on the history of ports scheduled during this cruise as well has some miscellaneous things such as “Famous Madams of the U.S.”

In April 2015, Celebrity Cruise Lines opened a new dining room in each of their ships which exclusively caters to passengers who are in suites.  It goes by the name of the Luminae. The dining room is more like a fine restaurant that has two rooms each having a capacity of about 50 seats. Our serving staff was outstanding. We really enjoyed every evening there.  Our waiters were Kurt and Tyrone both of whom were from Jamaica. Another waiter that we had when in the second room was Pavesh.  They were all professional but with great whimsical personalities.  I took some photos of them. Each evening, they welcomed us like royalty. We also had the pleasure of meeting many, many times the Food and Beverage Officer, Vlado.  He loved to talk about basketball with Bruce. He told us that the Luminae’s staff was hand picked.

Our first landing was on May 4th at the port of Ponta Delgada in the Azores.  The Azores are owned by Portugal and consist of 9 separate islands. We took a tour that included traveling thru and stopping briefly at Sete Cidades, a little village in a valley adjacent to the famous Blue Lake & Green Lake. These are crater lakes separated by narrow bridge. Our bus took us high on the hillside overlooking the lakes. Another photo stop was in a heavily vegetated area overlooking Santiago Lake. The tour ended in the city at a hotel for a wine and cheese tasting event. We were served 3 types of local cheeses along with white and red wines - dry, medium and sweet. The entire bus ride into the country surprised us by being so breathtakingly beautiful. The Azores is a place worth visiting.

The next two days were at sea.  We arrived in the port of Lisbon, Portugal on May 7th. During our planning of this trip, we had a difficult time deciding what to do in Lisbon since there are so many interesting sites to visit in this city.  We elected to take an excursion that took us into a medieval, walled town called Obidos. It was a pleasant drive that took us high on a mountain.  After our arrival, our tour guide led us into the town center and gave us free time to explore a castle, church and shops.  We climbed one of the castle walls and took photos of the beautiful countryside below. Then we stopped in various shops and topped off the tour by ducking into a tiny cafe with only two tables.  We ate sandwiches followed with the local drink, JiJin, a liqueur produced in Obidos and served in tiny chocolate cups which one ate after finishing the drink.

Our next stop was the port of Cadiz, Spain. Our tour here was to the city of Vejer which was high on a mountain top.  Our tour guide happened to live there.  She was excited to give us this tour. Walking the very narrow streets and the uphill steep grades was rather strenuous since we estimated uphill angles be around 30 to 40 degrees at some points.  We stopped at the town square which had a beautiful fountain lined with mosaic tile. Everywhere, we could see signs of the Arabic influence thru the ages. Our last stop of this walking tour was at the Church of St. Vidala. From there we were bussed back down the mountain to a seaside town where the four of us had a brief lunch of tapas.  On our way to this town, we had one photo stop to see the famous lighthouse of Grifaldi.  That night as we slept, we passed thru the Straits of Gibraltar. 

On May 9th, we were docked in Malaga Spain. Since Suzanne and Al had such a wonderful experience in this city the previous year, our expectations were quite high. The four of us signed up for a tapas tour. It began with a brief bus ride thru the city and up a steep hill to the Gibralfaro Castle of a half hour photo stop overlooking the city.  One room of the castle has a display of battle armor and weapons. When we returned to the city, our tour guide began a walking tour. This turned out to be very painful since he was so slow.  We stopped for a 15 minute toilet break which took over 40 minutes. We sat at the base of a Roman Theater ruins waiting for the tour to continue. After finally reaching our first tapas bar, we had to wait outside for the tour before us.  There we were served paella. While this was billed as a tapas tour, we had 40 people on it, far too many for multiple tapas bar stops.  At our second stop, we had to wait outside for 20 minutes while the previous tour group finished. After finishing one glass of wine there, we left the tour group and made our way back to the ship on our own.  Around 5PM as the ship pulled away from the dock, Suzanne and Al attended a special bon voyage event on the ship’s helipad with a glass of champagne.

On Sunday, our Mother’s Day, we arrived in Alicanta Spain. Since Dorothy was coming down with a cold, she decided to stay on board while Bruce, Suzanne and Al went on the tour. We began by going up to the Castle of Santa Barbara.  It lies high on the hill overlooking the city, its beautiful beaches and marina. The tour of the castle included a long walk up a very steep climb. Suzanne decided against it. Bruce made it half way up and stayed in an area that has vendor tents and a refreshment stand. Al went to the very top which was over 1000 feet high.  The castle was built in 3 parts, The first was in the 7th century.  The second was in the 12th century.  And the last section was completed in the 18th century. Once again, signs of the presence of the Arabs and Moors  could be seen.  After this tour, we headed down to the city where we did a walking tour which included a visit to a museum housing paper meche figures some being life size. They are made for an annual festival held in June each year. We ended the tour with some free time to tour the promenade by the waterfront marina.

Our ship landed in Barcelona on May 11th.  This marked the end of our first cruise and the beginning of our second. We took a half day tour of the city of Barcelona. 

The following day, we entered the port of Toulon, France. We took a tour that bussed us to Marseilles, the geographically largest city in France, larger than Paris. However, it only has a population of 800,000.  The highlight of the tour was a visit to Notre Dame de la Garde.  The basilica is built on top of the highest peak in Marseille.  Dorothy and Al climbed the over 200 steps to get to the base of the basilica followed by another 4 story climb to the church.  Bruce and Suzanne stayed below.  That night, Suzanne and Al were guests at the Captain’s dinner table.

On May 13th, we anchored off Cannes where we stayed for two nights and two days during the famous Cannes Film Festival. The first day we took a tour of a seaside walled city of Antibes.  Our guide took us thru parts where Picasso did some work and some old parts dated back to the 16th century.  We passed thru a farmer’s market then went on our own stopping at a few shops.  Suzanne bought a small olive oil decanter.  After lunch, we walked back to the marina where our bus was waiting for us.  The Antibes Marina claims to house over 1800 yachts, the largest marina in France.

That night after dinner aboard the ship, Suzanne and Al went back into Cannes around 8:30 PM, walked the main street past the red carpet area and stood there for a while hoping to see a movie star. Then we headed to the marina where we walked the docks and admired the insides of each mega yacht.  Since it was dark and all the lights were on inside the yachts, we could see the furnishings. Some of the yachts were having parties. Most of these yachts were in the 100 foot range or more. We arrived back at the ship at 11PM.

The next day, Dorothy, Suzanne and Al went into town. We walked past the casino and the red carpet.  The atmosphere was electric with row after row of brightly shining black cars along with their chauffeurs standing around waiting for their clients. News personnel were taping interviews on the street. The three of us took our time at doing some window shopping at the high end stores.  Afterwards, we walked the docks.  Dorothy got a first hand education by Suzanne about yachting. We watched many crew cleaning stainless steel, waxing fiberglass and vacuuming.

The next day, we moored in Livorno, Italy. Bruce and Dorothy took a walking tour in Florence of various museums.  Suzanne and Al started their tour with an hour’s stop at the leaning town of Pisa.  From there, it was a 1-1/2 hour bus ride to Florence. We had from noon to 4PM on their own and immediately headed to a restaurant to have delicious pizza and a bottle of wine for lunch. We felt at home in this beautiful city since we have spent a lot of time there thru the years. While strolling the streets, Al bought a wallet. Suzanne bought a purse and a Pandora bracelet with beads depicting Italy.

After a night of rolling seas, we docked in Ajaccio, Corsica which is French.  The four of us walked around town for a couple of hours.  Since it was Saturday, the farmer’s market was in full display.  Al bought 4 cookie pastries.  It was a pleasant, short, relaxing day. We needed it after a full day’s tour the previous one.

We arrived in Cagliari, Sardinia around 8AM the following day.  We did not have a prepaid tour. Instead, the four of us had a leisurely breakfast followed by leaving the ship and taking a taxi to the top of a very large hill to the sight of some museums.  The one we toured was a four story archeological museum.  It amazed us at the extensive collection of artifacts from the stone age thru the bronze age, iron age, etc. Our walk back may have been 2 miles downhill and took us past the ruins of a large Roman Theater. 

Monday, May 18th, we had a day at sea.  We listened to two presentations by Bill Shepard, another guest speaker. The subjects included “Sicily: Isle of Beauty & Conflict” and “Discovering the Amalfi Coast.”

We pulled into the dock in Messina, Italy on Tuesday. The four of us took a tour called “Taormina on Your Own.” Taromina is Sicily’s 2nd largest city behind Palermo and followed by Messina.  It was a 45 minute drive up the mountain side and thru a variety of tunnels.  Once there, we walked the long main street called Corso Umbertol.  We did a lot of window shopping going in and out of stores. The view from this vantage point is spectacular.  One can view the Mediterranean Sea along with mountainside buildings. We stopped at a couple of the piazzas.  Bruce and Al bought old charts of the Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding countries.  Dorothy and Al went up to the Ancient Greek Theater and took a lot of photos.  The four of us stopped for a cannoli and a special local drink consisting of Campari and Presecco.  We returned to the ship by 2PM.  A nice day.

Our last day before the end of the cruise, we departed the ship in Salerno, Italy where we docked. Bruce and Dorothy took a separate tour going to the city of Amalfi then a tour of Pompeii. Suzanne and Al took a tour that was “Amalfi City on Your Own.”  We boarded a ferry boat and took a 45 minute boat ride next to the Amalfi Coast.  The cliffs, mountainsides, and grottos were perfect for photos. What a spectacular sight!  Once we arrived in Amalfi, we had 2 hours to wonder around on our own and bumped into Bruce and Dorothy who were just leaving when we arrived.  Al bought a couple of tee shirts. We bought a small colorful bottle of Lemonchello. We arrived back at the ship around 12:30 PM just in time for lunch. That afternoon, we began the serious task of packing our suitcases.  Al also printed up our boarding passes for the flights out of Rome and Charlotte.  Bruce and Dorothy arrived around 4:30.  We met at our usual place in the Sky Lounge for cocktails followed by our last dinner aboard in the excellent Luminae dining room. Another great trip!

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