Madeira after 8 straight days at sea!

 Madeira 

Today, we stopped at the island of Madeira, one of Portugal’s two autonomous regions—and both are located in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. The other in the Azores, is the port of call we missed two days ago due to inclement weather. 

It was nice to step foot on land after eight continuous days at sea.

Although Madeira is geologically located on the African tectonic plate, it is culturally, economically, and politically European. 

Madeira was part of the first archipelago claimed by the Portuguese during the age of discovery. The first Portuguese settlers began colonizing the islands in 1420. Until the first half of the 16th century, Madeira was one of the highest producers of sugar and of course they used slave labor. Madeira’s most important commodity eventually became its wine, Madeira wine. Sugar plantations were eventually replaced by Vineyards as Portugal moved sugar production to Brazil and São Tomé. 

Our visit today was in the city of Funchal named for its abundant crop, fennel.

Funchal is a modern cosmopolitan city known for its year-round warmer climate, incomparable natural beauty, it’s lively weekend nightlife that usually begins at midnight, and it’s festive Christmas, Halloween, Mardi Gras,and New Year’s Eve celebration that includes one of the largest fireworks displays in the world.

Entering the port of food provides one of the most spectacular and picturesque views comparable to such places as the Bay of Kotor and the Port of Malta. It’s an absolute feast for the eyes with its lush and colorful gardens, azure bay, and verdant mountain backdrop. The port is an important stop over for commercial and Transatlantic passenger cruises between Europe the Caribbean and North Africa.

I took an informative guided walking tour today from Dominico, a student who studies at the local University. I’ve never had a tour conducted in English, in a Portuguese city, by an Italian, who lives in Rome. 🤣 We walked more than 15,000 steps in the charming old and newer parts of town. The city has grown considerably since I was last here 10 years ago.

I was happy to reconnect as we went for eight straight sea days without Internet, because the Ship’s “world-class, state of the art,” Internet system does not work.

I completed my passenger locator form for Lisbon today. 🇵🇹 The UK no longer requires a completed passenger locator form. It was a lengthy and tedious process but I had already completed it before I left home.

Our next port of call will be Morocco 🇲🇦 

More details to follow……

COVID travel protocols – – constant change

 In early March 2022, Government and private sector institutions have been gradually relaxing Covid protocols. By the end of March, mask mandates will no longer be in effect across all states in the US. Only Hawaii enforces mask mandates in schools but that will end by April. Last week, for the first time in two years, even the employees at my local grocery store were not wearing mask. It was a pleasure to connect with individuals seeing their entire faces and their beautiful smiles.

Although airlines in the United States continue to implement mask mandates Through March 18, 2022, Cruise Lines have been gradually publishing new protocols where masks are recommended but not mandatory. I find this particularly shocking especially giving the confined nature of the Cruising experience where thousands of passengers and staff members are confined to an indoor space. For our upcoming cruise, we will experience a stretch of seven straight sea days crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

I will take a 16-night transatlantic sailing from Florida to Europe. Until yesterday, the cruise line had reported requirements to present a negative Covid test on embarkation day, along with complementary mandatory Covid test taken prior to boarding the ship. Effective yesterday, four days before departure, the cruise line released new guidelines suggesting that on-site testing will no longer be implemented on embarkation day, for our sailing. 

Separately, for the first time ever, the cruise line alerted passengers to the potential for unreliable and erratic Internet connections during the seven day transatlantic, (7-day stretch of day at sea) portion. The line is already providing refunds/onboard credits for pre-purchased Internet packages. Although this will be my 13th transatlantic sailing, I have never witnessed Cruise Lines taking ownership of and honestly managing expectations around their Internet product.

See attached note about the Sky Princess cruise ship sent the Tuesday night before our Saturday, March 12 sailing.

Naturally, this has elicited the expected rush to panic among many travelers on cruise critic and in Facebook groups. I am happy I won’t need to prep for long flights to board the ship. I only need to call an Uber and ride for less than 30 minutes, to arrive at the ship.

Since cruising resumed during the summer of 2021, ships have been sailing at a maximum of 50 to 60% capacity. In many cases, the ratio of crew members to passengers has been greater than one. Specifically, on my first Alaska sailing in September, there were more crew than passengers. Naturally, the service was exceptional, and staff members even called me by name when I entered certain venues. It was impressive!

I have read reports that there are 1000 more passengers on the ship I will be taking, than there have been since the ship resumed operations last summer. There are also reports the current sailing is grossly understaffed. (It is possible this spike is due to spring break travel.)

Let’s hope we will not spend 16 days waiting in long lines and experiencing shortages because the ship has not been properly provisioned or staffed to accommodate the larger volume of guests. Let’s also hope the ship is prepared to implement Covid protocols should there be an outbreak on board, especially among the much-needed (fully VAXed) staff.