Today, we began our journey across the Atlantic Ocean towards Brazil.
I woke up at around 7:30 am today, and after having a shower, I made my way to the pool at the back of the ship on deck 9. I got myself a coffee and sat reading my Kindle on a poolside recliner for the next few hours. Mal found me, and we talked for a while before he went off to get breakfast. The pool looked great and was empty, so I went for a swim. Even though it was still mid-morning, it was already getting hot on deck, and the swim had cooled me off.
At about 10 am, I went back to my room, showered again, and then went to take a tour of the kitchens onboard the Costa Favolosa, which I had been offered as a Silver Club member. I was the first person at the meeting point, and a security lady and one of the people organising the tours sat me at a table to wait for other people. I was soon joined by Ann, who had also been invited, and we sat and talked as more people arrived. Everybody was being separated into different groups, depending on the language they spoke, but no one else came to sit with Ann and me.
A group of French and a group of Germans were all being talked to in their own language, and they began their tour of the kitchen. Ann and I asked when our guide would appear, and we were told to join a group of Italians. The Italian guide talked for a while in Italian before beginning to lead the group through to the kitchen. I stopped him and asked why he hadn't given us an English translation, and he told us there was no English group. He contacted someone else who came along to take us on the tour.
The guide we were given quickly followed the Italian group, showed us what the fridges were, and showed us that they were empty. The Italian group seemed to be getting a lot of information that we were not being given in English. The guide cut through the kitchen, led us to the exit, and told us that the tour had finished. All of the other groups were then given seats outside, where they were told more about the whole tour they had been on, while we were told we could leave. It appeared that the English guide hadn't turned up and that no one could be bothered to take us on tour; it was abysmal, and I was disappointed to be mistreated. I did get a couple of photos to show my friend Martin, who is a chef in Los Alcazares, but other than that, it was a complete waste of time.
At midday, I went to the Dorca d´Orleans restaurant to have my lunch. I met Gail, Dwight, and Tessa on the way to lunch, and we all sat together to eat our meal. For lunch, I had seafood salad, cheese dumplings, beef oxtail for my main course and chocolate cake for my dessert. After lunch, I went to the Dei Diamanti bar, got a pot of tea, and sat down to read my Kindle for a few hours.
At around 4 pm, I moved to the Palatino Grand bar to get a seat for the quiz. I sat reading my Kindle and had a pint while I waited for my friends to arrive. Today would be the first day of a mega quiz lasting 5 days. I joined Mal, Keith and Regina for the quiz. Although I did the quiz with them, it wasn't the most fun I have had. Mal's lack of knowledge about anything and his insistence that he was always right began to grate on me. As soon as the quiz finished, I left and went to the Camelot piano bar to get a drink. I sat there for a while listening to the duo singing before leaving to go for dinner at 7 pm.
For my dinner tonight, I had a crab cake, chicken and corn soup, pork with vegetables as my main course, and carrot cake as my dessert.
After dinner, I joined Rosa and Ann at the Moliere Lounge to watch the ´Voice of the Sea´ singing competition. The competition was run very poorly, and the singers were given the wrong songs or different versions in some cases. It was in no way run like the TV program that it was advertised as being like. It was a poor karaoke competition. The brightest thing was the compere's jacket, which was very sparkly and flashy. After listening to the first few singers murder their songs, I left and joined Gail, Keith, Tessa and Mal in the theatre to listen to the Tenor, Andrea Cristaldi.
I enjoyed his singing, especially the last song he did, which was one of my mum's favourite songs and was played at my dad's funeral. The song was called ´Time to Say Goodbye´ and was sung by several people in the past, but my favourite version was the one by Katherine Jenkins.
After the show finished, I walked to the Moliere lounge to listen to the Brazilian Beats Band for a while. I listened to them for a while before going to the quiet bar next door for a cocktail and a beer. Ann joined me for a while, and we sat talking till around 1 am when we went back to our cabins.