Today, I boarded my cruise ship, the Costa Diadema, in Valencia for my cruise around the Mediterranean.
I slept until about 4 am today. I got up, used the bathroom, went back to bed and fell asleep quickly. I woke up again around 8:30 am. When I woke up, I took a shower, took my tablets, and got ready to leave the hostel. Checking out was strange as all I had to do was leave my room key in a box in the entranceway of the hostel as I left.
When I left, I walked to a cafe a few steps from the hostel. I stopped and had a coffee and tostada at the roadside cafe. After my breakfast, I walked the short distance that Google was telling me to go to the nearest bus stop to catch a bus to the Trans-Mediterranean port. The bus arrived in a couple of minutes. They come along every nine minutes according to the bus stop digital readout. It only cost me € 1.50 on the bus as opposed to €11 in a taxi. Well played, Google Maps.
After arriving at the cruise terminal, the check-in process was straightforward. I was on the bus that transferred me to my cruise ship, Costa Diadema, in less than 20 minutes. I found it strange that the cruise company had to take both my passport and Spanish ID card. I was told it would be given back on board the ship at the end of my cruise. Can someone explain why this is necessary?
After getting on board the ship, I quickly found my cabin. It was an inside room, but I was pleased with the size of the room and bathroom. Once I had unpacked my case and hung all my clothes up, I went to a bar at the back of the ship called the Sunset Bar. I ordered myself a Pina Colada cocktail and sat down with it to look out over the port area and the Valencia skyline. As I sat there, I noticed a large black cloud of smoke rising from the downtown area of Valencia. The smoke was very black and was billowing up in a large cloud. Judging by its size and colour and how quickly it appeared, I can only think it was a car fire or maybe even car tyres on fire somewhere.
Video of fire in downtown Valencia.
When I finished my drink, I walked around the ship for a while, trying to find all the different bars, shops, and theatres before going for lunch at the Fiorentino restaurant. I was disappointed to find that despite it being advertised as service at the table, it is actually a buffet and that the seating is a seat yourself restaurant, meaning you have to find a seat and hope it is there when you have struggled back with your food. After eating my lunch, I went back to my cabin to sleep. I seemed to be very tired after all the travelling yesterday.
When I woke in the evening, I got ready to go back to the Fiorentino restaurant for dinner. I was pleased to find that dinner had proper table service, served at a reserved table. Costa Cruises does everything via the Costa app on a mobile phone. This includes reading the menus for all meals and the drinks list for all bars on your mobile phone. This is a bugbear of mine, and I think it is unnecessary. I realised this was set up due to COVID regulations, but there must be a better way. Lots of people don't have mobile phones or don't want to use them in this way. It did, however, make it easy for me to take home a copy of all the menus.
For dinner this evening, I had a seafood salad to start. Next, I had a Bouillabaisse, a traditional Provencal fish soup originating in the port city of Marseille. For my main course, I had Grilled salmon in an orange-scented hollandaise sauce, served over saffron mashed potatoes and pan-sauteed escarole.
After dinner, I watched tonight's show at the Emerald Theatre. Although there are tables for you to put your drink on in front of every seat, there is no service in the theatre, and I should have got a drink before going to the theatre. The show was equally good and bad in different parts. Some of the singers were very good; others were average pub karaoke singers. After watching the show, I returned to my cabin to have an early night, as I have a trip booked in Marseille tomorrow to take a guided tour of Aix de Provence.
Videos of different parts of tonight's show in the Emerald Theatre on the Costa Diadema.