Today began our journey across the Atlantic Ocean towards Brazil.
Atlantic Crossing, day 1.
I woke up at around 7:30 am today & 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 & sat reading my Kindle on a poolside recliner for the next few hours. Mal found me & we talked for a while before he went off to get breakfast. The pool looked great & was empty so I went for a swim, even though it was still mid-morning it was already getting hot on deck & the swim cooled me off.
At about 10 am I went back to my room, showered again & then went to take a tour of the kitchens onboard the Costa Favalosa that as a Silver Club member, I had been offered. I was the first person at the meeting point & a security lady & 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, & we sat talking 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 & I.
A group of French, & a group of Germans were all being talked to in their language & began their tour of the kitchen. Ann & I asked when our guide would appear & 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 & asked why he hadn't given us an English translation & 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 & told us what the fridges were & 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 we had told us to follow him. He cut through the kitchen & led us through to the exit & told us that the tour had finished. All of the other groups were then given seats outside where they were told more about the full tour they had been on whilst we were told we could leave. It appeared that the English guide hadn't turned up & that no one could be bothered to take us on the tour, it was very poor & I was disappointed to be treated so badly. 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 & Tessa on the way to lunch & we all sat together for our meal. For lunch, I had seafood salad, cheese dumplings, beef oxtail for my main course & chocolate cake for my dessert. After lunch, I went to the Dei Diamanti bar, got a pot of tea & sat reading my Kindle for a few hours.
At around 4 pm I moved to the Palatino Grand bar to get a seat for the quiz later. I sat reading my Kindle & 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 & 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 & his insistence that he was always right began to grate on me. As soon as the quiz finished I left & 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 & corn soup, pork with vegetables for my main course & carrot cake for my main meal.
After dinner, I joined Rosa & Ann at the Moliere Lounge to watch the ´Voice of the Sea´ singing competition. The competition was run very poorly & the singers were given the wrong songs in some cases or different versions. It was in no way run like ´The Voice´ TV program that it was advertised as being like. It was a poor karaoke competition, the brightest thing was the comperes' jacket which was very sparkly & flashy. After listening to the first few singers murder their songs I left & joined Gail, Keith, Tessa & Mal in the Theater to listen to the Tenor, Andrea Cristaldi.
I enjoyed his singing especially the last song he did which was one of my mum's favourites & was played at my dad's funeral. The song was called ´Time to Say Goodbye´ & was sung by several people in the past but my favourite version was the one by Katherine Jenkins.
Video of Andrea Cristaldi singing, Time to Say Goodbye.
video will appear here soon
After the show finished, I walked to the Moliere lounge to listen to the Brazillian Beats Band for a while. I listened to them for a while before going to the quiet bar next door for a cocktail & a beer. I was joined by Ann for a while & we sat talking till around 1 am when we went back to our cabins.
View today's menu from the Costa Favolosa.
View photos from the Costa Favolosa as I crossed the Atlantic.