05/01/13 -  Lots of people in the hotel this morning as we all waited for taxis to take us to the Port. We had preordered ours so got off first at 11am .The queue  for embarking was small when we arrived but Glen couldn't find his Tablet so walked back to the hotel, Mason followed him about 10 minutes later as he had left a pallet of coke behind - lucky there were still people there who agreed to take it with them in their taxi - happy to say it arrived in our cabin safe and sound and so did the boys - on foot!!  Alice and I had to wait in the cold outside while the queue got longer however they did move people through quite quickly when we were ready to go. Had a little hitch when they asked us where our visas were for Brazil and Australia - our lady took our word for it but Alice and Glen had to wait while theirs went away to check and then still was not convinced.  On board our baggage arrived in our cabin quite quickly and we were able to unpack and put away everything before going to our muster station for a drill. After that it was time to dress and go find our table in the dining room. We are seated with four Brits and they all seem very nice.  The food is amazing but we are all trying to be good!!   The first show was good and we met all the Crew who will be looking after entertaining us. The Cruise Director is a Kiwi from Christchurch and she shouted the four of us  a drink after the show and chatted with us until she had to go for the late show.

06/01/13 - We slept  in a bit this morning then went up for breakfast, unfortunately I suffered a little with seasickness so went back to bed for a while. I had some medication and felt much better. Mason and Glen went to a lecture on the first Port of call and Alice to a Spanish Class and then to tap dancing.  Off to dinner then to the show - a comedian who also was a  magician - he was quite good. After that it was off to do a bit of dancing and a nightcap before going to bed.  

07/01/13 -  Today we were a bit slothful, had intended having a swim but he inside pool was loses for maintenance  and it is still a bit cold outside on the decks. After our hectic travels around the US it is nice to sleep in a bit. We had quite a leisurely breakfast and spent time chatting to people - this is the nice part of cruising , making new friends. They have a choir on board and went to practice at 11.30am - looks to be a bit more casual than the Dawn Princess one but we are going to do a couple of recitals.  After lunch we joined in with a crowd of people playing 500 which was fun then carried on chatting to one of the men in our foursome - a retired lawyer from Melbourne.  Time then to dress for dinner which was formal gear so took some time to get dressed!!  We are at a table of eight and the four others are a retired RAF pilot and his wife and a retired British Insurance guy and his wife. They are all very nice and   looks like we might have some fun.  The Headliners Theatre Group put on a great show with songs from many of the shows then from there we went Dancing.  There were some really good dancers there - Mason and I intend to take some lessons. Many of the dances we had not even heard of. We were very late to bed. 

08/01/13. -  Another sleep in!!  Played cards again today. Mason went for a lecture on The Concorde while I checked out the library and a few other places we had not ventured into then Mason joined me and did a bit of the jigsaw that was there - you can see that we are very busy!!  Went to a classical piano concert at 4.30 and then tried to catch up on this blog. The Internet is very expensive and not very reliable so will post this when we go into Tenarife tomorrow. I now have to join Alice, Glen and Mason in our cabin for a pre-dinner drink. It is a casual  night for dinner tonight so will just have to tidy up a bit which will not take so long - not casual so a quick change was required. Meal tonight was lovely - I'm still being good!!  The entertainment tonight was an American opera singer and she sang some beautiful songs and had a lovely voice. We retired fairly early tonight as we are arriving in Tenerife at 8am and want to get off the ship early so we can have time before 5pm to look around. It is part of the Canary Islands and Spanish territory. Hope to receive emails from home.