New countries: Spain, Portugal, Morocco
New continent: Africa
Day one:
We flew out of Cardiff and landed on Gran Canaria, Spain. We took a bus from the airport directly to the ship. We boarded right away and didn't have a chance to explore Las Palmas at all, but we got dinner and got a feel for where everything was on the ship. We were docked next to a huge ship (Aida Nova) that we ended up seeing at several more ports throughout the week.
Day two:
We made port in La Palma. It was a short day in port- we had to be back on the ship by 2:30pm. So right after breakfast we got off and walked a few minutes away to the closest beach, which was a volcanic black sand beach. Brandon and David mostly played in the sand and Andrew was enjoying the water until he got hit by an unexpected wave and spent the rest of the time sitting on a towel. We spent a few hours at the beach and then walked through the town for a while before getting back on board. Back on the ship, Andrew and Brandon went to Kids' Club for the first time (and had a blast).
Day three:
We had to be back on the ship so early in La Palma because of how long it takes to get from there to our stop in Funchal, Portugal. There aren't really any beaches there, and we didn't have anything specific we wanted to see, so we decided to do the hop-on-hop-off bus to get a tour of the area. We got a good overview of the city center and then got off at an overlook where we got a bird's eye view. Unfortunately it got a bit chilly and windy while we were up there, so the kids were especially happy to get back on the bus when it came back around. The other notable stop was the Funchal Story Centre. It's a little interactive museum about the history of the town and the island as a whole. After our day out we stopped at a little gelato ice cream truck and grabbed a treat to eat in the sun before heading back to the boat.
Day four:
At sea. We spent the day relaxing. We slept in, the kids played in the "small pool" aka hot tub and went to two sessions at Kids' Club, I got to sit out in the sun and relax by myself with my iPod, some of us took a nap, and we had our Captain's Gala/Dinner evening. However, we took no photos the whole day.
Day five:
We arrived in Africa! I'm definitely glad we went, but Morocco was stressful! The port is very industrial and the government doesn't allow the ship to provide transportation into the city so we had to take a taxi. We happened to get a driver who was very chatty and tried really hard to get us to employ him for a whole day of exploring even though we only asked him to take us to the souk (market). We did end up making a stop at an Argan Oil factory/store to get some pure oil, and the kids got to try out the spinning press that takes the seeds and crushes them into a peanut-buttery paste. Next we continued on our way to the souk. This place was huge- there were so many stalls and at most of them, the shopkeeper was actively trying to get us to come in and buy from him. And these people did not take no for an answer! We usually had to say no several times WHILE walking away before they would move on. It was exhausting, so once we had explored a bit and bought everything we wanted we headed outside and grabbed another cab to go to the beach. We ate at McDonalds (because we're super adventurous...) and then headed down to the water. As we walked, Aaron and the older kids got talked into a camel ride- I had David with me and managed to say no to getting on a second camel, despite their best efforts. It made me uncomfortable that I knew we would be charged for the ride but they didn't tell us how much they would be expecting. (In the end he asked for more than we had left in cash, besides the bit we had set aside for the taxi ride back to the ship, and he had to just settle for what we had left to offer.) After the camel ride, we spent some time on the beach. It was a beautiful beach and the weather was great, but I didn't really get a chance to relax because I kept having to get rid of people trying to sell me tea, treats, jewelry, carved wood décor, etc. Eventually the sun went behind the clouds and we decided to head back to the port. Back on the ship, the sun came back out and we went up to the kids' pool and hung out there for a while.
Day six:
This was our main beach day. We took a coach from the port to Costa Teguise, where we spent the day wading in the water, playing in the sand, and relaxing on a beach towel. The kids ended up working on a sand castle with a dad and his two daughters who were very close to us on the beach and Aaron went up to the shops/restaurants and found us some burgers and hot dogs to eat for lunch.
Day seven:
Since we had spent the previous day at the beach (and some of us were looking a little pink), we decided to do a scenic tour on Tenerife instead of doing another beach day. Our coach left early, and we drove around the northern part of the island for the morning. We got some great views, and while the kids got a little tired of driving by the end, we really enjoyed it. We were back to the ship for lunch, and then we walked into town to explore for the afternoon.
Day eight:
Happy birthday to Brandon! Our bags were packed and we vacated our cabin at 9:00am but we didn't have to be on the bus for the airport until 4:00pm so we still got to spend the bulk of the day enjoying ourselves. We walked into town and ended up at a science and technology museum, where we spent a few hours playing with a green screen, looking at skeletons, solving puzzles, and watching a 3D movie in Spanish about Africa. We ate a late lunch back on the ship and then just hung out for a bit until it was time to leave. We took a bus to the airport, flew back to Cardiff, and drove home, arriving at around 2:00am.
Of course in addition to all of this, we had dessert with every lunch and dinner, a performance every evening, and most evenings Andrew and Brandon went to Kids' Club while Aaron and I (plus David) went to a little trivia game. We had a great time, despite the five of us being crammed in one cabin at night. It was a good mix of exploration and relaxation, all with sunshine and warm weather.
