Friday, 14 October 2015
Houston, Texas
Sixteen days — most of it at sea — passed by in the blink of an eye as NCL Jade whisked us from Barcelona, Spain to Houston, Texas. Par for the course with TransAtlantic Crossings, we had just a few ports of call between our embarkation and disembarkation ports — just three of them to be exact … Funchal, Madeira (Portugal); Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas (US Virgin Islands); and Miami, Florida.
Embarkation Day — 29 October; Barcelona, Spain
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Mirador de Colom | Dárcena Nacional |
Barcelona skyline across Muelle Adosado.
Funchal, Madeira — 1 November
Arriving in Funchal …
… and view of the pier where Jade docks for the day.
Fortaleza de São Tiago
Teleférico do Funchal … and up to Monte we go.
Tile panels like this one line the path at Jardim Tropical Monte Palace
and serve to educate visitors about the history of Portugal.
Monte Palace & Tropical Gardens
Hydrangeas at Jardim Tropical Monte Palace.
Funchal from the overlook at Jardim Botânico.
[The smaller of the two ships is NCL Jade.]
Formal garden at Jardim Botânico.
Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption in downtown Funchal.
Crossing the Atlantic Ocean — 2-7 November
Seven quiet and relaxing days crossing the calm Atlantic Ocean.
Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI — 8 November
Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas, USVI … where NCL Jade docks for the day.
Cruz Bay, St John — USVI ... where the ferry from Red Hook docks so we can play at Cinnamon Bay.
Unfortunately we get rained out :-(
Miami, Florida — 11 November
Port of Miami … first to arrive, we watch the ships streaming in behind us.
sunrise over the Port of Miami.
The Miami Skyline on the port side of NCL Jade.
The marina …
… and the Miami skyline on the starboard side of NCL Jade.
Disembarkation Day — 14 November; Houston, Texas
Port of Houston from our aft veranda … waiting to disembark NCL Jade.
“Weren’t you bored with so many days at sea,” you might ask. Not in the least — they were the perfect opportunity for some R&R between our busy days of traveling in Europe and resuming our routine at home.
© 2004-2015 Two to Travel. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED by ERIN ERKUN.
I love how we are all so very different in life:) I can always hear the joy in your writing about your relaxing days at sea or in your general fondness at cruising anywhere. Your smiling stamps show this with your wide grins:) Meantime, I am groaning as I thinking about five entire days at sea (we were almost done in with three sea days). Let alone how long your entire trip was. But this is what makes life interesting and I enjoy reading about how much you are enjoying each trip:) Welcome back home:)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful...Your trips are actually inspiring us to plan what to do after our RV life.
ReplyDeleteWe are thinking of taking a world cruise once we complete all of 49 states. But Im not sure if I survived living at sea for 4 months. The longest we had was the 14 day cruise in Australia. We always enjoy our trip but I can't imagine living on the ship for several months. There is no boredome of course as you say but...
Funchal looks like a very beautiful place.
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