NCL Prima - Ponta Delgada and Sea Days and not Bermuda

We pulled into Ponta Delgada, Portugal, part of the Azorés islands, this morning.

There were a bunch of people swimming in the harbor near the ship and we thought that was interesting.

We found a little place called Bolos do Vale which make the local sweet muffins called Bolo Lêvedo. They are delicious! Similar to english muffins but larger and sweeter.

We also got a Queijados de Natas which was amazing.

They had Passion Fruit juice which Mitzi enjoyed, being that's about her favorite fruit.

This place was a little gem, so glad we found it.

We headed over to Plantação de Ananás dos Açores (pineapple plantation).

Saw an old abandoned house with character and a horse drawn carriage.

Near the ship we did a little shopping. Mitzi found a local hand made plate and bought one for Irena our housekeeper and Lea our butler. They are making our experience delightful.

As we sailed away at 4p I had been watching for the bridge to turn the Azipod thrusters to parallel to the ship and boost them to move us forward. It takes a tremendous amount of thrust and power to get this ship moving.

The first picture below is about 10 seconds after they powered up the Azipods for forward motion. Dang they can move and churn a lot of water.

And a couple more picture of the thrust as we left the harbor and headed out to the open sea.

We'll be sailing for 4 days straight before we make our next stop, which will be in Bermuda.

Sea Days

We've got 4 full days on the sea so I think I'll just group them all together.

Last night we heard someone crying out in deep pain or fear, we weren't sure which. We tried to go help but we couldn't get access because the person was behind the crew door and it was locked. After a minute some other crew members came and were helping the individual.

This morning we found out that it was our housekeeper Irene. She had just found out that her 24 year old son had died in a motorcycle accident.

Our butler Lea had spent the whole night with her but she was inconsolable. Mitzi and I feel so sad for Irene. Lea let us know what happened and we hugged her and cried with her.

We won't be to land until we get to Bermuda on Wednesday morning so Irene will have to stay on the ship until then. It was Saturday night when Irene found out. How horrible.

We felt mellow and sad today. The reality of life is always so close.

We took the day slowly today.

This first picture below is a panoramic from inside our shower. It's amazing to shower in this huge space with a floor to ceiling window looking out over the sea.

In the evening we decided to go to the Teppanyaki restaurant for a change up. We had to wait for a bit so we munched on peanuts.

Our chef was entertaining and high energy. That was fun.

Cute Mitzi enjoying her calamari, shrimp, and scallops.

Our third day at sea. Time for shooting up some go-karts!

I got my first opportunity for a solo race, having the whole track to myself. And I placed 5th on the cruise leaderboard. Not bad!

We had dinner at Le Reserve, the French restaurant. They did a great job!

Mitzi was fun with the server. She ordered the lobster which had a $26 additional charge. Before he could ask if it was okay to get the extra, she said, "And yes the extra charge is fine." He thought that was the funniest thing, said she was his favorite customer, and the rest of the evening they cracked jokes together.

Fourth full day at sea.

We have used our private hot tub everyday. I keep forgetting to get a picture of us in it. I think we are ruined because if we don't have a private hot tub on future cruises well... it's just amazing.

Mitzi finished another block on her Alice in Wonderland quilt. The Magic Potion block. This one has many tiny pieces to make up the letters. Very intricate work.

We had dinner at El Loco, the Mexican restaurant. Tacos and fajitas.

I had another reservation for a private race on the track, but we were early and had to wait 10 minutes. We thought we'd throw some darts but all three dart boards were down. They are connected to monitors for scoring and not a single one was working haha.

Time to race! Yesterday I was fifth on the leader board with a best time of 49.926. That was the time to beat.

They didn't have the race setup properly so my first lap around was super slow. That's why I have my hands up as I passed Mitzi at snails pace :)

Once they got that straightened out, I was literally off to the races. Mitzi got a great slo-mo video as I streaked by, fully clothed.

The result? 49.286. That puts me in third place and since the guy typed my name as Damon Victor, I'm on the leader board twice. I've got one more try in two days to see if I can get to #1.

I just realized I don't have a picture of Mitzi. So I took one just now as I'm editing photos. Problem solved! She's super cute.

Last sea day, last cruise day

We didn't take any pictures yesterday. Literally none. I'm pretty sure that is the only day on this four month trip we didn't get any pictures.

The captain announced at 8a yesterday morning that the weather was too violent and he couldn't safely get the ship into the port in Bermuda. So we skipped Bermuda and headed for New York. Therefore our Bermuda day became another sea day.

And today was another sea day. 6 consecutive sea days. Now that's a great transatlantic crossing!

We felt bad for our room steward Irene. Her 24 year old son died last Saturday (tomorrow is Friday) and she has been stuck on this ship this whole time, unable to get off to go home. She was in the gangway yesterday morning ready to get off the ship and fly home. How devastating.

The first picture below is actually from last Friday when we were in Ponta Delgada. Mitzi got some decorative plates for Lea and Irene.

The next picture is the view that greeted us this morning. The seas were calm and the sun shining through the clouds.

We enjoyed the hot tub this afternoon, for the last time. I finally remembered to get pictures! We've loved having this private hot tub. Will probably never happen again on a cruise ship haha.

I had a 4p private race on the race track today. My last one. Mitzi got some great footage as the sun was setting!

Unhappily the system didn't record my time. I'm sure I beat my prior times and was #1 for this cruise! Just kidding, there's no way to know. But I loved all the drives I got to do, super fun.

She got another slo-mo video. Loving it!

Irene felt well enough today to come see us. She wanted to see Mitzi because she knew Mitzi would understand what she was going through of having a loved one die in an accident.

We cried with her and hugged her. Our hearts are heavy for her. For her pain now in this moment and the pain ongoing.

We were able to gift her some money to help with the funeral expenses she's going to have when she gets home. She was so appreciative and made us this little bear and note which we found when we got back from dinner tonight.

Tomorrow morning we enter the port of New York City and the cruise portion of our trip will come to a close. We are sad it's over. We are grateful we got to do it. We are looking forward to being home and seeing our family and friends again.

However before flying home we are looking forward to lunch with a friend from Pritikin and watching a few Broadway shows!