Olsen Cruise Blog

Sunday 16th April

2006-11-27T17:25:00.000+01:00

Lanzarote is another volcanic island and is the one that has the least amount of green areas. Much of the island is black lava flows and blacks ash/sand.
Our tour took us first to a camel ride through the black dunes, we then moved onto the Timanfaya national park to look at various demonstrations of the hot rock only a few meters below the surface. Demonstrations included setting fire to dry bushes and a hot geyser that fired every time water was poured down a tube to a depth of 10 meters.
From there we drove through the lava flows on a specially constructed road and managed to get some excellent pictures of the arid landscape. On our way back to the ship, we called at the coast to see the strange rock formations made by lava pouring into the sea. We had to return promptly to the ship for an early sailing to Agadir in Morocco. The weather looked a little rough for the crossing and this proved to be true as we pitched and rolled rather violently over the waves, leaving a few passengers quite ill!

Saturday 15th April 2006

2006-05-28T20:05:00.000+02:00

Gran Canaria promised much hotter weather and although we were not on a tour, we took the opportunity in the afternoon to have a wander into Las Palmas, the capital city. Before this, we spent a lazy morning on the deck sunbathing and watching the various vessels moving in and out of this very busy port. After our trip to Las Palmas, we did return in time for bingo where I managed to win another £50! As we were still recovering somewhat from the late night in Tenerife, we made this a much more restful day before Sunday’s trip to Lanzarote.

Friday 14th April 2006

2006-05-23T13:55:00.000+02:00

Good Friday in Tenerife began with an extra long sleep in. We were not sailing out until 2.00am the next day so we thought we would get some extra sleep to compensate for the forthcoming late night. As the rest of the family was on excursions, Emma and I took a walk along the quayside, past the other cruiseships and into Santa Cruz, the capital. Although we were on the lookout for bars (for the evening) we also saw a Good Friday procession, complete with statues, floats and bands. The weather was also much more pleasant than La Palma and so we took some time in the afternoon to sunbathe on deck 10. After winning £90 on the bingo (much to the dismay of everyone else there), we had dinner and walked back into town. After getting caught up in another procession, we found a couple of nice bars and Dave practised his Spanish on the waiter.
On our return to Boudicca, we had a late night bbq and deck party however; by 1.15 we were lagging and retired to bed before we sailed the 60 N.M. to Gran Canaria.

Thursday 13th April 2006

2006-05-03T19:09:00.000+02:00

Low cloud and threat of rain greeted an 8.00am arrival in Santa Cruz de La Palma. However, we set out to our tour bus ready for a trip to a volcanic crater.

After 30 minutes of twisting roads that climbed higher and higher, we finally arrived at Fuencaliente which is the site of the San Antonio Volcano crater. Although it is 600m across, we could see no further than about 30ft due to the low cloud. However, we did see a very interesting video presentation about the history of the Volcano.

Across the road, we visited a Bodega to sample the wine and bought 2 bottles to bring back, as it was very nice indeed. Our next visit was scheduled to be at a pottery however it was closed due to Holy Week celebrations. So our guide took us on a detour to the West coast of the island before stopping at a visitor centre in the Caldera de Taburiente which is a Spanish National park.

On our return, we managed to eat before joining the queue to do some much-needed washing in the ship’s launderette. We also took part in the darts game and bingo in which Jon managed to win £31 – much to the dismay of some of the older players!

Evening brought a reduced number for dinner as David and Donna + children decided to have the early dinner. Which meant we all had time to eat and get seats for the comedy show. I tried to get pictures of the boat leaving La Palma but had to make do with the Captain and First Officer reversing the boat from the bridge extension. After the comedy show (which was excellent) we retired to the Lido lounge for a quiz followed by late drinking by myself, Emma and Nick who was considering joining us on Friday for an evening stroll in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Wednesday 12th April 2006

2006-04-27T23:38:00.000+02:00

Early morning brought our first sight of land for 3 days in the form of the port of Funchal in Madeira. We had an early start for our trip, which left

at 8.30 but promised us a view of the whole island and we weren’t disappointed.

Our first stop after leaving Funchal was a sleepy fishing village called Camara de Lobos. There was not much happening there so early in the day but we did see some very picturesque views and some nice fishing boats. From there we began a very steep and twisting climb (which resulted in one small boy being so travel sick he had to leave the tour) up to Cabo Girao which is the 2^nd tallest sea cliff in the world (580m). It was very busy here but we managed to get a few nice shots before moving off. Some refreshment was required next so we headed to Ribiera Brava on the south coast, which is the end of a long valley that begins in the middle of the island. Here we had chance for a drink and also a look round a church, which was very ornately decorated (especially as it was Holy Week).

Climbing again, we followed the Ribiera valley all the way to the summit and a restaurant at Encumeada. Here we sampled some puncha which was White Rum with honey, and orange juice – very nice but very strong! And so began our descent to the Northern shore of Madeira following the Sao Vicente valley to the town of Sao Vicente for dinner and some free time looking around the shops in the small village. We took the opportunity to buy some Madeira wine here before heading back the fast way through a network of tunnelled motorways to Funchal and the awaiting ship.

We had been advised that Fred. Olsen would be sending a camera crew and video/helicopter team to film us leaving Madeira and we took part in a deck party as we set sail followed out by the helicopter. Passengers waved us off from the other 2 cruise ships that were in dock that day: the Prinsendam and the Costa Europa.

Tuesday 11th April 2006

2006-04-26T23:50:00.001+02:00

On Tuesday, were were far enough south to begin enjoying the good weather. We had crossed the Bay of Biscay and now the seas were much calmer. As well as the usual sea day activities of darts and shuffleboard (of course) We took the opportunity for a couple of hours of sunbathing up on deck 10. No matter how much precaution we took, the sea breeze caught us out, leaving us somewhat reddened by the sun. The evening was themed around westerns, therefore there was line-dancing and a show dedicated to all things cowboy (and Indian). We must also not forget the huge steak that I ate for dinner! I believe it was also on one of these seas days that I won my first game of bingo - £60 is not to be sniffed at… Especially when I followed it a day later with a £91 win!!!

Monday 10th April 2006

2006-04-24T23:24:00.000+02:00

We awoke to a rather choppy sea as we crossed the bay of Biscay. However, unperturbed, we set about the days activities, namely Shuffleboard. This was a game that was to become the stuff of legends by the end of the cruise. The game is simple enough but as we were to discover, it was a question of which side of the boat we played on, the dampness of the deck and the person doing the scoring that could sway a match (just kidding Rikki)

Sunday 9th April 2006

2006-04-23T19:20:00.000+02:00

Our first full day at sea began rather badly with a few of the party not feeling too well. Some people were having trouble with their sea legs whereas others were having trouble with the Stella Artois served Saturday night. After breakfast however, we had to take part in the mandatory lifeboat drill, which involved proceeding to our muster station with life jackets to be shown where our lifeboat was situated. This was easy enough you would think, however some people seem unable to follow the simplest of instructions and therefore it took a little longer than planned. The evening was to be our first formal night beginning with the Captain’s Cocktail party. (I think that Sunday may also have been the first go at Shuffleboard but to be honest, we played it so often, I forget how it all began!)

Saturday 8th April 2006

2006-04-23T06:47:00.000+02:00

After a leisurely trip through London down to Dover, we arrived at the cruise terminal at about 3.00. However, the Boudicca had arrived a couple of hours late that morning and therefore was not ready for boarding. As a result we were moved to terminal 2 to allow the backlog of passengers to board. However, we were on board by about 4.00pm and unpacked quickly before sailing at about 5.30. There was not much time for exploration before dinner at 6.30 as we were on the first sitting.

Ours was the only table of 10 in the entire room and we enjoyed a lovely meal which set a standard that was maintained every night following. The dress code was casual for the first night and after dinner, we went to the lounge to take part in a quiz in the main showlounge called the “Neptune lounge”. Before bed, we went up to the Lido Lounge on deck 7 and had a go on the Blackjack table before finally going to bed just before midnight

Cruise Blog Intro

2006-04-23T06:36:00.000+02:00

This is a blog of our Easter Cruise with Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines on their newest vessel "Boudicca" to Madeira, the Canary Islands, Morocco and Portugal.

Check back regularly for updates!!!

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