We thought a travel memories post might be entertaining during quarantine -- at least for us. If not for you -- if reading about someone else's former travels is depressing or unpleasant right now -- please feel free to give this post a miss.
The following is about our disjointed trip from Portugal to Panama in the fall / winter of 2019 which included our first luxury cruise* or rather 1-1/8 luxury cruises and an unexpected trip to the island of Madeira.
*Note: We use the term "luxury cruise" to distinguish traveling on a cruise ship from the type of cruising we do on Abracadabra which has its pleasures but is not "luxurious" by most North Americans' standards.
First, a bit about why we decided to take our first luxury cruise:
It's Not A Luxury Cruise - It's A Voyage
We had always classified ourselves as "non-luxury-cruise-types" because:
- A luxury cruise sounded a lot like being trapped in a hotel which offered three-hour narrated bus tours of "the sights".
- Eating at the same restaurants (different names and locations / the same kitchen) every day ran counter to one of our favorite travel experiences: eating local food.
- We couldn't imagine spending only a few hours in a port because we are used to spending at least a few days and sometimes weeks in most travel locations. We process slowly.
- We worried about the increase to our already high carbon footprint and the effect of a floating hotel on the ocean.
- Even B.C19. (the historical period prior to COVID-19) we thought of big ships as places to catch a cold or the "regular" flu.
Of course many friends had extoled the virtues of luxury cruising: not having to pack, unpack and schlep bags, great (or at least trustworthy, recognizable and practically endless) food and drink, ship-board activities (socializing, pool time, evening entertainment), a way to arrange group travel that offers some distancing (e.g., friend or family group travel), and the safety and comfort of an arranged tour. Hmmm - as we age many of those virtues sound virtuous. And in some places a tour can be a good idea (see our posts about Morocco). But still, we were not convinced.
A cruise virtue that did resonate with us was the idea that there are destinations best / only experienced from the water, e.g. Alaskan and Norwegian fiords and the middle of the ocean. Eight+ years of part-time cruising on Abracadabra has taught us we will not be crossing any oceans on our own (both Abracadabra and her crew are too old and slow) nor will we make it to Alaska on our own (too cold, thanks).
So, in the final analysis it was a combination of this "cruise destination" idea and the idea of a ship as transportation (how pre-commercial flight era is that?!) which prompted us to book our first luxury cruise. We wouldn't take a vacation. We would take a voyage from our final off-boat season location (Portugal) home to Abracadabra in Panama in the Western Caribbean.
We were particularly attracted to crossing the Atlantic and the Caribbean on the Wind Star because it is very small as cruise ships go (148 guest capacity) and is designed to augment its motor power with sails. The sails might be a (very) tiny carbon worry offset. It didn't hurt that the Wind Star is billed as a casual ship. Our wardrobe improvement costs would be minimal.
We also justified the expense of this voyage because, well, we do that. As a background reminder: when we are not aboard Abracadabra we must be Some Place which is an expense unless we are lucky enough to house-sit or friends / relatives are kind enough to take us in. Our rough Cruise Justification Calculation went something like this: (a) flights from Lisbon to Panama City ($1400 +/-) + (b) lodging, food, ground transportation and laundry for the time aboard (25 days x $150 per day +/- **) = (c) about $800 less than the cost of the trans-Atlantic-Caribbean voyage on the Wind Star. This $800 (or roughly $40 a day) would buy: a crossing of the Atlantic and the Caribbean (which might even be under sail!?), and stops at seven Caribbean islands (without shore excursions).
Decision made. We would try this luxury cruise thing.
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| And As You Can See, We Enjoyed Ourselves |
**Note: We did not purchase one of the offered pre-paid alcohol packages. The cost of two packages vs. paying à la carte seemed to break even at a bottle of wine a day - each. The idea of incentivizing the consumption of a bottle of wine a day each x 25 days seemed like two tickets to a rehab center or a liver specialist. We chose the control mechanism of paying à la carte.
Wind Star (Partial) Cruise
We were scheduled to embark in Lisbon, cross the Atlantic for 14 days to Sint Maarten (the Dutch side of Saint Martin) and wind through the Caribbean stopping at six other islands before disembarking in Colón, Panama. Twenty-five days aboard.
We traveled from the Algarve (the southern region of Portugal) via train and spent a few days in a hotel near Lisbon's Fontana Park (hotel points!) which allowed us to explore a new-to-us area of the city. There we received an e-mail explaining that due to a weather system the Wind Star could not make it to Lisbon on schedule and we would have to travel (back) south to Portimão in the Algarve to board. The process of gathering with our fellow passengers at a Lisbon hotel to take busses to Portimão was eye-opening. We are not used to large group travel. It was clear that several of our fellow passengers did not see the bus trip to Portimão as a bonus. And many were doubtful that their luggage would ever make it to the ship. Anxiety was not uncommon.
The narrated bus ride took us back through country we had seen on our walking holiday of the Algarve (worth its own post / to come). We were impressed with our little selves for having walked some of those hills!
We boarded the Wind Star and met our cabin steward who, like all the stewards on that voyage was from Indonesia. The restaurant and bar workers were from the Philippines. Bryce got to dust off his very rusty bahasa indonesia. Our cabin was of good size yet still felt like a ship's cabin rather than a hotel room, which pleased us. The "head" (bathroom) was twice and the "hanging locker" (closet) four times the size of those on Abracadabra. And we had purchased the unlimited laundry service. Now that's luxury cruising, friends.
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| Departing Portimão |
Interestingly, the ship's motion was more than we had expected (see above re: weather system) and we had some difficulty moving around the public areas. Abracadabra underway can be a very dynamic platform -- but a compact dynamic platform. We can move from one end of Abracadabra to the other using safety hand-holds when necessary, honoring the U.S. Coast Guard's 3-points of contact rule: both feet and one hand connected to the boat. Some of the Wind Star's public places had no hand-holds and the sea state required passengers to careen about or walk using a sort of modified "squat walk" -- effective but decidedly inelegant. Our cabin had been chosen for maximum stability and was at sea level. The roughish sea state made nights noisy. More than once we agreed that we were very glad we were not in those seas on Abracadabra and that the noise reminded us of trying to sleep off-watch on a rough night passage. Sailing off shore on the Atlantic in something larger than 37 feet = a good idea.
On day three the captain notified the passengers that there was a problem with one of the ship's three diesel-powered electric generators*** and that in the interest of safety the Wind Star would be diverting to the island of Madeira where we would be met by engineering technicians from Britain who would get us back underway within three days. Those who wanted to leave the ship in Madeira could make arrangements at the front desk.
***Note: Normally one of the Wind Star's three diesel-powered generators powers the "house" (hotel and dining spaces, crew housing, etc.), one the electric propulsion motor (the ship's propeller) and one is held in reserve. The Windstar Line decided it would be risky business to transport a ship full of paying passengers across the Atlantic without the backup generator.
We expected that some of our Caribbean stops would be eliminated due to the delay in Madeira but had never been to Madeira. Summoning our team spirit of adventure we looked forward to seeing Madeira. We would stick with the ship.
The Wind Star arrived in Funchal, the largest city and port on the island.
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| The (Little) Wind Star (Left) Docked In Funchal |
For three days we took the complimentary bus tours of the island offered by the cruise line. We felt lucky not to have to join our many fellow passengers who spent hours arranging flights back to the U.S. in time to honor their American Thanksgiving obligations. Below are some pictures / thoughts about Madeira in case you ever have a chance to go there.
About day four in Funchal the captain again called the passengers together and reported that a bearing on the shaft between one diesel engine and the electric generator it powered had frozen. Completely. The cruise was cancelled. Molly thought Bryce was going to cry, not so much due to the cancellation of the cruise as in "been-there-done-that" solidarity with those spending countless hours trying to unstick that effing bearing. Early in our relationship with Abracadabra he had spent days freeing up some frozen glow plugs. He literally felt the pain of the marine engineers.
During the following days the Windstar line made several different, unclear offers of compensation for the cancelled cruise. People departed. The house alcohol package was made complementary. We stayed. We didn't have any place to go. They were still feeding us and doing our laundry. We no longer had to keep track of our wine-with-dinner tab. Our 30th Anniversary came and went, marked not with the starlit dinner on deck as we had anticipated but at one of the ship-wide parties thrown to send the passengers off with good feelings toward the Windstar Line. The highlight of Molly's "anniversary party" was watching Bryce dance the macarena. Alas she has no video.
It's not that we weren't stressed. It's just that we don't often have the "get home" urge and even when we do we don't have a place to attach it to. So we waited until the Windstar Line said they would give us all our money back plus "future cruise credits" of 100% of the price of the cancelled cruise -- best and final offer. Thank you for joining us and please disembark by Friday. We disembarked.
Madeira, M'Dear
All in all we spent eleven days at Madeira; seven as guests of the Windstar Line and four at the Sé Boutique Hotel in Funchal. We spent a lot of our time in Funchal looking for a way to get from Madeira to Panama affordably but before we go into that, here's a bit about Madeira and what we unexpectedly enjoyed there:
Madeira Is Portuguese
The Madeira archipelago is located in the Atlantic ocean, roughly 700 miles out and abeam Morocco. The islands were unoccupied when they were identified in 1419 by Portuguese explorers working their way down the African coast during the Portuguese Age of Exploration overseen by Henry the Navigator. "What a nice island, the hills are a lot like at home" they might have said. Or, more likely, "what a great strategic location for trading and repairing and protecting our trading ships" . . .
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The Hills Around Funchal
Reminded Us Of Lisbon's Hills |
Soon Portuguese settlers began to arrive and over the next 600 years (for almost four hundred years, with the help of African slave labor) made the main island of Madeira look a lot like Portugal.
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| Funchal |
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The Jesuits College of Funchal,
Built 1624 - 1640
(Now St. John Evangelist Church) |
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| A Street in Funchal |
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An Example of Portuguese Azuelo Tile Art
At The Market in Funchal
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Funchal Has A Sacred Art Museum
- Very Portuguese |
More than once we heard from locals in the tourist industry that recent immigrants to Madeira were driving up the prices of housing. The general consensus was that they were ethnic Portuguese repatriating from Brazil. During Portugal's dictatorship (1932-1974, primarily under Antonio de Oliveira Salazar) there was a stream of emigration to Brazil. With the recent strengthening of Brazil's economy a number of Portuguese immigrants decided to reinvest in the homeland and establish a presence in the European Union. We have never been to Brazil but - we'd buy a house in Madeira if we had the money!
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| Hillside Charmers |
But Madeira Is Also Not Quite Portuguese
Shortly after the democratic revolution of 1974 Madeira was made an autonomous region of Portugal with its own government, flag and anthem. But its sub-tropical geography is what provides Madeira's non-Portuguese flair.
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Luscious Tropical Fruit
In Front, The "Delicious Fruit" -- Aptly Named |
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| Chiles |
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| The Black Scabbard Fish |
Interestingly Madeiran bananas are too small to meet EU standards for bananas. They can only be sold in Portugal. The rest of the EU is missing out on some very tasty bananas.
Madeira Is Touristy - In A Laid Back Way
Visitors to Madeira will invariably be offered a tasting of Madeira wine. Go. The wine is yummy in an after-dinner kind of way.
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White Grape Madeira: Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey
(Driest to Sweet) |
Several companies offer self-guided or guided walking holidays in Madeira. Because we hadn't booked in advance (ha! really?) we took three of the widely-advertised guided day walks along the island's levadas, an intricate system of irrigation ditches that bring water from the wet side of the island to the farms on the drier side. These walks were a highlight of our time there even though we don't usually prefer guided walks. And fyi, the levadas have a very gentle grade so these are super simple walks.
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| A Levada |
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This Is A Living Irrigation System -
Not Just A Thing For Tourists |
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| Levada Maintenance Is Constant |
Before asking us to disembark the Windstar Line offered three days of complimentary bus tours around the island. Bus tours aren't usually our thing, but they seemed like a simple (inexpensive!) way to see the island. We were awed by the extensive and well-maintained road works through the island's hills and the lovely little fields of flowers, vegetables, and sugar cane perched precariously on the side of the hills.
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| Does The Short-Straw Guy Tend The Cliff-Side Field? |
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Best Leave Driving In Madeira
To The Professionals |
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Many Of These Villages Have
Gotten Access Roads Only Recently |
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| Hard Work, Farming On A Hillside |
The hilly terrain has not only given rise to levada walking as a tourist activity. Since Victorian times tourists have been able to ride in the Carreiros do Monte -- baskets on wooden skids which are kept from careening off the mountain or into stone walls by guys pulling on ropes while wearing jaunty straw hats. It's totally touristy and if you are in Madeira you must dig out your credit card and go. It's a hoot. Those Victorians were on to something.
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| Would You Go To Venice And Say No To A Gondola Ride? |
In Funchal we were able to attend two classical music concerts, one at the English Church and another at the Madeira Assembly Hall. And those were only two of the many live music options available during our short stay.
In sum the Wind Star's detour to Madeira was a happy accident for us and a reminder that enjoying travel is in part attitude. On that theme, a few additional shots:
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The Government's Program Must Have Worked -
We Saw No Rats |
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Falcons On The Waterfront
Used To Keep Gulls and Pigeons Away From The Tourists |
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One Of The Painted Doors Of Rua de St. Maria
In Funchal |
Wind Surf Cruise
As charming as we found Madeira we spent a fair amount of our time there trying to figure out how to not spend the rest of our lives there. We learned that flights from Madeira mostly went to the UK and Lisbon. Our wardrobes would not support a winter adventure in the UK. From Lisbon, of course, we could fly to anywhere - including (circuitously) Panama City. But see above - avoiding that expensive, long, painful (aren't they all?) series of flights was why we had booked the Wind Star voyage in the first place.
We learned that a Windstar Line cruise from Lisbon to Sint. Maarten was leaving in two weeks. This cruise was on the slightly larger Wind Surf (342 guest capacity) a vessel that also has sail augmentation. And we had been promised future cruise credits on the Windstar Line! Everything was falling into place.
We booked the voyage on the Wind Surf, hung out a few more days in Funchal (see above) and flew to Lisbon. We spent time at the Hotel Vincci Liberdade in yet another new-to-us part of Lisbon and began to fancy ourselves "old Lisbon hands". We even found a good Vietnamese restaurant!
Unfortunately when we checked our bank statements we realized that Windstar had deducted the cost of the Wind Surf voyage from our cash reimbursement rather than applying our Future Cruise Credits. Our FCCs were still intact but as a "bird in the bush" rather than in hand. Should we have disputed this at the time? You bet. Did we? After two weeks of travel juggling and trying to interpret the Windstar Line's on-again-off-again compensation offers - no. Enough, we said. We are going to get our trans-Atlantic crossing and we will arrive in Panama City only two weeks later than anticipated. All will be good. 20/20 Hindsight Travel Tip: Do not be like us. Stay vigilant or end up with Future Cruise Credits useable only during or immediately post an unanticipated world-wide pandemic.
We boarded the Wind Surf in Lisbon.
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| Take Two |
Note the box Bryce is carrying. This WiFi booster antenna for Abracadabra was delivered to us in Portugal and we carried it from Cascais - Lisbon - Wind Star - Funchal - Lisbon - Wind Surf - Sint. Maarten - Panama City - Bocas del Toro. But by gawd we didn't pay for shipping! Go ahead. Roll your eyes. Molly does.
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| Departure From Lisbon |
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Ponte 25 de Abril, Lisbon
(San Franciscans May Recognize This) |
Once again the house crew was primarily Philippine and Indonesian and very attentive. Once again we struggled a bit to balance our appreciation of the crew's talent, skill and good humor with our lack of comfort at receiving the luxury cruise level of personal service. Not that we really wanted to clean our own cabin . . . it's just . . . hmmm . . . clearly we haven't worked through these feelings. What we do know is the (unrelentingly) attentive service aspect of luxury cruising isn't at the top of our Reasons For Taking Another Luxury Cruise.
The top of that list? The opportunity to take another trans-oceanic voyage. It was wonderful to be on the ocean. We watched the weather and wave patterns, tried to estimate what land mass was "just over that way", looked at the stars and just experienced that amazing part of the planet moving beneath us. Our coastal passages on Abracadabra have had (and we hope in the future will have) moments of awe and beauty and grandness. But on Abracadabra those moments compete with the constant / repetitive need to check our location, look for vessel traffic and obstructions (fishing nets, floating junk), adjust sails and / or listen / check for signs of the motor's health, confirm electrical usage and creation, confirm water and diesel usage, and prepare and clean up after meals. On the Wind Surf someone else was doing all of that. We could just watch the sea and sky without interruption.
The weather was good, the sea state was relatively smooth and our cabin was on a higher deck than previously so we experienced a lot less wave noise than during our Wind Star outing. The food was not quite as good as on the Wind Star but it was fine - the chef on the Wind Star offered a daily curry (yumm). Big meat lovers will be in heaven on the Wind Surf (Bryce was). The Wind Surf had a nice gym and was large enough that deck walking was pleasant (5 x around the deck = 1 mile). Looking at the ocean, listening to an interesting audiobook and walking - not unlike being in quarantine without worrying about a pesky global pandemic.
There were Evening Entertainments. We are not Night Life people and we enjoyed some. Through conversations with other passengers we had realized we were among the very few on our (but for three days on the Wind Star) maiden voyage. But one evening we learned that many of the passengers had taken at least 10 cruises with the Windstar Line -- and that a few had taken at least 40 - that's forty - cruises with the Windstar Line. The vague sense of entitlement/ownership we had seen some of our fellow passengers display began to make sense! These people were more like time-share owners than passengers.
This repeat cruiser syndrome was also clear when, early in the trip there was an announcement that there would be a "build a boat" competition near the end of the voyage. Clearly some of these people had been planning for this since their previous voyage. This might have been our favorite cruise event!
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Even If These Guys Built These Ships In Two Weeks,
They Didn't Design Them In Just Two Weeks! |
In today's pandemic environment we think it's important to disclose that each of us had a multi-day head cold on this voyage. Our colds overlapped and during Bryce's bout (he went first) we kept ourselves to ourselves at meals and spent much of our time in the cabin. By the time Molly was sick she chose to work her way through the ship's cabin service soup menu. The memory of these short illnesses sticks with us when we think about using our Future Cruise Credits. . .
Also fyi and somewhat related to our head cold disclosure, the shipboard DVD collection isn't very broad or deep. Anyone taking a long voyage who isn't an action movie fan should consider downloading some movies in advance. In the event of catching a cold.
Antigua & Sint Maarten
The Wind Surf's first Caribbean stop was at Antigua.
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| Coming In To Antigua |
We declined the shore excursions and hired a cab and driver for a few hours. We visited the Big Sight on Antigua - Nelson's Dock Yard. The Admiral lived at the dockyard from 1784 - 1787.
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| A Very Tiny Museum Inside |
We wandered around and drank Ting, a packed-with-sugar carbonated grapefruit drink popular in the Caribbean. Be careful, it's addictive and your doctor will not approve.
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Hilltop View Of English Harbor And Nelson's Dockyard
Many Of Our Cruising Compadres Were There |
Our driver then took us on a circuit of the island, introducing each little settlement by explaining what churches were there and which of his relatives lived there. It was quite sweet. That evening the Wind Surf departed for our place of debarkation -- Sint Maarten.
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| Tied Up In Sint Maarten |
We had planned to spend a few days on the island of Sint Maarten / St. Martin before flying out to Panama City. Whether due to (a) a general strike which made travel to the French side of the island difficult, (b) Molly's lingering cold, or (c) travel fatigue (we had been traveling for three months at that point) we aren't sure, but we did almost nothing during our four days in Sint Maarten. We spent our time lounging at the very comfortable, low-key Oyster Bay Beach Resort. We were ready to head home to Abracadabra.
Which we then did -- by air.
What We Learned
Our "luxury cruise" experience taught us that:
- we may take another luxury cruise that is also a trans-oceanic crossing -- we like being on the ocean -- or a voyage to a destination of interest to us;
- we are not interested in being on a ship much larger than the Wind Surf (342 guests);
- the Eastern Caribbean is great for sailing and we hope to be there again on a sailboat - but not on a luxury cruise;
- catching a cold is easy in a confined environment (and due to subsequent world events we are now uncertain whether we will be taking a luxury cruise or any sort of group travel holiday before there is a COVID-19 vaccine);
- one should remain vigilant when trying to negotiate with travel companies - once off the ship (plane, bus - etc.) one is gone to them.
This post has also taught us that writing about our travels is a comforting thing to do while waiting out the quarantine in Panama -- so you'll be hearing from us again.
Next: How About Northern France?
