Somewhat unexpectedly I did some laundry this morning as I like to push the limits of my experiences! Went to the Battle but it was as bad as the previous ones and I think tomorrow may be my last. Rob and I went to the 13:00 lecture only to discover that it was held at 11:15 today! I played quoits in the afternoon and despite not throwing a quoit in anger since my last South American cruise, Norman and I got through to the second round. Then I lost! Ou...

After breakfast, Barbara and I strolled off the ship into a damp Funchal. We caught a local bus (€1.95) to the botanical gardens. It was cool but the light rain stopped as we arrived. After exploring the gardens we took the cable car to Monte and then another to the town. Back in Funchal, we ate lunch al fresco and strolled back to the ship past the nativity and other Christmas decorations, stopping for another beer on the way. In the evening we p...

Not much to report today. The women are winning in the Battle of the Sexes, but I’m finding it tedious. The first thing the organisers said today is ‘this is supposed to be fun’ and then promptly sucked all the fun out of it by insisting on full names if required. Who knows Kalashnikov’s full name? I went to a lecture on ‘The Golden Age of Ocean Liners’ with Rob, straight after the Battle. In the evening we saw the Runaround Kids in Carmens....

Another sea day. The seas were a lot calmer, still choppy but calmer. There was still quite a wind which was very noticeable when walking the Promenade Deck. The men are trailing in Battle of the Sexes, which is odd as we got more ‘hard’ questions right! The teams have a choice of easy, medium or hard, each scoring more points than the easier categories. Just sat by the Crystal Pool and read and did crosswords in the afternoon. Captain’s welcome ab...

Woke up early after a fairly decent nights sleep. The sea was very rough but amazingly the Promenade Deck was open so I was able to take some photos. Unfortunately they don’t do the condition of the seas justice. The captain said we should expect waves of 7 metres. The people from the Facebook had a get together in Anderson’s and it was nice to finally put names to screen faces. The first Battle of the Sexes was held today. It wasn’t as good as some...