October 29, 2026

Thursday

On board the SS Mariner in the Atlantic Ocean on our way to the port of Funchal on the island of Maderia, Portugal located about 450 miles off the coast of Morocco in Africa.

Good morning. Our iPhones changed to Portugese time, an hour earlier but the ship won’t change time until tonight. We didn’t realize this until later this morning. I got up and headed down to the coffee connection at just before 06:00, at least according to my watch.

The coffee connection was in full operation when I arrived; they normally open at 06:30. It was a bit confusing, at least until I realized that the ship hadn’t change time and for the rest of the ship it was 07:00. The good news is that I was able to start my day with a cappuccino!

Mary got up before 08:00 this morning. We went to breakfast at La Veranda about 08:30. Just alight breakfast this morning, still not hungry after dinner last night. We went to the card room and play a game of canasta after breakfast. During the game I got all four red threes, 800 points each time, twice in a row. That has never happened before in nearly fifty years of playing.

Lunch was at the pool grill, just salad and a hot dog for me. Nothing exciting. Due to the earlier than usually, at least according to the clock, it was a time for a nap after lunch. Just a short one-hour nap be sufficient to shake the time change off. We sat and played cards for a while. Then I went and had a cigar.

Back in the room we worked on planning for 2028. We already have a cruise from Sydney to Auckland in February, so it was planning for any pre- or post-cruise travel. Honestly if you are going to fly somewhere for more than fourteen hours you should probably do more than just cruise around.

We looked at several train rides in both the north and south islands. A plan is slowly developing. Probably go for eight weeks; two on the cruise and six traveling around New Zealand.

We were going to go to dinner at La Veranda but it was closed for a private party, so we went down to the Compass Rose for dinner. They had a Thai Red curry for me and Mary had the salmon. After dinner I had a cigar and we called it a night.

A relaxing uneventful day. This is what sea days between ports are for. Tomorrow we will be a Funchal. We have a spa treatment at the Savoy Palace Hotel followed by lunch. The ship is supposed to arrive by 09:00 and depart at 17:00 so we will have some time to see Funchal as well. We stopped here before in 2014 on the World cruise.

Buonanotte e ciao,

Enrico e Maria