Transatlantic Cruise – Adventure of the Seas

This update will continue with our two-month trip to Europe and the cruise back to Florida. In the last post, we moved out of our Barcelona apartment and moved onto the cruise ship ultimately bound for the USA. This is by far the longest that we have ever been out of the country. It will be good to get back home to see family during the Christmas holiday. Why take a cruise back home instead of fly?

The Cruise

This is the first time that we have taken a long transatlantic cruise, so had some concerns such as what happens if one of us gets sick? Will the ocean be rough? Will we get bored without the continual stops? Well, a week before the cruise, there was an issue.

Our cruise ship, the Adventure of the Seas, is one of the older and smaller Royal Caribbean ships and has an interesting history – more on that later. We actually prefer the smaller ships. Much easier to get around and less people congesting the works.

The Adventure sailed to Valencia Spain to be placed in dry dock and undergo and extensive list of updating and routine maintenance. This was in early November and our cruise was to leave port on November 24. They planned a three-week dry dock period. Well, things changed somewhat with the major flooding in Spain during that drydock period. Some of the planned work was delayed and some did not get completed. The end result was a delay of two days and two of the planned stops and excursions were cancelled. Yes, a real bummer as we were looking forward to exploring more of Spain, but we also realize as experienced cruisers, that the planned itineraries can change due to weather, mechanical issues, financial, and other issues such as political unrest. We have seen all four issues!

Our planned cruise was to be 13 days and stop at Cadiz, Seville Spain, and Funchal Madeira. With the delay we were now down to 11 days and only one stop at Funchal. Kind of a bummer it was, but we muddled through it booking two more nights in Barcelona that Royal Caribbean reimbursed us for, and they gave a credit for the missing two cruise days.

The Ship

The Adventure of the Seas was designed in 1996 to be the largest passenger vessel in the world! This new Voyager Class was designed and built in Finland at the historic Turku yards that has a history going back to 1867. The first ship built there was 235 tons compared to the Adventure’s 137,300.

The keel was laid in March 2000 and the ship was launched in January 2001 with sea trials in September 2001, and delivered to RC in October. More geeky stuff:

Length – 1020 ft, Beam – 155 ft, Draft – 29 ft, Propulsion is three units at 14 MW each and total power generation of 756 Megawatts, diesel-electric.

Passenger capacity – 3,138 and crew 1,213

Cruise Route

The total distance cruised was just over 5,000 miles with one interim stop at Madeira and a final destination of Port Canaveral Florida. The cruise was 11 days and consisted of four days to get to Madeira and then seven days on the Atlantic. Here is a crude map that I placed an approximate route. It is a very long way!

Rock of Gibraltar

The rock has an interesting history. It is a 1400-foot-tall limestone mountain. A Moorish castle was built in 711 AD and part is still remaining. And there are a series of tunnels that played a role in several conflicts over the years including WW-II when 30,000 British soldiers were stationed here to protect against a possible German attack.

Unfortunately, it was 10pm at night and dark when we cleared through the pass. We could see lights on the shore on both sides. On one side Spain and the other Tangier, Morocco.

First Stop – Funchal, Madeira

Funchal is the capital, largest city and the municipal seat of Portugal’s Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high cultural and historical value, Funchal is one of Portugal’s main tourist attractions.

Settled in 1420 and subject to pirate attacks over the years, it was also a popular stopping place for explorers headed to the New World. As well as a stopping place for us cruisers! It is located closer to the African continent than it is to Portugal who assists in governing.

The red marker above shows where it is located. A have uploaded a bunch of Funchal photos from our walking tour. Enjoy

Wrap Up

The cruise was fantastic! We enjoyed it so much; we now plan to take one of these cruises every year to either travel to Europe or to return. It is a long way across the pond and a cruise includes a very entertaining, relaxing, and enjoyable time. More on all the transatlantic cruise activities in the next post.

Air travel is obviously faster, but an uncomfortable nine hours and then jet lagged for a few days when returning to the US. The cruise only cost a little more than a flight and being retired, with no demand that we return quickly to save those precious vacation days, it was a win-win for us as we had a fabulous time!

Take care and God Bless.