Tenerife

Last stop in the Canaries is Santa Cruise and we had nothing planned.

Gran Canaria

We have cruised on to Gran Canaria the second stop in the Canaries and have booked a ships transfer to Maspalomas Beach. The 1 hour journey took us to the southern tip of the island to a spot where an old lighthouse, a nature reserve featuring natural sand dunes and a surfers and sun bathers beach coexist. We walked past the lagoon on the edge of the dunes where Tilapia swim and heron and egrets fish, to the beach. We enjoyed a coffee while watching the surfers and a shop in the mall, for a belt for me, before walking back to the dunes. They stretch for several square miles, so only time for a short walk to get a view before returning to the coach pickup point and a pizza. We were back on board for 2pm. It was warm 21deg  but not as sunny as forecast.

Tonight we dined in Le Petite Chef restaurant which features an animated story, projected onto the table, about the fixed 4 course dinner. The main tonite was lobster tail in a delicious lemon butter sauce. We skipped the stage show and just had a special coffee in Bacio instead.

Lanzarote

We woke up in the port of Arricife, Lanzarote and decided to have the Elite continental buffet breakfast in Tuscan restaurant.  It was warm and sunny so after the very civilised breakfast we took the short shuttle to the port entrance and then strolled into town. It's the main town on the island and not really a tourist resort. We popped into the Ali Hop shop, had a coffee on the promenade and walked back to the shuttle round the old harbour. Back on board we had a late lunch and Rosemary had a hair do in the spa. An English comedian Dave Kristian was the entertainer and he was very good. Early night as we are up early to go on a coach to Maspalomas Beach on Gran Canaria tomorrow.

Sunny Sea day

After a slightly bumpy night we awoke to sun on our balcony for our 2nd sea day. The clocks went back on hour so after breakfast I enjoyed a couple of hours of sunshine listening to music on my earphones and reading my IET  magazine.  It featured the 100yr anniversary of the first public TV demonstration - how things have changed. Rosemary had a free shoulder massage which worked wonders. Then we both went to the Food and Wine pairing activity and basically we found that we were not drinking enough pinot noir! It's chic night in the MDR again, followed by Adele tribute artist singing other stuff, then we dock in Lanzarote tomorrow morning. Happy days.

Cadiz

We arrived in Cadiz after a breezy cruise through the straits of Gibraltar and have been on a panoramic coach trip. We drove around town in pouring rain then to Jerez de la Frontera, the home of sherry making and the historic border between Moors and Christians. We passed all the well known bodegas en route and had an interesting guided tour of Fundador, the home of Harvey's Bristol Cream.

Gibraltar

We were promised showers but by the time we had breakfast the sun came out and we have had another dry sunny day. We walked the length of the main street past some familiar shops. I bought a cap from M&S as I had come out without my sunglasses. We had a look round a local craft fair in the Catholic church and had coffee at Costa We walked on as far as the old Trafalgar cemetery where two sailors from the battle of Trafalgar are buried before turning round and heading back to the ship using taxi shuttle service. Feet up now as we have already done 12,000 paces and we are dining in Tuscan restaurant tonight.

First full sea day

When we boarded we were told that the scheduled stop on Gibraltar has been cancelled.This is because of an approaching weather system so we are going directly to Lanzarote and having 2 'relaxing' days at sea. 

This is the first day so we are just chilling out, went to the welcome party (free cocktails) and chatted with a well travelled  Scottish couple. It's chic dress code tonight as we cruise past Gibraltar and hopefully avoid the worst of the storm.

Malaga

After another change to the itinerary we are now in Málaga. It's a lovely sunny day for stroll around and find El Pimpo bodega where we celebrated Rosemary 80th birthday.

The show tonight was an Adele tribute act. Very bubbly and loud.

First Sea day

Our first day at sea started uneventful if a bit windy. Just chilled out, booked 3 dinners for later in the cruise and  started the blog. We went to the show a high energy, incomprehensible musical party with one are two talented performers and a great live band.The dinner in MDR was very good again and while we eating the captain announced another change of plan so Gibraltar is back on, but Málaga is now our first stop instead of last. 

Boarding Day

We had a good night's sleep and a good breakfast before heading off to the port. Our taxi was booked 2 hours before our scheduled boarding time of 2:00 pm but we were allowed on without delay. 

Nice cabin with big balcony which will be nice when the sun comes out. We had a coffee in Bacio and signed up for a discounted 3 dinner package within hours.

We found that the itinerary had been changed to try and avoid a developing Atlantic storm so we were going to have two days at sea, missing Gibraltar and heading straight for the Canaries.

After the Elite happy hour cocktails we changed our 10 seater dinner table in the Trellis dining room to a more intimate one on the balcony and enjoyed our first meal. The show this evening was by Tetiana a Ukrainian violin player.

Ready for takeoff.

Arrived at Birmingham airport so early that we could not check-in for 2 hours so we were stuck the wrong side of security/departures in a cafe Nero till we could drop our bags off.

Eventually boarded on time and despite arriving 30mins ahead of schedule the taxi was waiting to take us to BAH hotel 5mins away.

Canary Islands cruise on the Infinity

 We are just packing to fly to Barcelona to join the Celebrity Infinity cruise to the Canary Islands via Gibraltar and then back again via Morocco and Southern Spain. We are away for 2 weeks in total so it will be our longest winter cruise holiday ever.