DAY 142---ALICANTE, SPAIN

 

        We were docked and cleared by the local officials by 9am in Alicante.  It is a beautifully sunny day and 75 degrees.

Historical/Background Info:

        Alicante is a port city on Spain’s southeastern coast and the capital of Alicante province with a population of 333,000.  Its old town has narrow streets, colorful houses, and a nightlife scene.     

LAST EVENING

Captain Abhi kicked off Krew Kappers

                             Oksana, one of our favorite bartenders is also a great pianist.

Olla, doing her exotic belly dance.

                                         Hanna, our asst waitress, did a Vietnamese dance.

                                  Elvis was in the house.  He is a legend in his own mind.

       Officers, staff, and crew representatives from all the departments were on stage at the end.

       Krew Kappers performers taking a final bow.  We thought this show to be the best ever.

                            Murphy with the rest of my nice "Trilogy" wine from last night.

                                                                     Beef Wellington

                             Pecan cheese cake.  It was very good but I was full already.

                                                                              Benjie

                                                                  Another good show.

TODAY

             Started docking procedure at 8:30 and was secured at the pier by 9am, right on time.

                          The linemen on the pier are receiving the ship's lines to secure us.

        I had a tour scheduled for this morning at 9:45.  It was a tour of a local market then walk to a restaurant where I was to learn how to prepare paella and then have lunch.  But I canceled it as needed to finish packing.

        Rebecca did her treadmill time as usual then we began packing our one last piece of luggage.  It was a 2 1/2 hour stressful time for both of us.  She kept saying she would not be able to get everything in that bag.  So we crammed some stuff in some of the already packed bags.  It was about 1:15 when we were confident that all would fit in.  We have our two carry-ons to pack after dinner and tomorrow morning.  She did a practice pack with her carry on.  Mine is mostly ready to go but have to add bathroom things I will need in the morning to get ready.

        

        These are the bags we are shipping back to the house with Luggage Forward.  I reweighed them and all right at 40 pounds (we were allowed 50 in each).  I then had to attach the shipping tags to the top handle with zip ties.  They told us we could not lock the bags in case Customs wanted to open one.  But would could use zip locks to lock them, which fortunately, I brought.  The Luggage Forward instructions said they should arrive at the house June 6th to 8th.

        We will also have to have our other 4 pieces of luggage out in the hallway by 10pm so all 8 can be offloaded upon arrival in Barcelona tomorrow morning.  These last 4 bags will be going with us on the airplane.  They are all between 46 to 48 pounds (limit is 50 pounds).  We will do that after dinner.  There is a Beatles Dance Dance Party at 9pm but not going.

                          So after packing I went up to deck 12 and took some photos of Alicante.

                                                       Long pier to drive to get to town.

                                       Santa Barbara Castle, an old fortress, on top of the hill.

        This is tonight's Compass Rose menu.  However last night I asked Benjie if I could have Chef Anees (Sette Mari chef) make me a veal parmesan and have it sent down to Compass Rose.  At lunch Chef Anees came to our table with a big smile and said he would be happy to do it for me.  Love him!!

        

        Our World Cruise will be ending tomorrow morning upon arrival in Barcelona, Spain.  We should be docked by 7am and then the massive task of unloading all the luggage begins.  In the terminal it will be sorted into areas according to our colored bag tags so we can find it easier.  The ship gives our colored tags according to how soon people need off so as to catch flights.  As we are not flying out tomorrow we will be last ones off.  

        We still should be off the ship by 9am if all goes well.  We will grab a porter and collect all 8 of our bags so as to clear Spanish Customs with them.  Once through Customs we will drop the Luggage Forward bags with their representative to be shipped by DHL.  Then we will get a taxi to take us to the Barcelona Hilton.  Our flight is not until the next morning.  Sounds easy but things never seem to go as planned.  Fingers and toes crossed for tomorrow.

        I have our alarm set for 6am with room service breakfast at 7:00.  Rebecca does not like to be rushed in the mornings.  It takes her a while to do her hair.  We are supposed to vacate our suites by 8:00 or shortly thereafter so they can be cleaned for the passengers embarking at noon tomorrow.

        We were supposed to depart at 4pm but but Captain Abhi said we will be departing a little early.  We were scheduled to be docked in Barcelona at 7am but he is doing a high speed run of 19 knots tonight so as to arrive an hour earlier to facilitate getting our luggage and us off ASAP.

        There will be another post tomorrow from the hotel.