Rogueperson

Good Morning from. Here is today’s glance. Why am I up so early? Simple. Because i have not slept. Running around yesterday and having way too much caffeine. I couldn’t sleep. So I left the room and started wandering the sleeping ship. I ended up at the arcade a lot this week. Been playing this game. But primary, THIS one has been my obsession. I do not know how this game works as a multiplayer because one is broken. But as a single player game, this game is unforgiving. There are two modes. Quick race and championship mode. Quick race is simple. Pick a race. Race against 40 computer racers and a clock. Every time you hit a check point you get more time. If you make it to the end before time expires you beat the race. But not the computer racers. Its easy to beat the track. Its MUCH more difficult to beat the racers. You have to run a near perfect race to do so. Championship Mode is even tougher. You race with less laps. You must place 1st, 2nd, or 3rd to advance to the next race. Here too you must run a near perfect race to even come close to advancing. Basic track. You only have to master 1 real turn, but its not that easy. Advanced. Technically its 3 or 4 turns you have to master. I JUST did that this morning. Expert. eh…I’m lucky just finishing. Whats worse. There is no sound on this game. The steering is lose and the feedback does’t work and the gear shift is busted so you have to play automatic transmission. So why the heck am I so obsessed 🤷‍♂️ Seriously, why do other cruise ships have arcades that require money. Its a waste of space because no one except kids will spend money on this. And even then, if the parents were smart, they’d block this money sink as its worthless. This makes the whole arcade wasted space on other ships. On THIS ship. This is an awesome place. At least i tried to get a sunrise. Stupid clouds. I’m going to try sleep again.

Heh, we have a layover in Lisbon on Monday but we can’t leave the terminal without going through customs, I don’t think. We wouldn’t have time to do anything anyways. Its a significant layover of 4 hours between flights, but not enough time to leave and come back.

She looks like punk. I miss Punk.

I’ve done the Sushi & Sake Lunch and they usually have to cart me out because of it. I’ve done it twice but will probably not do it again. The first time, my friend took me and the last time, I had to take my wife. In my opinion, Izumi’s is meh sushi. Not great but passable. However given the price Royal charges, i feel i should get better quality. Like Chops’ steaks which are awesome. Worse, I am getting the same quality sushi here on Scarlet Lady and its available every day with no surcharge. In fact, i had some earlier today before my toue. Its actual part of the Galley which is Virgin’s “buffet” You had a lot of us scared because of the “I’m dying” bit. Think about it. All of us, you, Odyssey and now us had medical emergencies that required us to divert. Enjoy Cadiz. Never been there. Funchal was AWESOME!!

We are now currently in the Manor. They are not bad. I’m not a big fan of latin music, but wife loves it, so we are here.

This easily is one of my favorite destinations. If it wasn’t so far away, I’d try to visit more often. Its beautiful. Even the rain we had didn’t detract from this place. We waited an hour or so for the Toboggan (the wicker couch) in it and it didn’t bother me. However, when we got back, the line to get back on the ship was insane. Dinner tonight was Razzle Dazzle. Here is the drink menu as i normally don’t post these, but @vanman wanted them so I will try to get them from here on out. My wife got this. a pop of attraction. ITS A DRINK!!! Fried Okra & Green Tomato. It wasn’t bad. I discovered this on the “secret” menu. Crabcake. @FionaMG . Still not close to Maryland Crabcakes but this is at least better than Royal Caribbean. One of these days, when you try a real Maryland crabcake, you’ll see what I mean. Lamb Shanks. Pastrami short rib. YES I MADE A PIG OF MYSELF. I REGRET NOTHING! apple cranberry tart rum apple cake Creme Brûlée. I think they messed this one up. It tasted smokey and odd.

Funchal. What can I say? A city on the archipelago of Madeira consisting of 4 islands (Thanks Wikipedia). This place is amazing!! And the topping. I got to slide down 2km of street on a couch made of wicker. Not me, but i couldn’t get a picture of me on it. Here’s a quick video. IMG_9810.mov

This is a great endorsement from you. This is kinda local like Bahamas is for me, right? I can’t remember if you lived in Portugal or Spain.

This is what we’re doing.

Dinner last night was in Extra Virgin. I think that is my favorite. I don’t count test Kitchen because the experience doesn’t really change unless the menu does. If food quality by itself were the quantifier, then Test Kitchen would win. The missing Beef Carpaccio. I actually prefer Royals. The beef there is raw. This one is slightly cooked. Fried Calamari. Simple, but delicious. Oxtail pasta. Surprisingly yummy. Pork Cheek. Also amazing My wife’s eggplant Parmigiana. She didn’t like it. It *normally* comes with vegan mozzarella. She got real because vegan cheese is made with nut milk 🤢. Dessert. We have Ricotta Bombolini. and Chocolate Olive Oil cake. Both delicious, but i was so full. FYI, I’m not repeating food photos so there was more food eaten than just in photos. The waitress also conned me into affogato. Espresso over ice cream or gelato. Yeah. I was rolled out of dinner.

Good Morning from Funchal. First land sighting in 8 days!!

I think Royal’s Beef Carpaccio is better than what I had tonight. they kinda cooked mine.

@vanman On the Rocks Menu.

The sea days are starting to wear on me. I’m actually surprised that i made it this far and not felt more detached and floundering. I’m glad tomorrow is our first port of call. Anyways, after breakfast, I fell asleep again. Then I just hung out at the arcade. I found something interesting. They keep track of games with missing pieces!!! I saw one of the staff with a handful of unopened games. This is incredible to me that they keep an eye on this detail. Today, we made it to Dual Reality. The Red Room was totally reconfigured. As a result there are now two sides with seats with the arena in the middle. This show was amazing. Not only were they phenomenal acrobats, they could sing too!! Just wow.

Last night’s Test Kitchen was not exactly planned. My wife was not a fan of the Wake so I cancelled the rest of my Wake reservations and added this one. I confirmed at the first Test Kitchen that my second one on Thursday, I think is a different menu but this one I wasn’t sure.

Passions Apply. Cider, Berry Sorbet, Orange Cream and pearls.

So as a result of the detour, our arrival time in Funchal is 12:30 instead of 9. We leave at 8pm instead of 6pm. Also, we arrive in Malaga at 11am instead of 9am and leave at 10pm as scheduled.

So I had breakfast at the Wake with no reservation. No problem. I haven’t found a proper donut on board yet. This is a cruller. Pork Belly benedict Finally got the Crepe cake And the Panna Cotta as well.

So this is why they call this restaurant The Wake.

Another thing that impresses me on this ship is the amount of comfortable hangouts.

For some reason, this Live thread i’ve posted more pictures of bathrooms. Ok, a better term is that the bathrooms on this ship either surprise me or just caught my attention. Imagine walking into a bathroom and seeing a stark room. So a couple of bathrooms here enter into a stark room. You wave your hand in front of that green light and the door opens. On the other side is the actual bathroom and you so the same to lock it. I wonder what happens if you lock it and then leave. I almost did that because the door can be physically open before it shuts but the red light stays on.

I didn’t mark my position by saying Good Morning from. Also got today’s Glance. It appears we were only stopped for about 30 minutes before starting up again. Pretty quick work for the Portuguese Coast Guard.

Because of Test Kitchen, or more accurately, the wine pairing again, i’m up at 5am. Can I say I LOVE the 24 hour food availability on this ship. Or lat least better availability of fresh food. I got an fully loaded Omelet just now but i ate it before taking a picture. I think i took one earlier when i was up this early last week. We are actually stopped now as the helicopter approaches. The outer decks are closed.

SHHHHHH!!! Did you forget the rule? What happens in the Quest stays in the Quest!!