Had great flights, easy transition on the connection. Arrival protocols super easy. Beautiful day in Lisbon. Hiccup up with our hotel booking at the Intercontinental as we arrived in Lisbon at 6.30 am we had booked the night before. They gave our room away. So they said we had to wait until a room cleared, but it should not be long they had someone cleaning a room right now. Then about 5 minutes later they said we have a nice room ready you can have now. Turned out to be a far superior room, with a large balcony with chairs over looking Lisbon. Also included the private club for us that was one of the best we have ever experienced. Eggs to order and a huge breakfast buffet as well. So the beginning of this cruise was terrific. As I am writing this Ken just told me that the Intercontinental also reinstated all the points we had spent on the two nights at the hotel.

We got a taxi the next morning and arrived just before noon. Again so different from the recent embarkations. Very few people there, no testing straight to a check in person. He checked the vaccinations filled in a few forms and very quickly we were on our way to board the ship. From getting out of the taxi to stepping on the ship about 15 minutes.

What is even better than this great start is how many people on this cruise we know so well. It has been fantastic. We have 65 people in the group and only 14 people we do not know. I am so glad this cruise is so 24 days long will give us a lot of time with everyone.

Coming into our first port we were in dense fog and were delayed. But only for about an hour. It was very cloudy but no wind and perfect temperature. Our first tour we had a great guide that made the day. The weather cleared when we went up the highest mountain in the area. I guess we were lucky and our tour had good timing on the mountain others could not see the view. Most interesting aspect of this town is the storks. Tons of stork nests on top of man made structures. BIG nest and the majority has storks in the nests. All this was topped off with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Absolutely the best orange juice I have ever tasted. Small oranges, freshly picked and delicious. Overall a great day.

An unusual sea yesterday water was like glass but with a big swell. Never seen anything quite like that before. Moved the ship a bit with the swells. Had fun in the afternoon playing cards with Dave, Joan, Jim and Pam.

Not had a chance yet to look at Ken's picture and have a tour this morning but will get those pictures up whenI can.