South to Málaga

This is from the first night on our balcony. The moon was beautiful!

Sunday — sea day

Yesterday was a sea day as we sailed south along the coast of Spain to Málaga. It was breezy on deck, but sunny and beautiful. We woke late and had coffee in our room. We headed out to further learn the ins and outs of the ship. 

We decided to have lunch in the dining room — rather than the buffet or elsewhere. We’d like to share the good and the not-so-good — the starters were good, the desert was excellent, but the main fell flat. We both opted to have moussaka, a delicious Greek dish, when done well. This was a far cry from what we know — and Jim had it in Athens last year, so he knows. And our captain is Greek! 🤣


After lunch we played some cards, trivia, and played Who Wants to be a Millionaire?  We had to pay, like bingo. It was fun, but we didn’t win. After that kristi went up to nap and Jim had second lunch. 😁

At about 6:00 we played some more cards and then listened to a band in one of the lounges.


This is our first cruise on Norwegian. One of the things we like is what they call freestyle cruising. That includes no set dining times; just go when you want.  And, there’s no formal nights. There is a dress code for dinner, but it’s very relaxed, things like no ripped jeans or no flip-flops. It makes packing a lot easier. Also, nowadays the buffet isn’t open all night on the ships we’ve been on. On this ship there is some food, somewhere except 3-6am. Not that we really eat all day, but it’s nice if the mood hits you. 


We went to dinner at 7:45 and caught a comedy show at 9:00. There are two dining rooms, one at each end of the ship, a bar with pub food, and of course the buffet, all included in the cruise price. They do have specialty dining rooms that cost extra, but we won’t likely eat at those.

We thought we would probably head to bed after the comedy show, but we decided to take a stroll and ended up in the casino. We don’t usually do too much gambling on a cruise, but the roulette table looked inviting so Jim played a while. He ended up leaving the table $200 ahead. We probably won’t gamble anymore.

After all the gambling excitement, we decided to have an another dessert before bed. 😆



Monday — Málaga 


We arrived in Málaga, Spain at about 7:00am … while we were asleep. 😆  We got up late and spent the morning having coffee in our room. We’ve been to Málaga on a previous cruise so we didn’t rush off the ship. We are in port until 7:00pm so we stayed on board and enjoyed the peace and quiet of a small breakfast/lunch at the buffet. 

After lunch we went on shore. We just strolled around the city center, window shopped and people watched. Jim decided Málaga is one of his favorite cities. Weather, culture, food, the compactness of the city  — it seems like there’s a lot in a small walkable area — makes for much to enjoy. There are lots of people and tourists here even in December, likely drawn to the weather, et al.  We split a bocadillo on the main drag — a pedestrian avenue. 



We then walked back to the ship via the avenue that runs along the harbor where the Christmas market lines both sides of he street. THIS is the Christmas market to enjoy if you have the chance. The mix of food and shopping PLUS the weather and culture/food is great. We tried wine, pastries, and finally roasted chestnuts, which we have passed up on countless occasions before. The verdict?  Not bad but nothing to write home about. 




It was sunny and 64 degrees today. Gorgeous!  In the sun it was actually quite warm. We’re convinced that southern Europe in December is the way to go — unless you need to go to the beach. Temperate weather, less tourists, decorated for Christmas — vey nice. 

Tonight after leaving Málaga we head through the Straight of Gibraltar on our way to Cadiz, Spain. If all goes well we plan to take a train to Seville for the day. 

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