Embarkation day

We were up fairly early this morning, keen to board our ship which arrived in Lisbon earlier today. We both did COVID tests. Ian was fine, so he has not caught it from me. Mine, however, was still positive, 6 days after the first positive test!

I was quite convinced that we wouldn’t be allowed to board the ship! I had started investigating whether we would go to Cadiz and join the ship there in two or three days’ time - surely by then I would test negative!

We packed up and left the apartment, getting an Uber to the cruise terminal at about 10:30. They had just opened up to receive luggage, but were not checking in until after midday. Thankfully I was able to get one of the shore agents to contact the ship’s medical team as I wanted to get an answer as soon as possible. The ship’s doctor came to speak with us and he agreed to let us board, on the condition that I stay in our suite today and tomorrow (a sea day). I will have a test tomorrow afternoon, but otherwise will be free to go on the first excursion on Wednesday! Seems people are just not reporting COVID now and he was very appreciative of our honesty.

So we set off for a wander with big smiles on our faces! We stopped at a cafe for cuppas and a final pasteis da nata each and then we walked around Alfama, looking for the cathedral. Except I had us going the wrong way (uphill - Ian was not impressed). 

Once we were heading in the right direction, we stopped at a tiny stall selling the cherry liqueur, Ginja, in tiny chocolate cups. Delicious! We finally got to the cathedral and had a quick look inside.

Then we headed back to the ship. We will be on the Silver Nova, the newest Silversea ship at only 2 months old! Our voyage is for 22 days!  Embarkation was very quick and we soon found ourselves aboard, although our suite wasn’t ready. So (slightly against doctor’s orders) we went to La Terrazza where a buffet lunch was being served. I noticed one of the waiters, Alessandro, was familiar and it turns out he was on Muse last December when we were on-board. He said he recognised us (not sure if that was true!).

After a quick lunch, we went up to our suite, 9018, and it was ready! We met our room attendant, Jason, and our butler, Vikas. We had the obligatory champagne and got to know our suite. We unpacked all three suitcases - so nice to do that!

Feels like coming home!

We went to the safety muster at 5:30 (doctor said I should go to that, wearing a mask of course), then spent the evening relaxing in our suite and watching TV. We ordered caviar and chips to have with drinks, then both had butter chicken and cheesecake, with a nice bottle of D’avolo Nero to wash it down.

We were due to depart Lisbon at 11 pm, but the captain has already warned us that we will be in 6m swell for much of the night!