It was with great excitement that we woke up this morning to blue skies and sunshine. We’d said that if there was only one hot and sunny day on this cruise, this day had to be it. 😊
After breakfast at around 8.00am, we wandered around outside on the rear decks outside The View buffet. We wanted to get a great vantage point for photographic and making video clips of the arrival of the Borealis into Funchal, Madeira. We’d heard that the Balmoral had arrived yesterday and stayed in port overnight, and that the Bolette had berthed earlier this morning. We would be the last in, and there was a gap in between Balmoral and Bolette waiting for Borealis to slide into.
As Borealis approached the harbour in Funchal we could already see the distinctive funnels of her sisters. In order to slip into her berth Borealis would have to reverse in which would afford us an excellent vantage point from our position on the aft decks. As we rounded the corner and came alongside Bolette, Borealis announced her arrival by three blasts on her foghorn, and received an answering blast from Balmoral. For some weird reason it made me feel quite emotional! 😊
Passengers on the other ships came out to watch Borealis coming in, and we could already see many flowers, stalls and tables, as well as a large stage, set up along the quay ready for the various inter-ship events and festivities that would be taking place. I was wearing my grey “Fleet in Funchal” t-shirt and kept checking my X (formerly known as Twitter) account for any messages from a couple of people I follow (who also follow me). One of them, Abi, who goes under the Twitter handle @scotontherock5 is on Balmoral and the other, Matthew (@MatthewCruises) is on Bolette, so with any luck we’d all meet up at some point in Funchal for a photo to upload! 😊
Returning to our cabin, I put my events programme and two free drinks vouchers into my bum-bag, and ensured my phone battery was 100% as I was sure to take loads and loads of photos of this unique event. We needed neither a jacket or a cagoule; the temperature was expected to reach up to 25°C today; my only worry is that we didn’t have any suntan lotion with us.
The main Fleet in Funchal event didn’t kick off until 12.30pm, but in the meantime I sent a text to Abi to see where/when she wanted to meet up. We decided to take the shuttle bus into town and have a walk around in the sunshine, taking some photos. We would get some great vantage points to get all three ships into the photo.
It took about 10 minutes for the shuttle bus to get there; there were lots of buses as the queues were quite long, because there were three ships! However, the total number of passengers would not have exceeded 4,000, a lot fewer passengers than you would get on some of those monstrous Royal Caribbean or Princess vessels, one of which carries 6,800 passengers. 😊
Alghting from the bus, we made our way to where we had an unimpeded view of the FOCL fleet, and I took several photos and video clips, slowly panning my phone camera along to fit them all in. Then we decided to go and buy some postcards and stamps to send, and enjoy a freezing cold beer while sitting writing them out.
It was really pleasant sitting there watching the world go by. We saw lots of people with the distinctive “Fleet in Funchal 2023” t-shirts, either in grey, navy or white. Once we’d drank our beers we went off to find a postbox and sent the cards on their way. People seem surprised when I say I still send postcards; apparently it’s not the done thing any more with the popularity of video-calling and photo-sharing apps. I do still like a good old-fashioned postcard and colourful stamp from some distant land, however. 😊
As the weather was so fabulous we decided to take a slow stroll back to the harbour. We arrived back around 12.20pm and made our way to the large stage that had been set up; the ‘opening ceremony’ was due to start in 10 minutes and I wanted to be sure of a good place at the front (I’m under five feet tall so if I’m not at the front, I rarely get to see anything!)
There was a bit of a drawn-out speech by Peter Deer, the Managing Director of Fred Olsen Cruise Lines, as well as some long-service awards given out to some of the crew members who spend most of their time below decks, those unsung heroes such as cabin steward/esses and the guys in the engine room. All three captains were in front of the stage, as well as the three Cruise Directors. A band was set up in the background for some live music later on.
Looking at our programmes, there was all sorts of stuff going on. There was golf putting, beanbag throwing, shuffle board and other games for passengers to play; you paid a fee and had a try, and the winners received a bottle of Fred Olen fizz. All the proceeds were to go to Fred Olsen’s chosen charity, the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI), a very worthy cause.
Just then, my phone pinged with a text from Abi, who was standing near the Borealis at the cold drinks stand. We each described what we were wearing and Trevor and I made our way to where Abi was standing. It was good to meet up at last! As we were standing there swapping stories and Abi was telling us of the adventures of the Balmoral on the (very) high seas, we spotted Matthew (who was on Bolette) and he came over to say hello. It sounded as if only the Bolette had stuck to her original itinerary! It was great that we’d all been able to meet up, one from each ship, and Abi took a photo. She’s camera-shy so she didn’t want to appear in a photo that was going to be posted on social media! 😊
It was then time for the inter-ship crew competitions such as the tug o’ war, passengers cheering lustily for their ship’s team! The crew of the Bolette won that one. We decided to go and use our drinks vouchers on the other ships, so we said “see you later” to Abi and made our way along to the Balmoral.
At the bottom of the gangplank, you had to hand over your shipboard pass and receive a Visitor badge before boarding.
It is over four years since we’ve been on the good old Balmoral, having enjoyed four excellent cruises on her; in 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2019. We are booked to do a couple of cruises on her next year, so we wanted to go on board and see if anything had changed. We went up to the Observatory which hadn’t changed at all, and we enjoyed a freebie drink each. We had heard people complaining that you couldn’t have lunch on any ship you were visiting; you had to eat on your ‘own’ ship. We didn’t see what the issue was, however, and by simply removing our visitor badges and putting them into our pockets, we strolled nonchalantly into the Palms Café and enjoyed a light lunch – nobody batted an eyelid. 😊
Afterwards we went down to the Neptune Lounge where everything was dearly familiar and we felt a rush of nostalgia. Then we wandered out onto the deck at the bow of the vessel, where we could look across at the stern of the Borealis and photograph it; outlining our suite. I’d taken a photo of the bow of the Balmoral this morning from our balcony; now I was taking a photo of our balcony from the bow of the Balmoral. 😊 😊
Disembarking the ship, we retrieved our Borealis shipboard passes then decided to walk along to the Bolette and use the other drinks voucher up – we sat in the Observatory which was very familiar for a couple of reasons; firstly, it is almost identical to the Observatory on the Borealis and, secondly, we were only on the Bolette in April, so we certainly had a sense of déjà vu.
After we left the Bolette we had another wander around the quayside in the hot sunshine. We decided to return to the Borealis and go up to the topmost deck, where we would have a bird’s eye view of the events on the quayside. We weren’t due to leave until about 8.00pm, although the “all aboard” time was five o’clock to allow for the sailaway party and the three ships leaving one after the other – a sight not to be missed. Apparently, as the Borealis was the last one in this morning, we would be the first out, giving us some fantastic photo opportunities to get some good pictures of the Bolette and Balmoral.
In addition, the island of Madeira was going to give the three ships a fantastic send-off with a wonderful fireworks display; a brilliant ending to an excellent day.
As we stood on the deck, we listened as the Borealis give the three symbolic blasts of her foghorn and the music started upon the aft decks for the sailaway party. As we came alongside the Bolette, the cheers of all the passengers on Borealis mingled with the cheers and waving from the passengers on the Bolette, and there was a sea of blue Fred Olsen Cruise Lines flags being waved enthusiastically. How amazing was this?! 😊
One Borealis was out of the way, she slowed right down and we watched as Bolette then slowly moved away from the dockside. As she turned slightly, the westering sun reflected in a golden glow on her starboard side – it was magic. The sun reflected on the windows of the hillside dwellings, which were in turn reflected in golden streaks on the sea.
We could faintly hear Bolette blasting on her foghorn, but it was mostly drowned out by the loud music from the party. I would have much preferred the party to have taken place later, so we could hear all three ships have a horn battle! As it was, I took loads of photos, including some of Bolette and Balmoral alongside each other. It was almost sunset now, and I was torn between running to the bow of the ship to get the last golden rays as the sun went down, or staying put and photographing the ships. I decided on the latter; I can take sunset photo any time, but how many times were all three of the FOCL ships going to be in port together? 😊
Once the vessels were all at anchor, ready for the fireworks display which we’d been advised would take place at 7.40pm, Trevor and I decided to go to The View for our dinner; we’d certainly missed our sitting in the restaurant and, in any case, we hadn’t had the time to get washed and changed and there is a certain dress code in the restaurant. So we enjoyed something from the hot and cold buffet, popping outside every now and then to see if anything was happening.
Up on the topmost decks, people were starting to take their places and get into position for the best view of the fireworks display, but Trevor and I thought the best unimpeded view would be that from our aft balcony, and indeed it was. It was absolutely fantastic. We turned all the lights off in our cabin so it was nice and dark, and enjoyed our own private space watching the fireworks. I got some great video footage. 😊
Afterwards, the ships all set off again, going their separate ways. Balmoral would be following us to Lisbon where we’d meet again in two days’ time, and Bolette was making her way back to Southampton. As Bolette passed us, she gave a long, loud blast on her foghorn as she glided along, all lit up in the darkness. She looked fabulous. 😊
What an amazing day we’d had; it had been great. As Borealis set off once again and picked up speed, Trevor and I got washed and changed in record time to go down to the Neptune Lounge for tonight’s entertainment, which featured a very good singer. It was supposed to be tenor Maxwell Thorpe again, but he’d had an emergency at home and had to return immediately, so they’d brought a singer over from Bolette. He was excellent, but unfortunately I can’t remember his name.
Then it was along to the Morning Light pub as usual for the quiz. There was no sign of any of the others from table #222 (in fact we hadn’t seen them all day) so there was only Trevor and me in the team. The questions were all Fred Olsen themed and we scored 12/20 which doesn’t sound very good, but the winners scored 13, so we only missed out by one point.
We finished the evening off by going up to the Obervatory where two of the Show Company vocalists, Simon and James, were doing a gig called “Swing’s the Thing” accompanied by Viva, the superb resident band. It was a very good show and we enjoyed a few cocktails while we were in there. It was about midnight when we left to return to 6227, after a very interesting, very full day. We had a sea day to look forward to tomorrow, and it didn’t take long for us to fall asleep, lulled by the ‘white noise’ sound of the wake rushing below our balcony.