We landed in Barcelona off stand and coached again to the terminal, luggage arrived promptly and we then had our pre arranged chauffeur driven car to the ship in the port of Barcelona.
The Norwegian Jade
The ship was once called NCL's Pride of Hawaii and was based in Honolulu cruising around the Hawaiin islands, it is now based in it's new home in Europe under it's new name.
She can carry a maximum 2800 passengers and there were many nationalities on board, mostly english speaking with 800 British cruisers and many Americans, also there were Spanish, Italian and French.
There are some great entertianment rooms on board, a great theatre, many bars and of course th 13 dining options from Tepanyaki, chinese, italian and the other main restaurants, you can dine anywhere at anytime however some of the speciality restaurants have a service charge, eg Italian $25 per person.
Kelly Clarkson who won American Idol and few years ago was on holiday with a group of girls, they had the courtyard villa with its own pool area, white piano, large lounge as well as other luxuries like a private butler and a box in the theatre reserved especially for them. She was not seen out and about much, maybe she caught the Norovirus too!!!
The Norovirus I was woken up by severe stomach cramps and by the time i got to the bathroom i had severe sickness and diarrhoea, the nurse was called and i was confined to my cabin, the ship had come in from it's previous cruise with 280 cases of the virus and we were given the option to cruise or accept a refund, but as we had just flown in from London to Barcelona it did not seem worth returning home. Our cabins were not ready when we embarked until 4pm and people were becoming restless in the stairwells waiting to get into their cabins. My diet, when i had an appetite was grilled chicken, rice and jelly, as well as copious amounts of Imodium! The ship was sanatised from top to bottom daily, no self service buffet was available all self served, no salt and pepper pots on tables, menu inserts were destroyed and replaced when read by guests, the public toilet doors were wedged open so people did not have to use the handles and our hands were sprayed as we entered every public area, sanatising dispensers were all over the ship and in the elevators. 
Casablanca and Agadir These two ports mean nothing to me as i was confined to my cabin with the Norovirus, dreadful sickness and Diarrhoea, however Ged managed to take a few pictures which are featured below including the largest mosque in the world. 
MADIERA.. The sail in was great and we arranged to meet our new friends off the ship, we managed to get a taxi driver to take us around the island for a decent price, this included a trip to the top of the island, the basket ride, a trip to the botanical gardens and a cute little fishing village The basket ride from the top of the island is a must do for tourists, at a cost of 25 Euro per couple ( £25 with todays exchange rates) it is expensive but thrilling. You are sitting in a basket with two Madieran men controlling and breaking for you by just hanging on and breaking with their special shoes on the already slippery shiney road caused by non stop basket rides. What i was not aware of that the traffic still uses the road in both directions so they have to dodge cars, motorcycles and other vehicles on the way down. The most impressive thing was we had our picture taken half way down and by the time we reached the bottom it was printed off and already in a folder with a free CD of Madieran dance music, that's technology!! 
As we sail into the sunset leaving Madiera behind, i was certainly touched by it's innocent beauty, all year round moderate climate and friendly people, definately a place i would wish to return too for a longer period of time. 
MALAGA The journey from the ship to the caves passed through some stunning southern Spanish scenery, the January day was warm and and clear with hardly a cloud in the sky, we also wait to get on the very last tour bus as it is never full and you always have more space, many rush for th first one or the front seats but waiting until the end always works for us! 
Our first stop on our tour of Malaga were the caves of Nerja, set into the mountains and found by two young boys in the 60's, turned into a tourist attraction and visited by millions of people every year, mostly in the summer months but as our cruise was in January we missed the crowds and enjoyed a spacious tour of the caves and its amazing stalagtites and stalagmites. 
After a short coach ride from the caves we arrived at the small but beautiful village of Nerja, its narrow streets and typical Spanish buildings, and the "balcony to the world" did indeed display one of the most picturesque views i have ever seen. 
We arrived back to the boat, took a last photograph of the splendid Norwegian Jade before the last leg of our cruise back to Barcelona and an entire day at sea. 
