July 27, 2019
Tenerife Island: Frustration Getting
Online after 6 Days at Sea
April 7, 2019
TENERIFE ISLAND, Spain – Stepped on land for the first time in a week, enduring numerous headaches trying to get online to accomplish many West Africa planning tasks. Did not go on a shore excursion today since Mom and I were here just a few months ago.
Got up at 2:00 a.m. aboard Costa Pacifica. Went to the Deck 4 conference room to eat breakfast and watch “NCIS.”
Land ahoy! We were already only 31 miles from Tenerife Island, Canary Islands, Spain, after an uneventful and mostly smooth six-day Atlantic Ocean crossing from St. Lucia. Tenerife, population 890,000, is the most populous of the seven principal Canary Islands.
Pacifica sailed between Tenerife and Grand Canary Island. I got cell service for the first time in nearly a week. Checked Facebook, e-mail, etc., then worked on my calendar and scanned documents.
Went up top at 6:44 a.m. to watch Pacifica sail in the dark into Santa Cruz de Tenerife, population 207,000, the island’s capital. We arrived into port an hour before sunrise.
Took my lunch about 8 a.m. at the New York New York dining room’s breakfast service. Then got ready to go ashore. Mom and I were here on Tenerife five months ago during our MSC Fantasia trans-Atlantic voyage from Italy to Brazil. So I didn’t go on a shore excursion today. I had tons of West Africa travel planning and other tasks to do online, so I made a beeline for somewhere with WiFi after six days being incommunicado crossing the Atlantic.
After I disembarked, it was a super aggravating start to the morning. Had hoped to find WiFi in the huge new cruise terminal, but no such luck (!).
An adjacent port building has WiFi, but it didn’t work. I don’t understand how you can construct a pretty new cruise terminal, but it lacks the one thing cruise passengers want most: WiFi! Unbelievable.
I asked at the tourist info booth outside the terminal, which directed me to a nearby McDonalds!
The WiFi there was fast – 46.92 Mbps download, 6.77 upload – but went down after only about 20 minutes.
Damnit! I grabbed a snack, then tried to get online a bit later but the connection is intermittent. Fuck. I have a ton online I need to get done today!
At 10:47, the McDonalds WiFi went out again. Could not get anything done. SCREAM! So aggravating. I do not need this stress! What wasted time!
Gave up on McDonalds and found the nearby NH Tenerife Hotel. Settled into the lobby.
The WiFi is slow – 2.02 download, 0.97 upload – but at least it works. I got lots of Senegal and The Gambia trip planning and research done, among other tasks. Hard to believe I’ll be in Senegal in just four days!
Left the hotel at 3:20 and returned to the ship, passing through downtown and the harborfront, where a festival was going on during this pleasant Sunday afternoon
Reboarded Costa Pacifica and headed up to the lunch buffet at 3:49 to eat my dinner. Posted today’s photos to Facebook, then passed through the lido deck, where there are ping-pong and foosball tables. I was shocked to see Costa is so cheap you have to buy ping-pong and foosball balls from a machine!
Went up top to watch sail-away.
Cabin at 5:32. Got ready for bed, watched “NCIS,” and bed at 6:50 p.m.
Away we go to continental Europe! I’m looking forward to our next port of call. Gibraltar — 828 miles away — will be a new territory for me. Tomorrow we’ll be at sea before arriving into the United Kingdom territory April 9.
