COSTA DIADEMA 1st November 2014, Part 7

Part 7

Wednesday 5th November 2014
We arrived at 8 a.m. in Valletta, Malta G.C., under a glorious blue sky with warm sunshine, so I disembarked quickly and enjoyed walking along the quayside in both directions enjoying the views of this bay and city skyline.

Costa Diadema in Valletta

Ocean Princess nearby

Another interesting sight

Three bows and one little stern

Stern view

Nautical Tide was in


Again, we are only in port for a few hours so I was happy to get back on board and sit under the open roof of the Magrodome Lido area up on Deck 10 and enjoy the peace and quiet.

The open Magrodome and Lido seen from the depths of an extremely comfortable sofa


At 11 a.m. it was Quiz time in the Card room and we felt there should be English representation! We three probably made up a quarter of the competitors for the event but one of my companions managed to win the Geography Quiz prize – hooray. We have become so used to being shouted at by the female Cruise Director at shows to “APPLAUD” that we looked around to check if she was there. She wasn’t of course but everyone present clapped and congratulated the winner as he was handed his prize.

After an early lunch it was time to watch departure from Valletta and the Grand Harbour. I always enjoy seeing the upper Gardens and of course the huge Bell Tower and the Operation Pedestal Memorial for the 1940-43 siege of Malta commemorating the relief of the island (see my blog piece ‘Horizon Part 5, July 2012’, for more details).

Ocean Princess, Santa Maria (bunker) and a local gondola

Karol Wojtyla and the man painting the top of the pole

Bell Tower

Goodbye Valletta


The afternoon was spent on our favourite aft Deck 5 seating, enjoying the temperature and the light, and the newly established Bar Service.

Dinner was good and then it was time for this evening’s show of ‘Kings and Queens of Pop’. It was spectacular and so loud that the sound engineer must have been a very happy man. I think the Freddie Mercury number ‘We are the Champions’ was the hit of the evening as we all sang along and loved it. I did wonder why they didn’t make that the closing number and end on a high. The applause for that number and all of the show was tremendous and well-deserved, but still the female Cruise Director shouted at us all to applaud as she returned to the stage at the end. Can’t she hear us?

Ships seen: Ocean Princess, Costa Diadema, Santa Maria (bunkering), Karol Wojtyla, Grand Celebration


To be continued...