Our first full sea day and as the kids fully engaged with meeting their mates at kids club we actually get time to relax! But first in the morning Al and the kids go listen to the scientist talks about space and the eclipse. I take the opportunity to have a lie in then decide that the gym is a must, not to combat the food as I'm trying to eat healthy, but I dread to think how many calories are in each cocktail. Where Liliya just misses out on the older kids club we went to talk (not complain) to guest services as last night she was solo in the late club and we explained she actually wants to go, we aren't using it as a baby sitting service so can't they move her in with her brother when it's so empty. They said they'd see what they could do and although no promises made, the next afternoon (today) they let her go in with the older kids. Later when we went to collect her she said she'd played there for 30 mins then went back into her own club. She didn't quite do us any favours after our not complaining but as long as she's happy. The rest of the day is just spent chilling by the pool, the heat really is just about at the max limit we can tolerate but cocktails of course help with the hydration. In the evening the kids aren't bothered about seeing the singer and to be honest it doesn't really fit with our timings so they are back to kids club and we go watch a fantastic sand artist. The late night movie under the stars is guardians of the galaxy so we all watch the first half together then I go see the late edition adults only comedy show.

Today's cocktails consumed:

• Rhubarb and custard
• Strawberry margarita on rocks
• Mudslide
• Ginger pimms
• Porn star martini
• Espresso martini
• Margarita
• Mango margarita

Day 4 and we're in Bilbao, it's been non stop late nights though so we allow everyone to have a lie in even though it's a port day. Given we were here a few years ago we decided to skip the obvious trip to the Guggenheim and instead decide we'll check out the old town. Rather than get the public transport into town however Al insists that it's not that far but in this heat we're all really suffering and the walk soon gets termed the death march. We finally get to the old town and the first site we see is the cathedral, that's bound to be cold inside so we have a short queue and get the audioguide since it's included in the price. After 30 mins we're all guided out though and feel ready to face the heat again, plus Liliya needs the loo and we're told the nearest place is the Ribera market. It's just a short walk and whilst looking around we find a local dessert famous to the area called the Carolina, so named because it was the pastry chefs daughter's name. It looked very fancy with a pastry crust filled with custard and topped with a meringue cone coated with a sweet egg yolk glaze and dark chocolate. We decided one between us all to share would be enough although the boys ate most of it.

The old town wasn't as impressive as some and needing something else to do before heading back to the boat we decided to ride the funicular and see the views from the top. We were all walked out so found a nearby bus to get us closer to the bottom although nearly didn't get on as it was cash only and Al had just enough change having used it in the market for the dessert and only used cash there as they had a strange machine that you slotted your money into and it gave you your change. Anyway, good news is we made it and it seems half of the town were also wanting to go up so we had about a 30 min wait but it was nice to ride the funicular and the kids managed to get the best view at the front.

We enjoyed a little walk around the top, took some photos and even found a park for the kids to play on but within less than a couple of minutes they said it was too hot and wanted to go back to the boat to get in the pool.

I can't blame them I was happy with that too. We now had no money for a bus but we could use the tram as they have card machines at each stop so we took a short walk over the river and got on a tram near the Guggenheim which turns out neither kid can remember visiting so maybe we'll go back on next year's trip. Back on board we all enjoy the pool, the kids have made a good handful of friends so we're barely seeing them on the ship, even if we are in the pool they prefer to play with their friends so I'm really feeling no guilt as I take myself to the hot tub and make my own friends.

From this point onwards even the cocktail list gets a bit blurry but I did drink more than my allowed 15 free drink limit and ended up staying out until the early hours in the 'club' introducing more people to Baby Guinness whilst I was introduced to the lemon drop and a milky way. Cocktails I recall consuming:

• Ultimate cooler
• Lychee indigo spritz
• Rhubarb and custard
• Cali vice
• Margarita
• English mojito
• Milky way
• Lemon drop
• Captains bounty
• Baby Guinness (many)

Day 5 and we've now got 3 sea days but today is the main event and the reason why most people have booked this cruise. Earlier I mentioned how we'd seen plenty of people in matching t-shirts well it turns out they knew something we didn't and there's actually a solar eclipse t shirt competition by the pool in the afternoon. Given we've got our matching ice dye t-shirts we decide they have a solar flare to them and enter. The activity coordinator running the event is actually overwhelmed by the number of participants and there are around 45 different groups. He quickly needs to change the rules so everyone can compete and Liliya and Robert go up by themselves to say who they are and where they are from. Turns out we're the only British competitors and they are the only kids so it's not that hard for them to get cheers as it's up to the public vote who wins. They make it into the final but to be fair the two sisters that win did have really good matching sun and moon t-shirts and the kids did very well standing up in front of everyone. Of course Liliya did her splits to get extra votes, such a performer! Even though they came second they still got the 'prize' which turned out to be a plastic token that looked like a chip you'd have in a casino so they really didn't miss out on anything big anyway and it was fun to watch everyone.

Afterwards Robert took himself to kids club and Liliya and I went to take part in the scavenger hunt. We've got the rest of the trip to find as many crew who are from different countries, apparently the crew represent 64 countries and each of them as a badge with their name, job title and country so although Liliya started off thinking this was a dull game she soon really got into it. We also need to collect some senior job titles and all the activity staff. Some more pool time and an early tea then it's time to decide where to watch the eclipse from, just like the people putting towels out on the sun loungers there's already people camping out on the top deck by the railings. We decide to try find somewhere with fewer people and opt for a quiet spot on one of the lower decks which actually works out perfectly even though we also end up camping out for around 90 mins and then the eclipse itself takes over an hour to reach full totality. It was definitely worth it though and we could still hear the science presenter talking us through the event over the ship's speakers. We got an amazing view and we're so lucky because earlier in the day we'd been really overcast.

Later on we ended up meeting a lady who's friends were on an Icelandic solar eclipse cruise and all their pictures were overcast. Tonight is supposed to be great for seeing meteors as well but we didn't spot any. As I was taking Robert for a 'midnight' feast (always before 10.30pm as that's when the buffet actually closes) we bump into the activity coordinator running the t-shirt competition and he remembers the kids, he said they were actually his favourite and asks for our room number so he can deliver them a special gift bag. Only 2 cocktails for today (and that was tough 😉)

• Lychee mojito
• Downfall

Day 6 is just a full chill out day, we bumped into the activity coordinator whilst realising we needed his signature on our scavenger hunt and he quickly ran off to make them up a little something. They got a drawstring bag, pen, book and sunglasses case, definitely much better than the eclipse token they got. Al and the kids also attend another science talk and as Robert keeps asking questions he keeps getting a cool photo as a prize. I am however feeling brighter today so manage some new and favourite cocktails

• Strawberry daiquiri
• Mango margarita
• Dirty banana
• Capirinha
• Non frozen pina colada
• English mojito
• Azul Blanco
• Cartagena cool

Day 7 is another pool day and formal night, Al and the kids come back from the morning science talk with more goodies and today we try the fancy sushi restaurant for lunch. As part of our package Al and I get 4 'free' passes each to either the gourmet pizza restaurant or the sushi bar so we double up so the kids can come along with us.

I'm still not sure where all the time is going during the day as come the evening we're still all rushing to get ready in time in our fancy outfits even though we've had all day. Tonight I decide to splash out and pay for the upgrade for fillet steak and lobster, definitely worth it. Sadly the evening meal service was really slow and by the time we've rushed out to try see the early show it's full and as tomorrow we head to Málaga we want everyone to be up, out and rested. Now I know cocktails were consumed but didn't make notes so I'm guessing I just went for my old favourites.