April 2017 Transatlantic Cruise
Unlike my other report this will not be rigidly
chronological. Most days are similar so I'll try to group
activities. Days ashore and special events will be noted.
We coordinated our cameras so later I can sort the pictures by
creation date which makes it easier for scanning through.
April 18 Tuesday - We Ubered up to SFO
then flew to Fort Lauderdale on Jet
Blue. An uneventful trip. A lot of
standing around waiting for the hotel shuttle. Nice room. We had a bite and some wine in the bar. Talked with a guy from
Venezuela.
April 19 Wednesday - A bit of a wait
to be taken to the ship. A BIG problem
is our suitcase is broken. I broke it bringing it down stairs at
home. This will plague us for the rest of the trip.
On board. Looks like we hung around the
Crow's Nest - the big open area with a view on deck 10. Had a
drink and met Marian and Phil. Deb made
plans with them for dinner tonight. Here is the Crow's Nest (movie)
Finally checked into our cabin. Deb had ordered balloons. The usual small cabin with a
balcony. I'm disappointed that the TV is so small. On the
previous cruise we had a large screen TV at the foot of the
bed.
We did the lifeboat muster. They seem
to have this figured out.
About 5:30 off we go. Always an exciting time.
Dinner with Marian and Phil. Deb set it
up so we would eat together every
night. With a couple exceptions.
April 20 - May 5 - At sea doing routine ship things.
We had breakfast in our room every day. It got smaller and
smaller as we went. I don't need a big breakfast.
We generally walked around the ship and attended various
lectures in the morning. I enjoy reading the news digest they
print for various nationalities.
We ate lunch in the dining room every day. We like open seating
so we can meet various people. I tried to keep the lunch
reasonable size, which is tough with dessert and all.
In the afternoons we usually took a nap then walked around
enjoying the ship until martini time
On previous ships it was called "Martini Madness" and was held
in the Atrium bar on level 1. This time it's in the Crow's Nest.
The idea is they serve three different "martini's" for $4 each.
They are not full sized martini's.
Deb usually had three and I had one - though I
nipped on hers. (extras)
We were surprised to see we knew the head bartender
from a previous cruise - Orlando/Orly. What a hoot! Later he
even showed us pictures of us in the past!
He had a new thing - each day he had a different
bar trick. This was a lot of fun.
(movie) (movie) (movie)
As usual we met a lot of people while participating in this
activity. We'd all get happily tipsy.
There were three formal nights. Basically no jeans or shorts in
the dining room. We dressed up and had our pictures taken. (extras)
We had dinner at 7:45 each night at the same table. Usually with
Marian and Phil.
We had bought a wine package. The really nice and knowledgeable
wine steward learned our taste and provided nice wines -
including a few from the Admirals List. We tried to keep part of
the bottle for lunch the next day. This was fairly expensive but
I guess our three star status got us a discount.
Unfortunately the show times have been changed. I think it's
something like 5:30pm and 8pm. During martini time and during
dinner. Marian and Phil usually caught the early show.
We caught the end of a couple early shows. We enjoy
the shows so this was a big disappointment.
After dinner we usually went to our room and played cards.
Deb enjoys the towel sculptures we have each night. At the end
of the trip the crew showed their skills and imagination. (extras)
Deb had ordered roses for the room. The kept quite a long time.
She also ordered Gin and champagne. I did make the gin
last for the whole trip. We replaced the champagne a few times.
Watch this (movie) -
luckily I didn't get a black eye or concussion. We found we
could order cheese and crackers for our room for free! We did
this a couple times, probably should have done it more. Another
champagne movie (movie)
There are several things going on. We dropped in on the BB King
show. One or two nights we played craps - Deb came out nearly
$100 ahead. Strangely the piano bar was not crowded - I hear the
guy didn't have much personality.
As we left dinner we often saw this wonderful
violin player. He was and Indian guy. Full of enthusiasm. The
place was packed so we stood and watched. (movie)(movie)
We enjoy just walking around the ship and seeing interesting and
pretty things (extras)
ship-scenes
April 26 Wednesday - We are supposed to stop at Horta in the
Azores. Unfortunately it was too rough to tender in so we
bypassed it. We liked Horta last time we visited and had been
looking forward to going back. Oh well.
April 27 Thursday - We woke up in Ponta Delgada
on Sao Miguel an Azores island. It was rather cold and
threatening rain. We walked into town.
We visited a church.
Got some Euros.
We have a problem. We left the charger for the cameras at home
so we needed a charger. We did the tourist thing. After looking
around for a store that might sell such a thing we decided to
hike up this gigantic hill to a shopping mall.
Wow! Surprise! A major
mall! It looks like any large American mall. Including KFC,
Burger King and many familiar stores. I went into a phone/camera
store and found they did have a cable that fit the camera but it
wasn't for sale. We tried another place to no avail. We finally
gave up and walked a mile back down the hill.
Back down. Deb bought a couple things in a store. We then hiked all over the place
and found a quaint restaurant. We had
some wonderful goat cheese with jelly.
Don't remember what we ordered. At the end Deb spotted somebody
having something interesting looking - limpets.
She ordered some and ate them - she kept the shells.
Deb bought some flowers. Then back to the ship and our routine.
On April 28, Saturday we were scheduled for dinner at "The
Pinnacle", the ships fine dining steak house with Tom and Rita. We
stopped by their cabin for an appetizer
of cheese and champagne - very nice.
Then to a magnificent dinner including fun desserts.
We closed the place up. A good time was had by all.
On April 30, Monday we had a group
dinner with the martini people. Seems like somebody didn't make
it.???
May 1 Monday. The ship stopped in Cheerburg Normandy, France.
Too cold and rainy to go into town. The
dining room was closed so we at lunch
on the Lido deck. We talked with an
interesting couple there. It's Monday plus a national holiday so
people who went into town said everything was closed.
The ship was quiet. (movie)
May 2 Tuesday. Today were near Bruges Belgium. We joined Marian
and Phil. We sort of got screwed up and didn't take the free
shuttle to the train. Oh well. We got on the train for the 30
minute trip to Bruges. Marian was a
nervous mess. We got off the train and hiked
around Bruges for a while before we found the big market square. It was a bit cold and rainy. We
had a rather light lunch
at a place looking out at the square.
After that we did a little shopping -
bought some Belgian chocolate. Because of the rain we took a
taxi back to the train.
May 3 Tuesday. Today we are stopping in Amsterdam. We are taking
the tulip tour. We have no idea what to expect. After a rather
long bus ride out, with some lecture, we came to an area with
about a hundred buses. We went into the tulip place. OMG! This
is magnificent. We couldn't stop taking pictures. Several big
pavilion type buildings with flower displays. Bed after bed of
beautiful flowers - not all tulips. A wonderful wooded area.
There was even a windmill. We had a waffle with powered sugar on
it. (tulips)
We saw the oldest McDonalds in
Amsterdam. Back to the ship. We decided to go out for a beer. We
hiked down to the train station. It was
further then it appeared. We walked around and got some money.
We found a place that purported to be an Amsterdam beer place. I ordered two different beers
for Deb and I while she was in the toilet. When she came out I
had started talking to a guy from the
ship who seemed knowledgeable about beers. He talked us into
ordering a third beer and then with the
help of the bar tender we had another! I ordered a snack. The other patron plays the trumpet
in the BB King band. Much fun was had by one
and all.
We have a couple more nights on the ship. More martini madness,
more dinner, more relaxation.
After our last "Martini Madness" and our
last dinner on board we were ready to leave. We said good bye to
our waiter.
A few last things on the ship.
May 5 Friday - Copenhagen. Marian and Phil and a few others are
continuing on to one or two more cruises.