Day 11 day at sea

 Sunday 30th April 2017
    

Left Zeebrugge  this morning for a slow cruise down and up the English Channel. 

Bit of a non-day today, slight sea, neither particularly warm or cold, bright grey skies, all in all nothing to report.    

Not much to do either, putting off the evil hour when packing becomes necessary.    

Only highlights are the distant views of the French and English coasts.  


Going to post this soon, if any great excitement occurs will need to add a supplement.

Day 10 Zeebrugge, Belgium

Saturday 29th April 2017
 

This morning berthed in Zeebrugge, not our usual berth as Independence of the Seas already berthed.

Breakfast etc. then onto the Port Shuttle to take us to the Port Gate.  We have a plan to take the coastal tram along to Blankenburge.  Had it all organized where to get tickets and where to catch tram, and then they take us out a different gate.  Best guess was that the petrol station near the tram stop would have tickets.  Correct.  Bought a couple of day pass tickets, 6 euros each.  Just across the road hopped on the tram and rattled and bumped our way to Blankenburge.  Strolled down the main street, picking up the essential Australian gelatto along the way, down to the beach.  Time for morning coffee from one of the beachfront cafe while the sun is out, weather a bit patchy.  Then down to the sea for a walk on the beach.  Going back up through the town it was necessary to buy a few Belgian Chocolates.  Well why else would you come to Belgium.

  

Checked out the railway station to see how easy it would be to get a train into Brugge for when we come back again.  Back on the tram for the return journey, stayed on past our stop as far as Heist, just to see what was the other way from Zeebrugge, never ventured that way before.  Much the same as Blankenburge, most of this coast developed with tall seafront holiday apartments.  Tram back to Zeebrugge and  back onto our ship.  

Dinner tonight in Planks BBQ, huge portions of pulled pork, ribs,chicken and beef.  Much too much to eat, phew.  Also presented with a rather belated birthday cake with a candle accompanied by the staff’s rendition of Happy Birthday.

 

 

Off to the theatre this evening for ‘Bravo’ a mainly musical evening with the Princess Orchestra, Singers and Dancers plus a guest singer.  A really very good evening of popular classics,  show tunes and light opera, all very good and very well sung.  Definitely their best effort by far.

 

Day 9 Rotterdam, Netherlands

Friday 28th April 2017

Up fairly early in the hopes of catching some of the sail-in, managed to catch the last couple of hundred yards of reversing into our berth just below the Erasmus Bridge in the centre of Rotterdam.   

After breakfast got our stuff together to join our tour group to Keukenhof, to visit the notably gardens famous for bulbs especially tulips.  

 

 

Day looking fairly cloudy and still cool at 10 Celsius.  Should have been about an hours drive  but due to some unknown traffic holdup took over two.  Apart from the holdup the drive was quite pleasant, mainly rural, though towns such as The Hague and Leiden appeared nearby.  Cloudy most of the way and spells of rain, lets hope it doesn’t continue.   Lots of canals, windmills (well windpumps actually), cows and bulbfields to keep us amused.   Arriving at Keukenhof we were allowed extra time at the gardens to compensate for delays.

And so in we went, immediately confronted with the MOST SPECTACULAR display of colour and scent, mainly tulips, though all sorts of other flowers and colourful trees heled to bring extra dimensions to the effect.  It was immediately obvious the available time would not be enough, so set off to see al we could.  Waked through surrounded by hundreds of beds containing thousands and thousands of bulbs, too numerous to imagine, in an amazing range of hundreds of colours in all sorts of combinations.  Took a short mid visit break to rest the feet and revive the senses with a quick coffee break.  Then on via the windmill to make the most of the remaining time as we made progress back towards our pickup.  The whole time in the gardens mainly sunny and no rain, just about perfect.

 Keukenhof Gardens 

  

The return on the coach seemed almost immediately to bring back the clouds and a couple of sharp showers.  A somewhat different route back to dock which did actually take about the hour as promised.  Back at the dock Yvonne went on-board and I went for a short walk to get some extra photos of the Erasmus Bridge and the old Holland-America Building (now being used as a hotel).   Once  aboard headed straight up to the buffet for a combined lunch/dinner, very odd mixture of food on offer but the desserts/cakes were really good today.

 Old Holland America Building

During our short rest before sailaway the Captain announced a change of itinerary.  The stop at LeHavre was not to be due a strike of French dockworkers.  This next bit should be read with a theatrical French accent.  “Pah! cruise schedule, I spit upon your cruise schedule”.  OK back to status quo.  This loss of one port means we will be staying in Zeebrugge overnight and just spend on day at sea on our way to Southampton.

Went upon forward deck to watch the sailaway.  Good views of the town and the port but just too cold a wind to stay for long, so down to the atrium for a reviving coffee, and stayed until after dark and until we had eventually sailed out past one of the longest breakwaters I had ever seen.

Day 8 at sea

Thursday 27th April 2017 

Nice quiet day at sea today, seems like time for a rest, that’s my opinion anyway!  Didn’t really achieve much today worth mentioning, must have done something, the day just flew by.

 

Formal night tonight, so all dressed up, off to the theatre first for tonight’s show by the Princess singers and dancers,  “Born to be Wild”.  A very good show, full of energy and very good songs.

 

Then off to dinner, shared table again, tonight 2 Americans and 4 Canadians, all very good company if we ignore  tendency to discuss politics and Donald Trump (the Americans were very anti-Trump).  Yvonne wasn't so keen on the menu so settled on Melon followed by Chicken Breast on Pasta Alfredo.  However suited me perfectly so I had Cream of Tomato Soup followed by Lobster Tail, all in all a very good evening and our table was last out of the restaurant.

 

Another late finish despite a busy day tomorrow.

Day 7 Hamburg, Germany

Wednesday 26th April 2017  

Today berthed at Altona (Fishmarket) Cruise Terminal in Hamburg, Germany.  Seems like a better terminal than on our previous visit when we were berthed on the other side of the river a long way from everything.  So, we went ashore and walked only 100 yards from the ship to catch the ferry boat, very convenient and very reasonably priced.  Rode the ferry for two stops up to Londungsbruken, a very pleasant ride, always looking for opportunities to fit in a boat trip.  This stop is the central location for all the ferries, boat trips, hop-on-hop-off busses, trains, etc..

Hamburg Skyline

 Walked across the road and just up the hill a bit to get to the Church of St Michael,  seriously busy here, quick look into the church then I went out to lobby to check on access to the tower for “the best viewpoint in town”, not good timing, couldn’t get back into church to tell Yvonne as the Noon Mass was just starting and the staff were closing the door, bit of a shambles, surrendered to fate and bought my ticket for the tower and took the trip up for pictures and views, excellent.  No sign of Yvonne so returned down to discuss what went wrong, not in too much trouble! 

View over the Town and Port

Planned to follow up with a visit to St Nickolas Memorial, a ruined church consisting of just one wall and the tower, but tower shrouded in scaffolding so didn’t bother.  Instead continued down to the old warehouse district and Hafen City.  Lots of historic warehouse converted to housing and much redevelopment with modern innovative designed buildings.  

 

Took another ferry back to  Londungsbruken to check out the Old Elbe Tunnel,  currently under refurbishment, but still open to pedestrians.  Very smart and apparently very busy and popular,  didn’t actually cross the river so back up to catch the ferry back to the ship.  Very slow getting through security to get back on the ship, the port could only find a couple of staff to deal with hundreds of cruise passengers, very poor.

 

Took advantage of quiet afternoon in our stateroom to watch a movie, “A Royal Night Out”, quite amusing, not too bad.  Had a shot at the afternoon trivia , no prize, again.

 

This evening’s entertainment in the Theatre was The Fly Boys singing some fairly modern songs in the style of the 1940’s and some similar,  sang really well, excellent voices well presented, not so sure about the actual songs, ah well still very enjoyable.

 

Little light supper in the buffet to close the day. 

Days 5 and 6 at sea

Monday 24th April and Tuesday 25th April 2017   

Today, Monday, just as expected were heading South to pass Lands End, no one could imagine the efficient route would be via John O’Groats.  Fantastic warm sunny day, so out on the balcony until the sun moved round.  Watched a bit of film, “Passenger”, a tale of space travel, love and disaster, not a bad film.   


Tonight's Production Show in the theatre was Broadway Ballroom with Princess Singers and Dancers

.   

Following the show we went  to see Captain Marko Fortezze at his Champagne Reception, (also known as the sales pitch for future cruises) and a reward presentation for most travelled passengers, way up around 1700+ nights.

  

Dinner in the Coral Dining Room.  Prawns and then Chicken for Yvonne, Pate then Seafood Skewers for me.  Today a table of 8, mostly from England though one couple from Hawaii, all very pleasant.


   

  

Today Tuesday, another day at sea.  Quite chilly today, also first slightly choppy sea and stronger wind.  Headed parallel to the Netherlands coast accompanied by lots of white horses, ships, oilrigs and wind turbines.    


Afternoon Tea delivered to our stateroom, on time  quite a good tea, even the scones were a fair effort.  Weather easing back to insignificant during the afternoon but still cold.   


Went to the Harry Potter Trivia Quiz, didn’t win, some very knowledgeable Harry Potter fans in attendance.   


Dinner tonight in buffet.  Hamburg tomorrow arriving early morning.
 

Day 4 Dublin, Ireland

Sunday 23rd April 2017   Berthed in Dublin, arrived not quite so early as previous ports, but only just caught the last of the sail-in.  Weather quite cloudy, doesn’t look much like a sunburn day today.  

Soon ready to go ashore and catch the complementary shuttle bus into town.  End of the ride at Merrion Square.  Managed to work out from ships usual poor map which way to go and set off for O’Connell Bridge, fairly easy.  Crossed over the River Liffey and then on up O’Connell Street.  Looked in at the Post Office, checking for bullet holes in the columns, the Post Office apparently being the centre of action of the nationalist uprising in Easter 1916. 

  

O' Connell Street Post Office

Carried on up the street for a short way, not much else to see but shops.  So crossed over and went back down the other side.  Re-crossing the  Liffey aimed back towards the bus.  Part way there saw lots of tourists going in through an arched doorway, so thought we had better take a look.  Bye the bye Dublin was, despite it being a Sunday, positively crowded with tourists speaking an endless variety of languages.  The doorway turned out to lead into Trinity College, University of Dublin.  An absolute haven of tranquillity only yards away from the hubbub of endless busses and taxis negotiating the winding roads and roadworks of the rest of the city centre.  Even had time to sit down and watch a couple of overs of cricket being played on the university sports field.   

Trinity College

  

Carried on mostly without too much trouble to find the bus and made our way back to the ship.   Spot of lunch then a bit of film on TV and some rest time.  A light dinner and then to the library for good internet connection, then that just leaves supper coffee and late sailaway before bedtime.

Day 3 Cobh, Ireland

Saturday 22nd April 2017

 Berthed in Cobh, this being the Irish spelling for Cove, the old name for the town (now back in use), after the visit by Queen Victoria the name was changed to Queenstown, this lasted through the period of the events of its Titanic association  until after Irish independence.   Nice steady start to the day and then ashore, a few hundred yards and we were at the old White Star Line building where the passengers joining Titanic in Ireland left from. 

 

White Star Building

 Dutifully bought our tickets for the guided tour.  After a short wait in the adjacent park we joined our group.  Learnt a great deal about those who sailed on that fateful voyage, also a bit about those who ended their voyage at Queenstown including deserters from the crew.  Very different treatment and facilities provided dependent on class of ticket.  First and second class actually used the building to embark, even though they were kept separate, third class waited outside and received their boarding passes in the alley at the side of the building.  Two steam paddle tenders ferried the passengers out to Titanic which anchored out in the harbour behind Spike Island and not even in sight of the passengers until they were nearly to the ship.  Once on-board treatment continued very differently according to class, accommodation, food etc. all very different, but it must be remembered that for third class running water and electricity were probably unknown at home and they were provided with three meals a day which was all included in the fare, not usually the case.  

 

Original timbers of embarkation jetty

Multi media displays described the sinking and the total lack of crew training which lead to lifeboats being sent away only half full.  Also just how close the SOS message sent by Titanic  was to not being received by Carpathia as her radio operator was just closing down for the day, another ten minutes and no rescue for even those who did make it to the lifeboats,  even so the danger to the rescuers from the ice delayed the pick up by some hours.   After all that thought we had earned a nice locally made gelato from the place next door.  A quick look round the town and then checked out the rally of old and classic cars meeting in the park.  

 

A couple of real classics

 Back on-board for morning coffee, and a short rest, just to catch up.   Afternoon tea in the Coral Dining Room, not great!   This evening off to the movies under the stars (that should read clouds),well wrapped up in blankets, for JK Rowling’s Magical Beasts and Where to Find Them.  Half way through enjoyed a slice of pizza for dinner. 

Day 2 St Peter Port, Guernsey

Friday 21st April 2017.

This beautiful morning anchored off St Peter Port, Guernsey at some unearthly hour, luckily didn’t need to pay any attention until a much more reasonable hour.  Tenders running back and forth to town.  After a leisurely breakfast went down to collect our tender ticket and soon onto the tender and away to St Peter Port.
 

Walking to the left along the seafront got to the La Valetta Underground Military Museum entrance.  Sat on a strategically placed bench with a perfect view back to the town, over Castle Coronet, of the Caribbean Princess and all the adjacent islands, delightful.  Set off to go into the museum but decided it was just too nice to spend time underground, so back to our bench to enjoy the day.    

   

The view (see above)

Eventually figured it was time to return to the ship, relaxed on our balcony to catch some sun, actually just a little too much, oh well.  

Time for a cup of tea to keep things lubricated.   A very nice selection of hors d’oeuvres  delivered to our stateroom.
   

Tonight's plan to attend the formal dinner in the main restaurant, has to be done at least once, had to be put on hold as the Star Wars film Rogue 1 came on the TV, so extra couple of hours in the stateroom, good film though a big screen would help.  As soon as finished got togged up and off to the Coral Dining Room.  No two person tables available so agreed to sharing.  Four very pleasant Americans were our table companions.  Very nice dinner, Yvonne had French Onion Soup followed by alfredo pasta with chicken and mine was a crabmeat tureen followed by roast cornish game hen.  Most pleasant dinner even if rather late, time to call it a day and get some sleep.

Day 1 - Southampton

Thursday 20th April 2017

Caribbean Princess Cruise, European Capitals, 11 Days starting 20th April 2017

Just off on our latest cruise, a very late booking, one we had looked at a few times and eventually the price was just too good to miss, so here we are.  Travelled from our usual pre-cruise overnight stop (just in case motorway holdups cause the dreaded delayed arrival) on the No1 Blue Star bus, then a short walk to the Ocean Terminal. 

Our ports of call

Note – doesn’t seem likely we will pass north of Scotland, we should return up the English Channel

The Caribbean Princess is a new ship for us, though of a class of ship we have sailed before, hence as we wander about the ship it all feels familiar, should mean not getting lost too often!

Caribbean Princess – including new Sea Witch paint job

Congratulations to Princess for a quick and easy process to get us booked in, on board and to our stateroom.  We had been allocated a really nice stateroom on Deck 10 Caribe with an extra large balcony.
After a quick look round time for lunch at the Salty Dog, burgers and hot dogs, excellent.
Before you know it it’s time for lifeboat drill, hopefully never to be needed.
Sailaway into a nice sunny evening, after a rather cloudy day, kept trying to brighten and eventually did.
Enjoyed pre-dinner hors d’oeuvres for us Elite passengers.  Mexican Salsa and Tortillas, along with Mojito cocktails.  This was in the Skywalkers Nightclub, also known as the Shopping Trolley Handle, see the pictures. 
Dinner in the World Fresh Marketplace buffet, just a light snack needed.
Back to stateroom for an early night, seems the first day is just too tiring, can’t manage much more today.