October 4th and 5th Sea days

It’s amazing how sea days can lull you into doing nothing except watching the waves or water if there are no real waves, it very  hypnotic.  For the last couple days that’s how it’s been.

Yesterday I did manage to start packing, and Ed went to a navigation meeting he really enjoyed. Then we had the captains cocktail party in the evening. Would you believe the most traveled guest, had 1,370 days!  We don’t have to worry about making that, we won’t live long enough.  We met a nice couple and were able to talk directly to the captain on the way to dinner. 

Yesterday was special as 21 years ago, yesterday I became a grandmother, and yesterday Morgan turned 21!  Wear did the time go? 

Today I will try to pack another bag, learned from a dear friend that’s the way to do it, a little at a time. Tomorrow is our last Formal night and Ed has decided not to wear his tux, as people on here, are not dressing, and he just had it cleaned, so now it will be ready for the next time we cruise. And right now, that won’t be until December of 2020.  As we have a couple of graduations on the agenda, and we don’t want to book anything that might interfere. 

September 30th, and October 1st and 2nd at sea

We awoke Monday September 30 to calm seas and bright sunlight.  Beautiful day as we headed southwest to take the southern route across the mid Atlantic, 9 sea days to pass behind hurricane Lorenzo as the hurricane moved northward. We sat out on our deck and enjoyed the beautiful sea day.  Here I should say I sat out on the deck and took a nap, Marlon, our room steward, brought us blankets, and I put them to good use. 

Then as we were readying for diner, the Captain came on with an announcement that we were deviating from course to Madeira and rendezvousing with a Madeira coast guard boat to transfer an ill passenger off the ship.  

This cruise has had multiple medical emergencies of passengers transferred, we had one airlifted by helicopter to France by the French AF, and six others departing by ambulance at various ports along our journey.  Once the transfer was complete we were once agin on our way.

Tuesday morning brought another beautiful sea day with calm seas and blue skies. We continued our southwesterly heading at 18 knots and looked forward to the next seven sea days.  We can always hope,,,,,, we don’t mind the bouncing, but Wednesday morning started at 0330 with a large bang, we have now checked to see what woke us up, but the cause is unknown, however the seas had turned nasty, away we went as the seas were part of an angry mess left behind by hurricane Lorenzo.  

This morning the Captain provided an update of our position and precautions to be taken while in the rough seas.  Fortunately the weather is warm 79 degrees, wind is west southwest at 17 knots with clear skies. The Captain indicated the seas should reduce this evening.  

We just had the superintendent of the cabin stewards here to check on the banging, and the issue with our bed, he has no idea what’s going on with the banging, which was relentless in the AM, but said he would try to fix the mattress problem, Cindy got very little sleep last night, on the Heavenly bed, she told him it was a bed from HELL!  LOL  so we shall see. 

September 29th, Lisbon, Portugal and September 30th sea day

We arrived in Lisbon in the dark, so even with the alarm for 6:30 o’clock it was DARK!  We had missed sail in, but that was ok as we had seen it before and could see it leaving. Lisbon is a very pretty city and we have always enjoy our visits here. 

We went down to breakfast and had a good one, and then to the wheelhouse bar to get our number for the buss. I talked Ed into going down early, and were we glad we did, as it was at least a mile to the bus. The Lisbon terminal is huge, I think it was new from the last time we were here. So we found our bus and chose the front seat, this was another gastronomical tour and a drive by some of the sights, that we saw in the past. So we knew we would probably not get off the bus to see them again. 

This is the famous bridge that is a copy of the golden gate, and they are quite proud of the connection. 

This is a brand new shopping mall and I wouldn’t have minded going inside and looking around, but this was a Sunday and all but the necessaries we closed, and we didn’t need to go, so we stayed on the bus.  As you can see from this photo it was an incredible day. 

There were lots of people enjoying the day, they had an iron man capitation, and various other things going on, so streets were closed and they couldn’t really show us things that were scheduled. 

We finely arrived at the restaurant about noon. And were escorted to the garden, that used to be where they stabled there horses 

This meal was  either fish or veal definitely should have both ordered the fish, as it was incredible, the veal was good but not as good as the fish. 

It was wonderful and I’m still suffering from all the wine and port they kept feeding us. 

Me and the chef

When we returned to the ship it was again the loooooong walk back, and by now it was HOT 🥵 

Sail-a-way was spectacular, and the captain came on to tell us about Lorenzo and that we weren’t going to the Azores, then he sen a revised letter later to give us more details that sounded good to us, anything to avoid the hurricane. 

Note the dolphins on the base of the bridge. 

So today is the first of Nine sea days we will have, and it is very smooth and sunny, and they decided it was also Formal night! I wish they would have waited a bit for that, but I’m sure the patter had been printed, and they didn’t want to redo them, oh well. We’re not all that excited about it......... 

Until tomorrow:

Bilbao, Spain

Our trip continues,

Bilbao, has a beautiful cruise terminal, with nothing in it except a lot of security people, and the cruise line or city set up a shuttle service  to take you very close to the Guggenheim museum, which probably would have been a good thing, but we had a gastronomic tour in this city known for its very high 5 star restaurants.  Our tour included a by bus tour of the city, and a stop to see the market in old town, then on to our lunch, where our chef, would prepare our food and demonstrate, how to do it. 

First the city, this big red contraption is the Vizcaya bridge. 

The bridge, still in use, is 164 meters long, and its gondola can transport six cars and several dozen passengers in one and a half minutes.

It operates every 8 minutes during the day (every hour at night), all year round, with different fares for day and night services, and is integrated into Bilbao's Creditrans (now "Barik") ticket system. An estimated four million passengers and half a million vehicles use the bridge annually.^[1]

There are two new visitor lifts installed in the 50-metre-high pillars of the bridge that allow walking over the bridge's platform, from where there is a view of the port. 

The next highlight was a wonderful view of the Guggenheim, from across the river. 

It is indeed impressive, and I know you could spend many days in there. 

Then it was on to the market, and it is very modern three stories, and VERY clean, I would be happy to buy my food there, and the verity was outstanding.

Then on to lunch. 

You would never know unless you knew, this was a restaurant. 

This was our demo table. 

Ed fell in love with the hutch. 

The chef prepping the salmon, teaching how you have to take out the bones, and salt it and put citrus on it to pickle it like making  ceviche. 

This was the end of a very elaborate cooking of cod called,  Buccola it’s made from salt cod, and Very good, not salty at all. 

I hope I can find this wine at home, it is very good. 


So that brings us to today, a sea day, last night we had the roughest night yet and today is not much better, but hay it’s sunny. Tomorrow Lisbon and since we’ve been there a number of times we opted for another culinary tour. LOL

September 26, Bordeaux, 27, Bilbao, and 28th a sea day still unfolding....

BORDEAUX:

Our port was Le Verdon, it is about two hours from there to Bordeaux, and there is nothing by the ship. There was a shuttle into Le Verdon, I’m not sur what was there as we had an all day tour of wine tasting, and lunch and a bit of shopping at the high-end shops, so we didn’t do any of  that, we can do that at home cheaper, but we did enjoy the day, as it was cool in the morning and warmed by afternoon, and no rain. 

So we met at 7:45 o’clock and then on to the busses. First stop was drive-by a number of chateaus that produce wines. Many of these look like castles, which is the meaning of  Chateau: ( a large French country house or castle often giving its name to wine made in its neighborhood.)

The chateaux we visited was a bit less grand, but very nice, and the wine was grand. After a long history of more then 200 years Chateau Fourcas Hosten the Chateau was bought from an American family that owned it in 1974, by two French brothers. 

The day we were there, they were harvesting the grapes.  Then it was on to the tastings, we liked it, so bought four bottles. 

Now back in the bus, to drive through some beautiful countryside and our guid told us about the longest marathon. 

Medoc region of Bordeaux

Did you know the the home of the longest annual international marathon race? Yes, with over 8,000 participants it is nicknamed the longest marathon in the world. Why, because it is run through the vineyards of “Medoc” Bordeaux with 20 individual wine tastings events along the way, participants seldom run in a straight line as the finish line approaches, leading all to proclaim the race was too long,  LOL must be fun. 

We arrived about an hour later in the city of Bordeaux and it was time for lunch and it was a very good lunch of  Coq au vin salad and of coarse wine. For desert it was pineapple and ice cream. 

Then it was off for shopping, and I forgot to tell you about the cleaning of the wine,,,,, at a certain stage, they put egg whites into the wine to clear it, well when they separate the wine and the egg yoke later, they sell these yokes to bakers and make a confection from them, called Caneles. Well we bought some and are about to try them today. 

So this will be continued:

September 25, 2019 second sea day

First Merry Christmas three months from today!  Ok I know many of y’all won’t appreciate that, but my mom used to tell me that on every 25th, as to how many months it would be so I would be ready. LOL

Ok this is our second sea day as the weather canceled Portland. No big surprise in this cabin as my navigator had been watching the map on the internet and he said he didn’t think we would get in. That morning, about 6:45 o’clock to tell us we were not able to safely doc and when we looked out the window, we wouldn’t have wanted to get out in it anyway, as it was blowing at about 35, Gusting to 50 knots and 8 meter (24 feet) seas, according to the captain. And from that point to this it has been rough!! 

So our next port is Le Verdon, France that will take us on a wine all day wine tour to Bordeaux, we are really looking forward to this tour. And right now all looks good. 

Now, let me tell you about things happening around the ship. First we received an invitation to the Chefs Table, we were happy about that, but when we went to the pre-meeting this morning they informed us it would be tomorrow evening starting at 5:30 o’clock, we aren’t due back from our tour until five thirty! So we had to politely cancel, C’est la vie, we have done it before. 

Today we had a French Air Force medical helicopter airlift someone off the ship....  it was a VERY professional operation in BAD weather.  Interesting to note that all Princess Cruise Ships do NOT have helipads but air rescue stations on the side of the upper deck. There have been three people removed from the ship by ambulance in the past ports, but this had to be very tricky in this weather. 

The crew on this ship has been outstanding, from our room Stewart to the dinning room, even the shop girls, have been great, everyone seems to want to cater to your needs. The food also has been way over our expectations, even room service food, we had some of the best hamburgers we have had anywhere from room service. 

We have not seen any shows except the local shows in Ireland and Scotland, but we will now that we have nipped the colds. 

Tonight is Formal night and I hope the seas calm by then, as it is harder to get dressed when you have 8 to 12 foot seas, luckily we don’t get sea sick. LOL

These were taken from our room on the 9th deck, just to give you some prospective is 10 stores up! 

September 22, 2019 Southampton, UK

Well here we are back at the begging, but not really. Just the begging port, to start on our second leg of the cruise. And nothing like a old fashion cold to take you out of action, and this one has done it to me. NOT FUN!   The last few days have been a blur, we took a health day, but the cold was more then wee. And then of coarse I got it too, ugh. So we skipped Edinburgh, much to my chagrin, I didn’t want to miss all the stops in Scotland, but so it goes, sometimes. We did see a very interesting train bridge, as it was so busy at least 3 trains every 5 minutes. There were two passenger car bridges and one train bridge, then the bridge in the background was for cars. 

We did get the opportunity to see the scotch show, as I posted last.  And we managed to pull ourselves together and go on the tour to Normandy. The tour was a very long bus ride, but we were put in the back of the bus, the last seats in the back, and that was probably good as I slept before and after. 

We had a sea day before, and that was good as it helped Ed to get almost well, and me to stay in bed most of the day. We had to be in the wheelhouse bar at seven fifteen, and then of coarse wait, and then they put us on last!  So off we went on our long ride, and the guide was  very monotone so it was easy to fall asleep. And I don’t usually sleep in the day. 

First stop was the museum about D day, in Arromanches, Fr. the beach there was most impressive as the bunker wall was still somewhat in tact. And the tide was out so you could see lots of sand, later the tide was up, and that was not the case at Omaha or Utah beach’s. We then went to lunch in this town at a wonderful restaurant in Hotel De Normandy, this place put out the food that would make other restaurants be ashamed, as there had to be 80 people from the buses and there regular clientele, and it was wonderful food, we started with Nicosia salad, which I thought was the lunch, as it had prosciutto on top, and lots of wonderful veggies. One funny thing, when they brought around the bread it was in a big brown bag, and she pulled two rolls or what ever the table required and kind of through it on the basket at your table, it was funny. 

Then we got the main coarse, chicken, and veggies, the chicken was so tasty, I just wish I could have enjoyed it, but, we were seated by the kitchen, and it was hot, and I took a couple bites, and went outside to get fresh air. Ed worried about me, and skipped the dessert of French apple pie, bummer. 

Then it was on to the cemetery and Omaha beach, I was very moved by the shear numbers of men who gave up there lives so we could live free. And what many of them knew would be there last day 

September 16,17,18, 2019 Sea day and health days

We are in Invergordon, Scotland, and Ed has come down with a wee bit of a cold. We were scheduled to take a bus to Inverness and spend the day on our own, but on mutual decision we decided to take a health day. It is raining, and about 50 F so best to skip this tour and be healthy for Normandy! 

So while he sleeps I will try to catch you up. On the 16th we were in Greennock (Glasgow), we had nothing seceded so stayed on the ship and we were able to see the Scotich show put on by the local people. It was wonderful and we were really happy we didn’t have a tour, as you miss things like that. There’s another one today at four this afternoon, I will try to see, but I’m not sue Ed will be upto it. Had we been on our tour, we would have missed it. 

The 17th was a sea day, and the Captains party and a very interesting day it was. We started the day with breakfast in our special dinning room for the first time. It is only open on sea days, it was a worthwhiled thind to do, it was very good. The food on the ship has been very good for the most part. I don’t expect any restaurant to be perfect every time. 

Then later I had a hair appointment and the stylist I had, Vladimir Aralics, was very good, and he didn’t try to sell me anything, and this was also the case, a few days ago when I had a manicure. Not like the past, when that was a big grip, the hard sell for products, refreshing. 

So we then had the captains party and they announced the most traveled, 1,657 days, amazing. Then on to dinner, of escargot, some of the best we have ever had! And lobster tails, and lobster thurmado, the lobster thourmado was divine, the tail, was over cooked. 

So that brings us to today our health day, and hopefully we can take the shuttle into Edinburgh tomorrow and walk around a bit, but if not we have a sea day the next day and then our BIG day Le Havre, France and Normandy! Say a little prayer, as it is scheduled to rain that day, and I sure hope it doesn’t. 

September 15th 2019, Belfast, North Ireland

Good morning,

Well today is really the 16th as I write this, but yesterday was another one of those long tour days we booked, we might learn, but I’m not sure. So I will start with yesterday. Our tour started early,,,,,,,,,,,,, again we boarded from the elevators instead of the stairs, but this time I figured the code, we went on our oun to fix the bus, much easier. We booked the  tour to the Giants Causeway, with a few stops in between. We drove through the Antrim Coast, it is one of north Ireland’s most beautiful scenic coast line routes, with breathtaking landscapes the Carrick-a-Rede Bridge. This drive was absolutely beautiful and viewing the bridge from afar was as close as I would want to get. People used to use it in days gone by to get from the mainland to the tiny island of Carrickarede. It spans 66 ft and is 98 ft above the rocks below.  The bridge is open all year round subject to weather and people may cross it for free.

There were many beautiful vistas on this drive,

The Giants Causeway was the next stop, and that was impressive, and would have been more so had we been of the age to climb around the stones, youngwe are not. But I’m glad we saw it. 

Next stop was lunch, and it was a very good one, except they served Kiew twice, who would have expected kiew, in Northern Ireland. LOL, but they were very accommodating and brought me replacements both times. Ed enjoyed the pablova. 

Then it was on to the Dunluce Castle for a photo shoot. The Dunluce Castle is now-ruined. It was built in 1200 by the second Eral of Ulster, Richard de Burgh on the site of an earlier fort dating back to the Vickings. 

All and all it was a good, but long, our bus driver was once again very good, but our guide left something to be desired, she was very manatone and not very enthusiastic, and they could have skipped the drive by of the museum of the Game Of Thorns and the Titanic at the end. 

We got back in time to have a light dinner of Mussels. 

Today we are in Greenock, and we are staying on the ship, I will do a post later as we have some interesting things to see.