So now we’re trying to make up for those 8 years of no cruising. In late September, 2007, we booked a 14 Day Cruise, Roundtrip London (Harwich) on Royal Caribbean’s Jewel Of The Seas. We tacked on an additional 3 full days in London. This time, no Cuz, no folks. Just Suzi and I.
We hopped on a British Airways 747. Our first time on a plane that size. 10 hours later, we arrived at Heathrow and boarded our bus to the ship. I happen to love to fly so I don’t get much sleep on planes. By the time we got on the bus, I was wiped. It seemed to take forever to get from Heathrow to Harwich but I wanted to stay awake to see the sights of a Country I had never been to. Suzi? Put her in any mode of transportation and she’ll fall asleep in minutes.
As we got closer to Jewel, it seemed significantly different than the Carnival ships. Once we boarded, you really noticed the atrium or Centrum. It goes up 10 decks! Massive. It also had a bank of outward-facing elevators. We were on Deck 10 in Stateroom 1068. The decor was much less glitzy and very well appointed throughout the ship.
At dinner, we met our server Oxana. She took excellent care of us making sure we both had a wonderful dining experience.
After a MUCH needed Day at sea, we arrived at our furthest, and northernmost port, Oslo, Norway. We booked a walking tour of the city. The first words out of our tours guide’s mouth was “Welcome to the first sunny day all summer.” It was gorgeous. We walked to City Hall, the Royal Palace and to where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.
We walked past a statue of the famous Norwegian author, Henrik Ibsen so I took a shot. Once I got home and looked at it, I noticed that all of the colorful foliage behind the statue was actually a reflection from a garden behind me. The statue was in front of a large glass building.
As we sailed away, I was standing out on the balcony and took in the sights of the Oslo Fjord.
Our next port was Copenhagen, Denmark. We booked an excursion that took us through some of the highlights of the city. We got to witness the changing of the guard at the Palace and stopped by Nyhavn Harbor.
Then we went to the island of Amager to the Dragor Village which was built to house farmers that produced food for the royal household. Many of the homes had thatched roofs. The guide said that back then, a thatched roof meant you were poor. Nowadays, owning a house with a thatch roof is a sign of wealth.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped by one of the most photographed statues in the world. The Little Mermaid.
Whether it was the flight over or too much salt, Suzi’s shoes became way too tight, so we gingerly walked to some shops by the ship and found a shoe store. I can’t believe it… It cost us 325.00… (Kroner) for a pair of shoes. OK. I think it was about $60.00 US. Either way, well worth it.
After another day at sea, we were in Hamburg, Germany.
Bear with me. Back in the mid 70’s, my brother, Andy, moved to Dusseldorf for his company. There were two young women assigned to work with Andy who was tasked with bringing an old-school German company to work within US Business practices. One of those women was Ursula. After Andy moved back to the US, they remained friends. Several years later, Ursula and her boyfriend came out to California for vacation. It was then Ursula and my Mom became good friends and constant pen pals. I too kept in touch with Ursula throughout the years, especially about travelling. Something we were both passionate about. So, when I emailed Ursula, now retired, and told her we would be in Hamburg, she booked a train and a hotel and said she would meet us there and give us a special tour of one of her favorite “big cities”.
Suzi and I took the shuttle into downtown then made our way to the hotel, Good thing I went by address and not the name of the hotel, as it recently changed… And our personalized tour of the city began. Ursula insisted on treating us to the Hop On Hop Off bus and knew which stops were nothing but tourist traps and what were truly worthy. One of the stops was to St. Michael’s Church where we climbed up the bell tower. Unfortunately, it was a rainy, dreary day but we still enjoyed.
Since the ship wasn’t scheduled to set sail until 2:00 AM the following morning, we thought we’d stay with Ursula for dinner. Suzi absolutely loves cabbage and we were certain we would be going to a really nice German restaurant. That’s when Ursula informed us that her favorite restaurant in Hamburg was… Italian. So we had a really good bowl of minestrone, talked, laughed, then said our goodbyes. We hightailed it to the ship for dinner.
Ursula was so generous and would not let us pay for anything. All she wanted was a photo of her favorite building in Hamburg.
Next port was Amsterdam, Holland. We booked an Excursion that took us to the town of Edam, then to an authentic old village of Zaanse Schans.
You will never guess what one of the stops in Edam was… Ready? A cheese factory. (Bet you never saw that one coming!) Aside from the cheese, Edam is a beautiful town.
Zaanse Schans is spectacular with it’s old houses and windmills.
My favorite shot of this tour was this old drawbridge.
Upon return to the ship, we did venture into Amsterdam.
No stops in any “coffee” shops, but we did find ourselves in the Red Light District. Sorry, gentlemen. No photos.
Next stop was Zeebrugge, Belgium. We opted to do an excursion to Brugge, rather than Brussels. It was the Brugge and Belgium Chocolate tour. Cold, overcast and an occasional mist.
It’s a beautiful city, just need to see it under clear, sunny skies. The walking tour was good, but there is soooo much history, our guide tended to stop at Every. Single. Building. Based on the number of tours going on with stops at the chocolate factory, I’m sure our guide had to slow down the pace to allow time for the chocolate demonstration but it did make for a long tour that really didn’t go that far into town.
Next Stop – Le Havre, France for Paris. As a photographer, I had been looking forward to this stop. We booked Taste Of Paris that would take you 2.5 hours to get to Paris. Then 3.5 hours on your own before getting back on the bus for another 2.5 hour drive. The only real legitimate complaint we have about ocean cruising are situations like this when it takes more time to and from, than the actual visit itself.
Our tour did include a trip around the city first so we passed the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame. Although we were provided with comprehensive directions on how to get from our drop off point to all of these areas, we had a group of American women who were only interested in Notre Dame. They would stop at nothing to bully the guide into dropping them off. As soon as we got to Notre Dame, they finally said they were getting car sick and demanded to get off. The poor guide finally called her boss and was given approval. We all secretly hoped they’d miss the pickup time. All we hear in America is about how stuffy and rude French people are. We found them to be really nice people. The only people we saw in France that were being stuffy and rude was this group of ladies.
Our Drop off and Pickup point was right near the foot of the Eiffel tower. I just could NOT wait to get some photos. As it turns out, Paris was hosting World Cup Soccer. Right between the first and second observation decks of the tower was a freaking World Cup balloon. Seriously????
Thanks to those wonderful folks at Adobe, I was able to Photoshop the balloon out.
Due to our limited time, we opted to see the city on foot, rather than stress out about waiting in line to go up the tower. We found our way to Champs Elysees and the Arch on our way to one of those quaint corner sidewalk cafes off the Seine.
We took a nice leisurely stroll back to the pickup point and people watched until the bus arrived. Yes, the group of women did make it back in time and were greeted by several boos from other guests.
After another day at sea, our next port was Dublin, Ireland. We took a shuttle into town, then walked around. What’s a trip to Ireland without stopping in for a pint? Since we’re in the section called Temple Bar, this seemed like an appropriate place to have a Guinness.
The next port was Cobh, Ireland for Cork. Although Cork was the “main attraction”, both Suzi and I fell in love with Cobh (pronounced Cove). Since we had booked an excursion into Cork, and it involved visiting an Irish Pub, we had to go.
Cork, located on the River Lee, is a beautiful town. Our tour had a stop at St. Finbarr’s Cathedral before heading to the Pub.
So what do you do after visiting a church? Pub!
Coors Light? WTF? I had the Murphy’s. Back to Cobh we go.
Next time we do an itinerary that includes Cork, we’ll stay in Cobh. So pretty.
At the port, there is a statue of Annie Moore. Annie was the first immigrant to the United States to pass through Ellis Island. She departed from Cobh, accompanied by her brothers Phillip and Anthony.
What made this a special port was that close to departure, it seemed the entire town came out. Cars lined the street and even a brass band came out out played as we pulled away.
Our Captain must have had a strange sense of humor. As we made our way to the open water, he said we should look back at the town as it was the same port the Titanic left from. Never to see land again. Comforting… Our last day was a sea day before arriving at Harwich, barring a rouge iceberg that is.
We booked our hotel and transportation through Royal Caribbean, so they whisked us to London and to City Inn in Westminster. PERFECT location. One block from the Thames and 2 blocks from Parliament and Westminster Abbey.
We had three full days to take in what we could. I had even contacted “It’s just Stella”, you know, the world renowned immunologist we met on the last cruise in Rome. Hoping to see if we could get together. Unfortunately, she would not be in town. Probably creating a new vaccine to save the world… Oh well. We found plenty to do like “minding the gap” and looking the “wrong” way at street crossings. And taking a few pictures…
One of our friends had been to London several times and suggested that since we would be in London on a Wednesday, we should attend the Evensong Service at Westminster Abbey as the choir is there. We went and wow. The acoustics are as phenomenal as you would think.
We did a Hop On Hop Off bus on day two and saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. After dinner, we caught the tube, minded the gap and went to the Tower of London, more specifically, Tower Bridge.
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped for more shots including:
Our last day, we got really ambitious and decided to walk all the way from our hotel in Westminster to Harrods. Not THAT bad a walk. Unless, of course, it starts pouring rain. We walked into Harrods totally drenched. We toured the entire store then hopped on the tube and headed back to the hotel.
We were scheduled to depart at 3:00 PM the following day. Royal Caribbean felt that leaving at 12:00 PM would be sufficient. Suzi, always preferring extra time, compromised on 11:00 AM. Good thing because as we were waiting for security, they started calling our flight. Good thing was, we got fast-tracked onto the plane for our non stop flight to LAX on Virgin Atlantic.
The Veranda Life 