Cruise

Embarkation Day – Sunday, April 17, 2016

Embarkation Day – Sunday, April 17, 2016

The day of travel for the starting this vacation finally arrived.  The week prior to today seemed to go by slowly as we finalized our plans and packed for the trip.  Packing was a little difficult since we had to have a combination of some warm weather clothes for a few days at the start of the cruise, but mostly colder weather clothes for the majority of the trip as…

Sea Day 1 – April 18, 2016

Sea Day 1 – April 18, 2016

The windy weather continued during the night and also into this morning.  We attempted to sleep in a little after yesterday’s tiring travel day.  We were only partially successful since the ship was rocking from the waves. I went ahead and got up to see if there would be a sunrise photo opportunity from our balcony.  However, since we are heading almost due east, the sun was directly in front…

Sea Day 2 – April 19, 2016

Sea Day 2 – April 19, 2016

Once again, we awoke to windy conditions as we head across the Atlantic Ocean. The winds changed directions slightly, but are still mainly from the Northwest and are almost perpendicular to the direction the ship is heading, making for a rolling ride on the ship.  We had hoped that the winds would be more from the stern, making for both a smoother ride, and less windy conditions out on the…

Sea Day 6 – April 23, 2016

Sea Day 6 – April 23, 2016

It has been our good fortune to have tremendous weather on this crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.   Once again, we had clear skies today, with light winds and fairly warm temperatures.  We have used so much of our warmer weather clothing, we have had to submit two bags of dirty clothes to the ship’s laundry service.  Thankfully, it is a free benefit of our Elite status on Princess.  The…

Sea Day 7 – April 25, 2016

Sea Day 7 – April 25, 2016

We awoke to much cooler weather today as we head in a Northeastern direction toward Cherbourg, France.  We will have today and tomorrow at sea before we start with three consecutive port days. We had another one hour time change last night, and the last hour change will be tonight.  It seems tone the conversation on the ship, even the assistant cruise directors who announce for the various activities were…

Zeebruge, Belgium – April 28, 2016

Zeebruge, Belgium – April 28, 2016

Today we are in the port of Zeebruge, Belgium.  When we awoke at 6:15 AM, it was mostly sunny skies outside, and we were heading toward the port.  We got ready and brought some breakfast to the room so we could enjoy going into port while packing up our backpacks for the day’s activities. During preparation for getting off of the ship, I noticed that we were not actually scheduled…

Rotterdam, Netherlands – April 29, 2016

Rotterdam, Netherlands – April 29, 2016

This morning, we were awaken by our phone alarm at 5:15 AM, the earliest wake up call yet.  I had gotten up a little earlier before the call, and noticed that we were already passing by container cranes and other port equipment, already heading up the Rotte River to Rotterdam. After showering and dressing, I headed down to get some breakfast from the International Cafe.  We ate our usual yogurt…