Robin's NCL Transatlantic Cruise- Spring 1999
Norwegian Dream
April 18-May 6, 1999
Overview and Sunday April 18th
A transatlantic crossing of the Atlantic Ocean, stopping in
European ports, visiting London for 3 days at the end... all sounds
so romantic, doesn't it? And incredibly expensive... the kind of
cruise we'd always dreamed about, but never really thought we'd
ever be able to afford to take. But through a great deal on a
travel auction website, that's just what we're going to do!
The plan: the kids and I are using frequent flier miles to fly
from Orlando to San Juan, and then back from London to Orlando.
We'll do the entire cruise - the first week at sea, and the second
week of various ports of call. Vic didn't want to take that much
time off work, so he bought an airline ticket to Lisbon, Portugal.
He will fly in there the day before our ship arrives, and stay
in a hotel for a night, then board the ship in the morning and
join us for the rest of the cruise. After the 15-day cruise is
over, we will take transportation to London, spend 2 days there,
then all fly home together. The costs: $1299 for the cabin, $400
for the upgrade (oceanview), $180 each for port charges, and $350
each to add the kids - $3117. Retail price: over $9,000! Also,
we're using frequently flyer points for me and the kids, and only
$415 for Vic's airfare. His hotel in Lisbon is $125, and we are
using Disney Vacation Club points for the hotel in London. How
could we not go?!
The packing was a project - what kind of weather to expect?
Leaving out of San Juan, I expect warm weather at the beginning...
maybe even shorts, probably bathing suits, even if it's just for
the hot tub. We're going the southern route, with our first stop
in Madeira - an island off the coast of Africa - so how long would
it stay warm? Also, 3 formal nights on the ship, and no shorts
in public areas after 6 p.m. The current weather in Europe showed
45 in London, 55 in Lisbon, but it appeared to be a cold spell.
No washers and dryers on board, but I could pay them to do my
laundry. So I packed for a little of everything, and figured we'd
have to do laundry at least once - probably $100 each time - maybe
twice. As it was, I ended up with 2 large suitcases, 2 smaller
ones, and a hanger bag, plus the laptop, camcorder bag, my backpack,
and the kids' rolling suitcases!
Our journey started Saturday afternoon - due to availability
of frequent flyer seats, we flew to Atlanta on Saturday, spent
the night at a hotel there, then flew to San Juan Sunday morning,
and took a $20 taxi ride from the airport to the ship.
Finally, we see the cruise ship! There are 3 in the harbor -
Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and ours - but ours is the biggest.
The taxi let us off at a rather unimpressive door - looked like
the loading dock - and we went into a big building with a couple
stands where they processed our papers, gave us some fruit punch,
and took our picture. Then we carried all our carry-ons out to
the gangplank, where someone stepped forward to help us with the
bags, and show us to the room.
The room is nice - when you walk in, the bathroom is on the
left - stand-up shower no bathtub - and closets on the right.
Just past the bathroom on the left is a very small desk where
we put the laptop, and then the bed with small nightstands on
either side. When you walk past the bottom of the bed, there is
a dresser on the right with a TV on top and a chair, the window
is straight ahead with a small glass table under, and a couch
on the left, which pulls out to a bed at night. The cabin steward
actually piles all the furniture on the glass table to make room
for the bed.
We almost left the laptop at home - I had read that there was
only a plug in the bathroom for a small razor, and nothing else,
so I called the cruise line. They checked, and said that there
were no other plugs in the cabin, and nowhere else on the cruise
ship to plug it in - in fact, it wasn't allowed because it would
interfere with the ship's navigation. I didn't quite believe them,
so I brought it anyway, figuring I could always plug it into the
outlet in the bathroom - which after much research I determined
to be powerful enough to charge the laptop - and just charge it
there and run it on batteries in the room.
The kids and I talked about whether or not to visit the city of
San Juan. They have a great fort, El Morro, and nice shopping, and
we were going to be on this ship for a total of 15 days - 8 days
until we even got off again... shouldn't we take advantage of this
opportunity to see some sights? In the end, we decided against it,
because we wanted to just relax. The kids wanted to explore the
ship itself, they were tired from the travel, tired from lack of
sleep, and our bags weren't up yet so we had no shorts...
The bags finally arrived around 4 p.m., after we had explored the
ship a little bit, so I unpacked. I discovered rather quickly that
I had neglected to bring any shorts for Trevor. So now I raced around
trying to find out if he would need them, and if they sold any in
the gift shop on board. I went back to the room - I had left the
kids there with the walkie-talkies, which worked great no matter
where I was on the ship, even on the 12th floor while they were
in the cabin on the 6th - and decided he's got enough to carry him
through, even if I have to wash them every night... When the gift
shop opened the next day, they did have shorts - cotton with"Norwegian
Dream" on them, so I got 2 dark blue and 1 white.
The kids relaxed for a while and I sorted through all the information
in the room and then unpacked. I had a hard time getting it all
to fit. I can't find anything - it's all kind of stuffed in there
as best as I could. I don't know how we're going to fit Vic's
clothes when he arrives!
We weren't terribly hungry - we had nibbled on a lunch buffet
on the pool deck shortly after we got on board - but if we didn't
eat now we wouldn't make it to the Kids Korner for the open house
at 8, so we went to dinner. The ship wasn't scheduled to leave
until 10 p.m., so many weren't on board yet. Therefore it was
open seating - no set time, restaurant or table, so we ate at
The Terraces, as we thought it would be our only chance to have
dinner somewhere besides our appointed table #30 in the Sun Terrace
restaurant. Dinner was very good - Trevor had shrimp cocktail
and steak, Alyx had salad, and I ordered Cream of Cauliflower
soup, salad and steak. The kids tried my soup and absolutely loved
it - Alyx had a cup and then a bowl, and Trevor had a bowl too.
Ice cream for dessert...then we went to the open house at the Kids'
Korner.
The two staff members in the kids' club said that there more
kids on this crossing than any they had ever remembered - about
a dozen! The activities are 10 a.m. to noon, 2:30-5, and 8-10
each day, except when we're in port, and then there are only activities
8-10 p.m. unless you hire a private babysitter - one of them or
another crewmember. They have video games, arts and crafts activities,
they go swimming, and do treasure hunts and"Where's Waldo" searches
around the ship. Lots of fun stuff to do!
Then we went back to the room. They don't have a movie theatre
on board, but they show movies occasionally in one of the lounges,
and have movies running continuously on a TV in our room. It's
the same schedule every four days, and movies start every 2 hours,
and includes many movies that only left the theatres a couple
months ago and aren't on video yet.
The kids wanted to go on deck to see us leave the port at 10
p.m. and attend the"Departure Party." It had just rained, so the
party was taken indoors... and after waiting on the top deck for
a half hour, we found out the departure was delayed until midnight,
so we went back to the room and went to bed.
Monday, April 19, 1999
Our first full day on the ship! We woke a little late - I got
in the shower at 8:30. The lifeboat drill was scheduled for 10
a.m., so I had to wake the kids and rush them to get dressed so
we could eat before the drill. We ate in the Terraces again, and
Trevor had a ham omelet, I had a mushroom omelet, and Alyx had
cold cereal. We got our food at 9:50, so had to eat quickly to
rush back to our room and grab our life jackets, then go to muster
station K for the drill. Our room is the fourth from the back
of the ship on the 6th deck, and there is a set of stairs and
a bank of elevators about a half dozen rooms down towards the
bow. We went up the stairs and out the door to our station, and
they checked us off. We brought the lift jackets back to our room,
and ran into our room steward. He explained that he had pushed
Trevor's rubber snake out of the way, but he didn't want to touch
it - I think he was afraid of it - so he didn't put it away. We
promised him we'd keep it hidden from now on! He looked quite
frightened of it!
The Kids Korner opened at 11 this first day, so they were there
when the doors opened. We missed the formal lunchtime - 12 p.m.
- so we grabbed a snack at the pool while the kids swam with their
new friends. They hadn't been swimming long when they asked everyone
to leave the pool, because one of the master chefs was doing an
ice carving - they brought a huge chunk of ice out and put it
in the very shallow edges around the pool, and he used sharp tools
to carve an angel fish that was about 4' high! Then it was 2:30
- time for the kids to go to the Kids' Korner and me to go to
the salon. Before I left on the cruise, Vic told me to make sure
and get a massage, pedicure... whatever I wanted so that I wasn't
stressed by the time he got there. So I signed up on Sunday for
a"Silver Package" - a seaweed wrap/massage - never did that before
- a manicure and pedicure, and a facial. I'm not excited about
the facial - I've had them done before and wasn't thrilled - but
it was cheaper as a package. The hardest part is they always try
and sell you all their really expensive products too. I also wanted
my hair cut because it was just a little too long.... We scheduled
one treatment every other day while we're at sea.
Anyway, the massage was quite something! I filled out a questionnaire
about the parts of my body that needed the most attention - stiff
neck and back, etc. - and she made up a personalized mixture of
seaweed powder and other things. She rubbed it all over my legs,
belly, back and arms, then wrapped me in a piece of tin foil and
covered me with piles of blankets. While I"baked," she did a scalp
massage. Then I showered and washed it all off, then while I was
still wet she wrapped me in foil and blankets again, and massaged
my feet. Then I showered again and then she gave me a back, shoulder
and neck massage. By the time she was done, I could hardly walk.
She said the seaweed mixture pulls out the toxins in your body
that slow you down... when you move your arm, your body releases
toxins that create the movement... and you never really get rid
of them. She said after the massage I would feel relaxed, but
then I would feel energized for the next few days. Anyway, I guess
I was in there for almost 2 hours - I came out at 4:30 and got
a quick hair cut and blow dry and got the kids as the center closed
at 5.
It was our first formal night - dresses and suits, and portraits.
The kids didn't really want to dress up, so we thought we'd do
room service. But when I called, they said they only had sandwiches.
We hung out in our cabin until 6:30, when we finally decided we'd
have to go in search of food. We had missed our assigned time
at 6 at the Sun Terrace... we could have sat down and eaten in the
Bistro - a supper club alternative - but the kids didn't want
to sit. The maitre d' there, however, informed us that room service
would bring us the dinner menu selection - what they were serving
in the dining rooms - they just didn't tell us that when we called.
We checked the menu, though, and I didn't think the kids would
be interested. So we went up to the pool area where we'd eaten
lunch, but there was no food. Finally, we checked the Sports Bar,
where I'd seen a lunch buffet, and we found food. There was pizza,
a cheeseburger - which looked like it had been there a while -
hot dogs, french fries, salad... we were set. The trays were a little
difficult to carry, and I was concerned they would be dumped before
we got back to the room, so I made them sit there and eat. There
were a few others there who had opted out of formal night...
The kids' activities were 8-10 p.m. again, and Alyx wanted to
go, but Trevor didn't.... so she went alone, and Trevor and I came
back and played together.
Tonight was their first Chocolate Extravaganza of the cruise.
It was scheduled to start at 11:30 p.m. - and the kids wanted
to stay up and attend. So after dinner, we went back to the room.
At 11:30 we went up to the 9th floor to the Four Seasons restaurant.
It was the longest line I've seen on this ship yet! And what a
spread! Cakes, pastries, mousse, fruit dipped in chocolate - dark,
milk and white... there were even a few"buildings" that were painted
to look chocolate, like a miniature Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomph.
There were even ice cream and M&Ms and chocolate sprinkles.
We waited our turn in line, and then sat down and ate. The kids'
eyes were bigger than their stomachs - we really didn't eat much.
And when we left, the line was longer to get in than we had waited
in! Back in the room, we went to bed quickly.
Tuesday, April 20, 1999
We have had our first time change - as we cross the ocean, we
will gradually be putting our clocks ahead, an hour at a time.
Last night we had to set our clocks ahead an hour for the first
time, so when I woke the kids at 10:30, it was 9:30 to them. That's
the last midnight buffet we'll attend!
We had breakfast at the buffet near the pool again - Alyx wanted
to go directly to the Kids Korner, so she didn't eat. Trevor had
scrambled eggs and I had cold cereal. Just as we entered the buffet
area, they started taking the food away - it closed at 11, and
we had made it just in time. Then I left Trevor at the Kids Korner
too, and I went to the Shore Excursions desk. I had lots of flyers
from the past 3 days that I needed to sort through - first and
most importantly, they had to know today if we needed transportation
from the dock at Dover, into London. I chose the bus, for $50
per person, to take us to Victoria Station, and then we'll take
a taxi from there to the hotel. Fun.
I also asked about some of the tours at the other places we'll
be... with the kids, it's hard to do a really long tour. In Madeira,
I will probably just take the shuttle into town, and then wander
around there with them. The crewmember also suggested we take
a taxi to a snowless sled ride, which he thought the kids might
enjoy. I'll read up about it more and decide later. I'll have
to choose all the tours myself if we do any, because they all
need to be arranged prior to Vic coming on board the ship.
I could call him - communication has turned out to be cheaper
than I expected. It's $5.95 per minute if I call home, and it's
from the phone in my cabin. I remember the first cruise Vic and
I took in 1990, when Alyx was 10 months old, on Carnival Cruise
Lines. We had to go to a special area where they had phone booths,
and then they would place the call and let you know which phone
to pick up, and you sat in the booth to speak. And I remember
the price too - like $25 a minute! Vic called us yesterday to
make sure we had gotten on all right - we had phoned him from
Puerto Rico, but had only gotten his voice mail.
During the afternoon, I worked on the journal, and the kids went
to the Kids Korner again. Then we discussed dinner, and decided
not to go to the restaurant again - they aren't fond of"Caribbean
style food," which was the night's menu, as much of it tends to
be spicy. We decided maybe we'd eat in the room, or go up on deck
for a quick buffet.
Around 6:20, the phone rang, and it was the maitre d'. He meant
to call the reception desk and ask if there was anyone staying in
cabin 6065, because we hadn't been to dinner both nights. He was
a little embarrassed when he realized he had called the room directly,
but when I explained why we hadn't come, he said that they actually
do have a children's menu, and he would send someone down with it
so we could look it over. He also said that food is available through
room service as well. He also said that as long as we were in the
dining room before 7, they would still seat and feed us. The menu
arrived around 6:30, and we were impressed by the selection, so
we quickly dressed and went up.
We were glad we did - the kids' food was good, my food was good,
and the waiters performed for us as well - when they brought out
the flaming dessert, they played some calypso music and all danced
around the restaurant. The kids had fun.
Wednesday, April 21, 1999
I think the kids' internal clocks are all messed up. We went
to bed rather early - relatively speaking - and I thought they'd
be up at a reasonable hour. I was sure we would actually have
breakfast in the restaurant, which runs from 7:30-9:30. I finally
woke the kids at 9:30, because I was concerned they wouldn't go
to bed until late again tonight. We missed the sit-down breakfast
again... we did the same thing today as yesterday. They dressed,
and Alyx was at the Kids' Korner shortly after it opened at 10.
She skipped breakfast, and Trevor and I went to the buffet at
the pool just outside. He had eggs and I had cold cereal again.
We brought an apple to Alyx. Yesterday's craft was a sand art
tube, today they painted styrofoam polynesian masks. I went to
the library on board and sat and read my book until I went and
got them at noon.
We stopped in one of the lounges and picked up some board games
- Alyx chose Chutes and Ladders, and I chose Clue.
Tonight's dinner theme is"Traditional French" - a little more
on the quiet side. After dinner, Alyx went to the Kids' Korner
- of course - and Trevor decided to stay with me. So we started
to get ready for bed as soon as Alyx came back, but we didn't
turn off the lights until 11:15, which was 12:15 with the time
change.
Thursday, April 22, 1999
We did make it to breakfast today, but the kids were really
hard to wake up. But hopefully that will mean a little bit earlier
bedtime tonight.
I have been very impressed by this cruise - it's my fifth cruise,
and definitely my favorite. It's extremely relaxing, lots of pleasant
people - probably because they are mostly older retired couples
and groups. The staff is great, the layout of the ship is big
but comfortable, the number of kids on board is just right - Alyx
and Trevor have someone to play with, but there aren't tons of
kids every where you turn, and the ones that are here seem to
be pretty well behaved. We have chatted with a number of interesting
people, from all over the world. It's nice to have these 7 days
at sea to totally relax, then a day of excursions, another day
to relax, 2 days of excursions, another day to relax, a last day
of excursions, a day to pack, and then to London. None of the
itinerary feels overwhelming.
I still have not decided what to do about the shore excursions.
The problem is, very few of the tours would appeal to the kids,
as they are generally long. For example, in Madeira on Monday
- where I had thought to take an organized tour because I will
be alone on the island with the kids, the only port Vic will not
be with us - there is a great Jeep Adventure Safari. But, it's
7 hours long, with heavy walking, and $98 per person. I just don't
see the kids on this tour. Then there's a tour of a vineyard,
high cliffs, and an embroidery factory for 3 hours. There's a
botanical garden tour and wine tasting for 3.5 hours too. Finally,
there's a tour that includes something they would be interested
in - the snowless sled ride - but the tour itself is 4 hours long,
and I can't see them making it through the whole bus tour and
embroidery factory tour. Our next port after that, on Wednesday,
is Lisbon. We'll meet up with Vic there, and I don't think we'll
take a guided tour... the options are Lisbon Orientation - a 3.5
hour tour of the history of the city; A tour of homes and palaces
on the seaside near the city for 4 hours; Countryside & Wine
Tasting for 4 hours; Lisbon Promenade, a 3.5 hour walking tour
of the main part of the city; and Fatima and Batalha, a 9 hour
tour through interesting major religious sites outside the city.
Hopefully Vic will have found something of more interest for us
to do... I believe there's also an aquarium, and a combination of
that and the major area downtown will probably be all we'll do.
Besides, Vic will probably be anxious to get on board the ship.
Thursday is Vigo, Spain. Our three options are: Rias Bajas,
a 4.5 hour journey which takes you to picturesque seaside villages
and a mussel farm; Santiago de Compostela, a 5 hour trip to one
of the most important places of pilgrimage during the Middle Ages;
and Vigo & Bayona, a 4.5 hour to an old port, fortress, and
towers. Tough choice there.
Saturday is LaRochelle, France. The city tour is 3 hours through
the medieval town; a 4.5 hour tour of Marennes & Brovage Oyster
Beds; 9 hours through Saintes/Cognac, visiting 1st century arena,
and wine sampling; and 9 hours through the countryside to a church
from the Middle Ages, the traces of the ramparts of an old castle,
and lunch at a Chateau.
The hard part is, there is no childcare while we are in port.
Some of these tours may be of interest to Vic and I, but not the
kids. You can request a private babysitter - at nearly $10 an
hour - but a big part of the cruise was to introduce the kids
to other cultures. When the kids got back from Kids Korner, we
discussed the options too. They generally leaned toward exploring
on our own, not taking guided tours. I think I have decided, however,
to take the 4-hour guided tour. I must admit I'm not nervous about
going on my own with the 2 kids into town, but the snowless sled
ride in Monte sounds interesting, and I'm not sure how I feel
about venturing into the countryside with just a taxi driver that
may or may not speak English very well. So we'll do the tour,
which includes beautiful views of mountains and ravines, an 18th
century church with a crypt and jeweled image of Our Lady, the
snowless sled ride, and an embroidery factory. There should be
enough to keep the kids' interest without boring them too much.
Then when we return to town at 12:30, we can wander around if
we want.
From Alyx: I really like the cruise. I only like the part at
sea, because I really don't want to get off the cruise ship. I
especially like the Kids Korner, and I met a couple girls my age
and we're friends. Yesterday I made a bracelet, and it's kind
of cool, because it was weaving, and I really like weaving. The
weather has been nice, but the pools have been kind of cold. But
the pool where you can go to the bar is really warm. It's ocean
water, so I guess the ocean is that warm. I dropped my glass lizard
once through the crack in the elevator - it was sad for a little
bit, and then the guy at the restaurant came over and he got it
back for me, and that was very nice of him. One night at midnight
we went to a chocolate buffet, and I really liked it.
From Trevor: I like shuffleboard, but we haven't played it yet.
I like the room service, and I like all the rooms. I like the
Kids Korner a lot - they have neat video games. You can buy your
own captain hat - and we got one for me. They don't have any bunk
beds that pull out of the ceiling - like on the Disney Cruise
Line - but they have couch beds that pull out of the couch, and
it's a really big cushion. I like the waves in the pool, swimming
past the waves. I like the ice carving that we watched - the chef
made an angelfish from a big piece of ice in the pool. We didn't
get a porch, but we have a window in our cabin. One time in Kids
Korner, we did a"Where's Waldo" hunt, and a scavenger hunt, and
we won both times! We won beach balls and frisbees.
At 2:30, we went to a class on weaving bracelets and Alyx and
I each made one - black with multiple colors. Trevor played with
the strings while we worked. It took quite a while - we didn't
finish until almost 4:30! Tonight's dinner was semi-formal. Afterwards,
Alyx again went to Kids Korner, and Trevor stayed with me.
Friday, April 23, 1999
We had breakfast in our room today. Last night I called down to
room service for a breakfast menu, which is a card you fill out
and leave on your door at night. They deliver from 6:30 to 9:00
a.m., so I selected the latest possible delivery time.
I had left the curtains open last night, and the sun woke me
at 6:30. Since we had only gone to bed at 11:30, I closed the
curtain and went back to sleep. I was lying in bed awake when
the phone rang at 9, asking if we were ready for our breakfast.
I said yes, and the knock came on the door only a few minutes
later. They left the tray on the bottom of the bed, and then I
took a shower. I finally woke the kids at 9:30 and they ate. It
was only cold cereal, yogurt, muffin, fruit, and hot chocolate.
They don't offer eggs, pancakes, etc., for room service. They
didn't rush off to Kids Korner this morning. At around 11, Trevor
decided he wanted to go to the kids club, so I walked him upstairs.
Then I stopped at the tour desk and put in our reservation for
the tour in Madeira, as the deadline to sign up was today at 12.
We were going to go to a lounge and play Clue while they cleaned
our room, but decided that lunch looked good, so we actually sat
down for lunch - our first time. The kids had macaroni and cheese,
and I had English fish and chips.
It occurs to me that I haven't described the layout of the ship
in much detail. We are on the 6th deck, in an outside cabin with
a large window - category A. Our cabin is the 4th from the back
of the ship - nice and quiet. Cabins start on the 4th deck, with
very small portholes - the cabin we were supposed to get before
we paid the $400 upgrade price. Other than the medical office,
there is nothing on the 4th, 5th and 6th decks except cabins.
On the 7th deck, midship, is the"lobby," a small area with a reception
desk, credit desk - there is gambling on board - the tour desk,
and a concierge desk for those in Owners Suites. Around the 7th
deck is a promenade, with walking on the left, and jogging on
the right, going counterclockwise. From here you can look at the
undersides of the lifeboats, and it's on this deck that all muster
stations for lifeboats are located. Deck 8 also has just cabins.
Deck 9 has restaurant at the back - The Terraces, lounges through
the middle - including the small library, Four Seasons restaurant
in the center, and cabins in the front. Deck 10 has shops at the
back - 5 in all - then lounges and the casino in the center and
the Stardust Lounge in the front - a large performance area where
the shows take place, which is actually 2 stories high.
Deck 11 has the Sun Terrace restaurant at the back - this is
the one we're assigned to - the Kids Korner and meeting rooms
next, then doors to the outside where there is a pool and a buffet
line for light breakfasts and lunch. Then there's a wet bar -
a pool at the bar - and hot tubs, the ice cream parlor, and that's
as far as you can go, because the rest of the deck in the front
is the upper level of the Stardust Lounge.
Deck 12 is the top - except for the basketball and shuffleboard
on the Sky Deck. At the rear is the Sports Bar and Grill, with
24 hour service - where we ate dinner the second night. Then there's
a video arcade, then open to the outside with lots of lounge chairs.
At the rear, you can go inside again to the Spa, Beauty Salon
and Workout area, and also the Observatory Lounge at the very
front.
One thing I really like is the location of the restaurants -
with the exception of the Four Seasons, they are all at the rear,
with lots and lots of windows. When we arrive at dinner, the blinds
are down because we're facing the sun. At some point during dinner,
the blinds rise electrically, and we have a wonderful view of
the sunset. It's so nice not to be stuck somewhere in the middle
of the ship, in a room where you can't tell if it's day or night
to eat. I'm so glad we paid the extra money for the large window,
too... sunshine makes such a big difference! And that's what we've
had so far - in the high 70s/low 80s every day, with lots and
lots of sun. Also quite windy too. On deck 7, the same category
cabin as this has the large window also, but it faces the promenade
- people are walking past your window all day long. A category
just below this in price is on deck 8, where your view is obstructed
by the lifeboats hanging outside your window. The Owners Suites
are the only rooms with balconies. Otherwise, the other 2 categories
above this have rooms are just slightly bigger, a slightly larger
window and on a higher deck. We couldn't upgrade that far, though,
from the cabin we had originally purchased on-line.
We relaxed the rest of the day. In the evening, we called Daddy.
He's looking forward to joining us in a few days! Alyx asked him
how soon we're going to take another cruise like this....
I tried to get the kids to bed, but it was hard, because their
clocks are so messed up... we have to set the clocks ahead another
hour tonight, so with the new time change, they didn't actually
go to sleep until almost 1 a.m.
Saturday, April 24, 1999
One full week gone! Already! Hardly seems possible - we're so
relaxed and enjoying ourselves, it seems hard to believe it's
been a week already! I woke up around 9, and didn't wake the kids
until almost 10:45. I didn't mean to wake them - I spent a bit
of time sorting through the dirty clothes and marking the laundry
order form, then was putting the clothes into bags (3 of them).
Our cabin steward is good - he has a lot of work with our cabin,
I think. When we leave in the morning, we put out the"Please make
up room" sign, and it's always done by the time we come back.
Same thing when we leave for dinner, as he knows we're at the
6 p.m. seating. Just rearranging the kids' bedding is a project
- they sleep on the couch that folds out into a bed, but he has
to move the glass table to the wall, stack the chair on top of
it, remove all the pillows, fold out the bed, and make it with
the pillows. He also takes the bedspread off my bed and puts it
under the bed, as well as vacuuming, bathroom, garbage, etc. I
try to keep the toys picked up so he doesn't have to do that as
well.
At our assigned table for lunch and dinner, we always have the
same waiter, busboy, and"wine steward". I'm a little disappointed
that I still have to ask for Trevor's apple juice at every meal
- on the Dolphin cruise we took, the first one with the kids,
they had our drinks sitting there when we arrived for each meal.
The girl who is our"wine steward" also gets us any drinks that
cost extra, including soda, liquor drinks, etc. She's very nice
- she uses origami to fold our bill into funny shapes. Alyx asked
her if she could make a crane, and by the next day she had learned
how and gave it to Alyx! It's a little cooler today - the captain
said at 9 a.m. that it was only 70. I put us all in long pants
and short sleeves today, but if we were outside, I'd probably
have long sleeves on with the wind. I sent all the shorts and
warmer clothes out for cleaning anyway, just in case it gets warmer.
The kids got ice cream at the ice cream parlor - open 2-4 daily
- and brought it down to me - lemon ice cream. They didn't feel
like going back up, so they called and let the counselors know,
and stayed down here with me. Alyx and I played Clue again, and
she won. It was formal night again at dinner, and this time the
kids did want to dress up. We looked quite nice, if I do say so.
A photographer took our picture during dinner, and it will be
available after 5 p.m. tomorrow at the photo shop. I took a picture
of the kids in the room before dinner as well.
We came back to the room after dinner, and Trevor and I put
our pajamas on, and Alyx went to Kids Korner. They were having
a big dance/musical tonight, and I thought about going alone,
but I wanted to get Trevor down early tonight, so I skipped it.
We were all ready for bed by the time Alyx returned - she and
the other kids had gone to the show, and said I would have loved
it, as it was really well done and fun. We set the clocks ahead
again tonight an hour, which makes a total of 4 hours now ahead
of home. And we have to set them ahead another hour tomorrow night!
Sunday, April 25, 1999
Tomorrow is going to be tough - we set our clocks ahead another
hour tonight, and the tour starts at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow in Madeira.
The kids aren't going to the kids program tonight, so that we
can all be in bed really early.
We went to the photo shop to see if they had the pictures from
dinner last night, and they told us not until after 5 p.m. We
then went up to the Observatory Lounge - front of the ship, deck
12 - to get our passports. They had told us when we boarded that
they would keep them for us the entire cruise, as they would be
needed at the various ports, but evidently we will need them to
depart the ship tomorrow in Madeira, so they have returned them
all. We were right next to the beauty parlor, so Alyx asked if
she could have her hair braided. They did it very quickly - french
braid - and didn't charge us! I told Alyx we would have to bring
something up for the girl later. When we got back to our room,
our laundry was back! I thought it said if it was in by 9 a.m.,
it would be back by 6 p.m. the next day. Since they didn't get
it until noon yesterday, I thought it would be tomorrow after
6 p.m., not today! Anyway, the total was $117 - about what I thought.
BUT since 75% of it was kids' clothes, they took off 50%, and
it was only $58! What a nice surprise! So what have I been doing
with all my"free time" while the kids at the Kids Korner? Well,
lately Trevor has been with me more than not, so I've also been
entertaining and playing with him. Otherwise, I have been working
on this journal - 20 pages so far. I've also been reading, as
I had been saving magazines for a couple months to bring on the
cruise - they're a quick read, and you don't have to bring them
back home with you, so you have extra room on the way back It's
4:30 now, and I just got back from a presentation on future cruises.
I admit, we've got a problem - I believe the kids and I are hooked.
We've taken cruises before, but they've been to just the Caribbean.
Okay, been there, done that... but this cruise has opened our eyes
to a completely new way of travel and exploration. The cruises
that Norwegian has take you practically around the world.
There are Alaskan cruises on ships that only hold 800 people,
and sail right in to the bays where you can see bears and animals
right from the front of the ship. They have Alaskan cruises that
travel through the inland waterways, so there's always land on
both sides and the water is as smooth as glass. They have cruises
to Hawaii, to north of Norway to see the solar eclipse, to south
of South America. There's Australia, the Mediterranean, the British
Isles, through Russian cities. They have one in the fall that
spends time in Israel and the pyramids of Egypt. There are fall
foliage tours that go to New England and Canada. There are multiple
itineraries for crossing the ocean. The neat part is, you stay
on the ship, so you don't have to worry about hotels, restaurants,
moving luggage, etc. The service onboard is first-class, so it's
like a guarantee that you're safe and cared for - pampered and
spoiled - while you visit these exotic locations! What a perfect
combination! Norwegian offers a future booking credit - if you
book a future cruise while still on board this one, you can reserve
your cabin for only $25. When you return home, you give your deposit
to your travel agent - all of which is fully refundable if you
cancel within 90 days of departure - and by booking now you save
30-50% off the brochure price. That could be an even better deal
than we got on-line!
There are quite a variety of ships in the Norwegian Line, as
well. As I mentioned before, their smallest ship holds only 800,
and cruises Alaska in the summer, and the Caribbean in the fall.
There are a variety of sizes in between - including Norwegian
Wind, which is the sister ship, and identical, to the Norwegian
Dream. Their newest ship is the Norwegian Sky, and that starts
in August. It holds 2,000 passengers, and is 70,000 tons - this
one is 50,000 tons. It has unique amenities, such as 250 cabins
with balconies, internet access in all rooms, and a 12-story atrium.
The only problem is, cruising is not cheap. Okay, we've paid
our $3100 and we're on board and port charges are taken care of.
What else? Well, water and juice is included with meals, but no
drinks. We're paying $200 for the 4 of us to get to London from
Dover at the end of the cruise. It's $10 per person for launches
- round-trip - at each port. The one tour we're taking is almost
$180 for the three of us. Of course, I didn't need to spend the
$220 for the spa treatments, but I did - and I'm glad of it. I
haven't even been in the casino, so I can't say I'm guilty of
blowing money that way, although Vic hasn't joined us yet... the
laundry bill - only $58, but I'm going to have to do it again
before we're done... only $11 in pictures so far, but I'm sure there
will be more... but the biggest single expense is yet to come -
the tipping. At the end of the cruise, according to the Gratuity
Guide, figuring me and the kids at 15 days, and Vic at 5 days,
we'll pay the waiter $150, the bus boy $75, the cabin steward
$150, and the maitre d' $75. That's $450 in tips, and Vic wasn't
even with us the entire cruise. But I have to say, the service
has been very good... so I'm not saying they weren't worth it, it's
just a lot of money to come up with at the end. We decided to
skip dinner at the restaurant. We didn't have to dress up - it
was a casual night - but I just sensed the kids needed a break.
Besides, we weren't all that hungry, as the time change is really
messing us up. Around 6:30, we went up to the Sports Bar and Grill
on deck 12, where they serve a buffet of"snacks" during dinner.
Trevor grabbed a hot dog, and Alyx grabbed hot chocolate. Nice
small, quick dinner. Then we went down to deck 10, and picked
up our pictures from last night's dinner - they turned out very
nice. I got the 5x7, 2 wallets, and another 5x7 that had four
smaller pictures of the ship, with our picture inset in the middle
- total $15 for all... without the wallets it was $14, so I figured
it was worth it.
Then we stopped at the 7th deck for reception, so I could ask
about the temperature tomorrow. They said they weren't sure, but
that it would probably be like today - about 70. She made a comment
about it being warm, and I said we were from Florida, and actually
quite chilly! She laughed and said it was warm for her, as she's
from London. It's all relative! We'll dress in layers tomorrow,
but I doubt we'll take our jackets off.
When we got back to our room, there was information about Funchal,
Madeira, on the bed with the Cruise News. I guess I need to get
some Portugese Escudos, as they don't accept American dollars
generally. Besides, Alyx would like to have some for her currency
collection. The foreign currency desk is open at 7 a.m. We have
to meet in the Stardust Lounge at 8:15, and bring our passports,
boarding cards, and tour tickets. Breakfast is from 6-9 a.m. tomorrow.
And we have to set our clocks ahead again tonight. Yes, they'll
be tired tomorrow afternoon!
In general, I have been pleased with the kids program - they
have had a variety of activities, the counselors are great, and
the kids have had fun. But, like the other cruises we've been
on - except Disney - there is no childcare while we're in port
or during dinner. Our tour is 8:30-12:30, and I tend to think
the kids will want to come back to the ship after that, rather
than walk around town more. Lunch is open from 12-2. The Kids
Korner is not open until 8 p.m. tomorrow, so I guess we'll hang
out and relax when we get back on board the ship - everyone has
to be back on at 5:30 so the ship can leave the port on time.
The spa is running some"in-port" specials, and I would have liked
to take advantage of them, but again, no childcare....
Monday, April 26, 1999
FUNCHAL, MADEIRA, PORTUGAL - Funchal, the island's capital, lies
at the end of a beautiful bay. Terraces of white houses line the
wide- open slops of the encircling hills whose summits, overlooking
the town, are often wrapped in mist. The remarkable setting which
can be admired from many viewpoints, the gardens with their luxurious
vegetation which surround the quintas and hotels, and Funchal's
geographical position, combine to form a popular city resort attracting
visitors from all over the world. With a population of 100,000 it
may sound surprisingly large, but in fact you can walk across the
city center - east to west - in 15-20 minutes. Exploring inland
is not easy on foot, as you will soon find the streets becoming
very steep - nevertheless, walking remains the only practical way
to see the capital with its narrow cobblestone streets. With the
exception of the glorious ocean liners and picturesque fishing boats,
Funchal is very much a working port. Nearly a third of the population
congregates in Funchal, built on picturesque hills sloping down
to a steep bay. You will soon agree that Madeira, with its magnificent
flora for which the island is renowned, amply justifies its nickname
of"God's botanical garden." Madeira has been described as the island
of eternal spring, the island where summer goes to spend winter.
The largest of a group of five islands - which together form a province
of Portugal - Madeira is set in the Atlantic some 350 miles from
North Africa. Portugal lies 600 miles away. The capital, Funchal,
home of one-third of the island's 300,000 people, is a colorful
city of parks and shady streets. Captain Cook, visiting Madeira
in 1768, remarked that the island was"the recipient of Nature's
most liberal gifts." Nature has been more than liberal with flowers;
it has been widely extravagant. Bougainvillea cascade over ancient
walls, mimosa fills the air with its heady scent, and jacaranda
petals carpet the streets in blue petals. The Madeirans have carefully
tended their island garden. Generations of back breaking efforts
have developed precipitous hills into a series of spectacular terraces
watered by miles of irrigation channels.
The Madeirans are descended from the seafarers, soldiers and
fortune- seekers who passed through the island over the centuries.
Madeirans are firmly wedded to the culture and language of the
original settlers, the Portuguese. Their common characteristics
are unfailing courtesy and deep pride in their paradise island.
Madeira was discovered and claimed for the Portuguese in 1419
by the explorer Joao Concalves Zarco, whose statue you can see
in the main intersection of Funchal. Because the uninhabited island
had at the time been covered with nearly impenetrable forest,
Zarco named it Madeira, which means"wood" in Portuguese. Legend
has it the island was set on fire by Portuguese and burned for
over 7 years. British colonism evolved following the marriage
of Portuguese Princess Catherine of Branganca to England's King
Charles II.
Well, I guess we'll be going to bed real early tonight! We all
had a real hard time falling asleep last night, and our wake-up
call was at 7 a.m. this morning. At first Trevor didn't want to
wake, but when I mentioned we were at the island, he jumped out
of bed faster than Christmas morning!
The island of Madeira is very mountainous - the city of Funchal
was where we put into port, and it is all built right at the harbor.
Nearly 1/3 of the 100,000 inhabitants of the island lives in this
area. The homes climb up the mountainside very nearby, and the
rest of the people are scattered in various towns around the rest
of the island.
We left the cabin at 7:45 and went up to the 9th deck, to the
Four Seasons restaurant, where they were serving a buffet breakfast.
The other restaurants were serving breakfast also, but I didn't
want to wait while they cooked it - I knew the buffet would be
our fastest option. Trevor had eggs with sausage - he thought
it was ham - Alyx and I had Frosted Flakes and yogurt. I took
some apples and put them in my backpack in case they were needed,
and we went to the Stardust Lounge to meet the tour group when
they announced our tour on the PA system at nearly 8:15. When
we arrived, there was a long line - we presented our tour tickets
and were given bus number cards. Then we went down the 5 flights
of stairs, and waited in the hallways of the 4th deck until the
doors opened and it was our turn out. A lot of people were all
leaving at the same time.
We climbed on bus #6 - the kids chose the rear. Trevor sat in
the second to the last row by himself, and Alyx and I sat alone
in the very back. We left the port area, and drove out into the
main part of town. If we weren't on a tour, we could have walked
it - 30 minutes - or paid $10 per person round-trip for the shuttle.
The streets were very European - relatively small cars, small
streets, lots of flowers. In fact, in between the two directions
of the main street was a canal, which they were covering with
wires and growing flowers on vines to cover.
After driving through town, we went up into the hills, far up
into the hills, to the area called Monte. The bus had to pass
other busses on the narrow streets at times, and once I thought
he was going to take off the sideview mirror of the other bus,
he was so close. But they have no choice. The bus dropped us off
at the bottom of some stairs, which we climbed to an 18th century
white stucco church of Our Lady of the Mountain. Inside is the
tomb of Emperor Charles I of Austria, who died while in exile
in 1922. A jewel-encrusted image of Our Lady, often credited with
miracles, is in the church. It was beautiful - paintings on the
walls and ceilings, small, but inspiring. Outside the church we
had a beautiful view over the harbor - we took a good picture
of our ship. We then walked down the other side of the church,
and took our snowless sled ride. There were many men and baskets,
and everyone went down at once, one after another. We were last,
and they took out a bigger size basket for us - me, the 2 kids,
and a cruise crew member. The baskets are wicker, with cushion
seats. You ride down the actual streets of town –which meant that
from time to time we had to pull over and let a car go past. Two
men ran behind us pulling the ropes to act as our brakes, and
at times running in front of us to get us moving faster. The scariest
part was when one was pulling harder than the other was, and we
were almost skidding down the road sideways! The roads have been
used for this so often they're almost smooth, so the ride was
not bumpy. The tour guide used my camera to take a picture of
us as we started, and then as we came around the first corner
- going rather fast - the photographer from the cruise ship was
there and snapped our picture. They'll be available tomorrow on
board.
At the end of the ride, there were tables of locals selling
merchandise. While we were waiting for the bus to pick us up,
we looked over the souvenirs. Alyx decided to use part of her
allowance money that she had been allowed to use as spending money
on this trip for a doll. It was $12 US - we did not get Portuguese
Escudos because the credit office did not have any. They said
American money was well accepted, which it was. There are 180
Esc. to the American dollar. Trevor wanted ice cream, which was
in a store next to the tables, and we were just about to get it
when the bus pulled up. They put us back on quickly, and we went
to our next stop. From there, the drive got a little scary - a
very thin road carved into the side of the mountain, only one
lane wide. Again, passing busses on the other side so close you
could almost feel the breath of the passengers in the other bus.
The couple in the seats in front of us must have had a fear of
heights, because first she moved away from the seat at the window
on the cliff side, then she couldn't look out either side, and
just turned sideways looking down in the middle. It wasn't a drive
for the weak-hearted!
At the end of this interesting drive, we arrived at another
stop for the bus. We walked from the bus up to an overlook of
the Socorridos ravine - the tour guide described it as a volcanic
crater, but I've seen one of those in Hawaii. This was more like
beautiful mountainous valleys. The walk up to the overlook had
railings at only portions, and it was right on the edge, so I
was very nervous taking the kids up there! And of course, they
did their best to try and scare me, too.
At the gift shop at the end of the walk, where the bus was parked,
we bought post cards and stamps. Back on the bus, another interesting
drive, this time to Pico do Serrado. The kids wanted to stay on
the bus, but the driver assured us it was a beautiful view. It
was pretty - the mountains to the left, the town and harbor to
the right... but we didn't go into the gift shop and try the Madeira
wine.
The tour was advertised for 8:30-12:30, and we had to be back
on the bus at this stop at 12, so I assumed this was our last
stop. Wrong. Evidently the next stop was actually an embroidery
shop and markets downtown for shopping, from which they would
depart at 1:00 for the return trip to the ship. The kids were
done - remember, they were running on practically empty as far
as sleep, and the organized tour thing isn't generally their"cup
of tea." So I asked the tour guide to catch us a cab, and we went
back to the ship. I was hungry and wanted lunch, but the kids
were so glad to be back in the room, they didn't want to leave,
so we munched on crackers and cheese in the room.
At 3:15, Trevor and I went up to the Observatory Lounge on deck
12 to catch the Bridge Tour - Alyx wasn't interested. Trevor and
I got a good overview of what the bridge looks like, then left.
He noticed they were lowering a lifeboat off the port side, so
we tried to find a place we could watch what they were doing.
We ended up in a couple places we had not been before - the first
is the pool that we look at almost twice a day as we sit in the
restaurant and eat - the pool at the rear of the ship on deck
9. You can actually get to it only from an exterior staircase
and walkway from deck 12. Then we noticed another set of stairs
going down, and it led to a rather shaded area with pool chairs,
again facing rear - smaller than above, but with a unique feature
- two"portholes" through which you can look and see underwater
the people swimming in the pool on the deck above! From there,
we walked down to the Promenade deck, then inside and down to
our cabin. We told Alyx of our new discovery, and took her there
to see it as well. On the way back, we got a close up view of
that lifeboat they were lowering - it's quite large and well protected
from weather!
We came back to the room again, but only for a short stop -
the kids wanted to participate in the"Win, Lose or Draw" game
at 4:30. Our team won - 10 to 8. The kids got NCL koozies, and
I got a deck of cards.
Again back to the room, but we weren't there long when we realized
the ship was leaving the harbor! I grabbed the camera and we rushed
up to the 12th deck to get the best view. After watching for a
few minutes, we decided to go down to dinner, where both kids
had chicken noodle soup, Trevor had steak - he only ate a few
bites - Alyx had peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and I had potato
soup and veal parmigiana. Then the kids went to Kids Korner -
they managed to convince me to let them stay there until 10, with
the promise that we'll be in bed as quickly as possible after
that. I don't want them going to bed late and getting up at 10
a.m. again tomorrow. I'd like to make breakfast again, which ends
at 9:30.
While we were at dinner, I told the kids that Daddy was now
on his way - he left Orlando at 2:15, which is 7:15 our time.
He will be landing in Lisbon tomorrow morning at 6:45 a.m.
It took nearly an hour to get past the island of Madeira - we
went around it and saw the back, less populated area. Actually,
while I was typing this - 9:00 p.m. - I looked out the window
behind me and saw another island in the Azores, which the captain
said we'd be passing. The sun set late today - 8:45, so we didn't
see the sunset at dinner. But Alyx still asked the maitre d' to
put the blinds up when the sun went behind the clouds - she asks
every night, because she knows I love to look out the windows.
We really planned the timing on this cruise to take advantage
of the best of both worlds.... When we first got on, the kids were
excited about checking out the ship, playing with other kids...
then they just wanted down time... now that they're looking for
a little more adventure, we're visiting ports, with downtime days
in between. I started out the trip using my"alone time" at the
spa... then went to reading and computer, then taking care of Trevor
when he didn't want to go to Kids Korner. Now Vic is joining us,
and I'll enjoy some of the things I haven't done yet - the evening
entertainment, the casino, and the Bistro - the nice, quiet, romantic
dining available at no additional cost, but with reservations.
The night we go to the Bistro, though, we'll have to find a babysitter
for the kids...
At dinner, we were speaking with the couple at the table behind
us. I asked how many other Norwegian Cruises they had taken, and
they said quite a few. Most were to the Caribbean - eastern and
western - but they had also taken the Panama Canal cruise, and
a cruise to Alaska. I asked about the cruise to Alaska, and they
said it had been wonderful, that the kids would love it. I know
they would! The Orlando Science Center recently had an Imax movie
called"Alaska," which the kids and I saw together - the scenery
was beautiful, the animals were magnificent... someday!
Tuesday, April 27, 1999
Trouble today - there's a high-pressure front north of us, and
the waves were rather large. I believe at one point I heard the
captain say something about 10-12' waves. I could tell in the
middle of the night that we were in some rough water, as I kept
having to change my sleeping position. If I was on my side, I
would roll and feel like I was falling off the bed, so I kept
changing to lie on my back or belly. It got worse after we woke.
We had put our breakfast request on the door last night, and
asked for an 8:30 delivery. That way, the kids could munch on
breakfast in between their showers, and be at Kids Korner at 10.
At 8:15, the phone rang, and room service asked if we were all
up yet. I said yes, even though I was the only one awake, and
they brought breakfast down a few minutes later. Every time I
tried to get up, I felt really sluggish, and extremely nauseous.
Our boat is definitely in motion. Finally, a little before 10,
Alyx decided she wanted to go to Kids Korner. None of our stomachs
was up to food, so the kids took Dramamine then Alyx ran up to
the Kids Korner, and I left the room a few minutes later with
Trevor, so the room steward could come in and make up beds. Our
first stop was a quick walk outside on deck 7 - I thought the
fresh air would help us get over the major nauseous feelings we
had. It helped, but Trevor didn't like the cold wind, so we went
inside halfway around the ship. Then we stopped and got our photo
from yesterday - the photographer from the cruise ship was taking
pictures at the first corner in the sled ride, and I knew it would
be a good photo. It was, and even though it was $7.50, I got it.
We brought it up to the Kids Korner to show Alyx and the counselors.
We went to the medical center later in the afternoon to have
Alyx's ears checked. They did finally pop last night, from the
trip up the mountain yesterday, but she said they were still bothering
her. It's not an ear infection, but the doctor said she had some
fluid build- up, and she'd feel better, especially on the plane
on the way home, if we dried up the fluid, so he gave us some
decongestant - Sudafed. Then we came back to the room and watched
a National Geographic special on Superliners, showing cruise ships
dating back to the 1920s. It was done in 1980, before the revival
of the cruise industry, so the entire tone of the special was
that we were looking at a bygone era. Not true - the ships being
built today are larger than those built in the past, and the entire
industry is growing every year. The show"The Love Boat," from
the late 1970s, is credited with reviving the entire industry.
We didn't want to go to dinner tonight, as it was Semi-Formal,
and not one thing on the menu appealed to me. So, around 6:45,
we went up to the 12th deck Sports Bar and Grill for dinner. We
had hot dogs and pizza.
The motion of the ship has been up and down all day - literally.
At times it's like it was last night and this morning - rolling
a lot. At times it was rainy and overcast, cold and a little windy,
but the waves were calmer. It's now almost 8:30, and it's rolling
quite a bit again. We'll all take dramamine before we go to bed
tonight. Tomorrow we'll get off the ship as early as we can, and
Vic will have taken a taxi to the port and be waiting for us.
He'll bring his suitcase on board, and then we'll all go into
town exploring. If the weather is like it was today, I don't know
how long we'll be interested in exploring - highs in the 60s,
cold, windy, rainy. Tomorrow night we have to set our clocks ahead
one more hour - the last time change. We'll be at Vigo at noon
the next day - nice change, as we don't have to get up so early
to get off the ship. Vic is in Lisbon - he arrived this morning
at 6:45 a.m. our time. He was scheduled to check into the Tivoli
Lisboa Hotel, at Ave de Liberdade 185. I made the reservation
through Microsoft Expedia, on- line. We didn't know if they would
let him in early, or if he'd have to drop his bags off at the
hotel and wander around until check-in time. Considering the fact
that to him it would be 1:45 a.m. when he arrived, he was definitely
hoping for an early check-in.
I reorganized our things tonight, to try and make room for Vic's
things. I put all the shorts and clothes for warm weather in one
of the suitcases under the bed, and managed to clear 2 entire
shelves! I hope that's enough.
Wednesday, April 28, 1999
LISBON, PORTUGAL - By the river Tagus lies Portugal's beautiful
capital Lisbon. This city has been a cultural center since its
origin, and today Lisbon proudly presents itself as a modern city
with a large touch of ancient history. An earthquake greatly damaged
the city in 1755, and Lisbon has since then been through radical
changes. Particularly charming are the areas of Alfama and Bairro
Alto, with their narrow, twisting streets, attracting artists,
painters and poets, as well as visitors from all over the world.
The origins of Lisbon are unknown, although it may have been founded
- 1200 BC - by the Phoenicians. Developed by the Romans during
the 3rd century BC as Felicitas Julia, it was captured by the
Germanic invaders in the 5th century AD. In the 8th century the
city was taken by the Moors, who called it Lixbuna and held it
until 1147, when it was taken by the Christian Portuguese coming
from the north. In 1256 the seat of government was transferred
here from Coimbra. Lisbon began to grow significantly with the
discovery of the sea route to India and the development of oceanic
trade. It became one of Europe's leading cities and the chief
port serving the vast Portuguese empire. The city declined, however,
during the period of Spanish rule, 1580-1640, over Portugal. During
the Napoleonic Wars, Lisbon was occupied by France, 1807-08, and
Britain, 1808-20.
Another rough night - a lot of rolling around in bed. The phone
woke us at 7 - the wake-up call I had placed last night. I could
see us passing land on the port side - the side our window is
on. I took a shower, and woke the kids when I came out. Alyx had
been asking me to wake her at 7, as she wanted to see us pull
into port, but I had a hard time waking her at 7:30. We dressed
quickly in the warm clothes I had laid out last night, and went
up to the 9th deck for the buffet breakfast. From our table, we
could see the dock area where passengers get off and on the ship,
and couldn't see Dad yet... we went downstairs, and ended up waiting
until past 8:30, due to some confusion. There are two places in
Lisbon the cruise ships can come in - the port on the northwest
side, where most cruise ships pull in could be seen while we were
pulling in, and the captain said there were 2 in port now. Then
there's the other port area, near the train station, in the Santa
Apollonia area. That's where we docked... but not where Vic first
went. He got in his taxi early enough to be at the dock waiting
at 8 a.m., but the taxi driver went first to the other cruise
ships, then had to come back across town in rush hour traffic
to get to ours.
Vic spent the night in a nice hotel on the main shopping street,
similar to the Champs de Elysees in Paris. He had arrived very
early yesterday morning quite tired, and luckily the hotel let
him check in when he arrived. After a shower and a nap, he wandered
around a little while in the rain, bought some postcards and stamps,
and mailed them. Dinner was a buffet at the hotel, and after dinner,
he went to sleep for the night, trying to adjust to the new time.
He was actually looking out the window when our ship pulled in
the harbor, and he saw us!
Anyway, we brought the bags onto the ship and left them in our
room, We were surprised - they looked at our 3 boarding passes,
looked at Vic's customs form, and let him board - no passport,
no ticket, nothing else! He didn't even keep a copy of the form!
I guess we could have sneaked anyone on board. Then we brought
him up to the 9th deck to grab some coffee, and eggs. We stopped
at Reception on deck 7 to show his passport and get a blue boarding
card, although he only needed the boarding card they gave him
when we left the ship. Then we went exploring!
We caught a cab right off the ship to the St. George's Castle
- Castelo de Sao Jorge. It was up on the hillside above the city,
although right in the heart of the city. The castle was constructed
by the Visigoths in the 5th century, the Moors in the 9th century,
and then modified during the reign of Alfonso I. It has since
been turned into a flower garden. The views of the city from up
there were beautiful!
Then we got the kids some ice cream, and walked down to the
Lisbon Cathedral, which was very large and pretty. From there,
we caught a cab to Jeronimo's Monastery, a 16th century masterpiece
and one of the architectural highlights of the city, built to
celebrate the return of Vasco de Gama's discoveries. Across the
street, we could see the unusual architecture in the Monument
to the Discoveries, which was erected in 1960 beside the Tagus
River on the 500th anniversary of the death of Prince Henry the
Navigator. Earlier in the day, Trevor had seen the trams, which
look like old cable cars, and wanted to ride them. So we took
a taxi to the area where, according to Vic's map, there was a
tourist information booth. We couldn't find the information, but
we found a McDonald's, and the kids were thrilled to have"normal"
food for lunch - cheeseburgers and chicken nuggets. The shake
machine was broken, but otherwise it tasted pretty much the same
as home. Cost was about the same too, which is surprising - in
Paris and Hawaii, it was twice the price. We also got directions
to a booth where we could purchase the tickets for the tram, figuring
we'd ride a few stops, get on another one going back in the other
direction, and then take a taxi to the ship.
While Vic was waiting in line for the tickets, I took Alyx across
the street to a square with thousands of pigeons. An old woman
was selling dried corn kernels by the bag, and I bought one for
$1. The pigeons were literally eating out of Alyx's hand! Mine
too, until I kept my fist clenched. They were climbing up her
arm, landing on her shoulder, and even on her head! She was in
heaven - she said if she lived in Lisbon, she would visit the
square every single day. It was a little confusing figuring out
why we couldn't get on the first few trams - we think they were
ending their route and not taking any more passengers. Finally,
we got on a tram and rode for a while. Then we got off to catch
a tram going back to where we had gotten on. A bus came by, which
Trevor had wanted to ride earlier - a double-long, nice new style
bus - but didn't work. Anyway, I looked at the map and saw that
the bus, #28, looked like it was going past the port where our
ship was docked, so we hopped on that instead. Sure enough, it
dropped us off right at the ship. Worked out great! We got back
on board around 2:15 p.m.
We came back to the cabin and Vic unpacked and put his things
away. We timed the return to the ship perfectly again - just like
in Madeira, shortly after we got back on board, it turned cloudy.
Unlike Madeira, it then rained very hard, and there was even thunder
and lightning. By 3 p.m. when I walked Vic up to the spa, we took
the indoor route so as not to get wet. It's a little after 4:30
now - we all had to be back on board by 4:30 - and the sun is
just starting to peek out again. It will be pretty weather in
which to leave the port. We actually travel a short way on the
Tagus River to get back out to the ocean.
Evidently, the area we were in yesterday is notorious for bad
weather and rough seas - it's where the water from the Mediterranean
comes past Gibraltar - the north tip of Africa - and goes out
to the Atlantic. The water should be relatively calm the rest
of the trip. Uh, correction - the captain just came over the PA
system and said that we would have some choppy waters tonight.
We all just took our dramamine just in case. The weather tomorrow
will be the same as today - high near 70. We were also warned
the water would be as rough when we cross from Vigo to Dover.
Vic says he joined the cruise at the wrong time!
We pulled out of Lisbon at around 5:45. There is a beautiful
suspension bridge under which we had to pass to get back to the
ocean, and we went up onto deck 12 to watch... then we went down
to dinner. Trevor seemed a little tired this afternoon, but at
dinner, he put his head on his hands and fell asleep! Luckily
it was after the soup course, but he slept right through dinner,
so we brought his peanut butter and jelly sandwich back down with
us. When we left the dining room, Vic carried Trevor out. I said
something to our waiter tonight about the last time change, and
he corrected me by saying that after we leave France, we will
again set our clocks back one hour, as England is on daylight
savings time. So, in a few days, we'll be back on the clock we're
on today. Confusing, eh?
Thursday, April 29, 1999
VIGO, SPAIN. Vigo, the most important fishing port in Spain,
is also a large industrial city due to its role as a foreign-trade
zone - canning, shipbuilding, metallurgy, and engineering. Vigo
dates back to Roman times. From the 16th to 18th century, its
active commercial trade with North America - authorized by Charles
V in 1529 - attracted English and Turkish corsairs to its waters.
In 1589, Drake had attacked the harbor and sacked the town. In
the 19th century, modern Vigo was born, rapidly becoming with
Corunna one of the largest cities in Galicia.
Vigo's setting is outstanding both for beauty and its maritime
advantages. The old town and fishermen's quarters are unusual;
the Alcabre, Sami and Canido sand beaches, south of the town are
very popular. The entrance to the port is through the beautiful
Ria, well worth being on deck to admire.
Today we were rather lazy. With the time change, we didn't wake
until nearly 10:30 this morning. By the time we got up, watched
us come into port, took showers and dressed, we missed breakfast
entirely. We finally got upstairs for lunch around noon - we ate
in the Terraces on deck 9, as it was open seating. Then we went
into Vigo - weather was about the same as yesterday, in the high
60s, and it felt warmer when we were in the sun, which wasn't
often. Our first stop was to exchange some money, as we had not
done that on board prior to the credit office closing at noon.
We stopped in the Tourism Office to ask, and they referred us
to the main street just past the port building, where there were
3 locations at which we could exchange money. We also asked about
going to Bayona, where the replica of Christopher Columbus' ship
the Pinta could be visited. She said it was 25 km, and was not
sure of the cost. Then we exchanged money at the bank - the exchange
rate is 150 pesetas per dollar, and we exchange the 6500 Portuguese
escudos - worth about $36 - and $100 American, for a total of
20,000 pesetas. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it?
Our next challenge was finding a taxi, which we did after about
10 minutes. We asked to be taken to the Castillo del Castro, a
castle ruin on the top of a large hill downtown, which is now
a park. There were pretty views from up there - and nice and peaceful.
We walked around there for a little while, letting the kids lead
us. Then we took another taxi down to the old part of town, as
we wanted to visit the Church of Saint Mary, but it was closed.
Actually, by this time, nearly all the shops downtown were closed
- from 1:30 to 4:30 for siesta. With all the shops closed and
not much else to do, we wandered the streets a little bit.
As we rounded one corner, there was an outdoor café, and two
of Alyx's friends from on board the ship were there with their
family. We sat down and ordered 2 hot chocolates, 1 hot croissant
with strawberry - not sure in Spanish what else he said about
that, but I got caliente, for hot, and frescia, for strawberry
- and Vic ordered a"white" coffee - with milk. Right next to us
was a shop that sells ice cream, so we bought ice creams for the
kids, including Alyx's friends, as her family hadn't exchanged
money and weren't able to get them. They chose ice creams that
came in plastic containers shaped like a toucan and a bird with
wild pink hair, so they'd have something to keep. The hot chocolate
was incredible - it tasted like rich chocolate, maybe pudding
or a godiva chocolate bar - melted and slightly thinner, though
not much. I drank mine and Alyx's, because she didn't care for
the richness of it. Lucky for me! The croissant was toasted, and
came with strawberry jelly, which was actually quite good, and
we ordered another. Altogether, including tip, we spent about
$17.
From there, we walked toward the ship. One shop was open for
postcards, so we stopped. We were back on the ship around 4, and
came back to the room. Then we went to dinner, which was Spanish
Dinner tonight.
A sad event tonight - they dropped off the luggage tags for
when we leave the ship. I'm surprised they did it on Thursday
night, when we don't depart until Monday morning. Just a little
reminder that our cruise is almost over...
We've been going to bed late at night and waking up late... the
time change has been really tough on us. Of course what's happening
this minute doesn't help - it's 9:00 p.m., and the sun is shining
brightly. For some reason, the sunset is 9:31 tonight, and sunrise
is 7:38 a.m. So we've been letting the kids stay up until Kids
Korner is over at 10, and then getting ready for bed, going to
sleep usually after 11. We have only made it to sit-down breakfast
a few times on this cruise... but other than the difficulties on
the days we're in port, I'm not too concerned... the time doesn't
matter much. On Monday, though, we have to leave the ship to catch
our transportation to London at 8:00 a.m., so that will be an
early day...
I had been having some second thoughts about our plans to leave
London. Originally, I had said I wanted to spend 3 days there,
so since we're arriving Monday morning, I booked us to leave on
Thursday morning. Vic, however, wanted to take as little time
off as possible, so since it would be difficult to leave the day
after we arrive in London, I booked his flight out for the day
after that. But the big picture is that he is leaving Wednesday
afternoon and I'm leaving to fly alone with the kids on a very
long flight the following morning. We discussed whether or not
to change my flight - since mine is frequent flier, it's easier
to change than his ticket, which was purchased - but in the end,
I guess it's okay the way it is.
I wonder is if the kids would have appreciated the cities we
visited more if we they were older. They were a little bored with
the one tour we took, and we never spent more than a few hours
in the city before they were anxious to get back on board the
ship. We have discussed possibly taking a Jerusalem/Egyptian Pyramid
cruise, but I think the kids would have to be much older to really
appreciate it, and partake in the long"field trips" that such
a trip would involve. But I have fallen in love with the life
on the ship - the rolling motion, the excellent service, the relaxation....
I would do it again in an instant.Another late night... to bed after
11...
Friday, April 30, 1999
We slept late again! It was rainy and overcast this morning,
so they closed the buffet on the 9th deck, and Vic had to go to
the Sports Bar on the 12th deck, along with what seemed like half
the ship. He just got through the line and had a tray full of
food that he temporarily left to get something he had already
passed.... When he came back to get the tray, it was gone - cleaned
up already! So he had to do it all over again! The kids ate quickly
when he came back - Frosted Flakes, banana, yogurt - then ran
to Kids Korner around 10:45. When the kids came back, Vic took
them swimming. The rain had cleared, and it was still chilly,
but they went into the heated pool and then the hot tub. I joined
them up there wearing a jacket that I had gone back to the room
to get. After swimming, we played shuffleboard - the kids won
21 to 20. Then they were hungry again, so we went to the lunch
buffet on the 9th deck - which was open now - and had pizza and
butterfly pasta with alfredo sauce.
After a while, it was time for Kids Korner again, at 2:30. Vic
and I dropped them off there, then Vic wanted to try the Casino.
No one was playing craps, so we bought $20 in quarters, and each
played the slot machines. Vic was doing really well until I ran
out of money and used up all his. Then they announced that it
was almost 3:00, and they were having Jackpot Bingo, plus chances
to win a free cruise for 2. I played 6 cards, and had fun, even
though I didn't win anything. The final game was a Jackpot, with
the winner getting the $2,600 jackpot, so Vic bought me a second
group of 6 cards, and then left me to play all 12. We also had
12 chances for the free cruise, but didn't win it. Didn't really
expect to, but it would have been nice. I should have played Bingo
the other times they had it - I enjoyed it. There's another game
on Sunday, and someone will definitely win the Jackpot then, so
I will probably play.
It feels like the cruise ship is kicking us off already, even
though we still have 2 full days and 3 nights. First it was the
luggage tags on the bed last night, and the embarkation talk scheduled
for this morning - which we didn't attend. This morning they slipped
the bill under the door.
Anyway, tonight was the Captain's Farewell Party and Farewell
Dinner - again, I don't know why they are acting like we don't
have 2 more nights after tonight! It was formal, so we had our
portraits taken, went to a party in the Stardust Lounge, and then
had dinner. The meal that almost everyone ordered was the lobster,
and the kids enjoyed the waiters dancing while bringing out the
Baked Alaska for dessert.
Saturday, May 1, 1999
LA ROCHELLE, FRANCE - Halfway between Les Sables d'Olonne and
Royan is La Rochelle, one of the most important trading and fishing
ports on the Atlantic coast. A lively little town, La Rochelle
has something for everyone - a beautiful beach runs down to the
Parc Charruyer, through which meanders a stream which occasionally
forms pools where swans nest, the old harbour is filled with fishing
boats and surrounded by high towers and the quays are lined with
shops, cafes and bars teaming with activity.
La Rochelle is one of the most interesting ports from an architectural
and historical point of view. La Rochelle was once a great Protestant
stronghold until its defeat by Cardinal Richelieu in the 16th
century, the town is a mixture of 14th century stone work and
16th century wooden houses and markets. To protect the harbour
at night and in times of war, a chain used to be stretched between
two 14th century stone towers at the harbour entrance, la Tour
Saint Nicholas and la Tour de la Chaine, further along the city
wall stands la Tour de la Lanterne. The latter was once used as
a prison and a lighthouse, but now houses a museum. Being the
most important trading port with Canada, the city suffered a great
blow when the French lost Canada to England. The port of La Pallice
was constructed in 1891 and during WWII the Germans built their
submarine bases in this port, these can still be seen today. The
town was heavily bombed by the Allies during WWII, but has been
well restored.
What a beautiful, wonderful, fantastic day! We absolutely LOVED
La Rochelle! I wish every town that we stopped in had been like
this one!
Our day started a little early - the kids woke at 7 as we were
pulling into port. They jumped up and looked out the window, and
then climbed back in bed and fell asleep again. By the time Vic
ran upstairs to exchange the rest of the Spanish Pesetas, and
some American money - $150 in total, giving us almost 900 French
francs - we were all at breakfast, at the Sun Terraces restaurant,
by 8:45. After breakfast, we took Alyx to the medical center,
where the doctor confirmed that her pierced ears were infected,
and gave her some antibiotic pills and ointment. He also said
the fluid in her ears had cleared up nicely, but since we'd be
flying at the end of the week, it was safer to continue giving
her the decongestant. We left the ship around 9:45 - we were going
to catch the shuttle, which was $10 per person round-trip, but
decided a taxi was just as cheap, and would take us directly where
we wanted to go first - the Aquarium. When we got off the ship,
the was a tent set up with maps, souvenir coins, free postcards,
and information on local attractions - our first sign that this
was the first tourist-friendly city we had visited yet. Vic had
been told the weather would be overcast, a high of 56 today... but
it seemed warm when we went out, so we had on shirts and sweaters,
but no coats.
We really enjoyed the aquarium - it was small, but very well
done. We saw lionfish, rays, crabs, ribbon eels, sea anemones,
sea urchins, and many, many other fish. Then there was a glass
tunnel that led to a big round aquarium in which there were sharks,
sea turtles, and sawfish. The glass above us gave us a great view!
Then there was a small green room, in which there were turtles.
Then we went outside to have some ice cream and kill some time
until the taxi driver returned for us at 11:30. Alyx had strawberry
sherbet, and Trevor had a chocolate sundae cone. While the kids
were eating, a van pulled up in the small circle in front of the
aquarium, and brought out four robot-looking machines. For 10
francs each - about $1.65 - the kids drove these things around
the circle for about 5 minutes - they didn't go very fast, but
the kids loved steering them around in circles and almost running
into things. They loved them. They each rode their own once, and
then they shared another 5- minute ride just as the taxi driver
came back.
We had him take us then to the Natural History Museum, where
there were supposedly mineralogy, paleontology, and other natural
exhibits, but when we arrived, we found out it didn't open until
2 p.m. The taxi driver had already left us, so we walked through
the town. Most of the shops were closed - hard to tell if it was
because today is a holiday here, May 1st, also known as May Day
in Europe, or because it was"lunch time," when all the shops are
closed from 12-2 anyway. First we came upon a beautiful old church,
parts of which dated back to the 12th century. The paintings,
sculptures, woodwork, stone work.... absolutely incredible. The
most amazing part is that it was all hand done, of course, and
it took centuries to build. Vic and I were discussing it at another
church the other day... today we consider it a long time if it takes
5 years to build something. Back then, the people who started
the church would never see it completed in their lifetime, nor
would their children, or likely their children - it could take
5 generations to see a church completed. And they spent their
whole lives working on something they would never see done.
After the church, we walked into a town square, and found the
farmers' market! What fun! We saw all kinds of fresh fruit and
vegetables - bought some strawberries. Then we saw all kinds of
fish - whole fish, crabs, shrimp, oysters - we bought some shrimp.
We saw bread stands, pastry stands, flower stands, and egg stands
- Alyx saw some chicken, duck, and goose eggs. There was also
a building that had more stands, and there we saw fresh dairy
products, including lots of cheeses, meats, more fish, more pastries...
it was such fun to look at!
As we continued through the city streets, we found a sidewalk
café, and sat down for lunch. Vic and I split an American burger,
Trevor had chicken nuggets, and Alyx didn't eat anything. I also
had a salad, which was very good. Then we went into the harbor
area, and saw a lot of craft items for sale. Alyx was particularly
intrigued with the jewelry made from pieces of glass around which
wires were wrapped to create jewelry. We took pictures so she
could make her own at home. There were also some nice paintings
on display. Then we went to the two towers that used to protect
the harbor. We walked along the stone wall, overlooking the harbor,
which was very picturesque. The kids and Vic had already taken
off their sweaters, because it had become quite warm, but I was
wearing a turtleneck shirt under my sweater. I took my short-sleeve
shirt that Vic had carried in the backpack, and went to the public
restroom to change. The cost was 1.50 francs, or about 25¢. Then
we came across the public beach, where people were sunbathing,
swimming, and flying kites. As we continued along the wall, it
ended at the street - Vic was guiding us by a map we got as we
came off the ship - and we were in a beautiful park. Right at
the beginning of the park was a small"zoo," where we saw ducks,
swans, and other birds, deer, peacocks, and small horses. Alyx
even saw a duck egg at the bottom of a tree, and would have stayed
there all day just looking at it, if she couldn't take it home
with her, that is. There were also the cutest"bicycles" that the
kids rode. They looked like a jockey cart and horse, like at the
flat track, but they were powered by pedals and wheels. The kids
hung onto the reins to pull the wheels and steer, and they rode
along a straight long oval-shaped path. Trevor loved it! He was
a bit of a crazy driver, of course. Alyx had a lot of fun too...
Then we walked through the rest of the park - quite a long distance.
Along the canal, over hills covered with tiny white and yellow
daisies, under bridges... it was a beautiful walk. Then Vic led
us to a hotel, where they called for a taxi for us. While we were
waiting, Vic ordered a"lemonade," which turned out to be a 7-Up
type drink with lemons in it, and chocolate milk for Trevor. It
was about 4:45, and we had to be back on the ship at 5:30 for
the 6:00 sailing. We filled out our postcards very quickly, and
Vic brought them up to mail. He got there about 5:30, and they
sold him the stamps, but said it was too late to mail them from
there. Vic ran back down to our deck, 6, where the gangway was
today, and found someone there, an officer of some sort, that
was willing to take them and mail them for us.
Vic and the kids were rather warm, so they all dressed in their
bathing suits, and ran upstairs to swim. I didn't go, because
they didn't leave until almost 5:30, and we had to be dressed
and to dinner by 6. So I stayed and got myself dressed, and pulled
out the kids' clothes, so that we could move quickly once they
got back. At 6:00, we pulled out of port. They must not get many
cruise ships - it was the first time Norwegian Cruise Lines sailed
into this port. The tent that the Chamber of Commerce had at the
ship when we got off was very generous, and the people in town
were genuinely friendly. We had to pull into a fishing port, quite
a way out of town, and to pull the gangway up, they used a container
crane. When we left, there were easily a couple hundred people
from town who had come down to the port to watch us leave. They
were kept back behind gates until we were actually not connected
to the port any longer, then they streamed up to the edge of the
dock to wave good-bye. A tugboat, police boat, and quite a few
pleasure boats also came alongside to say good-bye. A wonderful
day!
Vic and the kids came down a few minutes after 6, and we hurriedly
got them changed. The dress code tonight was"smart casual" - pant
suits or dresses for the ladies, sports jacket for the men. Trevor
wore a Nautica shirt and tan pants, Alyx wore her favorite white
lace dress again, I wore a blouse and black pants, and Vic wore
a nice casual shirt and pants - he didn't want to get dressed
up. And most of the men in the restaurant weren't dressed up anyway.
It was International Night, and there were a variety of menu options
from different countries. I chose the German vegetable beef soup,
and the French Duck a l'orange. We didn't have dessert, because
tonight is another chocolate buffet at 11:30 p.m., and Alyx wants
us to go. We set our clocks ahead tonight - maybe we'll actually
make it to the interdenominational church service tomorrow. Even
if the kids don't get up, they can stay with Vic and I'll go anyway.
I really want to go.
I can't believe it - our last day tomorrow! I can't believe
how sad I am to have the cruise end! You'd think I'd be anxious
to get off after 2 weeks on board! But we're definitely hooked
- we'll be keeping an eye on internet websites for cruise deals
from now on. With our ability to travel at the last minute, we
should be able to find deals like this one.
After dinner, we stopped at the photo shop, and bought one of
the pictures from dinner last night - the formal picture won't
be done until tomorrow. We also bought a book of photos of the
cruise - the ship itself, the restaurants and lounges... but most
interestingly, the pictures of the ship during its renovation,
when they cut the ship in half and added 130 feet to the center
of the ship. It looks to Vic and I that they added the area in
the middle where the Four Seasons restaurant is on the 9th deck,
which would also be where the reception area is on the 7th deck,
the casino on the 10th deck, and the hot tubs, wet bar and ice
cream parlor on the 11th deck. They did the same thing with the
sister ship, the Norwegian Wind, so the pictures show the before
and after - the two ships next to each other, one already having
been expanded and one not, so you can see easily where the center
went in. You can also see the 3 pieces floating independently
in the water - great pictures.
Kids Korner ended at 10, and we went up to the Chocoholic Buffet
around 11:30. It was better this time, I think - there was more
there I liked. Either that or I took more, knowing I wouldn't
like everything, so I could try a lot of different things. There
was a coconut cake with chocolate that was very good, and a chocolate
cake too... but the rest were okay. Vic and Trevor even managed
to stay up for it.
Sunday, May 2, 1999
Kids Korner started at 10, but they didn't make it there until
after 10:30 a.m. I went to play Bingo at 10:30, so I left them
with Daddy to dress. There was a jackpot round worth over $3500,
so I thought I'd give it a try. I didn't win, of course. In the
afternoon, we went photo gallery on deck 10, where they had our
formal pictures from last night. We chose one 8x10, although there
were a few I would have liked - Trevor looked so cute in all of
them!
There has been a map on the wall outside the elevator on deck
9 aft all through the cruise, showing our path of crossing. It
has been replaced by a map of the British Isles and France, showing
the cities they will be visiting next. They go back to La Rochelle,
Bordeaux, then north in the British Isles, then back down to Cherbourg
and Le Havre - Paris - France. I think it's a 10-day cruise. What
I wouldn't give to stay on board! The one thing that has been
difficult on the cruise, however, is the space. It's hard to find
things anymore, because things are piled on top of each other,
hidden under the bed...
And now, the time I have been dreading - packing. I started
packing before dinner, but wasn't done before 6, so we left the
suitcases on the bed and went upstairs. Last dinner - tip night.
We gave out the envelopes to everyone... I finished packing just
about 9, which was when Kids Korner ended tonight. I went up and
got the kids, so I could give Clint and Lisa a little token of
our appreciation. Then we went to sleep, knowing we'd have an
early morning tomorrow. The distance from La Rochelle to Dover
is actually not that long, so we have been going very slowly all
day. The weather was chilly, and the fog was incredible. When
I was in the Observatory Lounge for the church service this morning,
the fog was so dense I couldn't see what was beyond the front
of the ship. Anyway, since we're going so slowly, there isn't
much"rocking" motion - I really miss the feeling of being rocked
to sleep.
Monday, May 3, 1999
Good-bye Norwegian Dream!
We woke early.... I had set a wake-up call for 6:15, but they
started ship-wide announcements of the transfer departures at
6, and since it was broadcast in all the cabins, I guess that's
what time everyone woke up. We got up, showered, packed the rest
of our things into the overnight bag we had kept, and went up
for breakfast. We thought there was a buffet in the Four Seasons
again, but there wasn't, so we went up to the Sun Terrace, our
usual restaurant, for breakfast. They even let us sit at our usual
table, #30, with our own server. Just as we were leaving the restaurant,
we heard an announcement for a group of transfers. It was almost
7:55, and ours was due to be announced at 8. We walked outside
on the 11th deck and over to the Owners Suites, where Vic asked
if we could look at one. There was one already vacated and clean,
so we got to look - very nice! When you walk in, there is a LARGE
closet on the right, and then the sitting room is straight ahead,
with lots of windows. I mean, it's still small spaces, but definitely
larger than ours. There was a small couch, table, chair, TV and
stereo. On the left was the entrance to the bedroom and then around
again to the bathroom, which then led to the entrance again. I
think they cost about double what our cabin cost.
Anyway, we went from there back to our cabin to wait for the
announcement for Dark Blue, the transportation to Victoria Station,
the nearest location they were transporting people to in London
by our hotel. When we got into the room, at about 8:08, I called
Reception, just to make sure that the announcement they made 15
minutes before wasn't for Dark Blue. Reception said no, dark blue
had not yet been called. We were surprised, as we were supposed
to be called at 8, so we waited. Around 8:12, we heard an announcement,
"Last call for those holding Dark Blue tags." We ran quickly down
the hall - luckily they were departing from our deck - and found
out we were the last ones to leave the ship for dark blue. Everyone
else was already on the bus, having had their passports stamped,
gone down the long, long, long gangway, claimed their luggage,
and gotten on board the bus. So, we managed to run through most
of that - it was easy to find our bags since they were the only
ones sitting there... they had to squeeze our bags in because we
had a lot and the baggage areas had already been filled, and got
quickly onto the bus. It wasn't until the bus pulled out that
Vic realized he hadn't tipped the porter because of all the confusion
- we felt bad.
I thought I had been told at one point that it was a one-hour
bus ride to Victoria Station, but the bus driver told us almost
2 hours. Vic's cold by now was really bad, so he fell asleep pretty
quickly. It took a little under 2 hours, and we drove through
beautiful countryside. There were a lot of fields that were covered
with some sort of yellow flower that was very colorful.
I was surprised there were no highways or express way into the
city, but we drove for quite some time through downtown to get
to Victoria Station. There we gathered up all our bags from off
2 different buses, and Vic found us a cab. Of course, we had been
assured by the cruise line that we could exchange money in town,
as their desk had run out of British Pounds, but since we were
getting right into the cab, we weren't sure how to pay for it.
The driver said he didn't take dollars, but Vic said he'd run
into the hotel and exchange some money, then run out and pay the
cab, and the driver said that was fine. The cab was large - the
driver in the front, on the right side of course. Behind him there
is a wall with windows, and then a lot of floor space, and a small
chair that folds down. The bench is in the back, and a small trunk.
We put some bags in the front left, some on the floor in front
of us, some in the trunk, and Trevor sat on my lap. I thought
we might have to take two taxis, but we did it! Our hotel is the
Royal Garden Hotel, on Kensington High Street, in the Kensington
area of London, the far west. It overlooks Kensington Gardens,
which used to be part of Kensington Palace, where royals, including
Princess Margaret, have apartments and currently reside. It was
11 a.m. when we arrived at the hotel, and we were pleasantly surprised
to be able to check-in right away. Our room is #415, at the end
of the hallway, overlooking the park and Kensington Palace. I
had seen pictures in their brochure, in the Disney Vacation Club
information - since we used our Disney Vacation Club points to
stay here, we booked it through them - and on the Internet, and
the rooms looked very small. I warned Vic that the room would
be small, in fact I wasn't sure where we would put all the suitcases,
and maybe we could leave the ones we wouldn't need in London in
some type of storage. Disney Vacation Club told me that they wouldn't
book more than 3 people in the room, so they had advised me to
book 2 rooms. I didn't want to pay that much, so we agreed we'd
fit into the one room somehow. Besides, it had to be bigger than
the cabin on the ship that we'd just spent 2 weeks in, right?
We were very pleased when we opened the door and discovered
a much bigger room than we expected. On the right is a closet,
big enough to hold all our luggage. The bathroom is on the left.
Straight ahead is the main room, with a couch and chair on the
left, and 2 twin beds, a desk, and dresser on the right. Definitely
bigger than our cabin! And we overlook the park!
The kids weren't anxious to leave again yet, so we hung out
in the room for a short time - I unpacked, the kids played with
their toys and checked out the TV. Then we went out to explore,
see some sights, and have lunch. We walked out of the hotel -
dressed warmly, as we were told to expect highs of around 61,
and headed toward the nearest Underground, or subway, station.
As we walked along the streets, we realized it was already past
61, and we all took off our jackets. By the end of the day, it
had to have hit a high in the mid 70s - we were warm!
As we walked along the streets, we saw a lot of store names
familiar to us - Laura Ashley, Levi, etc. We passed a camera store
and went in to get camera batteries - and walked out about $40
poorer, just for 2 batteries. We were almost to the underground
station when we passed a McDonald's. Everyone was hungry, and
it was certainly the easiest thing in site, so we decided to eat
there. We ordered our food and ate in their dining room in the
basement.
The entrance to the underground was through a small shopping
area, and we were passing a pharmacy, so Vic went in to get some
cold medicine. Then we bought our one-day tickets for the underground,
and went on. We took the train one stop, then transferred to another
train for 6 stops, and got off close to the British Museum. Alyx
was really looking forward to it - they had quite a collection
of mummies, including one of a cat. We had to walk a few blocks,
and stopped in a gift shop on the way. Alyx got a key chain that
says"London," Trevor got a key chain of a double-decker bus, and
I got a bunch of postcards. They were funny postcards - one showed
small pictures of a bunch of famous London sites, and appeared
to have written on them notes from us from our trip, like"got
arrested here" at the photo of the changing of the guards at Buckingham
Palace, etc. The other postcard was a photo of Buckingham Palace,
and again writing saying"My hotel room is here." Vic sent a bunch
of those to people at work.
We walked into the Museum, and there was a sign saying that
the mummy collection was closed because of construction and expansion
in that area. Alyx almost cried - she had been so excited. But
we went up to the Egyptian area anyway, and saw a number of statues,
sarcophaguses, weapons, jewelry, and hieroglyphics. We could see
the area where the Egyptian Mummies were - they had curtains across
the entrance to the room. Vic put Alyx on his shoulders, and she
could look over the curtains and see the mummies - she took pictures
too. She felt better.
We went from there into the early Roman-Britain area, and saw
the"Lindow Man" - a 25-year-old man who had been killed apparently
in a religious ceremony, probably Druid, over 3,000 years ago,
had then been dumped into a bog. The chemicals and lack of sunlight
had preserved his body, and 15 years ago his foot was found in
the bog. Archaeologists were called in to excavate, and they found
the upper torso, including head, chest and arms, intact. You could
still see the hair on the top of his head and face, where he had
a beard and mustache, but the chemicals in the bog had bleached
it. The skin looked almost leather-like in color and texture.
Alyx had read about him in some of her Mummy books when we did
the unit study on Mummies last year.
Then we went down the stairs, heading to the section on Egyptian
sculpture, but Alyx sidetracked us and led us into the Oriental
Collection. I told her some of the history of China, and related
things there to things I had seen while in China in 1982. Then
we went to the Egyptian Sculpture area, where we saw more sarcophaguses,
and a large statue of Ramses II. We talked about what happened
to end the reign of the Pharaohs in Egypt, and how civilizations
end and change and evolve.
The kids were tired from walking, so we went outside and got
some lemonade, or lemon squash, and sat down for a few minutes.
Then we walked back to the underground and rode back to the area
of our hotel. We stopped at a little shop and picked up some drinks,
and Vic picked up a menu from a Chinese restaurant, which we later
ordered from, and Vic went to pick up. We ate the Chinese food
in our room - it was good, even though their selections and names
are a little different from home. For example, they didn't have
lo mein, so I ordered fried noodles, thinking they were probably
the same. They were similar, but much thinner and not as soft.
Actually, the kids liked them better! The chickens with vegetables
in white sauce was really good, especially the broccoli which
even Alyx loved, but the portions were really small, so it didn't
go far. But the prices weren't shy - $40 for 3 soups, one small
order of chicken with vegetables, one small order of egg fried
rice, and one small order of fried noodles with bean sprouts.
Everything in this city is so expensive! Even the ride on the
subway was $15 for the 4 of us. We have large windows in the room,
and decided to leave the drapes open so the sun would wake us
up.
Tuesday, May 4, 1999
The hotel offers a continental breakfast buffet, and it is free
for two people per room. The cost would have been 13.5 pounds,
or $24 per person - ridiculous for cold cereal, juice, pastries
and fruit! It was half that for Alyx, but Trevor got a ham omelet,
so his was $15.75. The service was terrible - the girl kept acting
like we were bothering her. And since it was a buffet, we really
weren't asking for much! Vic didn't leave much of a tip.
Trevor really wanted to ride the double-decker buses today,
since we did the underground yesterday, so we were going to take
the bus to Buckingham Palace, to see the changing of the guard,
at 11:30 - it was 10:30 when we walked out of the hotel. But the
greeter at the door said there was no direct bus, which it would
be difficult, so we decided to go to the Tower of London instead.
I got us pretty close on the bus, and then we took a cab the rest
of the way, rather than figure out another bus, since the maps
for that aren't as easy as the underground maps. Another inexpensive
stop - $52 for us to get into the Tower of London.
The Tower of London included parts of what used to be the royal
castle, quite some time ago. We first visited the area that was
the royal residence of Edward I, in 1300. The first room was left
as they found it, and the other rooms were renovated. It was interesting
to see what they go through to renovate historical buildings -
they use the clues of the buildings themselves, including the
differences in the age of materials in the buildings, plus artistic
information, such as paintings that took place in the historical
location, and comparative information about what other historical
places looked like in the same time period. So the room that we
first saw included portions of the original royal residence in
the 1300s, plus many renovations and improvements, and even wallpaper
on one section of the wall that was only done about 10 years before
it became a museum.
Then we went into the White Tower, which at one time was the
tallest structure in London. There were displays of weapons, armor,
paintings, architecture, etc. It was a long, but interesting tour.
Then we went across to the building that holds the Crown Jewels.
There video presentations on the way in, showing the jewels as
they have appeared in various works of art, and the coronation
of the current queen, Queen Elizabeth II. The jewels themselves
were magnificent - they claim that the largest diamond in the
world is in one of the scepters. I thought the largest was the
Hope Diamond, in Washington, but I must be wrong... I'll look it
up.
When we went outside, we saw where some of the beheadings took
place in history, and we discussed some of what might lead kings
or queens to be killed. We also discussed the 2 princes who disappeared
in the Tower and were believed to have been killed by their uncle,
who later became King Richard II. Their skeletons were found in
the foundation of the White Tower hundreds of years later.
We left the Tower of London and walked down by the Thames River,
to a restaurant for lunch. Unfortunately the service wasn't any
better there - we ended up complaining to the manager, who in
turn tried to justify all the things the waitress had done. Anyway,
the potato soup was good. I ordered"lemonade" to drink, which
turned out to be the very sweet Sprite - they do have Sprite here,
but it is definitely different, - much sweeter, and lemonier!
After our lunch break, which was longer than we expected, we
walked over the Tower Bridge. It would have been nice to walk
on the top, high part, but you have to climb 300 steps to get
there, and Vic, with his cold, and the kids weren't up to it,
so we walked along the same level as the cars. On the other side,
we walked over to the HMS Belfast, a battleship from WWII that
is now a museum. We spent quite a bit of time exploring and climbing
all around the ship. By the time we were done, it was 4:30, and
all the museums were closing for the day, so we found a taxi to
go back to the hotel. On the way, Vic asked the driver to drive
past Big Ben, so we could see it. He actually stopped on a bridge
right next to it, and the kids got out and Vic took their picture
in front of it and the House of Commons. When we got back to the
hotel, we talked about us going back with Vic, especially now
that Trevor's sick, because if he really has what Vic does, we
won't be doing anything tomorrow anyway. We called Delta and found
out we could do it if we wanted to, so we discussed what we would
be missing by going home tomorrow (a day early). What we had planned
on doing was Westminster Abbey, the changing of the guard at Buckingham
Palace, maybe Madam Tussaud's wax museum, and Harrods. Vic was
leaving at 10:30 from the hotel, and everything closes at 5, so
with lunch, we were giving up 5 hours of sightseeing. And on Thursday,
to catch a 10 a.m. flight from Gatwick, we would have to leave
the hotel at 7 a.m. anyway, so it would have been very difficult.
So, we called Delta and changed our flights.
We are now confirmed to leave tomorrow at 1:35 p.m. from Gatwick,
arriving in Atlanta at 5:35, a 3 hour layover there, and arriving
in Orlando at 9:40 p.m.
I'm sorry that we'll miss some big sights, but I'm not heartbroken.
We've seen a lot of wonderful sights in the last couple weeks,
and I'm positive we'll be back in London at some point. It's such
an expensive city, too, that I feel guilty spending all the money
we've spent - cabs are $20 every time we hop in, even the bus
this morning was $14, and then we paid the cab after that too...
I would have liked to have seen Harrods, but I doubt I would have
bought anything. And I guess after 18 nights away from home so
far, I'm kind of anxious to get back home...
Alyx and Vic went out for a walk, because Alyx wanted to see
Kensington Gardens before she left, as she said it looked like
a pretty park. When they returned from their walk, they brought
pizza with them.
Wednesday, May 5, 1999
After breakfast, we still had some time to kill... the flight
is at 1:35 p.m. So we went outside, found it rather chilly and
we hadn't dressed warmly for this travel day, and we got a cab.
We figured we'd check out a bookstore down the street. Then we
walked back to the hotel, got our bags, and caught a cab to Victoria
Station. I guess there is no direct route via roads to Gatwick
Airport, so they have these trains available from Victoria Station
that are express to the airport. They are cheaper than a cab -
28 pounds instead of 55 - and take 1/3 the time, as the cab would
have taken 1.5 hours, we were told. There was someone there to
help us get the bags on the train, we paid by credit card on the
train, were served beverages and snacks –at a cost, of course
- and we were there in 30 minutes. When we got off, we had to
wait for someone to help with bags, but then he took us all the
way through the terminal to the Delta counter, where we checked
in.
When we were done with all this, it was 11:30. We stopped at
a newsstand and got a magazine and newspaper, so we went into
the international departure area, and had Burger King for lunch
- not my choice.
It was a long flight - 8.5 hours of flying time. I forgot to
order the kids' meals for the flight - I realized that when we
checked in for the flight.
We got home at nearly midnight, or 5 a.m. to us. I was surprised
how odd it felt coming home - like we were gone for a very long
time. The weather is going to be mid-90s today...