Up the Gangplank - live from the Caribbean Princess (5th-22nd Sept)

[TracieABD]

Happy sails!!!

I will be following along...

[mamaw58]

Following

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[PescadoAmarillo]

Yay! A new cruise blog to read! I'm already enjoying it. Thanks for posting!

[waltd]

Ha ha, yes I did realise about half an hour after I'd started my thread but I've decided to stay with it now - I just couldn't abandon another 'live from'.

 

Thanks for following and thanks to everyone else who's coming along on our journey.

 

Sue :)

 

Good for you Sue. Two different families two different view points. Keep them separate. BTW we also stayed at the Premier Inn West Quay for 2 nights in May and felt the same as you. It was a good value for the money, clean and the staff was excellent.. And a great location for walking. Looking forward to the rest of your trip review.

Joe

[socaljo]

Thanks, Sue, for not walking the plank & deserting this LIVE! :p :D

Love your writing style and am looking forward to continuing along on both! Happy Sailing!

[ar1950]

Good for you Sue. Two different families two different view points. Keep them separate. .............. Looking forward to the rest of your trip review.

Joe

 

I would second that. Thanks for doing the review.

[The CRuIseLLS]

(no pretty typeface - having probs with internet - going to get it sorted later)

 

What a busy day we had yesterday.

A visit to Boots to buy the bulk of our toiletries and a trip to Asda to buy anything we couldn't get in Boots were the main pre-embarkation tasks - we got loads of stuff & finding space to put it all once we got it back to the Premier was another!......We managed it, just......and were packed & ready to leave the hotel by 11:45.

 

Our (pre-booked) cab arrived on time & a very excited pair of Merseysiders were at the cruise terminal around 12:25. It's a good job there's not such thing as an excitement gauge - if there was, I'm sure I'd have broken it - even the lady at check-in commented on how happy I looked.

 

The hoards of people inside the terminal made it look a bit manic but check in was organised really well.....we didn't wait in line for long and were getting our card keys by 12:45 and then, (queue drum roll please).....it. was.

 

"Up the Gangplank" time and we were on board :D

 

After dumping our luggage, putting the valuables in the safe & saying hello to our room steward "Larry" (he seems nice), we were down in the internet cafe redeeming our voucher & getting our account set up pdq (see first sentence for how well that's gone!)

 

We did a bit of exploring but with the suitcases arriving and a million things to do, we didn't see much of the ship - I have sussed out that she's huge though - think it will take the whole 17 days to see everything & even then, I don't think we'll see everything!

 

A late lunch, a bit of unpacking, door postering, muster drill all got us to 5pm and sailaway

 

The weather played nice and it was warm enough to stand on deck as we sailed out of Southampton. The AIDA Prima was also in port and her passengers gave us a great send off......tons of them were waving goodbye (& vice versa) and that, along with the CB's resident group belting out some fab songs as we made our way to the hight seas (aka the English Channel) all added to the occasion.

 

(Back down to earth!), I did a ton of ironing and then we made our way to the Welcome Aboard Show. The British comedian, Rick ???? (name escapes me) wasn't really our cup of tea but, credit where it's due, he did make us laugh occasionally. I suppose it comes down to different strokes for different folks because quite a lot of the audience like him so he certainly didn't bomb, he just wasn't for us.

 

A quick glass of wine in Crooners and then our tummies were telling us it was time for dinner.

Couldn't say which dining room we went to but there was no wait and we were seated immediately. We said we were happy to share so they put us on a table for 8 but we ended up being the only 2 on it becuase the later dinner trade had slowed to less than a trickle. Talk about feeling like a pair of Billy No Mates (Liverpool expression).

Not to worry, it meant Helena, our wonderful server could give us a load of attention and she did...by the bucket load - lovely girl.

 

The food was fab ......a fish cerviche followed by chilli for me and Terry had spring rolls then rib eye. Neither of us felt like dessert cos a) we were full and b) to tired to eat it.

 

It didn't help that I'd been awake since 2:40am but, that aside, I'm still amazed at how excitement can really tire you out - at 9:45 we were back in our room and totally ready for a good night's sleep.

 

Our first day on board was wonderful

 

(when I can get my internet sorted, I'll post on the blog & that will include pics.....I'll let you know when)

 

Thanks for following

 

Sue :)

[strummer]

Great first day report - can feel your excitement from here!

I love the first morning on ship, I am always up early walking on deck looking out at the sunrise. Love the peacefulness :)

We did a mini cruise with Princess and our first stop was Rotterdam - I enjoyed the cruise into port and Rotterdam was lovely to walk round (I was quite surprised by this!) - I loved the cube houses!

Have a wonderful and looking forward to your report - hope the problems with your internet get sorted soon.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Love following along with you! Thanks!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[CruzinNoony]

We also stayed at the Premier Inn West Quay. We walked from where the National Express bus from the airport dropped us off. I'm loving your "live from". Thank you!:)

[The CRuIseLLS]

 

6/9 - Cruise Day 002 - Rotterdam

 

Internet problem sorted - it turns out I was the problem :o

It's still very slow though so I may have to abandon my idea of posting pics to the blog until we get home.....if we find some decent/free wi-fi in port, I will try to upload a few photos.

 

 

And so to yesterday..........

 

I was up well before the crack of dawn so I went down to the International Cafe for some sustenance. I just love that place already....the IP doesn't have one so it's a new Princess experience for us. How great is it to be able to have a fab latte & a muffin at 3.30am?

 

Terry woke at a much more reasonable hour and once we were both ready we hot footed it (aka got the lift) up to the HC for some breakfast. Omelette for me and a (mini) full English for Terry. I think I prefer the "cook the eggs to order" serving station on the Island but everything tasted good.

We saw our server from the previous evening and I need to make a correction - her name is Elena not Helena.

 

 

After breakfast we had a walk around the shops and then went out on deck to have a nose around.

Q. Hands up all those people who sang the Beautiful South's "Rotterdam" as we sailed into port?

A. Me, me..........I did :D

 

Travelling toward the terminal was a bit surreal for me.

I've never been to Rotterdam in my life but because I've been checking out the webcams for months now, it seemed very, very familiar - the strange shaped buildings, the quayside....everything - very deja vu-ey. The only thing that didn't look quite the same didn't was the Erasmus bridge.....it was much closer to the water than it looks on the cameras.

 

By 12:40, we were off the ship and heading towards coach 18 - it would be taking us to Amsterdam for the day.

 

Amsterdam was lovely. Totally enjoyed it all, especially the trip around the canals - I'm glad we chose the ship's tour rather than try to do it on our own (which I did look into and, luckily, dismissed) because I don't think we'd have seen half a much on a DIY version.

We also wouldn't have found out some "well, I never" facts

Amsterdam re-introduced the Olympic flame w-a-a-a-a-a-y back in 1928 when they hosted the games

Amsterdam invented the P sign for parking

Amsterdam has 825,000 residents and over 1,000,000 bikes

 

We had 2 hours to tour the city by ourselves and so we made our way to Dam Square to have a look around. As I'd forgotten to bring the maps of all the places off the square that we'd researched :mad:- including Susie's Saloon! - the only thing left to do was to buy some souvenirs (the slippers in the shape of clogs are just classic), have a drink and watch the world pass by. So that's what we did.

 

We didn't get back to the CB until 8:40 and desperately needed something to eat so we made our way straight to the MDR.

Singapore beef satay and jerk chicken for both of us - with Terry having some kind of chocolate dessert and me, cheese. A couple of drinks followed and then we were off for some shut-eye.

 

 

(Today is our first full sea day - it's also our Meet & Greet - it'll be wonderful to put faces to names, can't wait.)

 

 

 

 

 

To visit our Up The Gangplank blog, please click HERE

[ekka49]

Thank you for your posts we are following you from the bottom half of the world. We are enjoying your posts. We will be cruising Norway, Iceland and USA next year, during the Sea Princess World cruise.

Again thank you

[jlf1]

So happy so see another "Live From". I will be following.

 

Judy

[dickinson]

Glad you enjoyed Amsterdam! We went there last year and were lucky to get in on a private tour from our roll call because we were able to go to the Anne Frank house without waiting in the LONG line. Amsterdam is a beautiful city.

[westendgirl]

Loving your Live From! We did this itinerary on the CB last Sept. (with just a couple of port differences) and will enjoy revisiting the ports with you. It's especially interesting to see the impressions of a Mersey-sider (Liverpudlian?).

 

PS The Isafjordur sail-out was one of the best we've ever experienced. The weather was beautiful and we saw more whales than we could count!

Edited September 7, 2016 by westendgirl
post was cut off

[cnd crsr]

Enjoying this trip along with you. Glad you had such a good day in Amsterdam. It is a wonderful city to explore. Last time we were there it poured rain all day.

 

Looking forward to your next port!

[soccergang]

I am enjoying reading about your trip. Nice job and keep it coming, please!

[The CRuIseLLS]

 

Hi everyone......

Apologies for being so far behind all the time - I take my hat off to everyone who is about 50 million times busier than me and yet can still post on the day it all happens.

 

After eating so late on Tuesday night, neither of us felt like breakfast yesterday so we went down to the IC for a cuppa and then planned to go to the morning trivia quiz. We had the cuppa but didn't make the quiz.......the couple we're having dinner with tonight arrived and all four of us sat chatting til 11am when it was time to go to our Meet & Greet.

 

What a turn out that turned out to be - the place was packed.

It was nice to finally see Bob and thank him (via a round of applause) for all the work he did on our behalf. Thank you again, Bob.

I was amazed at how many of the senior crew turned up.....even the captain came to see us and they were all just as amazed at how many CC members turned up - one of them actually said that they'd been to a lot of M&Gs but he'd never seen so many people from one roll call.

 

I think the whole thing lasted about 40 minutes and then people started to drift off.....once we'd discussed final plans with (another) Barbara for the cabin crawl that's taking place during the transatlantic crossing, we drifted off too & went to the Crown Grill for a pub lunch of fish, chips & mushy peas.

 

The last time we had that meal (on the IP), I did nothing but moan because the peas weren't proper mushy peas (they'd mashed up garden peas.....yuk). They weren't totally right time either but they were much better - the fish was perfect though so that made up for it.

We arrived just before 12 because I knew if I ate too big a lunch, I wouldn't want to eat dinner & I'm glad we went so early because about half an hour later the queue was massive.

 

After that we went on a floor by floor tour of the ship & visited every area we hadn't yet seen - I'm totally impressed with Skywalkers.......we'll have to go back when it's dark to take some pics, I think it'll look amazing when it's all lit up.

 

We had a couple of drinks in Crooners and then got invited to join a group in Club Fusion for the afternoon quiz - we didn't win but it was good fun.

 

 

At 6:30 we met up with L and C and had a fantastic night. Both of the blokes were suited, booted & dicky bowed - looking all handsome - and us girls looked pretty damn good too - no proof of that though because, even though I had our camera with us, I didn't even turn it on......never mind take a picture.

 

L had booked a table for us in the MDR - it was perfect, right by a window in a corner section of the dining room.....it made it seem just that bit exclusive.

Listing four people's menu choices would take forever so I'll just say that every course was delicious and we all thoroughly enjoyed every morsel.

 

The whole dinner was such a laugh and after we left the dining room (we were the last to go), it was off to Crooners for a final drink or 3.

We kept a steady countdown of how long Terry had to go until he reached the big six O and at 11:54, I made my way to the piano player to ask if he'd play happy birthday at midnight. He was just closing the lid of the piano and said he'd finished for the evening (apparently his shift was over about half an hour earlier) but, after a bit of cajoling and because he's a just so wonderful, he agreed to stay around to help us wish Terry a very, very, very happy birthday......and at exactly 12 o'clock that's what we did - even the other customers and all the bar staff joined in.

After a celebratory glass of champers and a few more off-key renditions of happy birthday, we called it a night around 12:30/12:45.

 

 

Check out the blog when you can - I pre-scheduled a post that should automatically be published at some point today......you'll be able to see the birthday boy :D

 

 

 

 

To visit our Up The Gangplank blog, please click HERE

[The CRuIseLLS]

Loving your Live From! We did this itinerary on the CB last Sept. (with just a couple of port differences) and will enjoy revisiting the ports with you. It's especially interesting to see the impressions of a Mersey-sider (Liverpudlian?).

 

PS The Isafjordur sail-out was one of the best we've ever experienced. The weather was beautiful and we saw more whales than we could count!

 

 

We're from 'across the water', Wirral

 

 

Again, thanks for following along everyone - I'll try to catch up with myself and post on time in future :)

[The CRuIseLLS]

 

Satellite problems meant the internet connection was totally disabled earlier today......this is the first chance I've had to post Terry's birthday bloggy stuff

 

 

8/9 Cruise Day 004 - Happy Birthday to Terry

 

Well, talk about someone trying to upstage Terry on HIS big day......

 

After waking at 6 and putting banners & balloons all over the room (without waking Terry, go me!), I took my netbook downstairs to post Wednesday's news (it's a nuisance having to do that but at least I can upload something) and then I went to get some hot drinks for us both from the IC

 

Back in our room, the birthday boy was woken by my dulcet tones belting out another round of happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you etc and he laughed his head off when he saw what I'd done to the place. I must admit, it does look fun (pics to follow.....again!)

 

Terry opened all his birthday cards and we got ready for the day. We were going to have some breakfast & a bucks fizz or 2 but decided against it in the end - we needed to get out to tour the town.

 

We left the ship around 10, took approximately 20 paces and, cue drama #1...........

 

I somehow twisted my foot, lost my balance & went flying, ab.so.lute.ly flying - I don't know what it looked like but it felt like I was in some kind of slapstick comedy that had gone terribly wrong. I landed on my side and cut/scrapped both feet, my knee, my elbow & hand.

Because I needed help to get off the ground, the security guys insisted that a wheelchair was ordered. I really didn't want one but they wouldn't take no for an answer. I did refuse medical help though because I can't see the point of paying an astronomical bill to get a bit of grit out of my hand (ha, what a martyr) so I was taken back to our cabin to clean up.

 

When I sorted myself out and plastered (aka band-aided) where necessary we left the ship for the second time, with me keeping tight hold of Terry until we were on the main drag into town.

 

We made our way (via a couple of souvenir shops) to the funicular and waited for about half an hour to catch a train up to the top of Mount Floyen.

For those of you who have checked the webcam view, you'll know how beautiful it is up there - well it's even more spectacular in 'real life'.

 

I got on my phone & tweeted to my bestest twitter pal so she could check us out on the web cam. She is such a star, she took some screen shots of us and tweeted them back to me. I was so grateful because that's what I'd planned to do but my phone was taking an age to log onto the webcam. So thanks to C, we have a few pics of our time 'on screen'.

We also managed to speak to one of Terry's sisters and text/chat with another. They both got to say happy birthday to their baby brother & I got to find out that Pongo is doing great and apparently not missing us at all.

Fairweather friend dog or what?

 

We got the train back down & just as it stopped, I realised I'd left my phone in the ladies......we jumped back on the funicular (illegally cos we'd only paid for one round trip), got to the top and found the phone lying next to the till in the 'boutique'. Thank you so much to the person who handed it in - I'd be lost without it and big thank you to the funicular guy who let us go back down on the train for free once we'd told him about (mini) drama #2.

 

I think that's enough theatrics for one holiday - back to the main plot.

 

Bergen is a beautiful city - especially around the sea front.

Everywhere reminded me a bit of those quaint villages that were pictured on the box fronts of jigsaws you could buy years ago - the ones that had about 3,000 tiny pieces (but by the time you were nearing completion you discovered you actually had just 2,999!).

 

We strolled around Bryggen and popped in & out of a few souvenir shops. I can't believe how much everything costs here. It was £17 for 2 beers, £15 for a shot glass & bottle opener and £8 for some antiseptic cream from..... (for all you UK-ers out there) Boots......a little bit of home from home in Norway (even the logo is the same :) ).

 

We got back to the ship around 3:30 and, as we'd not eaten in town, we trotted up to the Caribe Cafe for a very small snack & a drink. The red wine in a (chipped) plastic glass was novel, particularly as it felt like I was drinking out of something as thick as stein, but other than that, it was an uneventful half hour.

 

 

Rather than go to the MDR to celebrate Terry's birthday, we'd decided (pre cruise) to have an Ultimate Balcony Dinner. Thinking it would be cold at this time of year, we weren't that bothered about having it around sailaway so I'd ordered it for 7pm.

Wouldn't you know it.............the weather was glorious but, fate lent a hand and, thanks to leaving port a little later than planned, along with the staff pulling out all the stops to start it all a little earlier, we got our sailaway dinner.

 

Abel was our server for the evening and he did a fantastic job of making sure everything was just perfect.

Is there a little spy camera somewhere that tells them when to top up your champers or that you've finished your food? He appeared at just the right moment to take care of whatever needed taking care of.

And talking of food, here's the menu

 

Cocktails & canapes

(all stop for photos to be taken - as we'd started earlier than planned, it was the only time the photographer could make it)

Crab cakes

Salad

Steak & lobster

Choccy desserts

 

It got a bit windy just as we were finishing the main course so the table was brought inside & we finished off the meal in our room.......as Abel and his assistant brought in the puds, they sang Happy Birthday to Terry - it was so funny - what a lovely touch and it ended the meal on a definite high.

 

Everything was cleared away by 9 so as we were so full, we decided to chill for a while to let it all settle and then we thought we'd go for a couple of drinks but, in the end, we chilled out in our room for the rest of the night & watch a bit of TV (God, don't The Crills know how to party :D).

To be honest, we were both a bit shattered and I was starting to feel like I'd gone 10 rounds with Joe Frazier (or a.n. other boxer) so it was the best plan for us really.

The most important thing was that Terry totally enjoyed the day (he said the bit were I fell wasn't that good but the rest of it had been) so, if he's happy then I am too.

 

 

 

 

We now have another 2 days in port so I think my 'live from' may be even more delayed than usual. I definitely won't get today's done in time to let you in on the webcam timetable, so here's a heads up......

 

Don't forget to check out Lerwick's webcams tomorrow morning (at a guess, from around 9:30 ish UK time). There's a good chance you'll see passengers milling around the town for a good few hours (you'll find links to all the webcams on my blog.....see below for the web address)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To visit our Up The Gangplank blog, please click HERE

[The CRuIseLLS]

 

9/9 - Cruise Day 005 - Flaam, Norway

 

 

Another wonderful picture postcard view greeted us as we opened the curtains to say hello to Flam. We got ourselves ready, had a quick breakfast in Horizon Court and made our way down to the Princess theatre to wait for our tour number to be called.

 

I'm not going to go into the shambles of the numbering system - it would take up nearly the whole blog! but splitting about 500 people into numbered groups, leading them out of the ship by each number then grouping them all together only to separate them into group numbers again to get on the train all seems a bit daft.

 

We eventually got on the train and, I have to say, the hassle was worth it, we had a lovely journey - the scenery was wow and even more wow (for info, we sat on the right hand side facing the way the train was going and I think we got the best views). After an hour, we arrived at (I think) Myrdal where we changed trains and continued our journey on to Voss.

 

More shenanigans with group numbers got us to the Park Hotel and a buffet lunch. I was fully expecting to be served a load of rubbish but it was wonderful. There was a huge choice of fish (salmon, mackerel, catfish, shellfish), spicy chicken, reindeer/beef meatballs (which were really tasty), potatoes, salads and a wide variety of mousse & fresh fruit for dessert. Just yummy.

 

We then got on a load of coaches and were taken on a scenic drive back to the ship stopping off along the way to get a few shots of the spectacular Norwegian countryside.

This part of the journey had us travelling along one of the steepest roads in Norway - 13 hair raising hairpins bends down a very narrow road way was really quite a scary but not to be missed experience.

 

A wonderful tour and I'd recommend it to anyone.

 

After we got back to the CB at 4:57, we legged it up to our room as quick at the lift would take us to get our bottle of wine for L and C's 5pm!! sailaway/wine tasting party.

It was a lot of fun, we met another lovely couple from the CC roll call and had a really good laugh and L was right - the sailaway from Flam shouldn't be missed.

 

We left to get ready for dinner but checked to see what was on offer first......I'm glad we did it that way round because neither of us fancied viener schniztel witzel fitzel - or whatever it was called - (and none of the other dishes appealed either) so getting all dolled up would have been a waste. Instead, we went and got ourselves a burger (Terry) and pizza (me).

 

Crooners for a couple of drinks was our last stop of the evening and we called it a night around 10:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

To visit our Up The Gangplank blog, please click HERE

[strummer]

Loving your live trip report - thank you so much for using you internet minutes to do this!

Looking forward to the next installment :D

[cnd crsr]

What a treat to read of your adventures! Sounds like your hubby had a wonderful birthday!

 

I certainly agree, noone should miss Flamm. We took that same excursion there and loved it.

 

Looking forward to your next installment.

[treesah]

Following your adventures. I like your style. Fair winds and blue skies to you.

[The CRuIseLLS]

 

10/9 - Cruise Day 006 - Lerwick, Shetland Islands, UK

 

Sorry to everyone who tuned in to the Lerwick webcams especially to see us - we weren't there!

 

We arrived a bit late & anchored off the island around 10 o'clock - I think that by the time the captain made his announcement about what was happening to repair the broken left hand side propulsion thingy-me-bob!!, we knew we weren't going ashore. The wind & very rough seas we'd been experiencing throughout the night hadn't died down any and the waves were still peaking at 2 to 4 metres. It wouldn't have been at all safe to use the tenders or pontoons.

 

 

At 1pm, plans were being made to have the ship moved to a more sheltered side of the island so work could get underway to fix the propulsion problem - Terry and I got underway to the Horizon Court for some lunch.

I had a lovely fish stew and Terry had veal which he thoroughly enjoyed. We mooched about for the rest of the afternoon until it was time for the 4 o'clock (ish) quiz in Explorers. We were lucky to get seats....the place was heaving - it was either standing room only or you sat down on the floor (some people did).

I suppose that's what happens when a port day gets cancelled, people who normally wouldn't do trivia, do.

 

The evening was mostly taken up by waiting for a table in the MDRs (both were very busy) and then going for a drink in Crooners followed by having a ton of fun wasting the grand sum of $20 in the casino.

 

At 11, we called it a night.

 

It's such a shame we didn't get to visit Lerwick - I feel so sorry for all the tour companies and shops that will miss out. I believe there's a fantastic chippy just as you get off the tender.......my heart went out to the owners, they'll probably have bought extra provisions to cope with all the hungry Princess crowd. I hope there's another ship on its way and we weren't the last for this season - they'll need to shift a whole load of haddock & maris piper.

 

 

 

 

 

To visit our Up The Gangplank blog, please click HERE