Roemin Aboat

Its all over in next to no time. We had a knock on our door from  Mark at 6:30 to go for breakfast. It should have been 7:30 but Marks phone was stuck on European time. We went down for a proper sit down breakfast in the restaurant which helps to kill a little time, as we have to vacate the room by 8:00am. We were given different disembarcation times and in the confusion Christina left the ship before us. But it all worked out in the end and we were whisked back to the park and cruise in the mini coach, to drive home. After a short coffee stop on the M40 we were back in Croft by about 1:00pm. Katie took the train and was first home closely followed by Mark and Christina. We all had a great cruise and enjoyed some warm and sunny weather. It was a good introduction to cruisng for Gill on here first cruise.

We sailed back up the Amsterdam canal during dinner, passing a party Pirate boat on the way. We arrived in the port of Zeebrugge on a warm sunny Sunday morning. I had booked a shuttle to Bruges with Viator to take us all on the 30min coach journey to the World heritage site of cobbled streets and canals that is Bruges.  Our visit started with a walk from the bus parking area at Bargeplein through the attractive park with its lake and picturesque bridges, via the chocolate shop lined streets to the central square. As it was a Whit Sunday the town was busier than usual with a lot of locals enjoying a day out. Everyone found some chocolates to buy and we also stopped for compulsory Belgian waffles and Fries with ketchup and mayo, before taking the shuttle back in time for an afternoon cocktail.  We went to see the lively Celebrity Life show, with their singers and acrobats, before our final dinner in The Grand Cuvee restaurant and thrn packing. 

We had breakfast in the Seaview buffet restaurant as usual then we split into 3 groups to do Amsterdam. I stayed on board to rest my knee, the others spent a few hours in the city, while I am doing this blog. It was very quiet on board and there was plenty of room in the pool and jakuzzis while most of the cruisers were off in Amsterdam.  The rest of our party took the no 26 tram to the flower market which is set up along the canal to do a bit of shopping. Rosemary bought an Amarylis bulb and a white Agapanthus amongst other things. Gill and Katie bought some Holland memorabilia and after a coffee stop in a sunny side street, then two tram rides, were back on board in plenty of time for the 6:00pm departure.  We were all  reunited in Cafe Bacio then had enough time to enjoy a bit more relaxing sun and yet another cocktail in the sunset bar before getting changed into our the smart chic evening attire for dinner.

After a lazy start it wasn't long before we were approaching the port of Amsterdam which is entered via a sea lock that looks far too narrow for our ship.  It just fits with 120cm each side and then we enjoyed a scenic 3 hour canal cruise, past the industial area right into the heart of Amsterdam. The ship moored just past the central railway station and beside the Movenpick hotel which was dwarfed by our cruise liner. We disembarked at about 6:30, walked through the station precinct and took a tram from outside the station, to somewhere in the city, to a bar for some local Amsterdam beer tasting with chips and mayo.  Then two trams back to the cruise terminal as the sun was setting at 9:45. We missed our dinner in The Grand Cuvee but just made it back in time to grab some more food, including lettuce, then rounded off the day with a liquor coffee in Cafe Bacio.

Today we are off on a 4 night mini cruise to Amsterdam and Bruges. I drove down to the port with Gill and Rosemary and we met Mark, Christina and Katie at the park and cruise to board the Celebrity Silhouette for 4:00 pm departure. We are all on board and Rosemary is taking Gill on a ships tour before we start eating! We are on a late dinner so we went to Celebrity Showtime in the theatre, which was Leanne Mitchell a 2003 winner of the Voice TV show.

This was a great cruise with exceptionally good weather in Iceland. The 4 sea days and 2 half days were not so good with fewer educational  activities than expected, although Icelander  Orly Orlyson was very interesting and entertaining. We saw more of the evening shows than usual and they were all good. Covid precautions did not interfere with our enjoyment but it would have been nice to see the crew without their compulsory face masks. The food was good in the main restaurant and top deck seaview cafe. We thought the $70pp cover charge in the speciality restaurants was exorbitant and only had 1 lunch in the Porch on the lawn deck. We were in Scotland when the Queen died so we will always remember that. We crossed the Arctic circle and saw the Northern lights, two more experiences to tick off the bucket list.

Up at 6:30 to be off the ship before 8:00. Car popped up a low tyre pressure alert on the M3. Stopped at McDonald's for breakfast to check if tyres were OK. Arrived home at 2:00 pm.

Another full day at sea but today had sunny intervals and warm enough for me to have half an hour in the outdoor jacuzzi. The shops had bottles of Roe and Co Irish whiskey so I had to get one of those.  We packed quite early, cases to be out by 10:00. Rosemary gave Pantak our steward a hug. We called in to future cruises office and paid a deposit for 2 more cruises to be decided in the next 90 days. The theatre production was a spectacular acrobatic and large inflatable sea creatures theme.  Loin of pork and Irish stew.

We berth in Greenock for a day trips to Glasgow and the Lochs. It looks like it will be dry and cloudy today. After a lazy start we just caught the train into Glasgow Central and had a couple of hours on the pedestrianised Buchanan St. We had a lovely cream tea at The Ivy with Glasgow's young and trendy before taking a train back. We were treated to pipes and drums band on the quay as we sailed away on grey drizzly afternoon for another day at sea. The Queen died today, we had a minutes silence and the National Anthem was played. The entertainment carried on later but the ship was noticeably quieter and musicians played slower stuff. It was smart chic night, beef wellington and duck (overcooked).

Grey, windy and rocky is the best description of the day. We needed a good rest after some late nights and full days so perfect conditions. Captain announced that the Covid rate had risen to 3% and masks were handed out for theatre goers. Comedy magician show, red snapper and chicken Kiev.

We got up early and took the expensive (£10 each) port shuttle into the city of Reykjavik to walk around the compact central area. Dropped off at the ultra modern concert hall, then walked over to the nearby founders statue, then up rainbow street to the dramatic futuristic  cathedral, bakery/coffee house and finally the Viking sun voyager boat sculpture. The cinnamon bun at the bakery was awesome. A quick shop for chocolate and fridge magnets then we caught the last shuttle back to port and sailed away at 11:30am. Perfect blue skies again for relaxing round the pool where the Pina Colada and Mudslide cocktails from the pool bar were awesome.  We were tempted to have a pre-lunch burger from the mast grill. Did some relaxing whale watching in the sun on the balcony till we turned south, no whales spotted. Lots of steam jets were visible on the very volcanicaly active Reykjavik peninsular, where the blue lagoon is located, but no sign of smoke from the lava fields. Dinner was ta...

 We sailed into Reykjavik at noon after spotting a whale in the bay from the seaview cafe, then we immediately joined a Viator excursion to the Thingvellir rift valley national park, followed by the impressive Gullfoss waterfall and the nearby Geysers. Perfect day again, no layers needed, we even had to swap busses because the air conditioning was not working. It was a long 7hr excursion and we returned exhausted after our late night aurora viewing and 15000+ tourist paces. Lots of photos were taken and we finished with a drive through the city, arriving back on board at 8:30 just in time for dinner.

We have been hoping to see the northern lights while up north and were treated with a show while cruising from Akureyri to Reykjavik close to the Artic circle again. It was after midnight before the skies cleared and we were able to make out the streaks of Aurora. A bit underwhelming in real time to be honest, but photographs with long exposure bring out the expected coloured display. The pool deck was too bright for serious viewing and it was technically only twilight. It was also very cold on top deck despite layers of clothes and we needed frequent hot coffee in the seaview cafe before giving up at about 1:15am. Another experience to tick off.

Unfortunately the weather did not allow us to see the northern light show but I was awake the catch the great sunrise photo before we docked at 8:00am. We booked an excursion with Celebrity which took us through some beautiful scenery to a traditional turf house and then to the Godfoss waterfall one of Iceland's top 3. The weather was perfect, sunny, blue sky and warm. In fact too warm for the layers of clothes we were wearing for the expected Icelandic autumn. Even the botanical gardens were full of summer flowers in full bloom. No autumn colours yet.

A grey calm day at sea. Time to chill out and have a seafood meal in the Porch restaurant. The temperature is dropping and heaters and blankets were needed to eat on the top deck. I spotted one Dolphin today in 3 hrs of whale watching. The Icelandic easy coast looks very rugged. We arrive in North Iceland in the early hours and cross into the Arctic circle before entering the fjord to cruise down to Akureyri.I am planning to try and catch the northern lights if the sky is clear enough in the early hours. A good solar storm is predicted peaking tonight but the weather forecast is not good.

We have two days to get to Iceland and this is the first and rather wet day at sea. We had a very interesting Icelandic speaker, Orly  Orlyson, on board. He gave two good talks on Icelandilc Explorers and how his tiny home town, Husavic, almost won an Oscar for best original song in 2020. We passed St. Kilda, the most Westerly point in UK, just before lunch. Restaurants very busy as no one is round the pool today. Aurora forecast for Sunday night is very promising 6 - fingers crossed. Invite to captains club party tonight.

Today we are anchored off Dunmote East to visit Waterford and surrounds if you have booked a tour. We have been here before so will just tender ashore and chill out in Dunmore and on the ship. It's a nice sunny start to the day. Just had enough time on shore for a huge ice cream and to post a card to Clare. Excellent view point for a ship photo. By a strange coincidence Tre Amici were performing on the theatre. Dilen the solo guitar player was good. We both had Australian Sea Bass for dinner.

We walked off the ship into the historic port of Cobh famous for Titanic's last stop and the emigration of millions of Irish during the potato famine. We walked up to the cathedral but could not look round because of a funeral. Rosemary was blessed by several locals she chatted and the view over the harbour was worth the climb anyway. We sat in the new Garden of Reflection opened to remember Covid 19. We encountered an impromptu sing song outside a bar which turned out to be 1/3rd of Tri Amici from  X factor finals in 2018. We had coffee and sandwich and strolled around the pretty quayside for a few hours before going back on board for cocktails round the pool. We caught he Irish Nights show, local 4 piece Dubliners type act with 4 Irish dancers. It was official welcome party with senior officers in attendance. Rosemary had a blue cocktail named after her - allegedly. The blue Aussie comedian was quite amusing too,  Rack of lamb was excellent, duck breast not so go...

We woke up in Portland Docks, an ex navy facility on Portland island. After breakfast we took the shuttle bus into Weymouth and spent a couple of hours around the old harbour and had coffee in the church hall. Last time we were here was 2012 for the Olympic sailing events. Nice sunny day, back on board for cake at bacio and afternoon tea. We sailed away to a heritage cannon firing from the dock and dolphins leaping out of the water. Another nice dinner of baked trout and sea food orzo. Fitted in the show and cocktails.

We started for Southampton at 8:30 with fingers crossed that the EPC alarm on the VW was just a software glitch. Stopped at a McDonalds for breakfast bap and coffee at the same time as folks leaving Carfest so it took a long time. Then we killed a bit more time by having a shandy at Wetherspoons in town before our boarding appointment at 2pm. Once in our cabin 6215 and unpacked we discovered that first stop at Guernsey has been cancelled because of windy weather and replaced by Portland in Dorset. We had dinner in main restaurant at 8:45, up to usual standard, rib of beef and home style pork chop. No cocktails early night.