I'm blogging about my 2024 trip to Scotland, England, and beyond! (I'm currently in that "beyond" stage.) Keep reading... or start from the beginning!
June 30th, continued...
Since it was such a short walk from my Southampton lodgings to the cruise port, I made it in under 15 minutes.
I checked in. I got my medallion, which is Princess Cruises' newish alternative to cruise cards. You use your medallion to enter your stateroom, pay for things on board, and board and exit the ship. In fact, they can use it to track you anywhere on the ship. I would've been creeped out by this, except that, well, everyone else was potentially being tracked, too, and I'm not that special. I also got my boarding number. I sat down to wait.
My boarding number was called about half an hour later. I proceeded through security and made my way up gangways and pathways until finally I was inside the ship. Then I headed to...
...the nearest laundry room. Yep! I had been traveling for almost two weeks, and had only been able to wash things by hand in my hotel bathrooms up till that point. (I had bought a small pouch of liquid detergent while in Scotland and still had some.) So now, here in one of the laundry rooms, I threw nearly all my clothes (except the ones I was wearing) into one of the machines.
I sat down and waited. The laundry room was peaceful and quiet. By the time the wash cycle was finished, an announcement had come over the ship's loudspeaker saying the staterooms were ready. I gathered up my clothes and made my way to my new room, where I hung them all up to dry completely.
Behold the stateroom closet before picture....
You can't see it in this photo, and I wouldn't find it until day 4 or 5, but someone left their girdle on the top shelf! The things I find in hotel/staterooms, I'm telling you... the list ever groweth.
View of my stateroom through the entrance hall....
I decided to sleep on the far side of the bed so that I wouldn't be constantly staring at this hallway/the stateroom door.
I had pre-ordered 12 water bottles for $7-something. If you buy water bottles once onboard, they're $2+ a piece. Cruise ship tap water is filtered and treated and safe to drink, but at one point later in the cruise, I did have brown water come out of the bathroom tap. So yeah... no thanks.
I was in stateroom A425, which was midship starboard.
According to the deck maps I looked at before the cruise, this room was right by a bank of elevators, so I was a little worried I'd hear noise from those. I didn't end up hearing people or "dinging" or anything, but there was a kind of engine noise that ran constantly (even when the ship was in port). In the end, I learned to ignore it.
The room was on floor 12, which was fairly central -- the buffet was two floors up and the promenade deck was 5 floors down. (Note to self: you prefer being closer to the promenade deck than that.)
After settling in, I made my way upstairs to the buffet for some lunch. Then I explored the ship a bit.
Not two hours on this ship, and I found a typo on one of the signs...
I love a good sign typo.
Deck 5, Plaza Deck, is actually home to the piazza -- alas, the pizza is on another deck.
^I never saw a single kid playing here.
^This was a water play area that looked fun, but had some non-functioning elements that prevented it from being awesome.
I found a book in the ship's library all about vintage wallpaper. Be still my heart! This was one of the only days I got to enjoy the library, because thereafter it was always noisy, what with the piazza being nearby, music playing, etc.
In the late afternoon, the ship left port...
I'm happy to report I got to watch the ship leaving most of the ports we visited, and got up early enough to watch at least one arrival.
I could see a lot of cool things along the shore to the north, and on the Isle Of Wight to the south. I was hoping to see Brighton eventually, but by the time the ship made it that far east, it had also gone too far south to see much of anything except water.
I had made plans to eat dinner in one of the Main Dining Rooms that evening -- and, in fact, every evening. Through the onboard Princess app, you can reserve a table and times for any of your nights -- well, that is, if the app decides to cooperate. I'd booked a solo table for every night at around 8pm, with the knowledge that if a night's menu didn't have anything I wanted (you can look at the menus ahead of time) I could cancel any night's reservation.
Well... between one thing and another, I only ever ate dinner there twice. Out of twelve nights.
That night was particularly chaotic in the ol' Palm Dining Room. My reservation was for 8:20, but everyone was running behind, so I (and everybody else) had to wait a little. It was both unsurprising and amusing how many people showed up at, say, 8:30 and tried to cut the line, saying, "BUT I HAVE A RESERVATION." Yes, ma'am, we all do. (Was I going to totally regret spending the next 12 nights with some of these people?)
Here are two of the things I had that night:
^This was risotto with peas and asparagus, and it was very good.
There was a nice, pastel sunset this evening...
July 1st
Today was a sea day. It was also Canada Day, so the ship celebrated...
(I do apologize for a lot of my photos being slightly blurry.)
Midmorning, I attended a watercolor activity in the pizza piazza. We were supposed to paint something "Canadian." The event felt bit rushed, as they needed to set up for another activity soon after this one, but I did manage to paint a little something, and hope to improve on it at home when I have more time.
I had lunch in one of the main dining rooms at a shared table with 4 or 5 other people.
Yay mac & cheese!
Later, back at the stateroom, I watched Ever After on the TV. Princess's stateroom TVs have a lot of options, including on-demand movies and Love Boat episodes, cruise-specific entertainment, and even some live TV. Things didn't always work as they were supposed to (lots of buffering/resetting) but when they did, it was quite nice.
^Ever After foreveerrrrr!
Another dinner in the buffet, this time with delectable tomato soup...
And here's where we were at 6:34 pm...
July 2nd
Today we docked in our first port: Skagen, Denmark. (Skagen is pronounced like "skain".)
But first... pancakes!
Yes, I made my way to one of the dining rooms for my first and only "dining room breakfast" of the cruise.
Afterward, I went to the promenade deck to watch the ship make its way into port.
I got off the ship mid-morning....
^Not the most photogenic spot, thank you, giant dirt mound.
The weather was a bit overcast at first, but it would improve...
I walked all around town. I visited a grocery store for some snack items, got some cash from an ATM, and visited a beach.
I love trying different kinds of chocolate when I travel. This one was good, but not spectacular...
^That crane-looking thing was a very popular-looking spot. It's called
Vippefyr, or Vippyfyret, and it's a clever invention that acted like a lighthouse back in the day. (This one is a reproduction.)
Heading toward the beach...
The beach was sandy with lots of colorful pebbles. I really wanted to take some with me, but I wasn't sure if that was allowed, and besides, I didn't want to add any more weight to my luggage.
I walked back toward the ship, taking a different path this time....
I returned to the ship about 1pm and grabbed some food at the buffet. I checked the dinner menu for the main dining room and decided it was a "no" for me. Then I went back to my stateroom and took a 3-hour nap! I woke up in time to watch us leave Skagen.
As the ship prepared to leave port, a red-jacketed band showed up and played some tunes.
And away we went...
Sometimes, when entering or leaving port, when we're already a bit out to sea, the ship will slow down and a much smaller boat will come along the side of the ship. Then someone will either hop from the ship to the boat or from the boat to the ship. I learned this person is a pilot who lives locally (wherever the ship is) and is an expert on that particular area. They help bring the ship safely into and out of port, and then... I guess they go back home!
That evening, I watched part 1 of the "Voice Of The Ocean" auditions. It's like watching karaoke, but where most of the singers are actually good. Only about half a dozen people auditioned tonight, but there would be another round tomorrow.
The sunset was particularly mesmerizing tonight. (Yes, it was night! This was around 10pm.)
Tomorrow... we dock in Copenhagen!
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