BUT, there have been some blips along the way that have made me a bit frustrated. Yesterday was the last straw that made me a bit emotional. Let me go back a few days.
Our first planned stop on this cruise was the Azores. After 6 days as sea (sometimes quite rough & wild) we were looking forward to putting our feet on solid ground. But, the seas were still too rough, so it was determined that we were going to skip docking - it was just too unsafe. So, off to another sea day...
Next stop, Brest, France. The lines to get off the ship were soooooo long. it took some 2 1/2 hours to get off ship. (still wondering how that happened) I don't remember such a fiasco before... we were not docked at a regular cruise port. There wasn't much there. We were not allowed to walk around there. For $15 we could take a shuttle to town. (or for free, they would shuttle you to the gate, then you had a 4 kilometer walk to town). I found a spot on deck 8 where I was able to find some free wifi... it overlooked where the passengers were getting off and on the ship. On this particular day, the rains were heavy. The disorganization of the people getting back on the ship was awful... the tide made the gang plank a real hazzard (way too steep - and there were many passengers with disabilities) Add to that, in the rain, people had to wait in line for 2+ hours to get back on the ship. One friend took a tour. When they got back to the dock it was pouring down rain. The bus driver would not let them stay on board the bus until the rains died down... how rude. Here's a picture of the very very long line waiting to get back on the ship.
Needless to say, I was glad I decided not to get off... but on the other hand, sorry I didn't get a chance to see some of the WWII history (Brest was almost completely destroyed during the war.)
Next stop: Southampton, England. We had to go through immigration before we could leave the ship. The UK immigration officials were supposed to come on board in the Azores, but because we didn't dock there, that didn't happen. And they refused to come on board in Brest. Soooooo, we had to go through immagration before we got off ship in Southampton. Add to this cluster, the ship had a propulsion problem, so we were getting into port about 4 hours later than originally planned. Getting 4,000 people through immigration was rediculous. We docked at noon, and it wasn't until 5pm before I got off the ship. (and there were many many more after me) I was so frustrated and so near tears over the frustration. We had until 11:30 that night to spend in town, but most of the shops closed at 6pm. What the hell!??
this is an anchor from the Queen Mary
Needless to say, I got back on board early... played the anti-social card... Went to the thermal spa for a good long soak (felt so good after the couple of miles of walking to get to the stores that were mostly closed). I continued with the anti-social thing but grabbing dinner and hiding in my cabin... had a long, well needed sleep and hopefully a much better attitude.
Well the whoas continue... we won't be stopping at the port in Brussels since we are off on our schedule. (dang!) Tonight we will land in port at Rotterdam... good thing, we are staying there over night and won't leave until 6pm tomorrow night. I'm hoping to get to Amsterdam, which is about an hour or so away from the ship to see the Anne Frank house/museum.
I guess this was a downer of the post. Had to get it out of my system. I can't let these blips in life get me down. So I'm now going to put on my happy face and get on with the "fun".
until we meet again...
Kim
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