Some friends have said that this was a trip of a lifetime. We have had some excellent adventures before this one and I plan on having many more trips!!
This one was much longer than any we have taken so far. We were gone for 5 weeks. We combined two cruises.
The first leg of our trip was a transatlantic crossing on Oceania. We left from New York on 4/5 and ended in Southampton UK 15 days later. The weather when we left NYC was 43 degrees with on and off showers. We love cruising with Oceania. The ship we were on was the Marina with a passenger capacity of 1250. It is a perfect size. Cruising with Oceania is a great experience. The service is outstanding and the restaurants are fabulous. We immediately got into the swing of things and checked out the ship after the drill. We had champagne in our suite and then headed to the Martini Bar before dinner in the Grand Dining Room. Throughout the rest of the trip we had made reservations for each of the specialty restaurants. They are Jacques (Jacques Pepin’s French cuisine), Red Ginger (Asian fusion), Polo Grill (steak, lobster etc) and Toscana (Italian). Each of the restaurants is amazing. There is staged entertainment on the ship every night but it is more low key than on the large ships. There is also a piano player in the martini bar and classical music every day at the Grand Bar. Afternoon tea is served daily. Everyday there are enrichment lectures or games, cards or movies and art classes of some sort and, of course there is the casino. There is something for everyone. My favorites were the enrichment lectures given by Peter La Sorsa who spoke several times about Traveling Safely, How to protect Your Valuable Asset when Traveling, Email Security, The Future is Here, and the best one, Talking With Your Mouth Closed! What an education in how to read body language. The cooking demos were also excellent. I could go on and on, but I should get to the places we saw.
On 4/7 we docked at Saint John NB, Canada. The temperature was 25-49 degrees that day. When we arrived at the pier there was ice on the water. The excursion we chose was to see the Reversing Falls Rapids at Fallsview Park. This phenomenon is caused by the Bay of Fundy’s tide, which rises 28 feet in the day. When the tide is low the river empties into the bay. The water churns and causes rapids and whirlpools and the river actually flows backwards. We also went to the Carlton Martello Tower. It was built for the War of 1812 but was not completed until 1815.
On 4/8 we docked in Halifax, NS, Canada. The temperature was 27-34 degrees that day. Thank goodness we were prepared. I brought a puffer jacket and I wished I had gloves. The excursion we picked was Peggy’s Cove. It is a very quaint fishing village and is famous for it’s lighthouse. The town, even in a cold, gray state was beautiful. I felt like it could be a backdrop for a romance novel…”She saw him pull up in his car and thought what is this stranger doing here at this time of the year?” You can make up the rest of the story…
We had heard in town that there was a forecast for 8-15″ of snow approaching. When we got back to the ship the Captain had decided we needed to skip or next stop at Newfoundland and get a little bit south for the crossing to avoid the storm.
Although we did not experience problems with too much rocking, on 4/9 we woke to about 18″ of snow on the decks. What a surprise! I guess I just never gave any thought to where snow goes when it falls in the ocean, but when there is a surface it accumulates. The staff was having a great time clearing the snow off of the deck with trays. Many on the staff are from Indonesia and the Philippines and had never seen snow. Snowball fights ensued and snow angels were made on the decks before it was all cleared. It was fun watching them enjoy this.
We were at sea until 4/14. We kept ourselves busy with activities and making friends with our bartenders at our favorite bar-The Martini Bar. Our bartender had a great policy, no glass shall be empty at her bar! It was always fun meeting different people at the bar. One afternoon we met a really nice couple from Kalamazoo Michigan (Kathy and Ken).
The weather was becoming more and more rainy as we entered the Celtic Sea and the seas started kicking up. Thank goodness we don’t have problems with seasickness. One night we had a table at the window and you could see the waves crashing on the side of the ship. Good thing we had an excellent bottle of Pouilly Fume to accompany our dinner at Jacques.
On 4/14 we arrived at Cork (Cobh) Ireland. The weather was rainy and chilly but it only made Cork more green and beautiful. The weather has certainly been wild. Here I was envisioning a romantic transatlantic crossing being all cozy under blanket on the chairs on our veranda particularly today since it was our wedding anniversary. But that wasn’t getting us down because we had an excursion to the Jameson Distillery in Midleton. Very interesting to see the whole operation and of course have a tasting there too. After that we went into their pub and tried a Jameson and Ginger and lime. For our anniversary dinner we had a delicious Italian dinner at Toscana.
The rain and rough Celtic Sea made it necessary for the Captain to make the decision to stay another day in Cork which meant we would be skipping Dublin. So glad that we have been to Dublin previously or we would have been disappointed. But the extra day in Cork was very enjoyable even in the pouring rain because we ventured out and found a great shop where we found lots of treasures and beautiful Irish sweaters and caps that my husband looks so good in. Tonight (4/15) we left Cork and at dinner in the Polo Grill we experienced some more rough seas. We must have dropped after a wave crested and you could really feel the drop. My husband said we went into a huge pothole. Everything in the room shook, my glass jumped up from the table and we heard a crash from the kitchen. There was also a very sad news bulletin that there had been a fire at Notre Dame in Paris. My heart hurt just thinking about this magnificent cathedral having a fire. It is one of the most beautiful places I have been to. I had hoped we would see it when we went to Paris on the 18th, which was Holy Thursday.
On 4/17 we anchored at Saint-Malo, France. Temperatures were 51-66 degrees. It was like we entered another world. For this stop we opted to get ourselves around the beautiful walled city. It was a gorgeous day and perfect weather to explore. We stopped at Aux Epis D’Or a creperie Grill for a ham and melted cheese crepe and a glass of wine. We stopped in a beautiful church and a few shops. We then headed back to the tender to get us to our ship. The tide was out and we saw a very strange site. There were boats just sitting on the sand. I guess if you have a boat your schedule revolves around the tide.
4/18 Paris. I have been to Paris twice, but on my bucket list was “April In Paris”. The weather was incredible. It was in the high 60’s. A perfect day to see one of the world’s most beautiful cities. We viewed all of the “must sees”. We saw the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Elysees, Le Louvre and of course the Eiffel Tower. We had lunch with Kathy and Ken at Matignon. It felt very Parisian. A great day for sure.
This was our last night on the ship. We told our new friends that we would meet again.
4/19- disembark in Southampton UK. Head to the airport to fly to Rome to continue our adventure.
What a fabulous trip and we have so much more to come.
How To Wow Now 