Voyage to Europe

We’re traveling again; this time without someone else to write a travel blog. So, here’s what’s happening.

We left home last Monday morning to catch an 11:30 AM flight from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale. Because we were flying against the sun, we arrived at 7:30 PM, Florida time. Our friend and travel advisor, Lu, had found us a hotel that provided shuttle service to and from the airport, as well as to and from the nearby cruise dock. That was particularly handy, ‘cause on Tuesday we boarded the ‘Star Princess’ for a transatlantic voyage to Europe.

The weather in South Florida was typical for this time of year; cloudy, warm and a bit muggy. After a short walk to a sports bar for dinner, we turned in for the night. Tuesday morning we caught the hotel shuttle to the pier where we were quickly able to board the Star Princess. Princess Cruise Lines tells its embarking passengers that boarding is between 1 PM and 4 PM with sailing at 5 PM. But, as we have learned from previous cruises, the boarding process is usually set up by 11 AM, and if you board early, you avoid the crowds. The ship carries 2,600 passengers, so boarding can be frustrating process.

We sailed on the same ship to Antarctica in 2010, so we knew the layout and quickly found the hot dog stand where we enjoyed a hot dog & a beer for lunch. I have vowed that on this trip, I’ll not overeat; I know, I’ve said that before, but this time I’ll try harder!

We sailed about 5 PM, and after a couple of turns to get out of the harbor into the open sea, the ship set a course almost due east (87°). We’ll maintain that course for seven days and 3700 nautical miles, until we come to the Canary Islands which will be our first port of call.

So far, and we’re now three days out of Florida, the seas have been calm and the weather mostly sunny. The air temperature is in the mid 70’s, and the sea temperature is in the upper 70’s; just right for sunbathing, as long as you can stay out of the wind.

We have an easterly headwind of 5-10 knots, combined with the ship’s speed of 20 knots, which makes for quite a breeze.

Our daily activities, so far, have included sleeping late and missing breakfast, working a little on a suntan, reading, and joining other passengers in a trivia game each afternoon. In the early evening, we join our traveling friends, John & Judy, for a cocktail or two followed by dinner. Our travel advisor, Lu and her husband Joe, join us for dinner, as well as four other couples that Lu is shepherding on this trip, who are seated at an adjoining table.

Debbie and I haven’t attended any of the shipboard shows as yet, but a couple of nights ago we went to “Movies Under the Stars” on the pool deck and saw ‘Avatar’.  

It was a much better movie than I had expected, but also longer than I had expected. We didn’t get to our room until almost 1 AM, which is at least partly responsible for causing us to miss breakfast.

So, where are we going on this trip? As said earlier, our first stop will be Tenirefe, the capitol of the Canary Islands. The islands, which sit a few hundred miles off the coast of Africa, are owned by Spain. Our next port will be Gibraltar, followed by Alicante and Barcelona Spain, Marseille, France, Livorno, Italy and finally, Rome.

We’ll leave the ship in Rome and spend a week sightseeing in Rome and Tuscany with John and Judy. They’ll return home, and we’ll fly to Munich to spend a week with our good friend Karin and her husband, Wolfgang in Bavaria. We finally head home on June 2nd, after what we expect will be a fantastic vacation.

We’ll keep you updated on our fun as we go along.