The start of a cruise to the Baltics

For 2014, our big cruise is a cruise from Fort Lauderdale across the Atlantic Ocean to Copenhagen, Denmark. We then stay on the ship for a cruise to the Baltics, going as far as St. Petersburg, Russia before returning to Copenhagen, where we will stay for 3 nights post-cruise before flying home.  We have many sea days as we cross the Atlantic.  My postings will mostly involve the ports where we stop and explore and if and when I can access the internet.  The internet is extremely slow and the allotted minutes click away faster than text and photos can be uploaded.  For this first post, just a few photos showing our itinerary and a little bit of life around the ship.

The Piazza in the center of the ship

The Princess Theater

Sabatini's--one of the specialty restaurants

The Royal Princess was launched last July and it is a beautiful ship.  There are 3600 passengers aboard and it really doesn’t feel crowded at all.  We participate in a cruise roll call for the ship in the months preceding the cruise.  On the forum we meet other cruisers on the same ship and have the opportunity to chat and plan activities and tours with the roll call group.  This roll call had over 250 members.  Once on board we attended a “Meet and Greet” and a luncheon where we were able to put faces to the names we have corresponded with the last several months.  With more activities planned, we will become old friends by the time we meet up for our first port excursion.

The Royal Princess

The new gimmick for the ship--the bump out is a sky walk with glass floors.

Leaving Fort Lauderdale, FL

One of the things we checked out within the first few days at sea was to locate the photo that we had submitted for a contest with Princess Cruise Lines.  Of over 5,000 photos submitted, a photo of ours was chosen to be displayed with a couple hundred others lining the hallways to the staterooms on the various decks.  Terry actually took the photo so he gets the recognition on the photo’s nameplate and here on the blog.  It, of course, is of the Tower of Pisa taken in Italy in 2011.

After six days at sea, we are anxious to reach our first port, Ponta Delgada, Azores.