Southampton, UK

One of Britain’s most treasured landmarks is Windsor Castle and that is where we headed for our port day in Southampton.  We took a Princess ship tour as it was the most convenient way to get to Windsor.

 We travelled through 1,000 glorious acres of amazing woodland with lots of flowering trees and shrubs on the way to Windsor Castle, one of Queen Elizabeth’s favorite homes.  Unfortunately it is so green and lush because it was raining.  The rain continued all the way to Windsor, which is about an hour and a half bus ride to Windsor.  We arrived just in time for the changing of the guard, which we found out was cancelled due to the rain.  But shortly after we arrived, it stopped raining and we had a great afternoon.

Our guide, Jake Simpkin, provided a wonderful narration all the way to Windsor, recapping a thousand years the monarchy history. 

The castle was built after the Norman Invasion by William the Conquerer in 1080 AD and is a true medieval wonder.  Since the time of Henry I, it has been used by many monarchs and is the longest-occupied palace in Europe (900+ years) and the largest in England.

Internet photo of Windsor Castle

St. George’s Chapel within the castle grounds houses numerous royal tombs; including Queen Elizabeth’s parents, King George VI and “Queen Mother” Elizabeth, and younger sister, Princess Margaret.  Also Charles I and Henry VIII are interned here.  The Chapel took 51 years to build and it is magnificent.  As expected, photos are only allowed outside the castle.  No photos allowed inside the buildings at all.  However, they do provide a very nice illustrated book for sale!  J  The photos I have included here I grabbed from the internet before the cruise as someone was able to sneak some photos over the years and put them on google.

This area was once the moat around the castle

Next we followed the signs to Queen Mary’s Dollhouse.  It is a palace in miniature (1:12 scale, from 1924) and the most famous dollhouse in the world.  It was not meant to be a child’s toy, but to “show off” the beautiful rooms that the royals live in.

Queen Mary's Dollhouse

State Apartments:  These elaborate rooms feature painted ceilings, paneled walls, large fireplaces, antique furniture and priceless paintings with big names like Michaelango, Leonardo da Vinci, Rubens, etc.)

We so enjoyed the visit to this castle.  We visited Buckingham Palace last August and we both agree that this castle was much more beautiful and interesting.  We thank Pauline, our British friend, who suggested we go see this castle.

Inside the State Rooms

After leaving the castle, we finished our time in Windsor with a quick lunch in a pub named The Duchess of Cambridge, recommended by our guide.  Terry always likes to enjoy a beer that is a favorite of the locals and we shared a Fish ‘n Chips meal. 

Across the bridge from Windsor Castle is Eton College, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI.  It is a high school for boys aged 13-18.  Eton has molded the characters of 19 prime ministers, as well as members of the royal family…most recently William and Harry.  Our guide mentioned that each year 70 students from around Britain are provided scholarships to attend Eton…that would be 70 of the brightest students in Britain.  John Mayer was a scholar at Eton some years back and another well-known name that I have forgotten.

Eton College

Then with just a short time to browse a few of the shops, it was time to head back on the bus to Southampton and our ship.

The Thames River just outside Windsor

Next port…….Lehavre, France…….and we are going to PARIS! 

Our first port--Ponta Delgado, Azores

It has been estimated that there are 17.5 quadrillion gallons of water in the Atlantic.  The Azores rest in the middle of that, halfway between Europe and America with just about nothing between for a thousand miles.  It took 6 sea days to reach the Azores from Florida.  Ponta Delgada is the largest city of Sao Miguel and all of the Azores’ nine volcanic islands.  Ponta Delgada is an old Portuguese settlement.  There are stories that the Vikings, Irish and Arabs landed here centuries before the Portuguese settled here in 1450.

Port of Ponta Delgada, Azores

We have been to this port once before in 2011.  We so enjoyed the tour we had with Gary Travassos of Azorean Tours that we booked it again with a small group of Cruise Critic Roll call members.

Our hope was that the weather would be better this time as it rained most of the day on our 2011 tour and Gary had to adapt his tour accordingly.  We awoke with the forecast of the day being chance of rain!  And it did!  Once we hooked up with Gary, he immediately modified his tour to work around the weather.  It can be raining on one side of the island and have blue skies on the other side.  We had to once again skip going to see Sete Cidades Crater Lake.  (one half is blue water; the other half is green).  It is a highlight of the island but was completed clouded over.  On a future cruise, we will just have to try again.

We'll get there someday!

Our first stop was at Ribeira Grande city with a view of the city garden and river. It was raining and it was hard to keep the water droplets off the camera lens.

But because of all the rain, the island is lush and green and beautiful!

Since it was raining pretty hard by this time, we made a stop at the Gorreana Tea Factory, which was founded in 1883.  Gary took us on a tour of the factory and explained how the tea is harvested, dried, and manufactured using equipment that looks like it has been there since 1883. 

Tea field

Next stop was the overlook of the town of Furnas, which has thermal hot springs and boiling mud pits.  The lake above the town offered a beautiful view. 

We found a waterfall!

The hot steam in the ground is used by the local people to cook meat and vegetables.  We were able to watch the removal of the food from one of the ovens.  It is like having a crock pot in the ground.

Gary arranged for us to stop at a local restaurant for a lunch of bread, local cheeses, and wine.  It was all delicious. 

Gary offering Terry a drink from the well

Water coming out of this one was extremely HOT

As we were enjoying our lunch outside on the patio of the restaurant, we saw a parade of men, women, and children carrying banners and a crown.  This is part of a religious celebration where families will have the crown in their house for a week, and then come Sunday, the crown is transported to another family’s home, where it stays for a week until the next  Sunday….and so on.

One of the main agricultural items is dairy.  There were lots of cows in the fields along the hillsides.  We even encountered a herd of cattle walking on the road.

Milk from the cows provides the base for the local cheeses.  However, the method of transporting the milk seems to be rather primitive for the year 2014!

Next was a drive up the mountain of "Barrosa"  to see the Fire Lake, which was beautiful!   Going down from the Fire Lake Mountain to Lagoa town on the south coast, we passed through several small villages before reaching Ponta Delgada and returning to the ship. 

Our cruise critic group and guide Gary  minus Joyce, who was taking the photo!

The local media and hordes of local people were at the pier to bid goodbye to the largest ship that has ever docked in Ponta Delgada.  They requested the captain blow our ship’s horn upon leaving as they wanted to hear the horns play the theme from “The Love Boat” TV show, which is unique to this ship in the Princess fleet.  Once again, the Azores provided us with a wonderful day.

Next up will be three sea days before we reach our next port of Southampton, UK.

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.