cyntil8ing

Day 11 - Zeebrugge (Bruges), Belgium Travel: The port is about 20 minutes from town. We used Cruise Express. I am not going to give their web site because I would not recommend them. It was €20 per person round trip. We arrived at the pickup point about 3:45, but neither the 4:00 nor 4:30 shuttle showed up. Finally, just before 5:00, two buses arrived. We returned about 10 minutes after all board time due to traffic. Luckily, some of the Carnival buses were late too. Port Guide: https://www.whatsinport.com/Zeebrugge.htm Like La Rochelle, Bruges is a beautiful town with plenty to wander around and find. There was a market in the center of town, but by the time we finally wandered there, around 1:00pm, it was closing for the day. I wish we had made it there earlier. For lunch, we tried our usual plan of TripAdvisor, but many restaurants were open for lunch between noon and 2:00, then closed until re-opening for dinner. The highly rated one we found that was open had over an hour wait, so we made our way back to the central plaza and just picked on of them. We usually like to choose something a few block off the main, as it's less expensive, less busy and less touristy, but hungry beggars can't be so choosy. Anyway, the restaurant we chose was very good. We had mussels, again. Not as good as they were in La Coruña, but very good, and filling. My daughter had to have a real Belgian waffle. After lunch, we found a chocolate shop. We made our way back to the bus pickup point about 3:45 and waited, and waited. No 4:00 bus. No 4:30 bus. I started checking for Ubers and there were none. Started searching for taxis when the buses finally showed up about 4:50. Ugh. Too close for comfort! Very glad the Carnival buses hit the same traffic we did. We knew this because of roll call and social media site group posts (which I highly recommend joining). When we got back to port, we didn't have to go through security. They just waived us through to the port bus which took us back to the ship. There were Carnival buses still arriving. We were about 30 minutes delayed from departing Zeebrugge. IMG_1397.mov Steps: 14k

Day 10 - Le Havre (Paris), France Travel: The port is about 2.5 - 3 hours from Paris. We booked a Carnival excursion to make sure the ship would wait. Port Guide: https://www.whatsinport.com/Le-Havre.htm We booked the Carnival Paris On Your Own excursion. My goal for the day was to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. In retrospect, I would not encourage this. It ended up being the only thing we did/saw that day. I spent the afternoon stressed about the lines, worrying we wouldn't make it back to the bus in time. We didn't even have time for lunch. We bought a baguette in a shop to eat on the bus on the way back. But if you're determined, here's what I did. There are three types of Eiffel Tower tickets -- Stairs to the second floor, Lift to the second floor, and Summit (Top). The Summit tickets go on sale 60 days in advance. I put it on my calendar and got my tickets the day they went on sale. They sold out that day, so don't wait! Information and ticket sales are here: https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/rates-opening-times The Carnival site did not have the times for the buses, so I estimated that we would need to be leaving Paris at about 4:30. That led me to booking 2:00pm tickets. I thought 2 hours, with half hour to get back to the bus would be ok. In the end, it was, but whew, I wish I had booked for 1:00pm instead. Our bus meetup time was 4:15, but stragglers had us waiting until about 4:40. We arrived back at the ship about 15 minutes past all aboard time of 7:30. I was also a little concerned about ship time vs port time. There is an hour difference between Dover and Paris, and based on many past Carnival cruises (admittedly only in the Caribbean), Carnival does not change ship time. So, I was concerned that our 8:30 excursion departure would be 9:30 in Paris. It turned out we did change ship time, so that hour wasn't really a factor, except that our 8:30 departure was really closer to 9:15. Anyway, just mentioning it because time is always an issue when you do things on your own. Our excursion tickets said to meet in the show lounge at 8:00am for an 8:30 departure. Evidently, EVERYONE's tickets said that, because at 8:00am, the line to get bus number stickers wrapped the entire length of the ship and halfway back again. After finally getting our numbers (23), we still had to wait about 20 minutes to leave the ship for the bus. We ended up arriving in Paris about 12:30. There was a rest stop break about 2 hours into the trip. Anyway, enough blabbing. IMG_1363.mov This photo Is of the Niemeyer Cultural Center near the port in Le Havre. My daughter noticed and captured the skateboarder at the top as we passed on our way back to the ship. I saw the building, which houses a theater, but didn't notice the skateboarder until I was uploading photos. More info: http://unesco.lehavre.fr/en/discover/the-niemeyer-cultural-centre And our room steward outdid himself today with the towel animals. Steps: 13k

Day 8 - Bordeaux (La Rochelle), France Travel: The port is about 10 minutes from town. There is a Carnival-provided free shuttle. Port Guide: https://www.whatsinport.com/La-Pallice-La-Rochelle.htm This was a picturesque town. We did not visit any touristy sites, such as the towers. We just walked the streets, did a little shopping, then had a wonderful lunch at a crepery. The day just flew by. Steps: 16k

Get a PVP if you don’t have one. They can extend the offer to two cabins. We did this for our summer cruise. We were going to book husband and child 1 in one cabin and me and child 2 in a second. Our PVP booked it the way we wanted, with the kids in their own cabin while still getting the VIFP rate.

Day 7 - Bilbao, Spain Travel: The port is about 20 minutes from town. Port Guide: https://www.whatsinport.com/Bilbao.htm We had a small group tour with Spain Day Tours that picked us up and dropped us off at the port. Spain Day Tours Bilbao On our way to Bilbao, we stopped to see the Viscaya Bridge. It is a transporter bridge, where the base moves from side to side via suspension cables. It was built in the 1890's and has been in service continuously. Next, we stopped at an overlook to see the city. IMG_1257.mov In town, we did a walking tour, with an hour or so on our own for lunch. Then we met at the Guggenheim Museum. IMG_1275.mov IMG_1272.mov In Porto, I noticed a Laughing Man statue that I recognized from the Celebrity Summit. The same thing happened in Bilbao! I haven't yet found the name of the artist. On the Celebrity Summit: teps: 14k

Sorry for the delay. First week back at work. Day 5 - Lisbon, Portugal Travel: The port is in town. Port Guide: https://www.whatsinport.com/Lisbon.htm Arriving in Lisbon, you go under the 25 de Abril Bridge. It will definitely remind you of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, because of the color. But the design is closer to the Bay Bridge. It was the same builder. There were a ton of jellyfish in the water! IMG_1162.mov We had a private tour with Spain Day Tours that picked us up and dropped us off at the port. Our pick-up time was 8:30. We rushed off the ship to find our driver waiting for us, again with a sign. The kids are already getting jaded; they didn't think it was such a big deal this time. Our driver, Manuel, led us to a new Mercedes van. The kids and I sat in the second row and my husband sat up front with Manuel. The two of them became fast friends by the end of the day! For building this tour, we started with the Lisbon, Sintra and Estoril tour (https://www.spaindaytours.com/lisbon-tours/lisbon-sintra-estoril/), but we wanted to add more beach time, and weren't really interested in touring the palace. This is what led us to switch to a private tour. It really wasn't all that much more. We paid €436 for the day. Less than any of the Carnival excursions! Our first stop was the Praca do Comercio, the plaza. Next, we drove through the city to Parque Eduardo VII, for a lovely view. Next, we stopped for an overlook of the Aquas Livres Aqueduct. Next, we were off to the town of Sintra. This was a quaint, lovely little town. We walked around for an hour or so, had some coffee and breakfast. We sampled the water from the spring-fed fountains. Next we were off to the westernmost point of Europe - Cabo da Roca. So, now we can say we've been to the easternmost point of the US (on St. Croix) and the westernmost point of Europe. IMG_1181.mov Our next stop was a beach on the way to Cascais. It was chilly and windy, so we didn't venture out. We continued on to Cascais where we spent a few hours wandering around and had lunch. This would definitely be a place I'd love to return to. In fact, it was probably my favorite stop of the entire cruise (well, maybe not better than Amsterdam, but close!). The weather had cleared up and the beach was protected, so we did dip our toes before we left Cascais. We headed back to the port, with some photo stops along the way. Manuel asked if we wanted to be dropped off in town or at the port. It was about 3:15 and all aboard time was 4:30. We were all worn out, so we opted to go back to the ship. Later, after sail away, I stretched out to rest before dinner, and we all ended up sleeping through it. Hubby and the kids had dinner from Lido at 9:30. Steps: 14k

I admit that with this last cruise, my plan was to buy a local bottle of wine in port for dinner each night, then just pay per drink otherwise, but my husband insisted on getting Cheers. I get that Cheers is expensive, but it's such a convenience that I'll probably just factor it in to my cruise cost from now on. And since we usually choose between Celebrity and Carnival, it makes the cost comparison fairer anyway since it's included with most Celebrity rates (so are tips and wi-fi). When bringing on my own, I am responsible for shopping for it and lugging it on and going back to my cabin every time to get a new drink. But most importantly, I am stuck with that drink. To me, having a bottle of rum in my cabin would be like having to choose which chicken dish I wanted for dinner each night. With Cheers, I can walk up to any bar on the ship and order whatever I like. And most importantly, I get those great cocktail cherries Carnival has!

No.

JK Rowling tweeted that she has never been to the bookshop, though she did at one time live in Porto. https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1263377779338481665?s=20&t=XqU9x8RbxkRQeF1-GNfzHA

Day 4 - Leixoes (Porto), Portugal Travel: The port is about 30 minutes from town. We took an Uber each way. To town, it was €9, but coming back due to high demand, it was €24. Port guide: https://www.whatsinport.com/Leixoes.htm In Porto, we had pre-booked a Tuk Tuk tour. If you have a Chase Sapphire card, either Preferred or Reserve, you can book Viator tours with points at a 25% discount using the Chase Travel site. It's rather clunky and cumbersome though. I would find a tour, then search Viator to find it so I could see details and read reviews, as details are limited on the Chase site. Our 90 minute tour, which was this one — https://www.viator.com/tours/Porto/Historic-Porto-1h30-Private-Tour-on-an-Electric-Tuk-Tuk/d26879-277252P1, cost 6,570 Ultimate Rewards points. Our driver/guide was wonderful, very personable and safety focused. We were driving in traffic, but I never felt uneasy. The tour was a "pass-by" tour, in that we simply drove past most of the sights, stopping only twice to get out for photos. As we were ending the tour, we passed by the Portuguese Centre of Photography, which is housed in a former prison. Our guide suggested we might be interested in the architecture and best of all, it was free! After ending the tuk tuk tour, we found a bakery for a snack. My daughter had to register for her next quarter's classes, so we hung out at bit while she took care of business. We then walked through a lovely park Jardim da Cordoaria, then headed to the museum. After the museum, we found a cafe for a drink and a snack, and then we called an Uber to take us back to the port. One of the highlights of Porto, which we did not visit because of a huge line, was Livraria Lello bookshop. I really regret not making the time to visit. See https://portoalities.com/en/discover-lello-bookstore-porto/ for details. The Leixões port building was unique Porto Registering for fall classes Jardim da Cordoaria Fun fact about this art. As soon as I saw the guy on the upper right, I said it looked like an art piece on the Celebrity Summit, the only ship we've been on more than Carnival Pride. Sure enough, some googling found more information about the art and the artist, Juan Muñoz. http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2019/02/13-laughing-men-without-age-in-time-and.html The statue on Celebrity Summit Portuguese Centre of Photography Sao Bento Railway Station We found a cafe for a drink and a snack Sail away Steps: 13k

It was waiting. When we exited the station, it was kind of a madhouse with people milling around. The bus was just to the left and there was a line to stow luggage before boarding. There was also a guy walking around telling folks about the shuttle. He took my bags from me and showed me to the line. The bus filled and we were on our way. My husband and daughter had to wait for the next bus. He said while they were waiting, the mad rush from the arriving train was over, and with another one not due for an hour, there were taxi drivers offering their services for £8. This may be a better option if you have less luggage. Because of being split between buses, we ended up accidentally not paying. Hubby thought I had paid, and I though he had, and no one noticed. I suppose it just as easily could have gone the other way and we both paid. The distance from the station to the port was less than five minutes. When we arrived, all the luggage was pulled off the bus. Tagged luggage was swept away and untagged sat next to the bus waiting to be claimed. We had tagged our luggage at the station while waiting to put it on the bus, so we didn't have to deal with it at the port.

Day 3 - La Coruna, Spain Travel: The port is downtown. You can get off the ship and walk. We walked in a large loop (about 5 miles) from the port around to the Tower of Hercules, then back through town, stopping for lunch at a restaurant that had the most awesome mussels I have ever had. If you're looking for a beach, this was a nice one. But the water was absolutely frigid and there were no services. We were not able to go up in the Tower. The next available tickets were for 3pm, which would have had us just hanging around for a few hours and missing out on time in town. There were beautiful views from the bottom of the tower, so we didn't miss it at all. Back to the town Sail away Steps: 18k

Day 1 - Embarkation Unlike the cruise before ours, we had no issues getting from London to the ship in Dover. Our 10:37 train from St Pancras to Dover was canceled, but we boarded the next one at 11:37 and arrived at 12:40. There was a shuttle bus to the port. There were also taxis available. Luggage-Palooza strikes again. We had to take two taxis to the train station! One for us and one for the luggage. Crazy! First view of the ship from the train: Cabins 8157 and 8159 (8K Extended Balcony) Balcony overhang Steps: 6k Day 2 - At sea Tea time Formal night Dad jokes about getting a call on his shell phone The kids react Late night comedy shows nearly every night. Nightcap at the Casino Bar. This would be our habit every night. Steps: 5k

I admit I drank a lot more than I normally would since I had the package. I wouldn't have had nearly as many had I been paying per drink. So, is it a value for me? No. Is it worth getting? I'd say yes. I would have a coffee in the morning, then a rum punch when we got back onboard, then a sail away frozen drink, a cocktail at the show, followed by two glasses of wine with dinner, a cappuccino with dessert, another cocktail at the comedy show, then a nightcap at the casino bar. I never got close to the 15 drink limit. In fact, one night when we arrived to the casino for our nightcap, the bartender remarked that our count was only four. That was the night we accidentally napped through dinner. Busy days!

Friday Our reservations today were for the Twickenham Stadium Tour and World Rugby Museum. My daughter discovered rugby this year at school. In the afternoon, we took the Architectural Tour of the Ben Franklin House. And finally, we had tickets for the View from the Shard. That evening, we met up with my husband's brother and his family for dinner at a nice Portuguese restaurant, Casa do Frango London Bridge . They've lived in London for ten years or so, and we haven't seen them but once since then. Steps: 19k Saturday This morning, we had reservations for a James Bond Walking Tour. Our guide took us to many sights featured in James Bond films. This was an awesome morning! Later in the afternoon, we rode the Uber Boats up and down the Thames, then arrived at the Tower of London just an hour and a half before closing. We went straight to the Crown Jewels exhibit and then had some time to explore the grounds a bit. We then spent the evening at my brother-in-law's house. Steps: 15k

I think I should call this trip Luggage-Palooza. We had SO many bags! It was crazy. Never again will I travel with so much stuff. Four days in London: Wednesday Arrival day, we made no plans for this day. We took an overnight flight from Dulles, arriving at Heathrow about noon. Customs and Immigration was a breeze — no lines and we simply scanned our passports to enter. Our luggage arrived fairly quickly and without incident. We had pre-arranged a transfer to our hotel. We used the Chase Ultimate Rewards Travel site to book with points. The provider ended up being London Travel In Limited (https://www.londontravelin.com). As we exited the airport, the driver was waiting for us with a sign with our names. My kids got quite the kick from this — thought we were so fancy! The driver took us to our hotel — The Clermont, Charing Cross (https://www.theclermont.co.uk/charing-cross). I dithered for months picking somewhere to stay in London. I considered AirBNBs, but just couldn't pull the trigger, and watched them disappear off my favorites list as they were booked up. I finally ended up using Priceline for the two rooms. The hotel was very nice, included a nice hot breakfast buffet that introduced my son to beans for breakfast, free mini-bar, and the location simply could not be beat. We were right in the middle of everything. We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant that evening. Afterward, my husband and daughter went out for a walk, while my son and I called it a night. We had an early tour the next day. Steps: 5k Thursday We had purchased 3-day London Passes and Oyster cards ahead of time, so we had a few reservations and a long list of places we wanted to visit. This day it was the 3 hour 30+ London Sights Tour. That evening, we had theater tickets for Come From Away. Before the theater, I used Tripadvisor to find a restaurant. The one we ended up reserving, J Sheekey (https://j-sheekey.co.uk) was simply amazing! Being a life-long Marylander, I consider myself a bit of a seafood snob, but everything was delicious! I had the Shellfish Platter and the oysters were the best I have ever had. We ended up getting an extra half dozen so everyone could try some. It was also my kids' first time enjoying wine with dinner. I think they enjoyed the experience more so than the actual wine. Steps: 17k

My kids, now 19 and 16, have been on about 10 Celebrity cruises since they started cruising at 5 and 3. They also have about 10 on Carnival and a couple on Royal Caribbean. They have never been made to feel unwanted or unwelcome on Celebrity. Based on Cruise Critic responses, I was a little worried before taking them the first time, but the onboard experience has always been wonderful. We just came off of a Northern European cruise on Carnival Pride that was awesome. The ship is old and dated, but the itinerary more than made up for it. Food and service were great. Entertainment was lacking, but we were so busy during the day it didn't really matter. I guess my point is that with a great itinerary, the rest doesn't matter as much.

We stayed in London and took the high speed train that morning. Very easy. Total transit time was about two hours. We took a taxi from the hotel to St Pancras Station, then a shuttle bus from Dover Priory to the ship.

Not true. We had Cheers last week on Carnival Pride.

My family flew in 7/28 and out 8/12 with 8, yes 8!, checked bags. No issues in either direction.

FWIW, I agree with you. But the hub wanted Cheers, so we got it. We also got the Premium Wi-Fi for all of us. After struggling with the Value Plan on our last cruise (Bahamas on Conquest), we went with the Premium. We had no trouble or lags all week. Definitely worth the upgrade in my mind. Kids used all their socials, FaceTime and Netflix. I didn't run any speed tests because I didn't have speed issues.

Sorry for the delays in getting more details. I'm still loading photos, and I am still on Europe time! I was asleep before 10pm last night. Still dealing with tons of laundry too! We ate in the dining room each night, except one where I took a "little" three hour nap and slept through it. We had anytime and usually went around 8:30. We used the Carnival Hub app to book our table and it worked perfectly. The estimated wait time was usually right on, or a little shorter, so we could plan when to check in. After the fourth or fifth night, we found a waiter we really liked, so we asked at the dining room reception desk to always be put in his section. That worked with the app. The menus, I am happy to report, were at least as many as 12, our number of days. I was concerned about repeats after day 7, but that didn't happen. While the food wasn't anything to rave over, it was fine. I'm watching calories and always found something, even ordering the Indian vegetarian twice. We had the Cheers package, and that worked well with dining. Our waiter, Lester, learned our preferences, and had my Prosecco and my husband's Sauvignon Blanc delivered as soon as we sat down, then we chose our main course wine when we ordered. Our cappuccinos always arrived promptly with dessert. And he made a fun game of presenting the $0 bar bill to someone at the table. By the end, my daughter was official secretary. We went to Sea Day Brunch (we had three sea days) and it seemed the same as it ever was. I had my favorites -- Huevos Rancheros and Broken Egg Sandwich. There was Tea Time on this ship. We were pleasantly surprised after hearing it had been canceled fleet-wide. My daughter and I went once and the other time, my son joined us. It was his first time ever attending. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by the ladies at our shared table. I think he was a bit taken aback by the "girl talk". We teased him about it and I doubt he will ever return. The snacks and treats weren't worth it to him. I had Guy's Burgers once or twice. Never made it to Blue Iguana or the Deli. The Pizza, as always, was very good. No meals at David's, though we thought about it for my daughter's birthday. We stuck with the dining room and Lester and crew sang to her. I can't think of much else to report about food. As I said earlier, I am watching calories and despite having Cheers and not watching at all on alcohol consumption, I ended the cruise up just 1.2 pounds from where I stated, an accomplishment for sure. My husband, on the other hand, was up 13 pounds, so obviously, the food was good.

The biggest key to success, I think, for this cruise was transportation planning. Many of these ports were some distance from the town, and for those like me who prefer to DIY over taking ship excursions, knowing ahead of time how you'd get there will save a lot of stress and headache. The port guides from https://www.whatsinport.com were invaluable for this. I highly advise not to just "wing it" like we often do at Caribbean ports. Two days before the cruise, Carnival sent the attached email. While our plans were set by that time, I hope other cruisers found it helpful.

In my experience, overwhelmingly Americans, with lots of English, and some others. This was posted on the itinerary FB group from a fellow cruiser.

Just off the 12-day Northern Europe 7/31/22 sailing of the Pride. In short, all went well and we had a fantastic time on our first ever trip to Europe. I would do it again in a heartbeat. We are a family of four, mom, dad and two older teens, one of whom celebrated a birthday onboard. We flew into London Heathrow four days ahead of boarding and stayed at the Clermont, Charing Cross. It was a great hotel in a fantastic central location. We pre-purchased London Passes and Oyster cards for our stay. There was a train strike scheduled the day before our transfer to Dover. We had purchased train tickets before this announcement, so wanted to have a backup plan, so I also purchased Carnival bus transfers. By two days beforehand, we decided to stick with the train. We tried to cancel the Carnival transfers, but it was already too late. I was going to fight that onboard, but then promptly forgot about it. Anyway, our train ended up being canceled because of a mechanical issue, and we briefly thought of a mad dash across London to get the bus, but instead waited an hour for the next train. That one ran as scheduled and we arrived in Dover about 12:30. There were shuttles running from the train station to the port for $5 or €5 or £5, whichever one you have. We had so much luggage for the four of us that it wouldn't all fit on the first bus. So, we split and two of us went on the bus with half of our luggage and the other two waited with the remaining luggage for the next bus. Since we tagged our bags while waiting in line for the bus, we didn't really have to do this. Our luggage was taken right off the shuttle and we didn't see it again until it arrived at our cabins. Embarkation, our first as new Platinum cruisers, was quick and painless. We had no issues with Verify and walked right onboard. This was our fourth time on the Pride. It's familiar and comfortable. I was annoyed with the automatic doors on deck 9 no longer working, but got used to it within a day. Our cabin door lock was temperamental and sometimes hard to open from inside the cabin, but it wasn't awful enough or consistent enough to mention it to anyone. We had to leave our bathroom light on all the time because it took 15 seconds or more to turn on after hitting the switch. All-in-all, inconveniences, not rising to the level of issues. We had an extended balcony and it was lovely, though this trip was so port-intensive we didn't make a lot of use of it. Debarkation was simple. We booked the Carnival transfers to Heathrow with a stop at Windsor Castle. The bus we were on didn't have enough compartment space to hold all the luggage, but there were only 27 of us on the excursion, so we just put the extra luggage on the bus itself. There was an initial a/c issue (and the day was hot!) but it was fixed while we took a break at a rest stop. We were delivered back to Heathrow in plenty of time for our flight. We didn't do a lot onboard. Our evenings were generally whatever was going on in the Taj Mahal at 7:30, then dinner, then the two adult comedy shows at 10:30 and 11:15. I was a bit disappointed that all the bars, except the Casino Bar, closed at midnight. All of our ports were docking ports, so other than a half hour delay with a ramp at our Amsterdam port, we never had any issues. I'll detail our port days later, but wanted to get the review started for questions.