What A Market

On board! Loads of people standing in the rain with their baggage. Unfortunately the porters don’t take bags immediately from you as you arrive. You get in line with your bags and at one single point you hand off your bags to porters. No signage outside for the Retreat guests. Fortunately, their were a couple of people yelling for Retreat guests and getting you situated in a specific line. Very very fast (and dry) after that for the rest of the check in and boarding process.

Going backwards in time — Day 2 London continued The afternoon and evening of Day 2 contained way more walking, drinking, and eating. And a pop up concert thrown in just for the heck of it. Dinner was planned near Covent Gardens, so we headed off to the other side of the Thames with a walk toward the London Eye. The walking path on both sides of the Thames were full of people out enjoying the beautiful afternoon. Not having a particular destination in mind, I pointed us in the general direction of the British Museum and Trafalgar Square. That’s when we stumbled onto a concert. The group playing were four old dudes. And man, they were awesome — playing a mix of jazz, rock, and R&B. We stayed for about an hour listening to their entire set. There was still time for pub stop before dinner so I pointed us in general direction of our restaurant for the evening and that’s when we bumped into an amazing find — Mr. Fogg’s Society of Exploration. Definitely not a pub, but rather a crazy over the top cocktail bar dedicated to the travels of Jules Verne’s Phileas Fogg. And then it was time for dinner. I chose a restaurant called Rules. One, because online reviews said they did a great job with gluten free. Their claim to fame is being London’s oldest restaurant. A beautiful, old school formal approach to dining. I’m a big fan of that style. You don’t see it much anymore. The oysters from the Island of Jersey were a revelation. The lamb was probably some of the best I’ve ever had.

Good morning from a very overcast, rainy, and blustery Rotterdam. No matter though, it’s BOARDING DAY. Hard to believe it’s finally here!

Hello Rotterdam!

We’ve cruised quite a bit on Celebrity. Also Oceania a lot. Two cruises on Apex post-Covid. Both Celebrity and Oceania do a great job with gluten free. Heidi is very very careful, and I think she would say that she’s never been contaminated. Oceania makes you pre- order your dinner the evening before, which she’s not a fan of. Celebrity’s buffet is more clearly marked for gf items.

Sitting in London City Airport for quick flight to Rotterdam. And dang it, flight delayed an hour. Oh well, I’ll sit here and post some more.

And more Damn, deleting some photos. They’re attaching upside down.

Here’s the photos

Long full day in London yesterday with no particular agenda. We’ve been here a dozen times for pleasure and work, but never tire of spending time in this vibrant city. From our hotel we are a short walk from the Tate Museum, so a return visit there was in order. The hotel concierge recommended we visit the Borough Market — London’s oldest open air market. It was amazing. An absolute crush of locals sampling all the food stalls. We spent several hours here doing the same. If you’ve never been on your trips to London, put it on your agenda. Planning your first trip — same! I’m definitely returning! Then it was off to some pubs for some local beers (and Ciders for Heidi, who is Coeliac/gluten free). Highlight of the beers sampled was the Beavertown pale ale. Light, refreshing and perfect for a summer day. The pint glass is wild! (Photo attached in separate post.) The founder of this brewery is Robert Plant’s son. Love that. Some other photos from the day to follow. Then a post coming from yesterday evenings fun.

Kicking off my own live thread for this nine day sailing taking us from Rotterdam and ending in Amsterdam. This is basically a Norwegian fjord cruise. This is my third time on the Apex, but first time with a European itinerary. My previous two cruises on the Apex were both Caribbean island cruises. The Apex has also been the only E class ship I’ve been on. I’m a fan of the ship and all its stylish glam. I’ve never been on a ship of this size for a European cruise, so I’m going to be interested to see what it’s like for our stops in some of the smaller Norwegian ports. DW and I starting our journey a few days early in order to acclimate to the time change from Arizona to Europe. We flew out yesterday on British Air non-stop to London. Very nice flight, and flying in BA’s upgraded business class seat is a real treat. But the ordeal of this overnight flight is hard on the body and mind, particularly for Heidi (the DW/SO) who needs a solid eight to nine hours of sleep every night to feel normal. Upon arrival at Heathrow, we took the Heathrow Express train from the airport to Paddington station and then grabbed a cab to our hotel — the Marriott Bankside. We are here for a couple of nights and then flying directly to Rotterdam for a one night stay before boarding the Apex on July 31. This cruise was originally scheduled to start in Amsterdam, but due to port constraints (discussed elsewhere on CC), the ship’s embarkation was moved to Rotterdam. We’ve been to Amsterdam several times so we didn’t mind the move to Rotterdam. A number of my soon to be fellow passengers were not so pleased as many/most had plans to be in Amsterdam early and were then scrambling to arrange transportation to Rotterdam. Looking forward to posting Live. I’ve attempted several live threads before. Some successful with numerous posts. Some unsuccessful as I neglected to routinely post. Happy for answer questions and engage in lively debate on all topics (well almost all topics…. Lol). Here’s some random photos of the start of the journey — BA flight, on the Heathrow Express, dinner at Sticky Mango in London (highly recommend), and unique cocktail to end the day from the hotel’s bartender (his own off menu creation).

I’ll be on cruise as well! As usual with my cruises, I will be posting LIVE as much as possible. Looking forward to this trip and hope we bump into each on board.

Looking forward to seeing you all onboard. Very excited for my first Regent cruise. I plan to do a live thread as well. I’ve got a Celebrity cruise on the Apex right before this cruise. Departing Rotterdam July 31. Disembarking Amsterdam August 9.

Thank you for the review. We are doing our first Regent cruise on the Voyager on August 12 — Reykjavik to Southampton. Can’t wait!

Bimmer09 Thanks for all the time and effort you put into this thread. We are boarding Apex for the July 31st sailing from Rotterdam. This will be our third time on the Apex, but first time on her for a European cruise. Can’t wait!

Wife and daughter severe Coeliac. Specialty restaurants have been very attentive to their needs.

Have a great cruise ORV. I’ll be following!

I was going to forego commenting, but I’ll weigh in now that you’ve opened the door for me. Lol It was sweet of you to be thinking about my DD. You are spot on with your comments regarding Shannon and her now husband Blaine. I didn’t have them on our last Oceania cruise, but they were with us on our September Pacific Coastal on the Regatta. They love love Oceania. Big ship, small ship — they always find a way to have a blast on our cruises. Would they prefer going to Europe over the Caribbean? Well duh, who wouldn’t. 😆 I’ll leave by quoting from a long ago post from Don Horner (God bless him!). Shannon met Don and Betsy on the Riviera’s maiden voyage. Shannon still talks about that cruise, but mostly talks about some of the people she met on the ship. This is the beauty of letting “young” people meet “old” people. Here’s Don’s post: Our best wishes to Shannon - we loved cruusing with her. My favorite story was the time we were at the pre-party for La Reserve, on the patio, with crew blocking access on either end. Walking past, Shannon spotted us, ducked past the crew member and ran up to chat. Meanwhile, her SO didn't have the nerve to duck in and stood waiting helplessly. When Shannon noticed his absence, she giggled and ran back out with everyone smiling! She has that effect on people... Parting comment, which is personal to my approach with my kids, but I suspect could be applicable to most: Don’t overlook opportunities to expand your children’s horizons through interactions with people, regardless of age and all other things that make people unique. Oh, and a photo from the Riviera’s maiden. (Sorry for the photobucket overlay.)

Thanks for the awesome and detailed postings from your cruise. I know it takes a lot of effort. Doing our first Regent cruise on the Voyager this coming August. Reykjavik to London for 14 days. Immediately prior we are doing a Celebrity cruise on the Apex. Amsterdam to Amsterdam. Can’t wait!

Hi ORV I wish I had thought that was option……..😈

Time to swing my thread off the topic of chair hogs…… LOL Back home for about a week. Boo. Back at work. Double Boo! Our last evening of the cruise was dinner at Jacques. Lovely dinner and wine service. Our entrees and sides were over salted. Not had that happen before at Jacques. Appetizers were all fine. Waiter, wine steward, and assistant waiter were all concerned over the unfinished plates in front of us, but we gorged on starters so didn’t go hungry. A few photos: foie gras with grilled pineapple (really excellent), my veal chop (cooked perfectly, but over salted), and an excellent and very well priced French red (when in Rome, so to speak. Ha!)

Winging our way back to AZ. Easy disembarkation but there was a bit of a line with people waiting for the 7:30 start for getting off. It was easy to catch an Uber to MIA for our 10:00am flight. MIA was its usual s__t show though.

I believe so. I checked the last couple of days of Currents, which were sea days, and yes GDR was open.

Not on embarkation day

Captain Gunnar Romtveit

Same as your cruise. Puerto Plata cancelled due to expected high winds at the time of our departure.