LIVE: Royal Princess, Trans-Atlantic, Sept. 10-25, 2018

[geoherb]

Another great day so far. It's cooler but sunny. We got caught in a little bit of a sprinkle last night on the way back to our hotel, and then a downpour on the way back from supper. Fortunately the hotel had an umbrella in the room for our use. DH already had one, but he lost the one I bought for this trip in the past couple of months. We bought another this afternoon at Boots so we'll both have one for after we leave London.

 

We visited the Churchill War Rooms this morning. I bought tickets in advance, which is both cheaper and we did not have to wait in the long queue of people who didn't buy them ahead of time.

 

The exhibits were very interesting. We stayed two and a half hours and could've stayed longer if not for the concert I wanted to go to at St. Martin in the Fields. It was a performance by an up-and-coming Polish pianist. He performed a couple of pieces by Schumann and a Rachmaninoff piece. I'd loved to have heard more of the latter.

 

We got a quick bite to eat at Pret a Manger in Trafalgar Square. When I lived in London 34 years ago, there used to be lots of little sandwich shops. I guess most of them have been replaced by chains like Pret and Eat. Nevertheless, they offer a good selection of convenient and tasty food at a good price.

 

We took the scenic route through China town to Leicester Square to buy tickets for a show tonight. We're taking a chance on Heathers, a new musical based on the movie.

[geoherb]

Heathers was fun. Half the fun was watching the audience. We were outnumbered by women in their 20s.

 

On the way to the theater, we stopped for fish and chips at Fishcoteque, across Waterloo Road from the station. We had walked by half a dozen times and never noticed it. We had the cod and chips. Delish. It's the one place we've been that doesn't take credit cards, so I was glad I had enough cash for us to eat.

 

We took the Tube to Trafalgar Square to go to the National Gallery. We concentrated on the impressionists. We also had to head back to Leonardo's painting and cartoon. The museum is open late on Friday nights.

[EastBay Cruisers]

Thanks for this great review ! London is a wonderful town ! Looking forward to reading about the rest of your journey.:D

[CHOPPERTESTER]

Great start to your trip !

 

We'll be joining you onboard on Monday. Today we're in Belgium near Namur for a Baptism of a great niece. Tomorrow we'll take the train(s) from Brussels to Southampton. C U soon.

[geoherb]

This morning, I would like to say, we went off the beaten path. But considering how crowded it was at Portobello, it's not really true. Saturdays are the busy day.

 

We took the Tube to Ladbroke Grove after eating breakfast at a tiny place on Waterloo called Mama's Cafe. It was a one-man operation today. I hope it's busier during the week, because the food was excellent and cheap. I had a cheese omelet and toast. DH had scrambled egg, baked beans, bacon, sausage, and chips.

 

We walked the length of Portobello where the stalls are. One direction is primarily newer stuff and food options and vintage clothes and jewelry. The other is more traditional antiques, heavy on the silver, jewelry, and art. Our favorite shop had gorgeous art glass pieces by Lalique and Galle. Of course they would be hard to pack even if we could afford them. Our only purchase was a small piece of vintage French lace at one of the outside stalls.

 

After shopping we took the Tube to Russell Square to go to the British Museum. We ate lunch at the quick place inside the great hall. They had a sitdown cafe, but I thought it was over priced. The quick place had ready made sandwiches, salads, and pastries. We had the special: sandwich, crisps, and water. It was about a pound more than a similar meal at Pret or Eat.

 

We had both visited the museum before. I decided to devote the bulk of our time looking at Korean ceramics. We also had to see the Rosetta Stone and Parthenon marbles.

[dickinson]

Enjoying your review and looking forward to reading more!

[geoherb]

Thanks. We finished up the day going back to our hotel. I picked up more sandwiches for our dinner. They're not as good, but the price is great: sandwich, bottle of water or can of soft drink, and crisps or fruit cup for 3 pounds.

 

Tonight's show was Everybody's Talking about Jamie. It was fun. Afterward we went to a pub around the corner from the theater that I used to frequent. It's changed a lot in 33 years, but we still enjoyed our pints.

 

We can sleep in tomorrow morning before heading to the coach station for the ride to Southampton.

[rdsqrl]

What a great report so far! Your London stay sounds wonderful. Hamilton is the bomb, isn't it? I saw it in July in DC -- the tickets cost as much as a cruise would have. But so worth it. And I was in London last summer and discovered Pret a Manger -- loved their chicken & cucumber sandwich. I think I had one every day.

Can't wait to read more . . . !!

[gypsies]

Virgin Atlantic from California to London is crazy expensive. It looks like we would be much better off flying a different airline across the US and then booking Virgin Atlantic from there.

 

Princess EZ air booked us $300 from San Francisco to Heathrow non stop on Virgin. We were shocked. Unfortunately, we were unable to make the flight. No refund or changes from Virgin. We'll check with our insurance company. We flew 2 days later from Oakland to Gatwick for $1200 on Norwegian air premium. Premium gave us approximately 15 extra inches. Ahhhhh.

 

We're going on this cruise too if I can get myself feeling a bit better. Staying a few blocks away in a different hotel than the original poster.

[geoherb]

The great thing about Hamilton in London is the theater has worked to prevent ticket scalping by making the purchaser show ID and the credit card used. Our tickets were reasonably priced. We are paying more to see it again in December when the touring production comes to our area.

 

One of the guys on our roll call mentioned going to a baroque concert instead of seeing a play that no one will remember in 50 years. That's probably true about the other three shows we attended but not true about Hamilton.

 

It's time to repack our bags and head to the coach station. We had grapes, dried bananas, and chocolate biscuits for breakfast.

[sunsetbeachgal]

Agree! Love the way London prevents scalping. Our Hamilton tickets in London were on the side of the main floor and considered slightly obstructed (definitely not so!) and with exchange to US were $125 each. And the cast were phenomenal as was the beautiful Victoria Palace Theater.

 

I also became a Pret salad fan, couldn’t get enough of the roasted vegetable salad with avocado. London is such a museum goers delight, We were in heaven!

 

Bon voyage!!

 

 

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[CATGUY7]

Loving your review!

[geoherb]

Thanks. The coach ride to Southampton was easy. We had to add 5 pounds to our Oyster cards for the trip to Victoria. I couldn't get the machine to do less. But I got back 9 pounds 30p back for each card: our 5 pound deposit on each plus the remaining balance.

 

We had several Tube stations with stairs but managed our bags OK. The coach station is a couple of blocks away from the Tube station.

 

I bought our tickets in advance. They're a bargain at around $15 for the two of us.

 

Traffic was light once we left London. The scheduled arrival time was 2:40 but we made it half an hour early. The coach made a quick stop in Winchester to let off a few passengers.

 

We walked to the Holiday Inn on the water. It's about a half mile from the coach station. Last year we stayed cheaper at the Ibis Budget up the road. Our room is much nicer. We had a view of Celebrity Silhouette. It left at 4, while we were gone to a late lunch/early dinner at the Duke of Wellington pub. There's also a Costa ship in port. We went to M&S afterward to pick up our two bottles of wine for the cruise.

 

The food was very good. DH had the roast lamb. I had steak and ale pie. Both came with a bunch of different vegetables: broccoli, cauliflower, rutabega, sweet potato, and carrots. Mine had mashed potatoes. DH's came with roasted potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.

[Woobstr112G]

Bon Voyage and have a great cruise.....:):):)

 

Bob

[katisdale]

I am enjoying your review.

[geoherb]

Thanks. We enjoyed the breakfast at the Holiday Inn. I think it was around $10 more for the two of us when I booked the room.

 

We saw the ship early this morning from the stairwell across the hall from our room. After breakfast, I walked closer to the pier to get a better view. I saw several coaches leaving and a few passengers walking with their luggage.

 

We are planning to check out around 11. We could stay until noon. I'm going to miss unlimited Wi-Fi. But I'll be glad to get my laptop plugged in instead of typing on my phone. I think we'll purchase a transformer for our next trip to England if we will be staying several nights.

[bobby3334]

I have seen Hamilton and still will stick with my Baroque concert for 10% of the London price. Do you think it

ranks with some of Shakespeare’s plays and not just remembered but preformed then? I believe other than he and since we are in England only The Mousetrap by Agatha Christi is still preformed on a constant basis. It held the record already 50 years ago. Mike

PS I am not criticizing Hamilton, it was good but my personal opinion is that it is not among the very great! Mike

 

 

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[bobby3334]

PS. I am on the train. Not a good place to message using a phone. Mike

 

 

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[Colo Cruiser]

Bon Voyage! Thanks for taking the time to do a live!

[geoherb]

We are aboard the Royal Princess. The walk from the Holiday Inn was about 15 minutes with DH and luggage. We dropped off our checked bags and went directly into the priority line at 11:34. We probably should have used the regular line. There were fewer people in it, and the woman controlling the flow of people did not make sure that enough priority folks were going through compared to regular ones. Nevertheless, check-in took under 10 minutes. We got to go directly to security. I think it’s strange that they have this after the check-in and waiting area. That took under 10 minutes as well. We then waited another 10 minutes to get on the ship and made it just after noon.

 

They made announcements in the terminal that the cabins would not be ready until 1. We eventually found the open dining room for lunch. It’s the Allegro, the traditional dining room at the back of the ship. Lots of other folks found it today as well. They had the full menu I was hoping for. DH had the shrimp salad over avocado, salad, and beef tenderloin. I had the chickpea soup, salad, and vegetarian ravioli. We both had a Grand Marnier soufflé for dessert.

 

We made it to our cabin after lunch—up 132 steps for me and the lift for DH. We have one of the sideways inside cabins. The layout is nice. It seems roomier than the last inside cabin we had on the Caribbean Princess last August. (But of course it’s not as roomy as the suite we had when we were on the Royal in December.) It’s going to be fine for 15 nights as long as we have a good cabin steward.

[geoherb]

A few facts about the ship. Here are the officers: Tony Draper, captain; Paolo Ansaldi, staff captain; Fabio Braccelli, chief engineer; Miachel Prasse, hotel general manager; Ron Goodman, entertainment director; Matt O’Brien, cruise director; Oliver Neuburger, food and beverage director; Giovanni Sisto, executive chef; and Federico Arcos, maître d’.

 

Our itinerary is Rotterdam tomorrow from noon to 10:30; Hamburg on Thursday from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.; Bergen on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Belfast next Monday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; St. John’s next Saturday (Sept. 22) from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; and finally arriving in New York on Tuesday, Sept. 25. All the days in between are at sea. We have three formal nights on Sept. 12, 20, and 23. I’m not sure why they waited eight days between the first two formal nights.

 

Entertainment highlights include ventriloquist Michael Harrison, violinist Michael Bacala, comedian Scott Harris, vocalist Jessen Allen, vocalist Will Martin, Flamenco Express dance duo, vocal impressionist Greg London, and Les Sandros and Wheel Sensation (whatever they are). The productions shows are Encore, The Secret Silk, Colors of the World, and Sweet Soul Music.

 

MUTS showings include I Feel Pretty, The Greatest Showman, Black Panther, Avengers, Solo, Finding Your Feet, Book Club, Rampage, Ready Player One, Jumanji, A Quiet Place, The Book Shop, and Justice League.

 

Due to the number of Platinum, Elite, and suite guests, the Elite Lounge will be in the Vista Lounge this cruise. (We had a notice that Elite laundry will take 72 hours. We have ours ready for our cabin steward to pick up this evening.) They have the same drink menu from our past couple of cruises: boulevardier, Mayan mule, port lemonade, Tito’s fresh mint lemon drop, Bacardi limon mojito, floradora, cheery blossom garden, and deep sea martini for $6.50. The daily specials include guacamole, steak tartare, smoked salmon, salsa and chips, stilton, herb-marinated goat’s cheese and tomato bruschetta, assorted sushi, and shrimp fountain. It’s closed for the first two nights at sea after Belfast for the Captain’s Circle parties. The menu then repeats some of the specials.

[TracieABD]

Bon Voyage!!! I can’t wait to follow along!!!

[Rixnsd]

My in laws from Austin Tx. onboard with you. Thanks for walking thru the cruise with us at home. Keith said he was in the elevator and the power went out ??? What's going on ? Should I be concerned ?

[KCSungirl]

Hi Neil and Sam. Bon Voyage! I will follow along. I am in love with Elliott on the Entertainment staff!

 

Have Fun!

[caribill]

My in laws from Austin Tx. onboard with you. Thanks for walking thru the cruise with us at home. Keith said he was in the elevator and the power went out ??? What's going on ? Should I be concerned ?

 

I thought your in-laws were on the Regal, not the Royal.