Boarding the Ship

Well, it’s not the Disney Cruise. We had to keep reminding ourselves to quit comparing this cruise with the Disney Cruise. After so many Disney Cruises, I think we are spoiled!

We slept in a bit this morning, ordered breakfast in the room, and then starting packing for the next leg of our journey: A 12-Day Baltic Cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Jewel of the Seas. We boarded the bus at 10:45 and left Cambridge behind. It was about a 2 ½ hour ride to Harwich, England where we were to board the ship. We stopped halfway for lunch at MacDonald’s. It was interesting to see the different menu items available in the UK. They have a whole “Taste of America” menu with items like the Miami Burger. The ketchup was sweet and the shakes tasted strange. I think next time, I would stop in a local pub instead.

We got to the cruise terminal about 12:45 and I must say that everything went very smoothly. By 1:30, we were checked in and onboard the ship. We soon found our stateroom and the kids played video games while Michele & I got everything unpacked. We took a walk around the top deck, checked out the rock-climbing wall, and played some mini-golf. At 4:30, it was time for the lifeboat drill, so we donned our life jackets and headed out to the muster station. Somehow, Michele’s allergies started going crazy during the drill and she had itchy, watering eyes, and a runny nose. Maybe it was someone’s cologne?

At 5:00, the ship left port. Michele stayed in the room to recover from her allergy attack while I took the boys to Kent’s room to hang out on the balcony and watch the scenery drift by. It was a beautiful, cool, afternoon and there were many sailboats out. It was a very relaxing time.

We have the main dinner seating at 6pm, so it was soon time to head to the dining room. We were a little disappointed when we had to stand around in a huge crowd and they didn’t open the dining room until 6:15pm. Why tell us to arrive at 6? We won’t make that mistake again tomorrow.

We had a nice time at dinner. We have 2 tables, so we were a little spread out. Kent & Pi sat with Michele & I and our boys, while Nana & Pop-pop sat with all the girls. Kent ordered some good red wine and soon my irritation at the dinner line was a distant memory. Cameron passed out in his chair and Brandon & Justin enjoyed swapping jokes with Kent & I toward the end of the meal.

After dinner, we tried to see the show, but the theater was full. Again, something that Disney does better. They have 2 shows: One at 6 for the late dinner crowd and one at 8 for the early diners. I took Justin & Cameron back to the room to rest while Michele & Brandon stuck around to try to find some seats. It’s OK, because I am kind of tired anyway and will probably turn in early. Unlike Disney, there is no internet in the rooms, so I will go out one more time tonight to the wi-fi hotspot to update the blog.

Tomorrow is a day at sea, so I foresee a lot of swimming & lounging by the pool. Our first port of call will be Copenhagen, Denmark on Monday.

Cambridge #2

Great day today! We all met up at 9:30am and boarded the bus. We had a brief discussion over possible destinations, but finally settled on wildlife park / zoo about 30 minutes out of town. The weather was a bit overcast, but it was much cooler with a nice breeze. Very pleasant weather for walking around outside.

The most unique exhibit was the nocturnal animals building. We entered the darkened building and then walked through a plastic hanging curtain into almost complete darknes. As we contined along the walkway, we soon discovered that there were bats flying all around us without any net or glass seperations. We could hear their clicks & squeaks and feel the rush of air from their wings as we continued through the building. When we got about halfway through, the girls came in and started squealing and screaming, which made it all the more intense!

There was a very nice play area near the back of the park and we let the kids play for an hour or more before heading out. We had a fantastic lunch at the Queen's Head Pub nearby and then headed back into town. Mom, Dad, Pi & Tina and their kids were dropped off at the hotel while Michele & I opted to join Kent & his family to go "punting" on the Cam river.

We boarded a small flat boat and a guide using a pole guided us up the river while pointing out sites and telling interesting stories. We passed many of the beautiful colleges & dorm's of Cambridge University. Kent & the boys even tried their hand punting for a little while. It was very fun & relaxing.

Afterwards we waked back toward the hotel. Michele & Justin stopped off at the mall to buy him an iTouch case at the Apple store. I took the other two boys with me to relax in the room for a little while.

About 6pm, Mom & Dad joined us and we went to a nice little Japanese restaurant on the river. We put a couple tables together and sat outside on the patio in the shade and cool breeze. The food came quickly and was delicious. All in all, a much better experience than the previous night!

We stopped by the park on the way home and let the kids run and play for a while. Afterwards, we stopped by restaurant row and got some gelati and enjoyed people-watching. There were many students out on Friday night, so there was plenty to see.

Cambridge is a neat little college town and we really enjoyed our visit, but we'll be moving on tomorrow. Next stop: Harwich to board Royal Caribbean's Jewell of the Sea for a 12-day Baltic Cruise.

On our way

Mom & Dad hired a big van + trailer to pick us all up and take us to the airport. We left home around 3:45pm on Wed 7/1 to begin the first part of our journey to England. We made it to the airport, got checked in, passed through security, and boarded the plane without any trouble. We were all sitting in World Club (business class) and the seating configuration was really unusual! The seats alternate forward / backward facing across the row.

The seats proved comfortable and the service was great. The 8 hour flight seemed to pass pretty quickly. Shortly after takeoff, we had dinner and then most of us watched a movie. I think most of us managed to get a couple hours sleep before we got into London around 8am local time, Thur 7/2.

The worst part of the flight was waiting to pass through customs & immigration at Gatwick airport. We were all tired from traveling and we had to stand in line with the kids for about 30 minutes before we made it through. Our driver was waiting at the baggage claim to take us to Cambridge, about 90 minutes away from the airport.

We got checked in to the Crown Plaza Hotel in Cambrdge. It''s not the fanciest hotel we've ever stayed in, but it's nice and the location is good. We are very centrally located and it is a short walk to all the points of interest, restaurants, shopping, etc. It was noon, local time when we arrived, about 15 hours since we left home in Tampa!

After checking in, we went out for lunch at the Anchor Pub and then went back to the hotel for a little nap. Brandon & I got after about an hour and decided to go out exploring with Kent, Pi, & the their families. I tried to get Michele, Cameron, & Justin up, but the would not budge!

We found a nice little park a few blocks away and the kids had a great time on the playground while we enjoyed the balmy weather. It is unusually warm here right now (90's), so it feels almost like home.

We came back to the room for a while and we were finally able to roust everybody up for dinner. Well, almost everybody: Kent & his family stayed in and ordered room service. The rest of us walked restaurant row looking at various menus, but we had a rough time finding something that would please everyone. We finally ended up walking in a big circle and ate at the hotel restaurant! The food was good, but the dining room was HOT and the service was SLOW.

After dinner, we took another walk to get some bottled water & other supplies for the room. Now, we're back. I know we're all tired, but we're going to try to stay up a couple more hours so we can adjusted to the new time zone as soon as possible.

Tomorow, we are scheduled to have the bus for sightseeing, but this town is so small, I really don't think we're going to need it. Dad wants to drive somewhere and see a castle, but I am not crazy about another long bus ride. There is an aviation museum about 20 minutes outside of town. We'll see...