Saturday, May 18, 2024

A weekend in 'Paris' - Day 3 Going Home!

Sunday

I woke up at 0610 (according to my phone) and used the facilities. I checked ship time on my phone as the clocks had gone back, it matched so we knew we had to get up soon.

Rob got up at 0638 and we both wondered why his alarm hadn’t gone off (this should have been a sign) but we carried on getting ready.

We saw the QM2 sailing past at some point - Rob took this photo.


We both showered and finished packing our last few bits and were getting ready to leave our cabin. We double checked the time and it was 0630!

We turned on the tv to check ship time and it turned out that my WiFi hadn’t been connected and the ship time had been wrong when we checked earlier.

So, we’d got up an hour earlier than we needed to and now had nowhere to go!

We waited the hour until we were meeting everyone at the main dining room watching tv and resting.

There was quite a long line and had to wait a few minutes for a table of six but we were eventually seated at a table with a view of the dock.

We were brought coffee, menus and juice and tea was requested for most (I had coffee) while we placed our orders.



Rob wanted an omelette and our waiter was not happy as he said it would take longer (speed is definitely a factor on the last morning) but Rob persevered and said he would wait.

Most of the group had the express breakfast (which is similar to a full English) and I had French toast. Rob’s omelette actually turned up a couple of minutes after ours so it really wasn’t a big delay. Oddly I didn't get a photo of this very special omelette!



We also got a plate of pastries which I might have eaten two of!

Once we were finished we left the ship at about 0840, walking straight off and back to our cars where we were out of the car park by 0900.

We had a smooth journey home and arrived back by 1030, with no electric charging issues – having only used just over half a ‘tank’ on our trip.

We did our food shopping for the week and then relaxed in the garden room before doing our normal Sunday jobs.




Little video of us leaving the ship:



Friday, May 17, 2024

A weekend cruise to 'Paris' - Day 2

Saturday

I had a continental breakfast delivered (coffee, tea, a fruit plate, muffin and a croissant) delivered at 0700 so that we could have a drink etc first thing.




We then headed to proper breakfast in the main dining room at about 0800 where we met up with the rest of the gang. I had some more pastries!


We got our passports (although with hindsight we didn’t need them) and headed off the boat at about 0900 and onto the shuttle (cost €7 each).

We did have a hilarious interaction with the man selling the tickets – he took several minutes to get his change and stuff sorted and then served a couple of people in front of us in the queue.

He then experienced an issue with his card machine and swore at it in French (one of the few things we are understood) and then for effect translated into English!


We took the shuttle which was a fairly scary ride – we were on a bendy bus and our driver was crazy.

Our first visit was to the Notre Dame Cathedral (Le Havre) which was originally completed in 1630 and then largely destroyed in 1944. It was rebuilt in1974 which is the same year it became a cathedral.












We wandered through a square which contained some odd white buildings (we later discovered that one of them was the library) and found a café to get some drinks. There were a lot of Star Wars items on display.




Emma and Chris (plus mum and Donna) decided to head back to the ship while Rob and I decided to explore for a little bit longer.

We walked up towards the main square and took a few photos and found a park where a wedding party were taking some photos.







We also found some very French art by the roadside, which was incredibly detailed!



We also got some French snacks and a magnet plus a couple of shot glasses and some coasters.


We took the shuttle back to the ship where we grabbed some pizza and a bit of cake before meeting up with the gang in the theatre to watch We Will Rock You.




I really enjoyed this and two of the cast (Scaramouche and Britney) were on our previous Anthem trip. We also had Kevin Kennedy (Curly Watts) in the role of Pop.

Rob and I got more pizza and another cake (I had an oreo cupcake) and then we had a rest (afternoon nap) in the room before dinner.



We met Chris and Emma for dinner in the main dining room.

I had Caesar salad then chicken, Rob skipped the starter and had the Chops Grille filet which was an extra charge of $19.99 (Chris had the same).







We then both had the hazelnut cake which was lovely but I should have asked for some ice cream too!


We went up to deck 14 for a drink with everyone and to watch a little bit of Eurovision.


I had another mocktail and Rob had a cocktail which he reliably informs me had rum in it! He has just googled and apparently it was a Planters punch (rum, pineapple, orange and lime juice plus grenadine).



We sailed away at about 2200 and then we went down to take a quick look in the shops. We got some free stuff from Effy and got one number away from the winning ticket in the raffle.

Rob and I still had some onboard credit to use up so we headed down to the casino, we had to wait until it opened so we looked like serious gamblers.

We put our credit in a machine (a whole $11) and pressed some buttons – we literally have no clue what we are doing and somehow, we turned it into money we could cash out.

We got our ticket and took all 3 (including the ones from yesterday) and went to the cashier. We assumed it would be added to our account and refunded but no they gave us $25 (and a few coins) in cash!

So, we brought that home to add to our holiday spends for next time 

We headed to the Music Hall to watch a bit more of Eurovision before heading to bed around midnight.

We packed our bags ready for the morning and set an alarm for 0630 – bearing in mind the clocks would change overnight.

Short video today: