2025 Canary Islands & Bermuda Cruise

Once again we woke up at daybreak around 8:30am and enjoyed breakfast before attending the first enrichment lecture of the day.  Garrett spoke on Anger in Tennis with many video clips of negative behavior. He was followed by an interview of part of the cast by Matt Thompson, our Cruise Director. We ate a quick lunch in the International cafe on Deck 5 so we could be back in the Theater for the  Deal or No Deal game show.  The first player in the game won the $1,000 grand prize and that was the first time we've seen a grand prize winner on a ship.  The second player only won $30.   The game show was followed by an enrichment lecture by David Knight on the health benefits of hypnotism.  He was followed by Garrett's last talk which was on Doping and Match Fixing in Tennis.  I then did laps around decks 10, 11, & 12 photographing door art and getting my steps in. Gary and JoAnn joined us for dinner in the LIDO before we went to the evening show which w...

It was good to be back at sea after a couple of days on land.  We allowed ourselves to wake up naturally with daylight which didn't appear ubtil 8:30am.  After breakfast we attended the first enrichment orientation of the day which was a former professional tennis player, Andrew Jarrett.  He spoke on what it was like to be a professional tennis player.  He spoke again in the afternoon on Behind the scenes at Wimbledon where he was the head referee for 14 years.  While I'm not a tennis player and don't follow professional tennis, it was again interesting.  I did miss the port talk on Vigo, but I'll catch it on TV.  The remainder of the afternoon I spent reading my novel. I reached the 50% point in the book. Tonight was formal night, and we chose to eat in Alfredo's where we enjoyed a wonderful calzone.  This set us up for the Champaign toast and presentation of the senior officers.  We then were off to the Princess Theater for the cast show of...

The alarm went off at 7:30am and we were already docked in Cherbourg.  No matter, we didn't stir until after 8:15am.  It was dark and rainy.  We ate breakfast in a fairly quiet Lido before gathering up our things for the day.  I did forget my umbrella and that would come back to haunt me.   We scanned off the ship on deck 5, and were immediately greeted by significant rain showers that drenched us by the time we reached the terminal.  We purchased 4€ all day shuttle pass tickets and boarded an articulated  bus.   It was hard to see because of the foggy windows.  At the first stop just past McDonald's and by the train station, the driver shooed us all off for some reason.  We walked along the waterway to the next stop in the rain and decided to take the shuttle back to the ship and wait out the rain.   Back at the terminal we visited the lobby of the museum and aquarium.  It's filled with all kinds of underwater research equipme...

 We arrived at 7am in Portland. England at 7am but that was too early to get up, plus nothing would be open.  We slowly got ready and enjoyed a lingering breakfast before gathering our things and scanning off the ship.  For once there was not a long walk off the pier.  In fact the city provided a fleet of double decker shuttle buses that made two stops: The Portland Castle and the neighboring town of Weymouth. It's aptly named because it's at the mouth of the Wey River.  I wish more cities would recognize the brilliance of these free shuttles.   We got off at the first stop at 9:45am and the castle was not yet open.  So we walked down the street to the DDay museum.  Even though it was a small museum it was wonderfully curated with many volunteers.  Many boats and ships left from the Portland Harbor to heady for Normandy on June 6. 1944.  It's a very hands on museum and I held a number of the firearms and sat in vehicles.  After over...

 Our alarm went off at 7:30am and we were already berthed at the Ocean terminal and guests were already departing.  By the time that we reached the LIDO World Marketplace buffet, it was not too crowded.  We finished our breakfast and returned to the stateroom to pack our things for the day.  We told our room steward to not be concerned about making our room up as she had many rooms to refresh for the new guests.   We met Gary and JoAnn down in the very crowded Piazza where we learned that they would not be able to go with us as they had to deal with an important issue before starting the crossing.  So we said our goodbyes and headed off of the ship.  I secured (or thought I did) an UBER to drive us to Winchester.  I was in communication with the driver and was at the exact pickup spot.  I saw his car arrive and he texted me that he was in Lane 3.  By the time I reached his location, he drove away and another UBER was assigned to me. ...

 As we came down the home stretch on our return to Southampton, I expected a little more motion to the ocean, but that never appeared.  On this day, we slept in a bit (remember that Angela doesn't return from late karaoke until after midnight).  Our only morning activity was to attend the briefing for "in-transit passengers" of which there are around 450 of us.  We learned that around 3,100 guests will be joining us and that the dining and show times will be changed by 1/2 hour earlier to reflect North American tastes.  Additionally the evening show times will start 1/2 hour earlier as well.  And the menu items will be changed as well.  Regarding alcohol, we'll (as a a group) consume about 25% less than the British crowd that is disembarking.  One other important thing is that we don't have to get off of the ship as there is no face to face immigration inspection as is done in the USA.   After that meeting, the rest of the day was pretty much...

Today was a day of changes.  It started first with the weather and the temperatures dropping about 10 degrees.  I then attended the morning technical presentation by the engineering staff.  The interesting statistic I tend to follow is how many feet per gallon does the ship burn at cruising speed.  For the Sky Princess, it gets around 63 feet per gallon which is slightly better than older Holland America ships at 56 feet per gallon. We were invited to a future cruise presentation in the Club 5 venue.   Our second change came when the Behind the Seas guests were switched from the Medical staff to the housekeeping staff. Then just before the 5:15pm ventriloquist's set, a major change to the evening entertainment was announced: the headliner artist, Michael Ball, was ill and his sets were postponed until tomorrow when he will do 4 sets! Sam Bailey sang as a last minute replacement.  But first let's get back to the ventriloquist, Gareth Oliver.  He was ter...