Last Three Sea Days

Gdansk to Southampton

We had smooth sailing all the way, even when we were in the North Sea. I keep busy with ukulele lessons and no, I can't play, but I had fun. We caught up with a last get together with people we met on Cruise Critic on our last day when we wished everyone safe travels. A few people are staying on the ship for a back to back cruise, this time heading north along the coast of Norway. 

Whilst on board we were very fortunate to reconnect with friends we met on our 2011 WC, Colin and Judy. It was extra special to be able to spend quality time with them. It is a pity we live so far away from them, each of us living in different states. 

At the initial cruise critic get together we got chatting with a couple from England, each talking about our cruising history, only to find we had never met but were so connected through our very dear friends we had cruised with over the years. Brian and Ros, Roger and Merilyn and Gary and Joanne. On a cruise we had to cancel through Paul's ill health, they ended up joining our friends' private tours in our place. So here we are living on the other side of the world from each other, never met but just happen to be on the same cruise and meet up. Mike and Pauline had not sailed with Princess since the 2014 cruise and now we just start chatting and find we have a connection. 

Sometimes it is very easy to miss interesting sights the ship is cruising past, just by distractions of on board life. On this occasion I had been looking out our window to see the ship about to sail under the E20 highway which connects several islands of Denmark and Sweden to the rest of Europe. I raced down to Promenade deck to take these photos.

My timing was spot on this day.

Our arrival at Southampton went so smoothly. As I had booked a 11.05am National Coach to London, I considered to arrange to disembark by around 9am. Thinking we would have a series of delays. First would be collecting our luggage, customs and immigration and finally getting a taxi, but nothing held us up. Our suitcases were where they were supposed to be, there was no customs and immigration, we just walked through to the taxi rank and hired the first one there. Easy peasy. Except we had a 2 hour wait at a crowded coach station! The wait seemed to go quickly while we talked with other cruisers. Our 2hour 20 min trip into London went well and by 1.45pm we opened the door to our hotel room.