TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums Afloat Transatlantic 2021 - Trip Report

Well here are the first couple blog entries from our trip.
Since we have been home it has been a whirlwind trying to get ready for Christmas and houseful of family.
Hang in there - I promise they will keep coming - maybe not daily, but will try.

Link 1: Time to Go!

Link 2: Embarkation!

BTW - The rainbow in the picture above appeared outside our cabin one day in the middle of the ocean.

Well here is a couple more entries!

Sunday we were stuck on the ship: Got Lemons?
Monday we pulled into Cannes: This must be Cannes

Enjoy

Thanks for the initial installments! That really is a PITA, to have only ship shore excursions. Was there some specific reason why basically everything was closed in Cannes?

I was having a hard time figuring out the picture of the room. Was there just a curtain between the bathroom and the room?

yep... there was only a curtain that closed off the bathroom. However, the WC and the Shower had heavily frosted closures. If one is a real privacy freak the bathroom situation would freak them out. Not so much for us. There are lots of chatter on cruise pages about the quirky bathrooms on the ship.
The design of the room with curved walls afford all sorts of space. The bed is high enough to hide suitcases underneath, the sofa cushions can be removed to uncover a large storage spaces, and cabinets/closets are everywhere.

Here is a pretty good tour of the room: Link: Epic Balcony Room
Our room was much like this with the major difference that our balcony was twice the size. Half of it being covered and half exposed to the sun.

Our Complaints about the room -
Lighting could be much better, especially over the sink.
Minimum power receptacles, but we always travel with a power strip so the issue minimized.

The thought between the cruise company and the Italian government was to minimize the flood of humanity off one of these ships on a small town.
So if you go to Italy on your own you have free pass anywhere with your COVID Vaccination Card, but they limited 2000 folks just showing up one morning. Understand... but a little disappointing.

As for France, most of the retail is closed on Monday's. They work on Saturday and deserve a two day weekend. The souvenir shops, some restaurants/bars, and grocery stores are open (sometimes reduced hours), but for the most part it is a quiet day.

Hope to get next day up soon.

I am sure, there is quite a bit of chatter about that bathroom situation. I'm not a prude, but I would hate that.

Is that a long term situation, that most places in France are closed on Monday? I guess I just never knew that.

On the All About France Page they say this about Mondays

"Particularly in small provincial towns, many shops are closed on Monday morning - so don't plan a big shopping trip on a Monday morning if you are on holiday in rural France. A lot of French provincial museums and monuments are also closed on Mondays. However supermarkets tend to be open as normal on Mondays, even in small towns."

Ok, well, not for nothin', but why did your cruise ship schedule place you in port on a day when nothing would be open??

Good question, and one that I ponder...

However, then I remembered this Transatlantic crossing is a repositioning cruise. The purpose is to get the ship from the Med to Caribbean for the season.

It was ridiculously inexpensive I thought for a 15 day cruise. Less than $900 for a inside cabin, with free alc, wifi (500 mins) and discounted excursions. Balcony rooms were going for $1200. The ship was 43% booked and had little to no children due to the vaccination requirements.

My goal was to cross the Atlantic, so anything after that was gravy.

But to your point... Anyone traveling should spend sometime researching customs, festivals, and quirks of the places they will visit so they will not be disappointed. We knew Monday was going to be iffy from our trip to Nice in 2019, but hoped for the best.

Leaving France, we arrived at our first of four ports in Spain.

Link: Blustery Barcelona

Oh how I wish the weather would have been better, but it did not slow us down.

Enjoy!

Yes, that is true, the purpose really was to get the ship across the pond. I hear that repositioning cruises in general are very cheap, compared to others of similar length.

Oh MY, my fear of heights would have been full on to "terrified", looking at some of those vistas! Thanks for taking me along, from the comfort of my computer chair!!

Great reports and pics Tom! We don't cruise for reasons you describe, but at the same time your trip looks very enjoyable, you were traveling!!!

Yep we have always been independent travelers, but to fill my bucket list item, to cross the Atlantic, this was the most practical.
Janet was not getting on a sailboat to do it.
I can honestly say we had a blast! Am I cruiser now.... probably not, but I am not totally against this mode of transportation for vacations.

Here is our plan as we ease into retirement:

a) Continue with Independent Travel
b) Cruising
c) Planned bus trips in Europe where they pick up your bags and everything is done.
d) Get a dog, look at pictures, and do not travel anymore
e) Call it life

We are still in a) section of our life, but b) is on the horizon

Honestly, I could have sat on the balcony and never gotten off the ship.

Follow along and I will describe days at sea in coming post.

Tom--I have been on "Honestly, I could have sat on the balcony and never gotten off the ship." for a long time. There are a lot of great things about crusing, which don't have anything to do with the ports..

Totally agree Carol.

Thanks Tom. Enjoying following along.

I totally agree, and I think that is what we discovered. More on that topic in the blog as we head across the Atlantic Ocean.
May even convince Beerman to get on a big boat with no sails

Beerman and NDFan - Thanks for joining in!

Tom--You did discover one of the WORST things about cruises though--TENDERS. Way back when we started cruising, it was tenders or nothing almost everywhere. I remember being SO excited when SXM got a pier! EXCEPT ships back then held maybe 2,000 passengers.

Sorry it was a Christmas shopping day... No update

I did not find the Tenders so bad. They were covered and comfortable seating and they allowed us to walkaround and take pictures.
So it was ok.
Some of the bigger ports you had to walk a 1/2 mile to get off the ship through a series of ramps and escalators.

I do remember the tenders in SXM in the 90s - That may be a different story

Tom--It's not the tenders per se, but waiting interminably to board them.

Well it is time to visit the next port - Cartagena, Spain.
Today was a Tom day of wine tasting one of his favorite grapes!

Follow the link to Jumilla and enjoy : A Day on the Altiplano

I am enjoying the trip. I like the small family vineyards. Is the dinner in the last picture an upgrade on the ship or is that the included experience?

Yes, it was one of the six specialty dining options on the Epic, but our package gave us 5 free nights of specialty dining. So it was free.
There were a total of 15 dining options on the ship, and all were good. More on dining and ship stuff later in the blog.

Thanks for joining in on the journey.

Tom--I had to laugh at the picture of the "soil". You and I had a discussion before about soil that is appropriate for wine growing. So different than the rich brown stuff I grew up with in Indiana!!

Boy, am I enjoying your trip!! Carry on!!

Carol - Looking at the shot of me in the vineyard it is quite easy to tell it was not taken in America's Midwest. No dirt just rocks

Grapevines are wild... the more they struggle for water, usually the better wine is produced. The second picture is of a 10 or 15 year old plant that they put on the roof of Viña Elena. Look how deep the root had to go looking for water. They have 75 year old plus vines. Can you imagine how deep they go!

Thanks for being patient with the updates - lots going on preparing for the holidays

Growing up as a midwesterner, I would take one look at that picture and say those plants are DEAD..

It is late fall on the altiplano and leaves have turned color and falling. Soon the vines will be trimmed all the way back to the root for spring growth.

OK

Just loving all the blogs, thanks for posting.

Thanks Toast for following along and I am glad you are enjoying.

Sorry for the delay, but we made a Santa run to NC to see my sister, and then to my daughter's house where we snagged grandchild #2 and brought with home with us. His parents and cousins will be joining him on Wednesday. First time in 2 1/2 years the whole family will be under the farm house roof at the same time. Soooooooooooooo looking forward to it.

Today's blog takes you on an excursion to the mountains north of Malaga. It was hands down the best excursion and just an AMAZING day!

Hope you enjoy! Link: Malaga with Momma

I will try to get one more day up by Christmas, but as grandchildren arrive it may be difficult.

Ha!! Paybacks are hell, huh Tom??

es verdad

Happy holidays!

Great reports. I am enjoying the adventure.
Scott

Scott,

Thanks for joining in!
I hope to load up one more blogging day before Christmas, but no promises.

I really liked that one. The personal lunch must have been a highlight

Absolutely! The whole day was amazing!!
A day we will always remember. Thanks for hanging in there.

Enjoying the reports Tom!

Well the holidays are over and it was great to see family.
However, it is time to get back on the boat and continue the journey.
Thanks for your patience and Happy New Year.
2022 hopefully the year the germ dies!

Today we explore Cádiz and the Sherry country of Jerez.
Link: Cádiz is Calling

Tom... Just found your report. I don't usually venture into the Afloat section of TTOL. You were very unlucky with the weather you had during your time in Spain. My wife and I were at our house on the bit of mainland Spain that sticks out towards the Balearics as you went from Barcelona to Cartagena. You probably passed within 10 miles of us! It was the worst November weather we have ever experienced at the house. Normally the weather is lovely at that time of year.

Looking forward to the rest of your reports.

Mike,

Glad you found the blog at the bottom of the page
It is always hard to get folks down past the first three categories.
We had them coming down for a while when the picture game was in full swing on World Wide Travel.

The weather in Barcelona really was awful, but that was the only bad day that got in the way. I so wanted to visit Montserrat when there was Blue Skies and Fluffy White Clouds.

I am so jealous of you winter home location. It would be very easy to for me to call it home for 6 months a year. Was that you I saw you waving from the balcony as we passed by

Once again thanks for following along. More to come.