One of the things on our Bucket List has been to cruise across the Atlantic Ocean. The journey started on September 10 when we flew from JFK to London. The Norwegian Air flight in a Boeing 787 Dreamliner was a special treat. The business class airfare was a little more than 10% of fares from American, Delta, and others. I would highly recommend Norwegian Air. We landed at Gatwick airport an hour early, and took an Uber to Central London. We stayed two nights at the Conrad London St. James Hilton, just a few blocks from Big Ben.
The final morning in London, we took a tour bus with friends to Southampton, England, where we started the cruise to Falmouth, England. The brand new Silver Muse was quite impressive. It is 698 feet long and 88 feet wide. The two diesel electric motors had 11,400 horsepower each, and the five-blade propellers are 13 feet in diameter. The top speed is just under 25 mph. The smaller size Silversea ship and 400-500 passengers delivers a very nice experience.
We cruised from Falmouth to Waterford, Ireland, and then to Cork (Ringaskiddy), Ireland, and on to Galway, Ireland. We departed from Galway to St. John’s, Canada. The “Crossing” was four days at sea. The Silver Muse handled it well despite waves nearly 30 feet in depth with winds at 45 mph. The rough ocean is why many people choose not to make a crossing, and I was not the only person who got seasick.
Our first stop after St. John’s was St. Pierre and Miquelon, and then on to Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada. The remaining stops of the 16-day cruise in Canada were Charlottetown, Saguenay, Quebec City, and Montreal. The planned stop in Gaspé was eliminated due to whale migration. After a pleasant night in Montreal with our friends, we rented a car and drove back to Connecticut. It was a memorable trip. My only complaint was the slow and expensive bandwidth. Like many luxury hotels, everything is included, except Wi-Fi. They can’t resist the opportunity to gouge away at something they know people want. October will be a busy month with trips to California and Florida. I’ll do my best to not have any further lapses in my weekly e-briefs.
