SusieQ3443

Disembarking the ship is quite a science for the Princess crew. If you follow their instructions, it is quite painless. People are going in several different directions when they arrive in Southampton and Princess is very good about getting you where you want to go. Luggage is all packed the night before and set outside the stateroom door for pick up. A tag on it identifies what your plans are when you exit the ship. Those of us going to London on private transportation had a gold tag. Jerry & Kathy, Bob & Deanie and I had booked transportation with West Quay Transportation. I found them online and booking them was quite easy and it all worked just fine. I would recommend the company if ever you need to go from Southampton to other places. Google ... read more

Life on the ship is pretty much luxury. And that is what we experienced. The Grand Princess is truly grand. It seems to lack for nothing. I guess that if I'm going to talk about life on the ship, I need to start in the morning. I mostly just know what I did but others did join me. My normal routine is to get up early and go to the gym. I go to the gym for spinning at 5:30 a.m. before I get ready for school. Keeping that same kind of schedule seemed like a good thing to do but on the ship, the gym did not open until 7 a.m. so that those with staterooms below could sleep in just a little. So getting up at 5 was not necessary--thank goodness!! So I got ... read more

A new country but we're up to the same tricks. We didn't book a shore excursion so we decided to try it on our own again. After our ordeal in Casablanca, you would have thought we had learned our lesson. NOT!! This time we were somewhat more fortunate. Linda G negotiated us a limo with an English speaking driver. His name was Colada--like in Pina Colada and he had good command of the English language and knew his way around the city. I forget how much he charged us, but unlike our tour in Gilbraltar, we had to buy our admissions to all of the attractions he suggested. This added to the overall cost of the tour. Oh, well, we got to see quite a bit. One of the frustrating things about Colada is that he ... read more

Casablanca--sounds so romantic. "You must remember this, a kiss is just a kiss, a sigh is just a sigh..." We will remember this!! Not because of a kiss or a sigh, but because of the filth and deceit. We all agreed that this was our least favorite port for a number of reasons. Several of us took the shuttle from the ship into the center of town. We were hoping that we could negotiate a tour similar to the one we had gotten in Gilbraltar. A taxi that could carry 7 of us for a good price. We were wrong!!! Immediately when stepping off the shuttle, we were surrounded by men trying to gain our attention, not listening to what we wanted and trying to steal us away from others who were bargaining. We told them ... read more

Barcelona, in the Catalonia region of Spain, is said not to be Spanish at all. It has a history all of its own. The Catalan language is similar to Spanish, but also has much in common with southern French dialects. It was the host of the 1992 Olympics. Pablo Picasso, Joan Miro, Salvador Dali, Pablo Casals and Antoni Gaudi have called Catalonia "home" and their influence is everywhere. The heart of the old city is called the Gothic Quarter, since most buildings here date from the 13th to 15th centuries. We did not book a tour here and decided to do the city on our own. We disembarked the ship, caught a shuttle to the city center and headed to Las Ramblas, the wide shopping district promenade. There were sights to see everywhere and it was ... read more