It's Time to Pack Again...Summer 2007

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The vast atlantic Greetings everyone.............I'm about to pester you again!

The cruise season ended on April 30. Back in early November, that date seemed far away and, I guess, from some of the hours I put in this season, it seemed like it would never end !!!! Most vexing, however, was the fact that I couldn't come up with a "start of summer trip" that I usually had planned by February. Finally, I came up with a plan where I would fly to NYC for a couple days, then use Berlin as a base to explore more eastern German cities and end with a week at my friend Stuart's house in Southampton. I was happy with that.

Suddenly, about 10 days ago, I got wind of a very inexpensive rate on Holland America's PRINSENDAM for a 10 day sailing from here to Lisbon on May 7th. The ship is 19 years old, holds less than 700 passengers and is rated in the deluxe class. Now I'm psyched !! Yeah...it means having to take along a suit and blazer, but its a ship I've wanted to sail on and we end in Lisbon....where I haven't been for about 35 years!!! So, some reservations were cancelled, others revised and I'm sailing to Europe.

So, aside from leaving earlier and adding Lisbon. The Berlin and UK portions stay the same. I rented an apartment in Berlin for 10 days which is less expensive than staying at the no-star hotel I've normally used.

There are very clear identification papers in the laptop because I don't want to go thru last year's exercise once again!

You can expect trip reports every few days. Just be glad I'm not doing albums or videos to drag you thru! Remember, you can always delete yourself from my mailing list.

Bob

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Photos

the plan
Here's where I'll be and when.

The ship
A transatlantic first........I'm not on dungeon deck and have a cabin with a window !!!!

Comments

[Michael]

Tindouf, Algeria
Neato! If you zoom in on the route map, it shows that you'll be taking the N50 from Indouf, Algeria to just outside of Santa Eulalia, Spain. Is that last leg on a ferry?