My First Royal
Caribbean Cruise 2013
by
Joan S. Hust
May 2013 I went on a one month
cruise with my girlfriend. We use to double date. I married Bill, and she chose to remain
single. I flew on Southwest Airlines from Spokane, Washington to Ft.
Lauderdale, Florida. It was 55 degrees when I boarded the plane, and it was 80
degrees with buckets of humidity when I walked off the plane in Ft.
Lauderdale.
We went on the Royal Caribbean Vision
of the Seas ship via Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to Ponta Delgada, Portugal, Paris
(LeHavre) France, Cork (Cobb) Ireland, Zeebrugge, Belgium, Amsterdam, Holland,
Oslo, Norway and Copenhagen, Denmark.
The ship docked at all of the above
cities. The ship always arrived at the
port early in the morning so after a very nice breakfast there were many
options when we walked down the plank.
Would we walk into town or would we board a bus, or would we team up
with a couple of ladies and hire a taxi to drive us to and from the city?
The weather on this excursion was in
our favor daily as the sun was always shining but it was cold. I wore a lovely white sweater, and a black
and white waterproof windbreaker jacket with a hood in Russia that I wore daily
everywhere. I enjoyed meeting people
from many countries and I played Trivia every day with a team of seven or eight
folks on the ship. It was such fun. There were several teams that would play.
The team I was on won a couple of times, and we would get a prize. My favorite
prize was a Royal Caribbean hat.
I really enjoyed going to the movies in the
evening as they had the latest movies flown in from NYC. The library selections of novels and
magazines were wonderful. I attended art auctions daily. I enjoyed the lectures of the history of the
paintings. I did not miss an auction so as a prize I received a free print of
my choice which was a water color country setting. It
was mailed to me and I received it in the mail when I returned home.
It is now being framed at a local store in Coeur d'Alene.
I am always asked where and what
was your favorite place. Well…My
favorite in Ponta Delgada, Portugal was the statue of the Archangel Michael; in
Cobb, Ireland it was Cork Harbour; in LeHavre, France it was the paintings in
the Museum of Fine Arts, in Zeebrugge, Belgium. Village on the coast is quite
quaint, in Amsterdam, Holland it was the house of Corrie Ten Boom because
having read her book THE HIDING PLACE, stayed one week at a Bed & Breakfast
and the owner went out of her way to make me comfortable driving me to see the
Keukenhof flowers and not only did I have breakfast but dinner as well. I was a guest of a lovely couple that raised
Icelandic cows in Warnsveld.
Oslo, Norway it was the architect of the local
churches, and of course The Little Mermaid sitting on the rock in the harbor is
quite significant in Copenhagen, Denmark.
It was an occasion I will never forget as
during the time I was in Amsterdam when Queen Beatrix who reigned for thirty
three years stepped down and inside the Nieuwe Kerk Church and outside the Dam
Square she signed the Act of Abdiction, and her son Willem-Alexander became
King of the Netherlands with his beautiful wife, Maxima, as Queen and their
three daughters. The new King and Queen
of the Netherlands with his mother, Beatrix, greeted the people from on board a
ship on the canal. It was a sight to behold. I felt they were personally waving
to me. The new king and queen's eldest
daughter, Catharina-Amalia, became Princess of Orange and first in line to the
throne.
Returning home I stayed for a week
with JoAnn in her lovely condo in Ft. Lauderdale, met some of her nice, fun
friends, attended a ballet performance, and the Sunday morning service at her Southern
Baptist Church in Hollywood, Florida.
I feel most fortunate and blessed
that I was able to go on a Royal Caribbean cruise, visiting so many countries,
and meeting so many lovely people.
Was I happy to return home to Coeur
d’Alene, Idaho? You bet I was and I am
blessed to have such a wonderful husband of 49 years to welcome me back.
