A Princess Between Two Queens

Back in March 2020 I was rudely awoken by Captain Hashmi basically instructing us to abandon ship. Our 2020 World Voyage on Queen Mary 2 had come to an abrupt end due to the Covid pandemic, and we were all being sent home from Australia rather...

Finally, the day arrived! After a wonderful brunch with friends in Brooklyn we went back to the hotel, collected our luggage, and we were off to the Red Hook cruise terminal. We turn a corner, and our big girl comes into view. Every time I see...

First things first. Even in the time of COVID life on Queen Mary 2 is exceptionally great! Secondly, I know that there is something very wrong with the featured image above. I'm still learning how to do things with this new site. Tomorrow's...

OK, so let’s see if this works better as a featured image. Another wonderful day making our way across the Atlantic Ocean in style. Captain Hashmi said that there were storms in the area, but we are trying to outrun them. I love that we can do...

  All too soon the crossing was drawing to an end. On May 7th we awoke again to the sound of the foghorn. Looking outside there was not much to see. As much as I hate packing, there was no choice, so out came the 4 suitcases and 2 carry on...

First a bit about our ship, from what I learned on Wikipedia. The MV Hebridean Princess is a cruise ship which is operated by Hebridean Island Cruises. She started life in 1964 as the MacBrayne car ferry and Royal Mail Ship,...

Well, due to bad weather our itinerary has been completely changed, so we don’t know where we will be going from one day to the next. Interestingly enough, no one seems to be at all bothered by this. They sit in the lounge, clutching their...

When you go on a cruise of the wildlife of the Western Isles you do expect to see wildlife on the Isles. To be fair we have seen a minke whale, seals, and dolphins as well as a variety of sea birds, which of course I can no longer name. However,...

We had quite a bumpy night anchored in a bay off the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, in the middle of salmon farms. There are a host of fish farms in this region, mostly owned by the Norwegians and Russians. After breakfast we pulled up...

Apparently the absolute best time to see the flocks of birds is at the break of day. Now, we are in the north of Scotland in the middle of spring, and the break of day arrives in what I consider time wise to be the middle of the night. Way, way...

We spent the morning cruising Kyle Rhea and the Sound of Sleat as we made our way towards the island of Mull. Despite ominous dark clouds, the weather held out and it was warm enough to sit out on deck. It was Sunday, and at 12:20 there was a...

We spent the morning packing. Why is it that every time we go on vacation even if we don’t buy anything, there is always more to pack? I abandoned the challenge and headed up to the lounge to drink champagne and watch the Scottish coastline go...

So, we left the Hebridean Princess after a magical week exploring the Scottish Western Isles and headed out to the real world to travel around Scotland, Wales, and England on various train lines to visit friends and family who we had not been...

In a word, life on board Queen Victoria is great. Yes, we do not have our suitcases. As we had predicted, when we were sailing down the Solent, they were standing alone on the quayside at Ocean Terminal. I imagined that they were feeling much...

After 2 glorious sea days and a very calm Bay of Biscay our first stop was in Cadiz. The ship docks in the working cargo port, so there was no band or flamenco dancers there to welcome us, not even tents with eager folks trying to persuade one...

We have been to Barcelona several times, but each time we seem to be spending most of our time in the Sagrada Familia Cathedral. The first time we visited Barcelona was in 1998. It was on the Vistafjord, and a cold, blustery, November day. The...

We had handed in our list of what was missing from the suitcases, and yesterday asked if anything had been discarded or whether it would be returned to us in Southampton. Hopefully it can all be returned to us, especially my little bag of cruise...

Although I had decided that we should not do any further Cunard shore excursions. We had to issue of meeting my cousin in Rome for lunch.   Normally we would go into Rome by train from Civitavecchia, but it seemed that every train we were...

After leaving Rome we sailed between Sardinia and Corsica overnight, and headed for Cartagena. The sea was totally flat, and a beautiful blue, there was minimal wind, and it was warm, not hot. A perfect summer sea day. Perfect for swimming and...

I was awoken by my phone welcoming me to Morocco. That sounded very exotic. I looked out of the stateroom to see if I could spy that familiar rock formation. It wasn’t there – maybe we really were in Morocco. Brian pointed out that Gibraltar was...

This is always the saddest day of any cruise. You come back from breakfast and your cabin steward has placed the protective cover on your bed. Yes, let the packing begin. As they don’t have a World Club party anymore, on the final Gala evening...

Due to our coming to the assistance of the little sinking sailboat folks, our arrival in Southampton was delayed, and thus there was a delay in disembarkation. However, once we started leaving the ship, things ran quite smoothly. One new change...

      We are back home now, almost everything is unpacked, and my jet lag is improving. I remain miffed that Queen Mary 2 was not available to return us home in style. Our time on Queen Victoria was wonderful despite some issues,...