As Hurricane Florence batters the Carolina coast, Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas rocks gently as it glides through the water several hundred miles east of Florida.
This 16-day repositioning cruise is the last leg of our seven-week European journey, which ends soon in Tampa.
We boarded the Brilliance of the Seas in Amsterdam, a city where bicycles vastly outnumber cars. Air pollution isn’t a problem as in most cities its size, but bicycle-pedestrian accidents are common.
We took a boat tour and some of us visited the Anne Frank House. We saw prostitutes offering themselves in the windows of the Red Light District and coffeehouses where smokable and edible marijuana is sold.
On our first full day in Amsterdam, we were at the train station when two American tourists were stabbed in an apparent terrorist incident. The stabber was quickly wounded by police and arrested. None of the injuries were life-threatening.
Our cruise took us to four Irish ports – Waterford, Dublin, Belfast and Cobh. Then we went on to Ponta Delgada in the Azores, off the coast of Portugal.
About 300 BC, Plato wrote about the lost continent of Atlantis. There are several theories about its location, but one is that the Azores were the mountaintops of the lost continent. The island we visited had tree-covered mountains and magnificent ocean vistas. A legend says that side-by-side blue and green lakes were caused by the tears of star-crossed lovers, one with green eyes and the other blue.
Leaving the Azores, we began our trans-Atlantic crossing in the heart of hurricane season. Hurricane Florence was far ahead of us, but Hurricane Helene was moving steadily north toward our ship’s path. And to make matters worse, another unnamed storm was headed toward us from the north.
Our captain adjusted our course southward, moving at maximum speed for two days to get ahead of the hurricane and avoid the other storm. He was successful and all we saw was a little rain.
Like the Queen Mary 2, which we took to England, our cruise home presented the challenge of filling days at sea with activities. This cruise has lecturers, including a producer of several Disney cartoon series and movies, and an expert on pickpockets and cyber security.
Musical highlights include dancing by Bali crew members, a crew talent show and a concert by the ship’s orchestra. There’s a water color painting class and an abundance of games, including trivia, Jeopardy and the Weakest Link.
Our European trip was an incredible journey and we visited some fascinating places we had not seen before, but I missed the comfort of The Villages.
Most public restrooms in Europe are down a flight or two of stairs and may cost money to use. I never felt older than when I was dragging my luggage in a European train station with younger people constantly zipping by at a much faster pace.
Villages-News.com’s Marv Balousek is wrapping up a seven-week European journey that started on the Queen Mary II and ends in Tampa after 16 days aboard Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas.
