We finally made it! After the trip cancellations that we had to make last year because of illness, we actually made it to our transatlantic cruise. In the next blogs, we will summarize descriptions of our visits along the way from England to New Jersey.

Our flights were some of the smoothest we have ever had. We flew non-stop from San Francisco to London. I called for a wheelchair at the airport so we were wheeled directly through all of the check-in procedures. After overnight at an airport hotel, we took a shuttle to our ship at the port in Harwich on the east coast. Our cabin was beautiful with fresh fruit and flowers awaiting us. We had fresh fruit and flowers each day of the cruise. We especially loved our veranda that was even big enough for two lounges. Wrapped in the cozy bathrobes furnished, we could enjoy the ocean and shore views.

Our first stop was in Le Havre, France. Many passengers opted for the tour to Paris but we chose the Alabaster Coast one that took us to the towns of Etretat and Fecamp. We drove along the northwest coast with white cliffs like those of the famed Dover ones in “England. Etretat is a beach town with mostly restaurants and souvenir shops. Many people were sunning themselves on the beach and even some were in the chilly waters of the Atlantic. It didn’t look very comfortable on the rock-strewn beach.

The stop in Fecamp was to visit the Benedictine abbey where the monk Bernardo Vincello invented Benedictine liquor in 1510. We were shown the distillation process and then given the choice of sampling the different forms of the liquor. The Benedictine Abbey also contained a museum and works of art.

The next stop was Cherbourg, France but we opted to relax on the ship and enjoy the many amenities available.