Post #5 Goodbye Iceland Hello Regal Princess September 11, 2015

   Today was our travel to Copenhagen day. After dinner and packing we got ready for our early pickup. The hotel had arranged with flybus for a 4:30 pick up. I asked for a wake up call and was told the phone lines and internet were 'down' and there was no way to contact us. This of course was a bit of a panic moment as e did not have a clock in our room. I know get a cell phone! Finally the night clerk said he would knock on our door but he did not convince me of that. Needless to say I was awake plenty wondering of we were going to miss our flight and thus the ship. The system was up and running, we did get a call and a sweet roll breakfast were all in order. Pick up was at 4:45.

    The arrangement is slick. Pick up in a mini-bus, bus station drop off, buy a ticket, bus the 45 minutes to the airport. All quite seamless. We were in line at the airport (along with many others) by 5:45. Self check in bag drop and security moved along although there were at least 400 people in line when we started. Flight was delayed a few minutes but after the Icelandicair 1 glass of of service we arrived in Copenhagen.

 

Our Cabin

    Again Princess was very efficient with the transfer and

Princess Theatre

by 3 we were in our cabin.

The Regal Princess is the newest ship of the new design. Our cabin seems a bit smaller than the other ships, especially the balcony, but it has a number of improvements that are immediately apparent. Theresa (our first female room steward) was on the spot and the few things we asked for were immediately done. We toured the ship , had a bite to eat, attended the fire drill and unpacked. Again the luggage arrived almost immediately. A short rest and it was time for the welcome aboard show and then off for dinner.

The Atrium

We met 4 of the other diners tonight. The other 2 at our table for 8 did not appear but that is not unusual for the first night after people have traveled all night. The arrangement is odd. It is not a round table for 8 but a rectangular one. It will be impossible to talk or listen to everyone with this arrangement. One couple is from California, the other from the Orillia area.

After Dinner

  After dinner as we were headed back to our cabin we ran into Bill and Eli a couple we first met on our river cruise years ago. We also sailed with them on our northern transatlantic cruise a few years back. We got caught up on what has happened since we saw them last and will see them for drinks as the cruise goes on. It was pure chance that we passed then as there are just under 3500 passengers on this crossing .

We stop at our first port tomorrow.