20230503 Celebrity Silhouette cruise - Day 14/21 - End of the cruise, on to Paris

Celebrity Silhouette cruise day 14 - Paris, here we come!

Trip day: 14 / 21

This is the last day that will reference the Silhouette as we disembarked this morning.  We enjoyed one last really tiny shower, and a quick breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe, and we were off - literally, off the ship.

Let's talk about the cruise one last time - it was a nice cruise.  The crew as a whole was terrific.  Excellent service just about anywhere we went, smiling faces, desire to help - it was all there.  Some of the communication left something to be desired.  The food has taken a turn for the worse from Celebrity's heyday. Still, overall, we like Celebrity as a cruise line and will be cruising it again.  Before the cruise ended, we booked a 16-day adventure for 2024 to the Galapagos and Machu Pichu on the Celebrity Expedition.

As we left the ship, we headed for the ground transportation area.  Our driver was standing there with our name on a board. This was our first time using a driver like this, and it sure was fun seeing your name in the hands of a waiting driver.

He walked us to his vehicle - a brand-spanking new BMW 7 series.  Spacious and luxurious, it was a lovely way to make it from Southampton to London's St. Pancras Station.  Traffic coming out of Southampton was insane. Our driver said it was typical.  Wow.

Eventually, traffic let up, but as we approached London, it picked right back up again.  The last two miles took 20 minutes.  I can't imagine what it will be like in two days for the coronation.

We checked in and breezed through security and passport control.  Then we got inside the station.  Craziness again. People everywhere, seats nowhere.  We finally snagged two in back-to-back rows and ate a quick and overly expensive sandwich from Pret A Manger.

The station was organized chaos.  They don't know what platform the train will be on until it gets there.  they announce what platform as soon as it is time to board.    

Then, everyone makes a mad dash to the correct moving ramp that goes to the correct platform.  People, suitcases, strollers, you name it, it was all jammed in together.

When you get to the platform, you find your car and hoist your belongings onboard.  You stack your big bags in luggage racks near the entrance to the car. You place your carry-on bags on a shelf above your seat.  The seats on the right side of the train are facing forward, mostly, and the ones on the left face backward, again, mostly.  There are some facing seats with a table between them on each side of the train.  The seats themselves, while generously large, are set on a bizarre recline angle – at least ours were – and they were not adjustable.  They weren’t horrible, but it was odd.

The train ride itself was smooth and relatively quiet.  You get occasional updates on the overhead screens.

For the metric-challenged, that's 181 miles per hour!

Only about 20 minutes or so are spent in the Chunnel.  The rest is a mixture of above-ground and tunnel sections.  We departed right on time at 12:31PM UTC+1 (London time) and arrived at 3:47PM UTC+2 (Paris time) on the dot for a total ride time of 2:16.

We were traveling on a standard ticket.  There is a business-class rate that comes with more frills and I expect a nicer waiting room.  There is also a pair of food cars – cars 8 & 9 – where you can get food and drink.  We didn’t bother during the two-hour ride.

It was an interesting experience, but I’m not sure I’d do it again.  We’ve heard that there are pretty cheap flights as well.  We’ll see if/when the opportunity arrives.

Gare du Nord - the station in Paris

Once again, a driver was waiting for us with a name board.  He grabbed Arlona’s bags and we headed for his six-passenger transport van.  Paris traffic was nuts as well and he expertly bobbed and weaved us to our hotel.

 The Mercure Paris Bastille Marais will be our home for the next week. It is located on the east side of Paris in the Bastille district.

That's us at the purple "A"

There is a Metro station right outside our hotel.  It is about a 20-minute ride into the center of Paris so getting around will be easy.

We’re in room 801 on the top floor of the hotel.  

The room itself is nicely appointed and comfortable.

Who doesn't like a robe and slippers?

Of course, all the TV channels are in French so the TV won’t get much of a workout this week

The balcony is only large enough for two to stand

The shower isn’t much bigger than the one on the ship – there is a towel-warming rack behind the door

We’ll call this a modest closet

We discovered that the climate control is heat-only – no air conditioning.  That’s not a huge deal as we have the balcony open tonight and will likely do so tomorrow as well.  Then, the temps are expected to plummet to the 50s and 60s with rain.

We stopped at a place right around the corner from the hotel, The Le Roy.  We both opted for a burger – a specialty of the house, and it was delicious.

After dinner, we took a walk around the Bastille district.  The streets were crowded and every café was packed with Parisians enjoying beer or aperitifs.  Unfortunately, they allow smoking at outdoor cafés, and smoking is heavily practiced here. We likely won’t be stopping.

Place de la Bastille - the site of the former prison

Opéra Bastille

We enjoyed the weather and the walk.  It has been a long day so we headed back to the hotel.  We’ll be up early tomorrow for the Eiffel Tower and then a lunch tour with our friend and travel Agent Lisa.

World Cruise Day 136/152 - Tilbury, England - London calling

Cruise day: 136/152

Ports days: 67
Sea days: 69
Countries: 22
Continents: 5
Ports: 50

Before we get into today, here's a recap of the first-ever at-sea marathon aboard the Viking Star. As a reminder, the walkers went on May 5 and the runners on May 7. The stats are courtesy of Financial Officer Chris.

Walkers May 5

5K - 64 passengers, 12 crew

10K - 14 passengers

21K - 5 passengers

Runners May 7

5K - 3 passengers, 9 crew

10K - 5 passengers, 13 crew

21K - 4 passengers, 3 crew

To put that all into perspective, the total distance covered by all participating passengers and crew on those two mornings was 1,012 kilometers or 629 miles around deck #2!  That is pretty darn incredible!

This morning, we docked in Tilbury, England, a major port serving London.  With the advent of container ships, London is no longer able to receive ships and therefore moved its ports out to Southhampton, Tilbury, and others. Tilbury became a major port for London in the 1970s.

Green power is all the rage in the UK and Tilbury is no exception

After breakfast, we got off the ship and promptly waited in the terminal.

We docked a few minutes late this morning so that pushed the buses back a bit.  It wasn't more than a five-minute delay and we were loading and on our way to London.  Once again, this is a bus-centric tour, so apologies for many of the through-the-glass photos from a moving bus.

We were concerned when we got on our bus and saw the temperature display.  For the non-Celcius folks, 85C is 185F.  Lucky for us, it was a malfunctioning display and we all didn't roast. :-)

One thing that has remained consistent throughout the cruise is that weather has been very favorable.  Today was no different.  Rain was predicted but we wound up with temps in the mid-60s and unrestricted sunshine.

Our guide was one of the best we've had on this journey.  Knowledgeable, excited about her locality, and eager to share what she knows, it made for a terrific day.

She started explaining that all of England is excited right now as London is preparing for Queen Elizabeth's Platinum Jubilee honoring her 70 years on the throne. Unfortunately for us, that meant that our planned pass-by of Buckingham Palace was not going to happen as they are heavily into preparations.

London was founded in 43AD by the Romans as Londinium.  The Tower of London was built in the 1060s by William the Conquerer and the Normans.  We passed by the Tower of London walls on our way into the city.

We proceeded south across the Thames to our first stop.

The Shard - the tallest building in Western Europe, as we pass over the Tower Bridge

Tower Bridge

HMS Belfast - participated in the D-Day landing and the Korean War

Who knew Uber has boats?

The White Tower at the Tower of London

We got back on the bus and headed for our second stop at St. Paul's Cathedral.

St. Paul's - England's national church

Tulips out front of St. Paul's

It appears that someone added some bubble bath to the fountain

This is directly across the street from St. Paul's

A war memorial honoring firefighters in action at the height of the blitz attack on London during WWII

London cabs

We left St. Paul's and were off to our final stop, Parliament Square and Westminster Abbey.

We drove past Trafalgar Square.

The Queen's horse guards - unfortunately, I couldn't get a usable photo of the horses, but the guards on horseback are in the two small houses out front

I'm not exactly sure how our guide breathed.  She was talking non-stop with, "out the right side of the bus...out the left side of the bus..." because London simply has a non-stop array of historical sights as you're driving around.  It was way too much to document, so enjoy the photos.

Foreign & Commonwealth building

Westminster Abbey

Our first look at Big Ben - actually, it is now called Elizabeth Tower - Big Ben is the name of the largest of five bells in the tower - but for the sake of ease of writing - it's Big Ben

Westminster Abbey gate

Martyrs on Westminster Abbey's facade

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

The Methodist Central Hall

More of Westminster

Westminster School

Lots of famous folks' remains are entombed in Westminster Abbey including Sir Issac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Hardy, George Frideric Handel, and Charles Darwin.

We crossed the street to Parliament Square.

We had some free time so we walked over to the Thames to get some photos of the London Eye and photos of Big Ben in better lighting.

Really ornate lampposts

Arlona and an iconic phone booth

Remnants embedded in the sidewalk from the previous Jubilees honoring Queen Elizabeth's tenure on the throne.

We spotted this large group walking

We think it must be either a national basketball or volleyball team from China

London does look out for its tourists

Westminster Church

Hmm...planet-friendly and called the "Toot" bus - perhaps it runs on natural gas and makes regular stops at Taco Bell?

When our time was up, we boarded the bus for more sightseeing before heading back to the ship.

An unusual war memorial with a figure of a deceased soldier

Picadilly Circus

Back at Trafalgar Square and a look at some temporary art on display.  It is supposed to represent the current state of society. Ice cream, a cherry, a fly, and a drone.  I don't get it. 

Admiralty Arch

The South African embassy

The Black Friar Pub

Every entrance into the City of London is marked with these silver dragons - the City of London refers to a one square mile area

We grabbed lunch on the ship and then attended a presentation in the Star Theater by none other than Viking's Chairman and owner, Torstein Hagan.

L-R, Joost Ouendag - VP Product Marketing, Karina Hagan, Captain Lars

We had hoped that Tor would address some of the ongoing issues we faced with this World Cruise including maintenance on Viking's oldest ocean vessel, horrific Wi-Fi, and so on. It turned out to be more of a marketing presentation about Viking's successes and new itineraries like the following two new vertical World Cruises.  These will be made available to past Viking guests before being offered openly starting in June 2022.

Tor promoted that Viking will be adopting hydrogen fuel cell technology starting with their 11th ocean vessel.

We had our final dinner with friends that will be going home tomorrow.  We reflected on a terrific cruise with a touch of sadness that our time together is coming to an end.

With many folks disembarking tomorrow, Chef Thomas took one more swing at the collective waistlines with these amazing chocolate-covered peanut butter and caramel cakes.

Bags were in the hallways, waiting for the cabin stewards to take them away to prepare for disembarkation tomorrow morning.  For us, we get to relax and hang out.  Tomorrow starts the two-day World Cruise extension for us to move the ship to Bergen Norway. We are still trying to determine how we will spend the day tomorrow in Tilbury. Check back again tomorrow to see what we decided.