Traveling with the Jones

The bags are packed and out the door and we’ve had our farwell cocktails.

This has been an incredible cruise: the itinerary was fabulous and this ship’s officers and crew make it once of the best experiences at sea.

Port strikes — no problem — they find a new and better port!

One other positive: we will be on our way home with less dirty laundry

Last year when we spent a lot of time on the Prinsendam we used the self-service laundry. For this cruise, we discovered a “better” alternative: $12 for the laundry bag and $30 for unlimited pressing for the entire cruise. (Both have 48 hour turnaround times but we generally got the pressing back much quicker.)

Other packages included unlimited laundry for $70 for the entire cruise, and unlimited dry cleaning for $55 for the entire cruise.

These packages weren’t really promoted but they are mentioned in The Voyage Begins flyer in the Welcome Package.

For our port-packed itinerary this was a terrific convenience.

Today was Bruges, Belgium with its historic buidlings and romantic boat rides through canals. And of course, waffles, chocolates, frites and beer — what else does one need in life?

Our alarm went off at 5am as we had the best of intentions to watch the ship pass the white chalk cliffs of Dover. One peak out the window, and seeing fog, was the perfect excuse to sleep in until 9am.

We took a 20 minute train ride from Dover to Canterbury, a pleasant place to spend a Sunday afternoon walking the medieval wall and enjoying a pint in a local pub with bangers and mash and fish and chips. After browsing shops, we enjoyed cream tea with scones, jam and clotted cream at Tiny Tim’s Tearoom.

While the ship stayed in port until 11 pm, we were glad we came back for dinner with our fun tablemates and the farewell presentation by the crew – they are key to what makes this ship so special.