Sailing away to the English Channel…with the eclipse!

Today marks the beginning of our third transatlantic cruise and we are excited to embark on a new 14-day journey to Europe.

And if I am able to leave the US, it means that I obtained my new US passport. We had to wait 2 weeks before our departure date to be entitled to apply for the expedited service. We got a meeting at the Miami Passport Agency on April 2 at 7 am but I had to go back on April 4 to pick it up… just 4 days before departure. I had a similar experience in 2022 when my French passport expired and I collected the new one at the French Consulate in Miami just 4 days before our first transatlantic cruise to Spain!

Unlike the past two years, we are taking a northern route across the Atlantic towards the English Channel with new to us ports of call in Bermuda, Southern Ireland, Northern France and Southern England before arriving in the Netherlands.

We had great weather when cruising previously to Spain and Italy so wondering how we will be treated on this northern itinerary (we packed rain jackets anyway).

After the cruise, we will spend a few days in Rotterdam before taking the train to France where we will travel from Normandy to Provence with stops in Paris, Lyon and Nice.

Bubs was kind enough to pick us up at 11 am and dropped is at Port Everglades 40 min later. There were 5 cruise ships in port so more traffic than usual to pass through the port security gates. Afterwards, we breezed through the passport control and by 12:20 pm were sitting at the Lido restaurant for lunch.

We are reuniting with MS Nieuw Statendam, a ship we enjoyed during our first transatlantic cruise to Spain in 2022 for its modern amenities and… its amazing art collection. It was built in 2018 and refurnished in 2023 with a design inspired by the curves of musical instruments. It is 983 feet (300 m) long with a capacity of 2,666 passengers. When we cruised to Spain (after Covid), it was at half capacity but not this time.

We booked cabin #4040 with floor to ceiling window without a balcony as the weather usually does not allow frequent use of the outdoor space and our location on Beethoven deck 4 offers a quick access to the Promenade deck where lounge chairs are available.

Photos of our Cabin #4040

We left Port Everglades at 4:20 pm, later than scheduled because 4 other ships were ahead of us to sail away. As a tradition, we waved to our friend Anardy who lives in a condo right at the exit of the cruise port.

Unlike last year, the sea is calm and good weather is expected in the coming days.

See you on the other side of the pond!