Actually we visited nine ports, the first being Ponta Delgado in the Azores, which was not on your list. This is a lovely island - very clean and lush (reminded us of Ireland). Unfortunately, we could not see the main thing on our tour, which was the twin lakes due to being fogged in - and apparently this is the case more often than not. We just had to use our imaginations but were disappointed. The tour was only 1-1/2 hours long which was just right for this small island. 
Our next port was Lisbon, Portugal. This is a lovely, vibrant city and has lots of history. We enjoyed our tour but the hour and a half wait to get into the customs area of the port just to get to the ship's gang plank was to say the least annoying and tiresome. The port only had one person checking passports and then we had to go through x ray machines and metal detectors and there were only 2 being used. We arrived at our 5:45 dining room time after 6:45, but they fed us anyway and never rushed us one bit. Lisbon needs to work on this if they want to continue to have ships visit them. 


Lisbon

We chose not to do an excursion in Vigo but were able to walk into the city as we were docked very close by. This is a lovely place - very clean and very, very pretty. Actually we actually enjoyed it as much as Lisbon, if not more. Granted, it doesn't have the sailing background that Lisbon has, but it certainly was very nice. As in most European countries - a lot of the local shops lock up midday and stay closed for a long siesta. That was manageable though. Talked to some folks who did the wine excursion and said they loved it. Others did their own thing by hiring a car, taking a train, etc. and had no problems. Fortunately (or unfortunately lately), Vigo as well as Lisbon are on the Euro. 


Vigo

We were in Dover our last transatlantic and thought the sail in past the white cliffs was really magnificent. They are surprisingly quite breathtaking. I chose to go into London and visit the Tower, Covent Gardens and Harrods as I have been there before and visited all of the other sites. The downside was, of course, the two hour drive, but I got to see a lot of beautiful countryside. 
My husband and friends took the ship offered transfer into Dover and visited the castle - which is wonderful and full of great World War II history. Then they visited a lovely church and frequented one of the local British pubs - not necessarily in that order. Of course, Euros are not this country's money, so pounds were needed but that worked out fine as there was an ATM right in the terminal when you got off the ship. Also, I had brought some along with us. 


Dover

We were also in LeHavre last trip and did the extensive Normandy tour, so this go round we decided just to go into the city and see what it had to offer. Paris is a three hour ride and having been there several times we didn't care make the long trip in. You need days to visit Paris properly, but I had suggested to several folks who wanted to go because they had never been there that the best way to see Paris in a short time is by the river cruise - and they heartily agreed when they got back. Anyway, LeHavre is very modern and quite nice and we enjoyed our short visit there. 


Le Havre

To say this was our favorite stop would be an understatement - and I do believe that the majority of the ship's passengers would agree. What a charming and beautiful little medieval city. We hired a taxi (via email) months prior to the cruise and it worked out wonderfully. The van dropped us off in the heart of the town and picked us up promptly at our scheduled return. The shops are wonderful, the canal cruise wonderful, the candy wonderful, the architecture wonderful, the food and beer wonderful. It was just wonderful, wonderful! Again Euros was the currency. I would go back there and stay a week. 


Brugge (Bruges)

We chose to visit Kinderdjik with all of its windmills since we had already been to Amsterdam and Kuekenhof. The walk from the bus park to the windmills was a bit of a stretch for some folks, but I think that was the only way it could be done. We then returned to Rotterdam and got to tour the old part of the city which was interesting. 
Again there were some lines upon returning to the port, but they moved rather quickly. While preparing to leave port a wonderful band played great songs for us for about 20 minutes - they were actually quite humorous at times and it was a lot of fun. Inside the port terminal they had a lovely bar serving Grolsch beer which made our husbands quite happy - and the beers were reasonably priced. It did take us a lonnnng time to get out of the channel going through the port - it is quite large and long. 
Other ports visited but : Oslo, Norway - we had to dock way outside the city as the Queen Mary was in the spot close to town. We did a ship tour to the Viking Museum and the ski area way up high. The tour was long but good and we enjoyed it very much. I would give it a 4. 
Our last port before Copenhagen was Gotenburg, Sweden. Again we were docked way outside the city as our ship was too large to get in close. We were greeted with a fire boat water spray as we came into port and as we left. Quite nice. 
We took a tour of the city which included a canal tour. This was a great way to see this lovely city but unfortunately it was freezing cold so being on the water at such a close level was a bit bone-chilling. All in all it was fun though and a good tour. I would give it a 4. 


Rotterdam

Cabin wasn't tremendously big, but adequate.  The mattress could have been a little more comfy (like the ones on Royal Caribbean).  The closet was quite large and there was ample storage.  Liked you could fit your suitcases under the bed unlike on some other lines.  Bathroom small but also adequate.  Our location was very convenient on Baja deck about mid ship.

There were some problems with long lines getting back onto the ship in a few ports but that wasn't the fault of Princess, but the port itself as they didn't have enough staff on hand to accommodate the tons of people returning from tours all at the same time - and to stagger the tours wasn't something that could have been easily done due to time constraints.It was pouring down rain and freezing cold and there were 44 of us who would much rather have waited somewhere on the ship in one of the public rooms where it was dry and warm - but no - we were told to get off the ship - period.

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Old Friends and New Faces on the High Seas

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