Day 12 -- 6/12 - Le Havre, France

 We arrived very early at our last port of call on this cruise.  Many passengers were taking excursions into Paris, Normandy and other outlying areas so they needed to leave quite early.  When we went to the LIDO for breakfast, it was relatively empty.  We enjoyed a breakfast, gathered a couple of sodas for the day and made our way down to the gangway to find the town shuttle.  The ship had arranged for a round trip shuttle for a cost of $19.95US each using local transit buses. The cost was to be charged to the room which was fine with us as it will use the bulk of our unused shipboard credit.  The bus was standing room only and the trip into town took about 15-20 minutes and walking to that location would probably take 40-50 minutes and the port would allow foot traffic out of the port.

It was interesting that the previous Regal Princess which is now the Ambassador Ambience was berthed across the cruise terminal pier from us when we arrived.  It departed before we left later in the day.

We reached the drop off point and discovered that there was a one hour town tour bus (not HOHO), and the first trip was 10:30am, so we purchased two tickets for 28 Euros total. The bus has a sliding roof which was open and the center aisle was very narrow.  The tour was a good introduction to Le Havre.  After the tour we walked to the three cathedrals (St. Joseph, St. Francis, and Notre Dame).  Only St. Joseph was open and the stained glass was quite pretty and there was organ music playing which really helped set a nice ambiance.  I should note we were there on a Monday and most shops and all museums were closed.  

We decided to strike out and take a train to Harfleur (8 minutes away and 3.60 Euros each round trip.  This little town has a striking cathedral dating back to the 1400's.  We wandered around and enjoyed a very pleasant walk along the river which meandered along the valley floor.  We then caught a train back to Le Havre and walked about 20 minutes to the shuttle bus.

Back on board, we changed clothes and went to dinner in Allegro as we have all cruise.  In fact this is the first time in hundreds of cruise days that we've eaten every dinner meal in a main dining room.  While the main course of prime rib was a bit tough, we enjoyed our time there with our table mates and servers.

While waiting for the evening show, I received a message from a guest who disembarked today that she had left an envelope behind in her stateroom and asked for help in determining if it was turned in.  I went to the Front Desk and explained the situation to the clerk and he checked their lost.& found and found nothing.  He then made a call to the stateroom supervisor and learned that it had been found, but wasn't turned in which definitely irritated him.  While I was standing there it was delivered and the front desk will contact my friend and figure out how to return the funds to her.  

The Princess Theater show was a production show Sweet Soul Music and while it was glitzy, 14 singers and dancers seemed a bit much..  The show was interrupted by an errant message from the Captain on the bridge giving his departure announcement.  Normally he won't interrupt the theater.  After the show we went up on the SKY deck to watch the sail away.  Not 5 minutes after we cleared the breakwater, we entered a dense fog bank which the Captain said will persist all the way overnight to Southampton.  The foghorn will certainly be blowing all night.

I finished packed while my wife did her last karaoke session.  We also had a chance to say goodbye to Allie, our cruise director and our stateroom attendant, Alphon Autendcio.  I then updated my daily blog.

Tomorrow we take the train to London with a stop to visit a friend from Australia who is working for a year as a boarding school nanny for a year.  It will be good to see her.  When we reach London, we have 3 nights of West End Theater shows to attend and are staying on a canal boat for a new experience.