Friday 22nd June 2018
Today we arrived in the picturesque ancient port of Honfleur in France. It is known for its artists such as Eugene Boudin and Claude Monet, plus the churches and port area. It is situated on the River Seine, and this also makes for a delightful cruise from the sea, inland perhaps to the city of Rouen (see blog).
After breakfast I walked into town by way of local footpaths from the port (outside the fenced area of course) and beside the river into town. I went over the lock and into the inner harbour, to enjoy the warm sunshine. One of the excursion coaches gave me a lift back to the ship, and then the ship prepared to sail at 12 noon.
The sail along the coast from Honfleur is lovely in daylight sunshine and everyone on board seemed to enjoy the views before and after lunch.
We sail overnight to our final port of Tilbury back in the UK, so I packed my suitcase quickly and then was free to join in some of the ship's activities.
An announcement then told us that the pool had been filled! I saw no-one rushing to get in the cold sea-water, but several people sat nearby and relaxed on the red or blue towels.
My friend and I were happy to listen to music in the Charleston Lounge, take part in the Quiz, and then enjoy tea and a ship's scone with jam and cream.
The water was beautifully calm and at one point on our port side I could see tall white cliffs, which I felt sure would be the Seven Sisters and South Downs near the famous Beachy Head Lighthouse. At that point I went to see the lovely ladies in Reception who kindly rang the Bridge on my behalf to see if my guess was right. The phone was handed to me and the Deck Officer I spoke to confirmed that it was the cliffs in the Beachy Head area that I could see and had photographed. I asked him how far away they were and he thought about 20 miles. The air was certainly clear and I was amazed to see them.
Later that day we had another enjoyable dinner in the Marco Polo Restaurant, then went back to the Charleston Lounge to enjoy the evening sunshine as we sailed along the French coast side of the Channel Separation system.
Back in the Charleston Lounge we were talking with a lady and her aged mother about the shipping area and she mentioned that her husband was sailing a yacht off the east coast of Scotland at present. My friend showed her the website of marinetraffic.com and we managed to locate her husband's vessel at its location at 9 a.m. this morning. It was suggested that she might contact him and tell him to turn on his vessel's AIS (Automatic Identification System). She sent him a text! My friend also showed her several photographs relating to her husband's boat and she laughed at one picture that showed her wearing red trousers.
During early evening after departing Honfleur, we saw 3 large cruise ships off the coast near Dover bound for Southampton. The first was Celebrity Silhouette. The second were near sister Sapphire Princess and then near sister Azura.
Ships seen: Aegean Odyssey, Kikki C, Mont St. Michel ferry in the distance, Celebrity Silhouette, Sapphire Princess, Azura, plus various tankers and fishing boats
Saturday 23rd June 2018
This morning we docked early in Tilbury, back in the UK. Many passengers were continuing on the next cruise, and the rest of us had been given a letter yesterday offering a 50% discount if we wanted to stay on board and continue the next cruise. I believe one or two people took up this offer, and one lady said she would be happy to go out and buy some more suitable clothing to take up the offer.
We had an early breakfast, then collected suitcases and disembarked from AEGEAN ODYSSEY. I had really enjoyed my cruise on this little ship, despite the occasional poor weather. The included excursions had been all I had hoped for, and more in the case of St. Michael's Mount, and the food and service on board was excellent. I would be very happy to sail on board AEGEAN ODYSSEY again.
