A view of the "White Cliffs of Dover" from the deck of the Renaissance R6.
Photo by:  Linda Garrison

More of this Feature • A Day on the Normandy Beaches      • The Medieval City of Bruges • Saturday in Antwerp • Norwegian Visit to Oslo • Copenhagen - Danish Delight  • St. Petersburg, Russia

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Related Resources • Jewels of the Baltic R6 Itinerary • Pictures from Dover and Folkestone • Other Pictures from the Baltic Cruise

The bed was shaking!  I peered at the clock, and it was 6:50 am.  For a moment, I thought I was in a hotel somewhere and we were having an earthquake!  I almost panicked before I remembered we were on the first day of our northern European cruise on the Renaissance R6 cruise ship.  The ship was simply docking in Le Havre, France, and the captain had initiated the thrusters the ship needed to move sideways into the dock.  I was sleeping so soundly (after all, it was 12:50 am at home) that I had forgotten where I was.  What a weird sensation.  Let me go back a couple of days to the beginning of our trip.

We had left home on Tuesday afternoon, August 14.  We met some of our fellow R6 travelers while standing in line at the United Airlines counter at the Atlanta airport.  (It wasn't my superior auditor skills that allowed me to identify our fellow cruisers, nor was it the happy faces looking forward to the cruise.  It was just those blue R6 luggage tags that really come in handy for spotting your cruise mates.)  Our flights from Atlanta to Washington Dulles and then on to London were uneventful.  I hadn't slept much on Monday night--too excited--and didn't sleep but a couple of hours on the overnight flight.  My husband Ronnie, the About Freshwater Fishing Guide, didn't sleep on the plane at all.  He doesn't like to fly, and can't imagine actually SLEEPING.  I've never been sure exactly what HE could do to help the pilot and crew if there was a problem, but I just let him have his way.  We arrived at Heathrow at about 7:00 am London time (5 hours ahead of EDT).  A Renaissance representative met us outside the customs area.  She was also meeting several other flights, and by 8:30 there was a bus-full of about 35-40 of us from all over the U.S.  We dragged our tired bodies on board the bus for the 2 hours' drive down to the coast.

The Renaissance R6 had only docked in Dover the morning of the 15th, so we weren't able to board until early afternoon.  I'm amazed the crew can get the ship "turned around" in less than half a day!  Therefore, the bus from Heathrow took us to a charming hotel/resort in Folkestone, a beach community in Kent near Dover.  Renaissance provided a continental breakfast in the ballroom of the Leas Cliff Hall Theatre/Entertainment Venue.  We had already eaten breakfast on the plane, but that didn't stop us from eating again.  When our bus of about 35-40 arrived at about 10:30, we found we were the first group there.  We had the ballroom, which had tables set for several hundred people, all to ourselves.  By the time we finished our breakfast, the cruisers from the charter flight that flew directly into Dover and elsewhere like Gatwick had also arrived.  Renaissance staff passed out information on the shore excursions available for our cruise, so most people started to study up and discuss the options available.  Of course, many cruisers were like us and had done our studying beforehand, with information we had gotten over the Web and from Renaissance.

The English weather couldn't have been more perfect.  It was warm (mid-70's) and sunny, and we all enjoyed walking along the cliffs overlooking the sandy beaches and the English Channel.  The village was quaint and filled with flowers.  I can now understand better why so many British novels feature seaside resorts.  Folkestone was a truly lovely place to spend the morning.  After sitting on a cramped airplane for hours, the day was absolutely delightful.  There are wonderful walking trails all over the seaside city of Folkestone, and we were glad to try them out.  Since we had been the first to arrive, our bus was the first to leave the hotel.  We left at about 1:30, and covered the 5 miles to Dover and the R6 quickly, although the bus driver did make one wrong turn.  Was he embarrassed!  Check-in/embarkation took less than 5 minutes (4 of those minutes were used getting off the bus and into the terminal; no line at all to check-in), and we were in our stateroom before 2:00.  The Great Times daily newsletter was already on the bed.  We glanced at it and found that they were serving lunch until 3:45 pm in the Panorama Buffet.  Not wanting to miss a meal, we scurried off to the buffet.  

By the time we had eaten a light lunch and explored the ship, our luggage had arrived at the door of our room.  Ronnie finally decided to sleep--guess he felt more secure since we were safely aboard--and I got the job of unpacking.  At about 4:30, all of the passengers were aboard, and the Captain required our attendance at the mandatory life boat drill.  Everyone always looks so silly in those life vests.  The crew leader called out cabin numbers for our group, and dispatched a crew man to find any missing passengers.  I was happy to see that no one was getting to skip out on the drill.  After all, mandatory means just that!  The whole drill took less than 30 minutes, and it gave me a good opportunity to see what our fellow cruisers looked like.  I'll have to admit, I think Ronnie and I were among the "youngsters" on the trip, and we're both over 50. 

In reading the Great Times, we noticed that we needed to book our shore excursions for Le Havre and Zeebrugge by 8:00 pm the first night.  Since we had already studied the list of potential shore excursions, it didn't take much time to sign up for a full-day tour of the Normandy Beaches for our first day, and a half-day tour to Bruges, Belgium for our second day.  To save time later, I went ahead and reserved us a place on several other tours we were sure we wanted to do.  Most cruisers who were planning to do 7 or more shore excursions on the 15-day cruise took advantage of Renaissance's special deal of $10 off on each ticket if you book 7 or more excursions.  That can really add up on a long cruise like this one--$70 per person at least!

Since we were doing a whole day tour of the Normandy Landing Beaches the next day, we knew that we would probably just eat in the Club Restaurant tomorrow since it doesn't require reservations.  Therefore, we decided to try the Italian Restaurant for dinner our first night.  It turned out to be a wise decision.  We were joined at a table for 6 with a couple from New York/Florida/Ohio, Pat and Bob, who were celebrating their 50th anniversary on the cruise; and a couple from Philadelphia/Florida named Mary Jo and Frank.  The six of us had an enjoyable evening eating, drinking, and laughing.  I had a wonderful sea bass dish, and Ronnie ate veal.  We were seated at a table overlooking the sea from the stern of the boat, and the English Channel view made for a special first evening on board.  

Pictures from Dover and Folkestone

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