December 23, 2017 to January 7, 2018 – Spain and Portugal

December 23, 2017 to January 7, 2018 – SHIP: Queen Elizabeth. PEOPLE: Robin, Alex, Courtney, Peter and Roger Cooper. ROUTE: Southampton, England; Lanzarote, Spain; Gran Canaria, Spain; Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain; La Palma, Spain; Madeira, Portugal; Seville (Cádiz), Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; La Coruña, Spain; Southampton, England. The purpose was to have a fun family Christmas and New Year 2018 Cruise as well as celebrating Alex’s 50th Birthday which was actually this past September. Unfortunately Hailey was not able to join us mainly due to work commitments, we miss her not being with us. The main part of the cruise was to the Canary Islands (from the Latin Canis – dog), owned by Spain but just off the African Coast. There are Seven islands – Lanzarote and it’s Neighbour Fuerteventura that together with Gran Canaria form one district and the other district consisting of Tenerife, El Hierro, La Gomera and La Palma. New Year’s even and day were on the Portuguese island of Madeira. The second part of the trip was to mainland Spain and Portugal before returning to Southampton.

December 19, 2017 – Robin & Roger travel New York to London. We were able to get some stuff done around the house, visit Judy for lunch and call other family members before heading to the Cunard – Queen Elizabeth – Cruise.

December 23 (Saturday) – Travel to Southampton and Embark Queen Elizabeth from 11:30am on. The drive from Wokingham to Southampton was uneventful. Courtney, Peter and Robin got off the Ship with the luggage while Alex and Roger had to drive to the Southampton airport to deliver the car and then return by Taxi to Southampton to meet up with the family. This took about 1 1/2 hours due to traffic caused by the football game in town. This delayed our boarding, but all went well and after unpacking (Cabins 5053 Robin & Roger and 5051 Alex, Courtney and Peter starboard forward), lunch and the safety drill, we went to the main dining room for a nice dinner at our oval table for 5 on the main dining floor 2 (table 379- Santiago and Shelly were the waiters).