This morning I woke up early, and went out on the balcony to see where we were. It was just before sunrise, and I was watching the wake and the empty sea behind us. Then, just barely perceptible, we began to make a wide, sweeping turn to Starboard. As I sat watching, the lights of Cannes came into view. I called Sharon, and we sat and watched as the ship came to a halt, and the sun rose. It was really beautiful. When we went up to breakfast on one of the top decks, the whole bay came into view. The scene stopped both of us dead in our tracks with a ‘wow!’ It was truly a sight.
Cannes does not allow cruise ships into port, so we were anchored out quite a ways. We had to take tenders into the harbor. As we waited, we killed time by going to the Bridge Viewing Room. This is a small room directly behind the bridge, filled with commendations and congratulatory plaques, as well as a radar to look at, and a window into the bridge. The bridge itself was fascinating. They literally have a cockpit for two. Unfortunately, pictures were not allowed, and the viewing room is only open when the ship is in port. But it was fun to see.
We headed for the tender after breakfast, and were on our way across the bay to Cannes. The tender seemed very small, but actually had a capacity of 267 people. As near as I could tell, they had four tenders running, and it was only about 5-10 minutes to cross the bay. There are 4,100 passengers on board the Norwegian Epic, and 1,800 crew. We were informed on boarding that there are more than enough tenders to hold everybody in case of emergency. In addition, they have lifeboats as well. Good to know! I’m sure after the sinking of the Titanic all those years ago, which didn’t have enough lifeboats for even half of their passengers, this is something any crew of any ship are quick to point out. And considering that when I was on a cruise in 2006, the movie on tv the night we left was Titanic, having enough lifeboat seats is indeed excellent knowledge.
Cannes is impressive. It’s been fun to be back in France, even for just a day. I have at least a rudimentary grasp of the language (and I’m getting better!), and to be in the Provence area was a first for me. The first thing we did was take the ‘Petite Train’ tour. This is wheeled train that tours the beaches and the historic center, as well as the highest lookout. There was an audio guide built in, and we wore headphones in order to hear in our own language. The first thing we could see was our ship, the Norwegian Epic, brooding over the harbor. It was huge! None of the pictures I got were able to do justice to the presence of the giant ship in this historic harbor, but I tried.
The second thing of note was the presence of an incredibly bratty child in the front of our car. Obviously a princess to her doting parents, siblings, and grandparents, she managed to alienate everybody else in the car, including people 3 rows behind us. I think the family finally got wise to the grumbling behind them, because they finally started trying to quiet her. We christened her ‘Gabriel II’, in honor of ‘Gabriel’, the child who cleared an entire tour of people to the back seats of the bus during our 2016 Loire Valley Tour. I wrote about Gabriel at the time. He was an entire story in himself. The interesting thing was that the same family that had the princess, also had a delightfully well behaved child as well. She was very quiet and attentive to the tour. Makes you wonder about that family’s dynamic!
The French Rivera truly lived up to it’s reputation. It was a feast for the eyes. Our tour took us past the home of the iconic Cannas Film Festival, several old, venerable hotels, and up into the historic quarter, and an amazing overlook of the whole harbor. Narrow brick streets, pastel buildings, classic ironwork balconies, lots of palm trees, and incredible yachts. As always, none of the buildings were more than 5-6 stories tall, including the hotels. One street was so narrow that when we passed a truck, I’m sure our car didn’t pass a truck by more than a scant inch. It was right next to me, and I kept waiting for it to hang up!
After our tour, we headed into town. Shopping was amazing, and just strolling along the narrow streets was wonderful. We had no rain today, and though not sunny, the overcast was more hazy than oppressive. We found a great needlework store, La Petite Mercierie, that was closed for the obligatory 2 hour lunch break, which was just as well. Better for my pocketbook that it was not open.
We also saw the historic Flower Market. Full of flowers, spice, meats, and candies, it was fun to wander through.
We stopped for lunch at a lovely little creperie, and had a light lunch. We talked to several people from other areas, and have enjoyed the interaction. We headed back along the harbor, gawking at the yachts moored along the walkway. There were even bigger yachts moored in the old harbor further out, where their draft could be accommodated.
When we reached the tender dock, I wanted to get a better picture of our ship in the harbor, so I went up a little further, and was astonished to see beaches! Real, sand beaches. We just hadn’t gotten over to that side. There is so much to see. This is certainly an area to come back and stay. There is so much to explore. But to me, that is what cruise stops are all about – finding places that interest you, and then coming back in the future.
We got back to the tender mooring, and I was really impressed at how well organized the Epic staff was. They funneled everybody to the tender dock, and met us with cups of water or juice. They have a card system for tracking everybody, and really are very attentive. It’s been a great experience.
We took to the tender back with a group of ladies who had been abroad ship during the storm we experienced in Rome. They had boarded in Barcelona, were supposed to stop in Naples, then in Rome. They were not able to stop in Naples because of the weather, and had to stay the night in Civitavecchia. Because of the transit strike, they were afraid to go into Rome, so they spent the time on the boat. Not all bad, actually. They did comment that it had been incredibly rough, and that they were in between 2 hurricanes. I haven’t had enough internet time to look into the storm much, but it sounds like it was quite severe for this area. We just took it as a high wind storm!
We exited the tender with some movement. Trying to match up the tender with the boarding ramp could be interesting. The staff was great in handing guests onto the ship, and it was pretty funny to hear one saying ‘Mind the Gap’! This is what you hear in the London Tube over the loud speaker on a continuous basis.
We relaxed in our cabin for awhile, and watched the sun set over the Cannes harbor, and the engines start up.
We didn’t see the ship get underway, as we had reservations at a dinner show at the Speigl Tent big top. This was called ‘Epicurian Dreams’, and was a Cirque de Soliel type show, and was absolutely amazing. It was a great show, and very well done.
I’m sorry this was so disjointed tonight, but we covered a lot of ground today, and I’m tired. More tomorrow!
Suzanne’s Travels 