Living in London

The bus queue from the ship	One last look at the ship's attrium	Our favourite spot — The Horizon Lounge on Deck 11

We disembarked in Copenhagen on Saturday 13 August, and felt really sad to leave our big ship. We had travelled 1,019 miles, and visited six different countries. Overall, we loved the luxury and the logistics of travelling by ship, but would caution people to avoid trips that keep travelling east through the time zones — it sure is hard to be rested enough for the shore excursions when you have to set your clock back each night.

The only downside we experienced was that the cruise felt very American. The onboard currency was US dollars, the evening entertainment was aimed at Midwestern sentimentality and we never did meet one other person we felt we had anything in common with. There were a lot of people who seemed to be happy with the most superficial look at another place, and we were struggling to really experience as much as we could in the few days we had.

There is a strange sensation you experience when you step ashore and your feet aren't sure if you are on solid land or on the deck at sea. The American oriented cruise felt that way as well — although we knew we were visiting these fabulous foreign cities, there was a dissonance where it felt like I was back in America.

Would we do it all again? Probably, but on a smaller ship with more direct cultural experiences, and with a more culturally diverse group of passengers.

A few more days of vacation and then back to the jobs (sob . . .) that make all this possible!