| We arrived in Leixões for Porto on the 1st May 2014 during my Voyager cruise. The original order of arrival was Hamburg (7am), us (7.30am), Delphin (8am) and Empress (9am) but somehow that got changed. We ended up being first followed by Delphin, who docked in Matosinhos, which is where the big ships usually go and the new terminal is being built. I spotted Empress around 9am. She was a new one for me. The 48,563grt ship began life for Royal Caribbean as Nordic Empress, changing to Empress of the Seas in 2004 to match the names of the rest of the fleet. In 2008, she was transferred to Pullmantur, becoming plain old Empress. She joined us in Leça da Palmeira, docking in front. Hamburg, which I'd last seen two days before in Cadiz, ended up arriving four hours late. |
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| Our departure was at 2.30pm, and we sailed a bit later than that. It was getting pretty windy and Empress was in the middle of doing something with her lifeboats as we went by. We would be meeting these three ladies the following day in Leixões. |
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| To see photos of Delphin, Hamburg and Empress the following day in La Coruña click, here and Hamburg in Cadiz are here. A photo of Delphin as Belorussiya can be found here. The review of my cruise can be found here. |
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