formernuke

Belfast today. A little drizzle first thing this morning then pleasant but a little cool for the rest of the day. Viking provided a shuttle to town from 8:30-4:30. Drops off at Donegal Square North by the Belfast welcome center. We did the City drive, Crumlin Jail and Titanic excursion. Includes a pretty thorough pano city tour en route with a couple of photo stops. The jail has a self guided tour showing the history of the jail from mid19th century to the 1980s. Multimedia presentation including videos holograms and some artifacts along the way. Very informative. Then a good lunch at the jail restaurant. Then on to the Titanic experience. Again a self guided multimedia presentation covering Belfast, building the Titanic, the disaster and post event history. Includes a short ‘ride’ taking you through the construction in the shipyard. Well done. Two hours to go through, which was about right.

We’ve been in this cabin twice (one on Jupiter one on Star). Absolutely no issues. Not in it now only because it wasn’t available.

Very nice day yesterday in Holyhead. Docked in very large industrial/ferry port. As such, you are not allowed to walk to town. Instead there is a port provided shuttle from the ship to port entrance. Seems to be short walk to town from there. Buses are able to (barely) make it down the narrow causeway. We did the Viking Castles of Wales excursion. Two very different castle experiences! The first, Caernarfon is a large 13th century ‘proper’ military-style castle that has seen battle. It’s pretty much what you imagine when you think of when you say ‘castle’. Lunch in a restaurant just steps from the castle. The second, Penrhyn, is a 19th century immense ‘party estate’ built by the money from the slate quarries. Incredibly ornate and lavishly decorated. Both castles well worth the visit. Port security on return is a bit weird. The guide says it is kind of random what they ask for. Today, with 31 on the bus they asked for 3 males and 3 females to search. I was one of the volunteers. Full bag search and full body pat down, then we were on the way.

Certainly the maritime museum you could easily do on your own. It wasn’t very crowded, but that maul be a function of when we were there(close to closing) and the time of year. The western approaches museum is small and you only go through (ut appears) via guided tour. I don’t know how hard it would be to schedule that when you need to. I suspect it is possible with some research. Certainly it is an easy walk back to the ship (this was a walking tour).

Had what turned out to be a lovely day in Liverpool. Didn’t start out that way. Noticed about 7am we were dead in the water and no where near the pier; unusual since we were supposed to moored by 8. Expected an announcement at 8 and that’s what happened. Captain reported there was a “technical issue “ with the propulsion system that occurred after we picked up the pilot and prevented us from entering port. He reported the issue was now resolved and we’d be mooring at 9:45. Luckily the team was able to reschedule all the excursions and delay our departure time. Great recovery. Our luck with the weather continued. Mostly sunny but a bit cool in the low 50’s. According to locals this has been the first sun in some time. Docking location is close to town. A bit of a walk down the pier and through the terminal. Floating pier that rises and falls with the tide(up to 10m). As a result, there can be some very steep ramps that could be problem for some. There is a small cart service for those who need it. We did the Viking Beatles tour in the am. Very knowledgeable guide. I’m not a big Beatles fan (DW is), so I wasn’t expecting much. To my surprise I really enjoyed. Would definitely recommend it. Afternoon tour was western approaches and maritime museum. Good tour with great WWII history.

First tender day at Dun Laoghaire (for .Dublin). Tender only took about 15 min to the pier. Loaded tender at 8:20 for 8:45 tour. Note that those wanting to explore independently in the morning were staged and added to tenders once ship excursions were loaded. We did the included tour. Not very good, in part because we did not use the quiet box which was completely unworkable with a group of 43! Crazy in St Patrick’s cathedral. We left at the end of the tour. Had a very good lunch at Kennedy’s pub. Chose to go to the Jeanie Johnston replica potato famine ship. Very interesting. Took the Viking provided shuttle back to the ship. Shuttles ran from 9am hourly until 6pm. Shuttle drop off point was Merrion Square West, which is a decent location. About 45min to the pier. Tenders ran about every 30 min until 7 pm.

Sea day today. Mostly usual stuff. Key exception was Q&A with the captain. He is outstanding! Personable, honest and very funny. Very enjoyable session. Also attached list of officers since I know some are interested.

We’ve had pretty decent luck with the weather. It’s been cool (low 50s mostly), with winds from moderate to heavy. Mostly avoided any significant precipitation, at least when we’ve been out and about. Some heavy rain while in the bus that miraculously cleared when we got off. A few sprinkles here and there for a few minutes. I would recommend a warm inner layer with a rain resistant outer layer. Consider carrying a small umbrella just in case.

Brilliant sail in past the white cliffs of Dover! We did the Leeds Castle and Canterbury Cathedral excursion. About a 40 min drive to Leeds. Castle is nice (not spectacular in our opinion) due to the number of major revisions that have happened over the years. Interesting history of course. The grounds are beautiful and it would be a great place to bring young kids as they’ve gone out of their way to provide a number of family friendly activities. After that, about a 30 min drive to Canterbury. Nice lunch at the cathedral reception center. Then a couple of hours to go through the cathedral and the town as desired. Cathedral is gorgeous! Well worth a visit. For those interested, the port provides a shuttle to Church Street in Dover and to Dover castle. We didn’t take it, but apparently runs about every 30-40 min in a loop.

Sorry photos are jumbled; having trouble with uploading now that we’re underway.

An update on the first full day of the cruise proper: Last night we did the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. Left about 7pm. Unique and very worthwhile excursion. Very much a different experience at night with no crowds. There were 3 groups inside, total of less than about 200 people (including our group of 31). Lots of interesting history. Only snafu was traffic coming back. Unplanned tunnel closure and some road work closures and an accident delayed us quite a bit, resulting in us not getting back to the ship until well after midnight. Made it a little tough for our 7:30 excursion! Today we did the “iconic London” excursion (included), mostly as a free shuttle into the city. That’s the major downside to Tillbury- connectivity to London is not near as good as Greenwich. We stayed with the tour until the last stop (Westminster Abbey) then took off on our own. I had booked a tour of the Houses of Parliament which was outstanding. We then had to make our way back to Tillbury. Took the tube from Westminster to Tower Hill then a quick transfer over to the c2c rail line to Tillbury Port. We then hoofed it the last mile or so to the ship (yes I know we could have picked up a cab, but chose not to). For those considering this as an option to get to the ship for embarkation, it is certainly possible, but might be a little awkward with luggage. There is a decent sidewalk from the rail station to the port, however you have to go up a couple of flights of stairs to cross over the tracks. Would be no problem with the lift, unless it wasn’t working ( like today).

Many people like to get there money back to the source they paid with so they are not “stuck” with credit they need to use

Final day with a leisurely start. Backs packed and left in room for pickup by 9:15. Breakfast and checkout. Meet for departure in bus at 10:30. Luggage transferred to bus next to be seen in our stateroom. Panoramic tour of some parts of London we haven’t already seen, including a short stop at the house that Churchill lived in during his final years where he died. Trip to airport slowed by very heavy traffic. Likely due roadworks and the London Marathon going on this weekend. Arrived at the ship about 1:30. Easy transfer and in our room then eating in the WC by 2:20. So given that this is one of the most expensive pre-extensions, the obvious questions are was it worth it and would we do it again? The answer is an emphatic YES! From a cost perspective I think it was a decent deal. We paid $2999 (I think it is more now). The hotel room is listed as well over $400/night. Add in transport from the airport and to the ship, to multiple locations outside the city, the costs of admissions/tours, the services of the excellent tour director/guide, and the three lunches and two dinners (each I would estimate at 25-30£ each, I think it is reasonable ( I don’t count the breakfasts as they come with the room). Could we have done this on our own for less? Probably most of it, but it wouldn’t have been the same. The custom tours and special access would have been difficult (or impossible in some cases) to arrange. Coordinating the transport would have been possible, but complicated to keep track of everything. Transport was also very comfortable. As stated earlier, having easy access to an exceptionally knowledgeable guide at all times was worth a lot. I would highly recommend Don Brown for any tour. The overall experience was very well coordinated, the facilities and food very good. Bottom line: we loved this extension and wouldn’t hesitate recommending it to anyone interested in this type of history.

Just back from a great evening at the war rooms! Walked from the hotel about 6pm; just a 10-15 min walk. Greeted with some Prosecco and then a short (25 min) private lecture. Then Don and another guide gave our 2 groups of six a private tour. Then free time to explore the war rooms and the excellent Churchill museum (our group had the run of the place). Then very nice 3 course dinner served in one of the rooms. Finally more time to explore on our own until leaving shortly after 10 pm. A truly once in a lifetime opportunity to have the place to ourselves!

Short trip to Saint Paul’s Cathedral this morning. Left the hotel about 8:10 and followed (approximately) the path of Churchill’s funeral procession to the church. Good tour given by our program director Don and then back to the hotel just before 11:00. Cathedral was beautiful and not very crowded so it went quickly. Free time until we go to the war rooms this