Tiki_Koro

Cruise Day Thirteen - Disembarkation and Flight Home I apologize in advance for no pictures in this report. It was a hectic day, and photographing it was not a priority! On my last report, I ended with a sort of cliffhanger on whether my phone would wake me up at 4:30am or 5:30am. We gained an hour crossing the time zone from Le Havre to Southampton, and I was afraid that setting my alarm in Central European Summer Time at 5:30am would translate to 4:30am when we crossed into British Summer Time. That is how the calendar on my phone works, but I did not know if that is how the alarm clock on my phone would work. I tried to control it the best I could by turning my phone to airplane mode and turning off cellular data, WiFi, and Bluetooth connectivity. I was hoping my phone would stay in Central European Summer Time and that I would be awakened at 5:30am, even though my alarm was set for 4:30am. Alas, my phone still adjusted to the new time zone but kept the same wake-up time, so my alarm went off at 4:30am! Tired but unable to go back to sleep, I took advantage of the extra time and had one last cup of tea on our balcony. We were all up and ready with plenty of time to get breakfast at the buffet. We booked our flight through Princess, and Princess was responsible for getting us to Heathrow from Southampton in time to catch our flight. Our flight was scheduled to depart at 1:30pm, so we were in the first group to disembark the ship. Our group, Light Blue 1, was to disembark at 7:30am, but they let us off early at 7:20am. Once we were off the ship, we walked through the terminal to where our luggage was waiting in the Light Blue 1 section. We grabbed our luggage and were directed to the bus. The whole process of disembarkation was smooth and took about 15 minutes. The ride to Heathrow was supposed to take 60-90 minutes, but due to traffic and roadwork, it took over 2 hours! Our bus driver was aware of the roadwork and had planned an alternate route off the main highway. Still, we arrived over 3 hours before our flight was to depart. This is when the nightmare began! What I am about to explain may not be as surprising today given the amount of news coverage regarding the chaos at Heathrow, but at the time, it was totally unexpected by us. We received an email on July 13 (Belfast day) from British Airways explaining the new restrictions on flights out of Heathrow. Heathrow began imposing a daily 100,000 passenger limit, and this would require British Airways and other airlines to cancel some flights. I did a little research and found that this was mostly going to affect flights within Europe, so we did not think much of it. The night before, my parents and brother were able to check in online with ease. When I attempted to check in, however, I received a message that additional information was needed and that I would need to show my passport to an agent at the airport. The line to check in was quite long, but we had over 3 hours and were not worried. We waited about 45 minutes to speak to a British Airways agent. She pulled up my ticket and got on the phone. Then, she told me that the flight was overbooked, and I did not have a seat! She said it was unusual that the rest of my travel party would have seats but not me. I would need to go to the standby line at 12pm and see if any seats opened up. In the event there were no seats on that flight, the next flight would not be until the following day. British Airways would put me up in a hotel overnight. I was grateful that at least it was not my parents or brother who would have to negotiate a night in London alone, and I was reminded of the G.K. Chesterton quote, "An adventure is an inconvenience rightly considered," as I thought about where I would go first on my night on the town! My parents and brother got in line for security, and I went to the standby line. The standby line was very long with people in similar situations, so I got in line before 12pm. By 12pm, it still had not moved! I spoke with a British Airways agent who was walking up and down the line asking each of us about our situation, and when I told her mine, she was surprised to hear that I was separated from my travel party. She got her manager involved, who then took me back to the check-in desk where I had previously spoken to an agent. The manager explained the matter to another agent, who looked up my ticket and told her I had no seat. The agent said the best I could do would be to check at the gate. So, the manager passed me off to another manager who walked me to the security agent who was checking people's tickets and passports. This was about the halfway point in the security line. The manager told the security agent that I needed to bypass the security line to get to the gate, but the security agent said all she could do was let me in at that point to wait in line to get through security. It was 12:30pm at that time; one hour from when we were to depart. My parents and brother were still waiting in the first half of the line and saw me skip in front of them! The British Airways manager wished me luck and thanked me for being so calm. It took an hour to get through the rest of security because, at that time, only one metal detector was open for all of the security lines that were merging together. That was when it hit me why Heathrow was capping the number of passengers - they were so short-staffed that they could not process people fast enough to catch their flights. Once through security, I still had to go down a level and catch the underground train to the terminal. Ever hopeful that the plane was delayed, I persisted and arrived to find out that our plane was, indeed, delayed because there was another plane in our terminal getting ready to leave. I spoke with an agent at the gate, and he pulled up my ticket. He found me a seat! My parents and brother then arrived, out of breath, and we had a joyful reunion. We were hoping to grab something to eat before boarding, but we did not have time. Our boarding group was the last to board, and as we walked back to our seats, I saw over a dozen empty seats that did not get filled. Much to my delight, my seat was next to two empty seats, so I was able to sprawl out for the flight! As we approached Orlando, the captain told everyone that there was a storm over Orlando preventing us from landing. He circled Orlando for a half hour, but he said he did not have enough fuel to continue waiting. We had to make an emergency landing in Tampa to refuel. That took about an hour, and then we flew back to Orlando. Overall, we were 3 hours late landing, but at that point we were just glad to be back home. All of our bags arrived, and our ride was waiting to pick us up. But for the mess at Heathrow, it was not a bad flight. For those who stuck with me through the end, thank you for your patience! I hope everyone enjoyed following along as much as I enjoyed putting these reports together.

Cruise Day Twelve - Normandy We booked the Normandy Landing Beaches excursion through Princess. There were four time options: 7:30am, 8am, 8:30am, and 9am. The only time available when we booked was 9am. However, when we received our tickets on the first day of the cruise, the tickets said to check in at the Michelangelo Dining Room by 8am. This seemed odd to have us check in an hour early. We ordered room service for breakfast and headed down to Michelangelo. My parents went a few minutes ahead of my brother and me, but we thought we had plenty of time. We arrived just after 8am to find they were about to board our bus! We were on the bus leaving the port by 8:20am. I never found out why the bus left earlier than the 9am excursion time, but I wonder if maybe they consolidated the buses. Our tour guide was a sweet lady named Helen. She was from Greece, but she had lived most of her life in Normandy. She even used to work at the American Cemetery, which gave her an insider's perspective to the cemetery. Our first stop was to be the cemetery, and it was about a 2-hour drive to get there. We stopped about an hour into the drive for a restroom break and to purchase some snacks. For this, we were all grateful. Also, a heatwave was making its way across Europe. It was to be in the mid-90s Fahrenheit in Normandy and all the way to 106 degrees Fahrenheit in Paris! Thankfully, the bus was comfortable and had air-conditioning. It was not full, so many of us had two seats to ourselves. Along the way, we passed a few chateaus. We arrived at the American Cemetery around 10:45am and had 2 full hours to spend at the cemetery. We began with Helen giving us a tour. She pointed out how the crosses were laid out and told a few stories. At one point, a veteran in our group asked if he could have a moment to place an American flag at one of the graves. We all joined him in the impromptu ceremony. One of the stories Helen told us was the story of the Niland brothers. They were four brothers who were in four different units. Two survived the war, but for a time it was believed that only one survived. The two who died are buried in the cemetery. Helen was working at the cemetery the day Steven Spielberg visited and was first told the story. This was the inspiration for "Saving Private Ryan." The cemetery overlooks Omaha Beach. We had time to briefly look around the museum, but not enough time to take it in. Visiting the American Cemetery was a sober reminder of the costs of freedom and the sacrifice these brave men and women were willing to make. I only hope my generation would be up for the challenge if such a time called for it. On a lighter note, my brother and I were amused by the number of times we overheard a tourist ask one of the security guards, "Where is the gift shop?" Even though the cemetery has a small, museum-like exhibit, there is no gift shop. Helen told us to be back on the bus by 12:45pm sharp. She wanted to stop at Omaha Beach before heading to Gold Beach for lunch, and we needed to be at lunch by 2pm. Well, all but two of our group made it by 12:45pm. After waiting 15 minutes, Helen got worried and called the ship to see if anyone had reported maybe a sickness or other incident from our group. Then, the two people arrived at the bus and explained that they thought we were leaving at 1:45pm, not 12:45pm; they thought they were early and planned to wait for the rest of us in the air-conditioned bus! This set us back and required Helen contacting our lunch location to let them know we were running late. Even though we were running late, Helen still had us stop and get out at Omaha Beach. There is a sculpture memorial on the beach and flags for the various nationalities who died on the beach. The beach is controversial these days, for it is treated as a holiday spot for beachgoers rather than a solemn memorial. Helen prepared us for this by telling us the story of a lady on one of her tours who cried when she saw it because her grandfather had died on the beach. Helen explained to her that her grandfather and others died on the beach so that folks today could be free to enjoy it. Helen said that cheered the lady up, but when we saw it, we did not buy that explanation. Even though I can understand some of the beach remaining open to beachgoers, at least the memorial could be kept distinct and respectful. Instead, folks were using the sculptures for shade and for picnics. We next headed to Gold Beach for our lunch in Arromanches. Lunch was at a brasserie in the Hotel de Normandie. When we sat down at our table, a salad and a bottle of red table wine (Syrah/Merlot blend) were waiting for us. The salad had boiled eggs, prosciutto, soft cheese, and a baguette. Also at our place setting was what appeared to be a glass of rosé wine. It was actually a kir! How French! After the salad plates were cleared, a large platter for each table filled with roasted chicken with mushroom cream sauce and scalloped potatoes with bacon was served family style. We were not expecting such a meal, and it was a wonderful treat. After lunch, we spent the rest of our day at the Arromanches D-Day Museum. This museum was the first D-Day museum built in Normandy. We began by watching a film on D-Day and on the construction of Port Winston, an artificial harbour built off the beach in Arromanches for bringing in cargo during the Allied Invasion. Outside of the museum is a piece of the pontoon road that went out into the harbour. The museum was fascinating, and we had plenty of time to see everything and to do a little shopping in the gift shops across the street. As we left Arromanches, we could see the remnants of Port Winston out in the water. The bus ride back was not particularly pleasant, for about halfway into the ride the air conditioner went out! We stopped along the side of the road for the bus driver to see if he could figure out the problem, but ultimately the AC unit was overworked keeping the bus cool in the midst of the heatwave. As if riding in a hot bus was not bad enough, some of the passengers got cranky and were being rude towards Helen. Things like, "Come on, let's go!" were being yelled while she explained the situation to us over the microphone. It was a long hour back to the port, and we were all ready to get off the bus. Helen was a joy to be with and did not deserve the attitude from some members of our group. Despite the hot bus, the day was powerful, memorable, and fun. We did not feel like sitting down for a 2-hour multi-course dinner, so we skipped our Da Vinci dinner seating. We watched the ship sail out of port from our balcony before heading to the buffet. Le Havre is a commercial port, and it is not particularly beautiful on the inside. The beachfront portion of the port was nice, though. After dinner, we went back to our rooms to pack. The disembarkation information said we needed to sit all of our luggage except for what we needed the next morning outside our stateroom doors before going to bed. We had color-coded and numbered tags that corresponded with our disembarkation group. Our group was Light Blue 1, and we were to be the first group to disembark at 7:30am. After packing, I returned to the casino to try and win back my $30 from the night before. Instead, I lost another $20 and called it quits! Before I went to bed, I had to figure out how to set my alarm. I wanted to get up at 5:30am so that I would have enough time to eat breakfast at the buffet (there was no room service on disembarkation day). Should I set the alarm for 5:30am and hope my phone changes time zones, or should I set it for 4:30am in case my phone did not change time zones? I decided to err on the safe side, set it for 4:30am, and put it in airplane mode with no WiFi, cellular data, or Bluetooth. Did it work? Stay tuned to my final report! Here is the day's Patter:

Cruise Day Eleven - Second Day At Sea Our second day at sea was a little disorienting because the ship switched to French time (Central European Summer Time) a day early to get us acclimated to the time change before our arrival in Le Havre, but our phones and devices remained on British Summer Time, which was an hour earlier. That meant we lost an hour of sleep, and if we wanted to make it to the Da Vinci Dining Room for breakfast by 9am, we had to be there before 8am according to our phones (this was especially tricky on our disembarkation day, but I will cover that later). We all slept in and did breakfast on our own. I made it to Da Vinci in time for breakfast, and then I headed to the Princess Theater for an Enrichment Presentation on the Dunkirk Evacuations. The lecture briefly covered D-Day and the Normandy Landings before focusing on Dunkirk and the Little Ships that helped evacuate the British and French a few years earlier. This was my first Enrichment Presentation, but they had been taking place all throughout the cruise in preparation for each port. Some of these lectures were available to watch again on demand on the television in our stateroom. After the lecture, it was already time for lunch! I was not that hungry, but the rest of my family did not have much for breakfast. We had a leisurely lunch in the Da Vinci Dining Room, and the theme was Pub Lunch. After a heavy lunch, we had no plans and decided to head to the Piazza to digest. The kids program was in the Piazza doing an egg toss competition. Each child or team of children had 20 minutes to create a contraption that would hold a raw egg. They would then go to the third floor of the Piazza and drop their contraption. If their egg broke, they were out of the competition. If their egg did not break, they were in the competition for first prize. There were some very creative contraptions of varying degrees of success, but the ones that were most successful involved a type of parachute. About 5 or 6 teams made it to the final round, but the winner was chosen simply by loudness of applause in a popularity contest. I hope the prize wasn't much because that did not seem fair! This evening was our second and final formal night, so we returned to our rooms to rest and get ready for the evening. I watched from our balcony for a while as we sailed by fields of wind turbines. They came out of nowhere and stretched as far as I could see! Our dinner was a late seating at 8pm, so my parents and I decided to attend the first showing of the evening's theatrical production in the Princess Theater. I was ready early enough to head down to Vines for a glass of wine before the show. On the way down, my inner Elf came out as I took a ride on the elevator! Needless to say, I was not about to have my first drink of the day! The show for the evening was DISCO - Blame It On The Boogie. It was a cute montage of disco music that was very well-performed. It lasted about a half hour. The captain announced earlier in the day that we would be sailing past the White Cliffs of Dover around 6pm, but he then announced it would be closer to 7pm. I did not want to miss it, so I kept my map app opened on my phone to see where we were positioned. As of the time we sat for dinner, my map app showed we still had not reached Dover. Unfortunately, due to the poor WiFi, the app was not updating properly. After dinner, our location on the map jumped from east of Dover to west of Dover, and we had missed it! My advice to future cruisers is to listen to the captain and plan to sit out on the deck during that timeframe if you want to be sure to see the Cliffs. Dinner was elevated for formal night. I had escargot, wedge salad, lobster tail, and chocolate pistachio dome. It was all very good. We may have missed the Cliffs, but we did not miss the sunset! In the Piazza, an after-dinner dance party broke out. My parents and I headed to the Explorers Lounge for an Elton John tribute show featuring the performer who did a similar concert a few nights prior in the Princess Theater. I missed his show in the theater, so I was glad to catch him in the lounge. He was very good at both singing and playing the piano like Elton John! It was a late night, but I promised one of my new friends I met in Speakeasy that I would hit the blackjack table with her. I am not much of a gambler and had never played blackjack in a casino before. She assured me that a cruise casino is way friendlier than what I would find in a hotel. We played the teaching table meant for beginners, and the dealers and other players were very friendly and helpful. I lost $30, but I had a lot of fun losing it! Here is the day's Patter:

Day Ten - Edinburgh Edinburgh is one of my favorite European cities. I spent some time in Edinburgh when I lived in London, and I brought my parents to Edinburgh on their first trip. This time, it was my brother's first trip, so we maximized the limited time we had by focusing on the Royal Mile. As this was the last day we had to ride a tender boat into port, we got an early start with room service breakfast and checked in for our boarding group at 8:22am. 9 minutes later, our group was called, and it was a 16-minute ride from the ship into South Queensferry. We were greeted at the port by a bagpiper and drummer. I learned from @ROWSE report that the easiest way to get to Edinburgh from South Queensferry was the Lothian bus service that provides continuous shuttles from the port to Edinburgh all day long, leaving every 15-20 minutes. Tickets could be purchased on the bus with a credit card at 10 pounds roundtrip, although they tried to also sell us an upcharge ticket for a Hop On Hop Off bus tour. We declined the HOHO bus ticket because we wanted to stick to the Royal Mile. The trip from the port to Edinburgh was 18 minutes. Edinburgh is very walkable, but be prepared for stairs and inclines. From St. Andrew Square where we were dropped off, it was an easy walk to Princes Street to the Sir Walter Scott Monument, where the Old Town can be seen up above with the castle dominating on the right at the top of the hill. That was our first destination, so we proceeded to the first flight of stairs leading through a "close" (alleyway) that would get us to the Royal Mile. This morning was one of the only instances when we experienced rain on our trip, but fortunately the light rain cleared up before we got to the castle. When we got to Edinburgh Castle, we were surprised to find that the tickets were sold out for the day! Thankfully, I had pre-booked our tickets, so we had no trouble walking right in. The entrance to the castle was under scaffolding as they were setting up seating for the Military Tattoo that took place during August. The view from inside the castle overlooking Edinburgh was magnificent! Edinburgh Castle is largely a military site now, and we spent a couple of hours exploring the barracks, Scottish National War Memorial, St. Margaret's Chapel, and the Great Hall. St. Margaret's Chapel is the oldest building in Edinburgh, from the early 12th century. Near the chapel is a dog graveyard! After we finished our morning in the castle, we were ready to begin our tour down the Royal Mile. Once again, we used the Rick Steves Audio Walking Tour as our guide. Tucked in between these tall 17th and 18th-century tenement buildings are back alleys and side lanes that lead into quiet courtyards. We didn't do it this time, but there is a tourist attraction called Real Mary King's Close we did last time that goes underground into the section of the tenements where the impoverished "lived," if you can call it living. I recommend it for the first-time visitor to get a taste of how people existed when Edinburgh earned its name "Auld Reekie." Best to pre-book a ticket because the tours fill up fast. https://www.realmarykingsclose.com/ We paused our tour to turn down a street to find the Elephant House café and Greyfriars Kirkyard. The Elephant House is where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter series. We saw multiple Harry Potter walking tours throughout the city, and had we known ahead of time, we might have booked one of them. Rowling drew a lot of inspiration for the books from Edinburgh. Unfortunately, the Elephant House was under construction to repair from some fire damage. The Greyfriars Kirkyard is the setting of the cute 19th-century true story of the Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrier who spent 14 years guarding the grave of his owner. Disney made a film about it in 1961 that is available on Disney+. Before reaching the cemetery, there is a statue memorial of the dog, Old Jock, located on the street in front of the Greyfriars Bobby pub. Next to the pub is the entrance to Greyfriars Kirkyard, and just inside the cemetery is the prominent gravesite of the dog. The cemetery is also another Harry Potter fan site because it is here where Rowling found names such as Thomas Riddle and McGonagall on the tombstones that became characters in her books. Also, at the edge of the cemetery is a gate, and visible through the gate is George Heriot's School, the prep school that was the inspiration for Hogwarts. Greyfriars is a nice place to walk around and get a sense of how creepy Edinburgh is. Think of Robert Louis Stevenson's story "The Body Snatcher" depicting the Burke and Hare murders. Speaking of Stevenson, we headed back to the Royal Mile and had lunch at Deacon Brodie's Tavern, which is themed after the real-life criminal who inspired Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Deacon Brodie's was kitschy, but fun. I had the Toad in the Hole, which featured pork and haggis sausages. I've had straight-up haggis before (much more tolerable than black pudding!), but I much prefer it in the style of a sausage. We also FINALLY had sticky toffee pudding, a favorite from our last trip that, for no good reason, we simply had not ordered up to this point of our trip. After lunch, we resumed our walking tour of the Royal Mile. Across the street from Deacon Brodie's is a statute of the modern philosopher David Hume. As in Glasgow, it was not uncommon to find statues with cones on their heads! On the corner across from Hume is the site of the last public execution. Next on our tour was the courtyard of St. Giles. St. Giles' Cathedral is the most important church of the Church of Scotland, and it is where the Scottish Reformer John Knox preached. We did not go inside St. Giles this time, but it is worth a visit to see the memorials, similar to Westminster Abbey in London. Next to St. Giles we saw a coned statue of Adam Smith. All along the Royal Mile, we were entertained by various street performers. Just a tip, they expect to be tipped! They even have Square readers to accept credit cards, so not having cash is no longer an excuse! We continued down the Royal Mile hoping to stop at Cadenhead's Whisky Shop. Cadenhead's is unique because they have casks of whisky in the shop from which they will fill bottles without filtration or dilution. I have a few bottles from previous trips that I treasure and pull out for a sip on special occasions. I was hoping to purchase a bottle to take back as a gift for my boss, but... Cadenhead's is closed on Sundays! The Royal Mile ends at the the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is Queen Elizabeth's residence for about one week a year when she visits Edinburgh. Across the street from the Palace is the ugly, modern Scottish Parliament Building. I am sure it has its admirers, but I have never heard someone describe the building as anything but ugly! From this end of the Royal Mile, we had a good view of Calton Hill on one side and Arthur's Seat on the other. We miscalculated how far we were from St. Andrew's Square where we needed to pick up the shuttle back to the ship. On the map, it did not look that far, but it was a long walk that we could have done without. Had we known better, we would have taken a taxi. The bus ride back took 26 minutes with traffic. We arrived at the port at 5:02pm and waited in a line that looked long but only took 12 minutes to board a tender boat. My mother and brother skipped dinner to do laundry, while my dad and I had dinner in the Da Vinci Dining Room. I had the twice-baked goat cheese soufflé, cobb salad, and beef tenderloin. It was very good, but the highlight was dessert. We had sea salted caramel pot de crème on our Alaska cruise and loved it so much that we asked for the recipe! I was told by our server that it was not the same dessert (the Alaska dessert was a recipe by Curtis Stone), but it was still good. He even sent a couple to our rooms via room service for my mother and brother. With the following day being our second day at sea, I intended on spending a late evening in the casino, but after dinner I got sucked into a movie my brother was watching in our room and decided to stay in for the night. Here is the day's Patter:

Day Nine - Inverness We were initially planning to do the May 9 itinerary, just my parents and me, but when my brother decided to join us, we switched to the July 8 trip to accommodate his summer vacation schedule. Once we knew we were traveling later in the summer, one of the first ideas we thought of was trying to catch a Highland games while in Scotland. To our good fortune, the 200th Inverness Highland Games was to take place the day we were in Inverness! We planned to take the train from Invergordon to Inverness, but after researching the train timetable and talking to a travel guide on the ship, we decided it would be easiest and most reliable to book the Inverness On Your Own excursion through Princess. This excursion was simply a roundtrip coach from the port in Invergordon to Inverness. After breakfast, we headed to the Princess Theater and checked in for our excursion. We had not done any prior excursions through Princess, so this was the first time we had to meet in the theater and exit the ship as a group. Thankfully, the ship was docked at the port, so there was no need to wait for a tender boat. There were four coaches waiting to take us, and we were given a sticker with the number "20" on it to identify that we were to ride on coach #20. The bus ride took about 45 minutes to get from Invergordon to Inverness, and we were let out by Inverness Cathedral. From there, it was a short 10-minute walk along the River Ness to get to Bught Park where the Highland Games took place. Along the walk, we came upon a hospice, but my dad thought this sign was put up just for him! The gates opened at 11am, while the opening ceremony did not start until noon. There were four lines to enter, and we were early enough to be the first in our line. I was surprised by how small the event space was. It felt about the size of a small county fair. According to the website (www.invernesshighlandgames.com), about 7,000 were in attendance. There was plenty of open space to move about, with food trucks, amusement rides and inflatable bounce houses for the kids, tents, stages, and an arena for the heavy competitions. Before heading to the opening ceremony, we stopped by the tent housing the clan exhibits. The solo piping competition had already begun, so we stopped by and watched a performance. Around the park were other bagpipers practicing. We really got our fill of bagpipes throughout the day! We then went to the arena to get a good seat for the opening ceremony. The ceremony began with the marching of pipes and drums. The Games Chieftan and Inverness Provost were joined by special guests Tom and Luke Stoltman, the World's Strongest Brothers. The Provost is the one in the middle! The ceremony concluded with the regional dance finalists dancing a traditional Highland Fling. Following the opening ceremony, the heavy competitions began with the hammer throw. Next was the weight throw. We really wanted to see the caber toss and the stonemason's stone challenge, but those took place after we had to leave to catch the bus. Unfortunately, we were supposed to be back to board our bus at 3:15pm, which left us with only a couple of hours to take in everything. We walked around and saw the youth dancing competition and some live music before heading back to the cathedral. Attending the Inverness Highland Games was a highlight of our trip! It was fun to experience a local event, even if our time was limited. When we were ready to board our bus, we noticed only three buses were lined up. Bus #20 was not there! There was some commotion between the other bus drivers and the attendants helping us board the buses. I am not sure what happened, but a different bus arrived to pick the rest of us up. Still, we were back to the ship in plenty of time. There was a long line to board the ship because all of the buses arrived at once, but we got through the line in about twelve minutes. While waiting in line, we noticed some of the Princess crew were painting the hull of the ship. We had dinner in the Da Vinci dining room, and it was Italian Night. I had the prosciutto and melon, Italian chopped salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and chocolate souffle. Once again, the pasta was very good! The whole meal was delicious. After dinner, I returned to my room and enjoyed watching the wake of the ship from our balcony for a bit before heading to Speakeasy for a cigar. The water was so still and smooth except for the wake! Our room attendant left disembarkation information with our Princess Patter.

I almost forgot the Patter for Day Eight - At Sea.

You're welcome! You are in for a treat! I will try to finish before you depart. Have a great trip! The laundry facilities were supposed to close at 10pm. That was enforced the first time I did laundry, but not the second time. I cannot recall exactly the length, but I think the washer took about 30 minutes and the dryer about 45 minutes.

Cruise Day Eight - First Day at Sea Our day at sea went by so fast, even though I felt like I hardly did much of anything! I do not have nearly as many photos to share from this day, so I thought I would use this post to go over some thoughts and observations about the cruise experience. I am not nearly as experienced a cruiser as many on this forum, so I expect this post may generate quite a bit of engagement with input from those who can offer more insight. But first, I will give a quick overview of the day. We all slept in and decided to do breakfast on our own. My dad and I were ready about the same time, so we both went to the buffet together, while my mom and brother got room service. My mom and I wanted to try afternoon tea, so we decided not to get lunch because our breakfasts were late in the morning. My parents and I wanted to catch up on our email, and I wanted to work on some drafts for my trip reports (I still had hoped to find WiFi on shore to upload live reports). We went up to Skywalkers Nightclub, found some seats near a window, and spent a few hours enjoying the view and working on our devices. I got easily distracted by the cliffs outside the window. We were traveling at the time in a strait called The Minch. My mom and I left around 2:30pm to get ready for afternoon tea. There was a long line to get into Da Vinci for tea, but it moved quickly. In fact, "quickly" pretty much sums up the whole experience! We were sat at a table with another party, a woman and her teenage children from Savannah, Georgia. Before we could introduce ourselves, the servers walked around the table and poured us each a cup of tea from a carafe. We were not given a choice of tea, and it was already brewed. Then, more servers came by with trays of sandwiches and offered us the option to take what we would like off the trays, followed by servers with pastries, which appeared to be the same ones offered at the buffet. We had a few moments to try the sandwiches before a server came by with a basket of fresh scones still warm out of the oven, and another server followed with jam and whipped cream. My favorite part of afternoon tea is scones with jam and clotted cream, so getting whipped cream was a bit of a letdown. The experience lasted maybe 20 minutes before we were over it and ready to go. It was not what we expected and was not at all relaxing. Needless to say, we had quite the appetite by the time we got to dinner! After tea, my mom and I went to the Princess Theater for Deal or No Deal. This game show was hyped by the cruise director all morning, so we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We did not purchase game cards to participate because we did not know going in how it worked. While one person is called up for each round from the audience to play for money, anyone who purchased a game card could play for other prizes, sort of like bingo where you would score when your game card briefcases matched up with the briefcases on the stage screen. It was fun to watch, even without playing. After Deal or No Deal, it was already time to get ready for dinner. One of my new smoking friends I met in Speakeasy had recommended trying the pasta course, which I had been skipping previously. I had the Seafood Trenette as my entrée, and it was delicious! I also had the Caprese Salad Revival and the Stilton-Mousse with William Waldorf Salad. (Sorry for the poor photo. My finger must have been on one of the lenses) After dinner, my parents went to see the Elton John Tribute in the Princess Theater, and I returned to Speakeasy for an after-dinner scotch and cigar. On the way, we saw a performance by the singers and dancers in the Piazza, and I caught the sun beginning its descent from my balcony. It was a relaxing day and just what we needed to recharge for the rest of the trip! I am going to break up my observations by categories. Please, FEEL FREE to offer thoughts and suggestions on my experiences with the cruise. I want this to be helpful for other cruisers, and if I made a rookie mistake that contributed to some of my poor experiences, then I hope the discussion can help others have a better experience. Room This was my first time staying in a balcony room. Compared to my other two cruises where I had an interior cabin, I felt the room was plenty spacious. My brother and I had our own twin beds, and they were very comfortable. We never felt cramped in the room. I had read reviews of the dreaded "partial obstruction" aft balcony rooms, and I was worried when I found out our balcony had the beam. When I saw it for myself, however, I did not feel like the beam was much of an inconvenience at all. We were able to sit our chairs in front of it with plenty of space, and if I had the choice of an aft balcony with the beam or a side balcony, I would go with the aft balcony with the beam. I really enjoyed the full panoramic view of the aft balcony and watching the wake of the ship. Bathroom I did not have a problem with the size of the bathroom. Believe it or not, I have stayed in European hotels with smaller bathrooms! One time in Paris, I could not open the shower door without opening the bathroom door! My main objection with the bathroom was the stench that built up during the duration of the cruise. We did not notice it the first few days, but by the halfway point, it was bad and got worse each day. The issue was with the toilet. We kept the lid down to keep the smell contained, but whenever I lifted the lid, the fumes knocked me over! I can only imagine it has something to do with how the waste is treated, but if someone can offer an explanation, please do. I would actually reconsider doing a 12-day cruise again if this is a normal experience. Room Service I had really good interactions with the Princess crew members, but the one area where service was weak was with room service. I understand how busy they must get and how there seemed to be a staffing issue, but on more than one occasion, the wait was over an hour for room service, even over two hours for my parents. My main issue with room service, however, was the missing items. On multiple orders, my tea service was missing milk. I had a box of tea I bought at Twining's while in London, so the main reason I ordered room service tea was for the milk. I also ordered sparkling water with a slice of lime and multiple times did not receive a lime. One time, I received a lemon instead. I can excuse a mistake here and there, but this happened too many times to be a mere oversight. On a positive note, we discovered a favorite nonalcoholic drink on the menu that all of us ordered at least once every day - the Sunshine Daiquiri! This is also available at most of the bars, and it consists of pureed strawberries, lime juice, lemon juice, and mango nectar. It's a great breakfast drink! Food Our meals in the Da Vinci Dining Room and the Crown Grill were consistently great, both breakfast and dinner service. With the four of us, dinner ran almost 2 hours every meal, while breakfast was under an hour. When my dad and I had dinner in Da Vinci just the 2 of us, dinner was served in 90 minutes. We were not planning to eat at the buffet for dinner on this trip, but there were nights when we did not feel like a 2-hour meal. The portions were perfect and not too big, considering the multiple courses. The buffet, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired, both in options and quality. There were plenty of options, to be sure, but not the kind of food that interested us. Still, we could find things we would eat, even if it meant making a meal out of fried cheese sticks! Food quality suffered the most at breakfast. I should have known better when I saw the trays upon trays of eggs benedict under the warmers above the buffet, but I tried the eggs benedict and found the egg yolks to be the consistency of dried playdough! The pancakes had hard edges, and the chef scooped the world's smallest ladle of syrup across my plate as if garnishing the pancakes rather than saturating them, which they needed to be edible. I recommend opting for room service for breakfast if not dining in the dining rooms (we never had an issue with room service timing when we left the card out on our door the night before). Laundry Okay, here we go! We did laundry three times on this trip. The first time was our first night on the ship. We needed to wash our clothes from the London portion of our trip. On our level, Baja (11th), the laundry room had two washers and two dryers. They were being used, but a crew member recommended that I go down to the 10th level because it had twice as many machines. Unfortunately, one of the dryers on the 10th level was out of service the entire cruise. I was washing for all four of us, so I had two full loads. When I was ready to dry them, a man was starting to put his clothes into a washer and said, "You're going to leave one of those dryers for me, right? I don't want to be here until midnight!" My initial thought was no, I got there first and needed both of the dryers at that moment. But, not knowing if that was a breach of etiquette, I tried cramming both loads into a single dryer so that he could have the other dryer. Of course, that meant my clothes were not dry after the first run! A crew member came in and told us the laundry room was closing at 10pm, so we would not be able to finish our laundry. My mom took the damp clothes back the following morning to finish drying them. Our second laundry experience was even worse! It was the night before our first sea day, and the laundry room on our level was, again, fully occupied by a man using both sets of machines. My mom and I took our clothes to the 10th level, and a couple of ladies were already there using two of the washers. Instead of taking the two available washers, we decided to just use one and run multiple washes through it, leaving the other for the next person who needed it. The problem began when the token machine failed to provide tokens. We were able to get a few tokens initially to begin our washes, but we could not get enough to run the dryer. There was a phone in the laundry room to call for service, so my mom called and was told someone would be down to fix the token machine. In the meantime, I ran up to the 11th level to get more tokens. As I walked in, I caught the end of a verbal fight between two cruisers. A lady was leaving as I entered, and she yelled back at the man, "HAVE A NICE LIFE, SIR!!!" Minding my own business, I tried the token machine and found it not working, either. So, I ran down to the 9th level laundry room and found it, too, had a broken or empty token machine! By the way, the laundry rooms on each level are not on the same end of the ship. This meant I was walking a good portion of the length of the ship each time I tried another level! When I got back to the 10th level, I tried calling for service again and was told someone was on their way to help. We waited over an hour for a crew member to finally arrive and provide us tokens. We were afraid of getting kicked out at 10pm, but that did not happen. We managed to finish all of our laundry and left after midnight. The next morning, my mom had the foresight to stop by a laundry room and stock up on tokens for doing laundry one more time later in the cruise. As for that experience, it was my brother's turn to help. They finished in under two hours with no incident. That figures! I do not see how to get around doing laundry on a 12-day cruise, but having that dryer out of service the entire time was a real inconvenience. I hope it is fixed by now. Entertainment We enjoyed all of the entertainment we experienced in the various venues throughout the ship. I only saw one of the big shows in the Princess Theater, but my parents went to most of the ones that featured music (we are not into comedians). They lasted around 35-40 minutes, which, in my opinion, was long enough without being too long. We also saw a few musical performances in the Explorers Lounge, with the Elton John impersonator being our favorite. The talent is really good on the ship. One night, we went to Crooners, and the performer led a singalong of standards from the 1930s and 1940s. The audience was as entertaining as the pianist, for they were really getting into it! My favorite form of entertainment on this cruise, though, was catching the random acts in the Piazza while having a coffee or a glass of wine. Two young ladies played pop music on electric violins. A man did a variety of comedy circus acts, such as plate spinning and knife throwing. A bagpiper in Highland dress performed a couple of nights. And, periodically, the singers and dancers from the stage shows would do a number. On formal nights, a house band performed, and a dance party broke out. Disembarking/Embarking/Excursions By this, I mean getting on and off the ship at the ports. While I already touched on this in the daily reports, overall I found the process of getting off and on the ship to be very well-organized. We avoided the peak times and had no problem with long waits. Excursions were simple, as well. Our excursion tickets told us where to meet (either in the Princess Theater or Michelangelo Dining Room), and when it was time for our group to go, we were led out by crew members. Overall, we had many more positive experiences than negative. The crew members we interacted with were very helpful and friendly. If there is an aspect of the cruise experience I missed, feel free to ask. I would also like to hear from those who had different experiences from ours.

Good evening, everyone. Just a quick note on why this is taking longer than I expected. I will finish my reports, but each one has taken me about 2-3 hours to write and pull pictures. I averaged about 200 pictures a day, a blessing and a curse of digital photography! I am also in the middle of some life changes, including a career change, and my current job has a political component that has heated up as we approach our primary elections in Florida. Returning to this project has been a fun way to relax whenever I can find the spare time. Thanks for your patience and hanging in there with me!

Thanks! I hope things change for the better at F&M. I have recommended to so many friends traveling for the first time to London to do afternoon tea there, but I cannot give that recommendation anymore in its current state. We did not go far enough into the port for me to notice the availability of rental cars. I see online that there are car rentals available in Invergordon. We booked the Inverness On Your Own excursion through Princess that was a roundtrip coach ride from the port to Inverness. It worked out perfectly. There were no free shuttles to Inverness, and the excursion had one time of departure and one time for returning to the port. Thanks! Our tour guide Thomas was really good at explaining the history in a way for all of us with various understandings of the history to grasp. My father had a conversation with Thomas about the legal system and the potential for bias to interfere in the rule of law. Thomas also explained to us that the school systems do not teach much about that period of history to the children for two reasons. First, being segregated schools, it is a tough topic to discuss fairly. And second, there is a hope that the next generation will be the first to set aside differences and learn to live better together. That resonated with us as we are having debates in America on how to teach our history to our children. Thanks! Cheers! You're welcome, I appreciate that. While on our walking tour of London, we learned that Downing Street only started having a gate and guards after the IRA bombings. So tragic. Thanks, and you're welcome. Just last weekend, I heard a talk by an author named Joseph Pearce. He was involved in the UDA and went to prison twice. He had a spiritual conversion and wrote about it in his book, "Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love." I met him last year at a conference and bought his book, but I haven't read it yet. I look forward to reading it now that I have a better understanding of the topic. He became Catholic, and in his talk he was quick to point out that the IRA and Sinn Fein are not at all faithful to Catholic theology. https://www.amazon.com/Race-Devil-Journey-Racial-Rational/dp/1618909622

Thanks! It was an amazing trip! Thanks! Not sure which Guinnesstache category I fit into, but it was fun being silly! You're welcome! Sorry you will miss Dublin on your trip, but I would have enjoyed spending an evening at an Irish port and having dinner on land with some traditional music. I do not recall seeing any USB ports, but I travel with a travel USB port hub (not a surge protector) for all of my devices. I would have loved an extra day and an evening in Dublin! Definitely going back someday. We fit a lot in using the Rick Steves tour. I wish we had time to do the Part 2 tour north of the River Liffey. I approach those walking tours as a way to get a feel of the city, as if the city itself is one giant museum. If I had a full day of just doing the walking tour, I would have included seeing the Trinity College Library and the Book of Kells. I also would have spent more time at Guinness. If you don't mind, could you share the recipe for the brownies? That sounds delicious! Thanks! I'm ready to go back for a more in-depth tour of Ireland. Wondrium (formerly The Great Courses) has a lecture series on touring Ireland with a lot of great information on Ireland's history and things to see across the country. That's too bad re: the cigarette smoke. I would not have liked that, either. Glad you are enjoying the review! You're welcome! Your review was so helpful, and I saw things from your review and thought, "Ah, that's where that is!" We found everyone we encountered while on land at the various ports very friendly and helpful. I loved hearing different but similar phrases, such as "Not a bother" instead of "No problem." This answer is what I was going to give. We booked through a travel agent who set it up for us, but if you are traveling without a travel agent, it can be booked through the website. In hindsight, I cannot imagine an easier way to get from London to Southampton unless we had traveled by train or bus the day before and spent the night in Southampton. I would not have attempted traveling on my own the day of departure. Being a tourist without a good understanding of the travel logistics, there seem to be too many variables that could go wrong.

Cruise Day Seven - Glasgow If you have been following from the beginning with my pre-trip report, then you may recall this was supposed to be the day we traveled across Scotland to visit our ancestral home, Fingask Castle in Perth. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the trip, I got an email two days prior to our arrival in Scotland from the owner of the castle informing me that he had come down with COVID. We were given the option to still come out to the castle and visit the grounds and the cemetery up the road where our ancestors were likely buried, but out of an abundance of caution, we made the decision to skip our plans and spend the day in Glasgow instead. It was not worth the risk, and it gives us another reason to return to Scotland soon! By changing our plans, we also were relieved of the stress of getting to and from Perth. We decided we would have a leisurely breakfast, take the train from Greenock to Glasgow, and do the Hop On Hop Off Bus tour of Glasgow. Getting off at Greenock after breakfast in Da Vinci Dining Room was a breeze, and we were greeted by resident ambassadors eager to point us in the right direction. Unfortunately, we misunderstood the "right direction" when we were told to "turn left at the ugly building" to get to the train station. We went to the wrong ugly building and got lost! It was not a problem, though, for we saw others from the ship heading a different way and followed them to the train station. At that time of the morning, trains were departing about every 30-40 minutes, and we had to wait about 20 minutes for the 11:46am train to Glasgow. The train ride was 40 minutes, and we arrived at Glasgow Central at 12:26pm. We had to be back on the ship by 5:30pm, so we planned on returning on the 4:06pm train from Glasgow. The resident ambassador at the port told us that, when we got off at the train station, we should walk down Buchanan Street towards George Square. She said that is the main tourist shopping corridor, and we would have no trouble finding the Hop On Hop Off Bus somewhere in that area. Sure enough, George Square is the initial departure point for the HOHO tour. Similar to Grafton Street in Dublin, Buchanan Street is a pedestrian street lined with lots of shops. Along the way, we found the Duke of Ellington with his famous cone hat! We caught the bus at George Square and settled in for an hour roundtrip tour of the city. We had no plans to hop off anywhere, and our time was limited to about three hours in the city before catching the train back. George Square is the location of the Glasgow City Chambers and many monuments featuring birds perched on statues of distinguished Scots, such as this one of James Oswald MP. We rode along the River Clyde past the OVO Hydro Arena and the SEC Armadillo auditorium. We then went to Glasgow's West End down Byres Road, Kelvingrove Museum, the University of Glasgow, and Barony Hall (a former church and now events venue for the University of Strathclyde). This modern mural on High Street is Saint Mungo, the patron of Glasgow, performing his miracle of bringing his pet robin back to life. Tour finished with a drive through Glasgow's East End, as we rode past the Cathedral, Tolbooth Tower and St. Andrew's in the Square, a former church that is now Glasgow's Centre for Scottish Culture. If I had to do it differently and had planned for a day in Glasgow, I would have planned on an earlier morning and gotten off at a few of the stops on the tour. Glasgow has quite a few free museums and sites to see, and we really enjoyed our time riding around the city. After the tour, we had about an hour and a half before our train back to Greenock, so we did a little shopping on Buchanan Street and decided to grab a late lunch at the train station. The train trip back was an easy 43-minute ride, and there was no wait to board the ship. I enjoyed a cup of tea while watching from my balcony as we traveled through the Firth of Clyde back to sea. We were not very hungry and did not feel like a long dinner, so we did the buffet for dinner. Wanting to skip the busy laundry rooms on our first sea day, my mother and I spent the evening doing laundry. I will wait to cover that experience on my next post, as I plan to go over my thoughts on the cruise experience then. Laundry took us all night, over 3 hours! I had hoped to enjoy the evening in Speakeasy with a cigar, but I was too tired after dealing with the laundry. Fortunately, the next day being sea day, we could sleep in with no alarms. Here is the day's Patter:

You asked if the terrorist activities (bombings) were covered on our tour, and they were. Our tour guide explained that both the IRA and UDA have been proscribed by your government and designated as terrorists by my government. I am sure the topic is much more sensitive to you and those who live in England and Northern Ireland who were impacted by the attacks, and I hope my coverage was respectful and did not downplay either side's violence or culpability.

Yes, both sides had terrorist organizations - the IRA and UDA - that committed awful acts of violence. That was covered.

Cruise Day Six - Belfast Of all the stories my family and I have shared with friends about our trip, we keep coming back to our day at Belfast as the most meaningful and interesting. We learned something about ourselves from learning about the Troubles. I have a friend who visited Belfast years ago, and she said she felt the same way after her visit. The experience I am referring to is a private cab tour through the segregated neighborhoods through Cab Tours Belfast https://cabtoursbelfast.com/. I think anyone visiting Belfast, whether by cruise or otherwise, should book this tour. It was almost an afterthought for us, but after reading so many good reviews, we decided it was worth a try. I hate to put spoilers in my report, for much of our enjoyment of the tour was learning new things. But, for those who may never go on this tour, I think the details are worth sharing. I will mark where the spoilers begin and end, similar to a movie review, and I recommend those who are going on this tour to skip the spoilers. I learned about the black cab tours through the Rick Steves Ireland Guidebook. There are other cab tour companies, but I chose Cab Tours Belfast because it is owned and operated by both Protestants and Catholics and aims for a neutral tour. Before I booked the tour, I reached out to the company and asked if we could be picked up at the port. That was no problem and was an extra 20 pounds, well worth it for the convenience! Our tour began at 9:30am, so we had time for a leisurely breakfast in Da Vinci. As the ship approached the port, I sat on our balcony and watched as the ship turned around. This gave me a good view into the dry dock with the Harland and Wolff gantry cranes Samson and Goliath in the background. The ship docked at the port, and we walked off with no wait and found our tour guide waiting for us just behind the fence. If we did not have a way to get into town, a shuttle bus was available for the 20-minute trip and cost $15.95 per person for a round-trip ticket. This was according to the Patter. SPOILERS BEGIN Because we were a party of four adults, our driver picked us up in a mini-van, and it was quite comfortable. He introduced himself, Thomas, and asked us what we knew about the Troubles. We told him we knew how it was covered in the news and depicted in the movie, "Belfast." He did not seem to be a fan of the movie, but, in retrospect, I think the movie does a pretty decent job portraying some of what we learned, if only at a surface level. Thomas explained that the struggle between Protestants and Catholics is not a religious fight and that most involved in the attacks were not religious at all. He also gave us some of his background. He had been injured and had family who died from the attacks. He then asked us what is the first question we think Americans ask him on these tours, and my father took the bait - "Are you Catholic or Protestant?" He jokingly gave my dad a hard time for being so insensitive and told us he would tell us at the end, but we would first have to guess. He wanted to see if he could give a tour that was not sympathetic to either side, or, rather, was sympathetic to both sides. As we drove to the neighborhoods, Thomas explained that, although they are enjoying a time of relative peace, the tensions still exist and are at least one generation away from lessening. Protestants and Catholics are still segregated by neighborhoods and schools. The city center is neutral territory and a place where Protestants and Catholics could work together and intermingle, but after business hours, they return to their segregated streets. The Peace Wall has five gates. Three of them are opened during the day and closed at night. A fourth gate is opened during the day and manned by police, while the fifth gate is kept closed at all times. If the tension between Protestants and Catholics is not religious, then what is the source of the tension? Thomas asked that question, and I suggested it is political. He said no; we Americans are crazy when it comes to politics, but not them. He said it is all about identity - the Protestants identify as British, while the Catholics identify as Irish. That was the lightbulb that turned on in my mind, and I am sure my fellow Americans reading this can relate as our politics have increasingly become our identities in this country (indeed, we are not immune to violent attacks in the name of our various political identities). Thomas explained that the Protestants identify as more British than the British, and the Catholics identify as more Irish than the Irish. They are still fighting a civil war. This was my main takeaway - the violence, tension, hate, and separation is not unique to the Northern Irish. I initially respected the Troubles as a Northern Ireland problem that I did not understand, but I left recognizing it as a human problem that we all have dealt with at one point to various degrees of success. It was a sobering moment. Our tour was on July 13, the day after July 12, which is a Northern Ireland bank holiday commonly known as Orangemen's Day or Orange Day. This is a Protestant holiday that begins after midnight on July 11 with bonfires. These are not ordinary bonfires, however. They are fires so tall that they dwarf many of the buildings! Catholic symbols, including effigies of the Pope, are burned on these fires, and there are also fireworks going off during the celebration, much like our American Independence Day celebrations. Thomas showed us a picture similar to this one from a previous year's celebration: Thomas's story of the Troubles was largely told through the murals throughout the neighborhoods. We began with the Shankill Road Protestant neighborhood. As we entered, we saw this mural greeting us in multiple languages except one - Irish Gaeilge. Even sign language was depicted! This was where the Peace Wall began. The neighborhood was covered in Union Jacks, and houses had pictures of Queen Elizabeth in their windows. I did not take pictures of individual houses out of respect for the residents. Thomas asked us when we thought the tensions began. Knowing a little about the fight for Ireland independence, I suggested a couple hundred years. He showed us this mural and explained that it all began in 1690 when Protestant King William of Orange defeated Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne, hence the name Orange Day. By the way, I never knew the Irish Flag symbolizes green for Catholics, orange for Protestants, and white in between for peace. Across from the William of Orange mural is this most disturbing mural commemorating the Protestants' "top gun," the person who has single-handedly killed the most Catholics to date. His eyes eerily follow you no matter what angle you look at him, symbolizing he is always watching over the neighborhood. Likewise, next to this mural is a smaller one with guns that also follow you at every angle, a threat to Catholics. Even when my mom stood against the wall between the guns, she saw them pointing at her! We then crossed over to the Catholic side on Falls Road and saw the Catholic murals. Thomas said the Troubles as we know them began not in Ireland but in Alabama with the American Civil Rights Movement. Catholics were inspired by Blacks in America asserting their civil rights, and they began asserting more of their rights in Northern Ireland. This is depicted in their mural honoring various civil rights leaders. Furthermore, Catholics relate with minority groups all across the world and depict that in their murals. They even take a stance in favor of Palestine, while the Protestants are pro-Israel. Next, we visited the Peace Wall separating the two neighborhoods. Debris on the ground included rocks and objects that were thrown the night before by Protestants attempting to hit Catholic houses during the Orange Day celebration. The wall has been raised twice to try and protect the Catholic houses on the other side. Fencing has been erected over the houses along the border of the wall to prevent objects from hitting the houses. Thomas told us about the Good Friday Agreement brokered by President Clinton in 1998. President Clinton visited the wall and found it depressing. Someone suggested to him that he write an inspirational message on the wall, and that began the tradition of signing the wall. The wall is repainted frequently with new murals to allow new visitors to sign the wall. Thomas gave us markers and had us leave a message. My message? "Veni Sancte Spiritus," the opening phrase to the Catholic prayer invoking the Holy Spirit to come and shine Its divine light of healing, grace, and peace (I am Catholic, and my family are Protestant, by the way). We ended the tour at Bombay Street, where the first attack on the Catholics began in 1969. There is a Catholic memorial commemorating those who died. The first names are martyrs who died for the cause, but as the names continue, they are mostly innocent victims who were not fighting in the riots. Thomas showed us rubber bullets that were used by British authorities to keep the peace. He asked us what we thought rubber bullets looked like, and we were way off! Rubber bullets were used with the intention of not killing people, but they did kill some, including children. Thomas ended the tour by asking us to guess whether he is Protestant or Catholic. I am not going to give that away, but my mom, brother, and I guessed wrong, while my dad guessed correctly. Thomas succeeded in his objective of giving a neutral tour! SPOILERS END Again, I cannot speak highly enough about this experience, especially with our guide Thomas. As we rode back to the city center, Thomas asked us about our lunch plans. I had booked us a reservation at the Crown Liquor Saloon, a famous pub I had read about. He suggested we avoid having lunch there because it is such a tourist spot and instead have lunch in the Cathedral Quarter near St. Anne's Cathedral. We took his suggestion, and I canceled our reservation. Thomas dropped us off at Belfast City Hall. We walked from City Hall to the Cathedral Quarter and found one of the restaurants Thomas suggested, the Thirsty Goat. Unfortunately, many locations he suggested were still closed because they considered July 13 to be a holiday in addition to July 12. The food was good, but the service was very slow. We spent over an hour on lunch, and we had tickets for the Titanic Museum for 3pm. We also had tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus, which we had planned on taking to the Crown Liquor Saloon. From there, we would take the bus on the rest of its tour before getting off at the Titanic Museum. I pulled up the map of the route on its website and found that it had a stop by the cathedral. We walked to where the bus was supposed to stop according to the map, but we then watched the bus drive by without stopping! We walked back from the cathedral to City Hall, about a half mile, and discovered that the bus no longer stops at the cathedral! This killed our afternoon plans, so we took the bus from City Hall to the Titanic Museum and skipped the rest of the tour. Fortunately, most of the tour focused on the Shankill and Falls neighborhoods, so we did not feel like we missed much from skipping it. In hindsight, the food at the Thirsty Goat was not so good that it was worth disrupting our plans. The Titanic Museum was very interesting. Similar to the Guinness Storehouse, the tour winds up different levels of galleries telling not only the story of the building, launch, and sinking of Titanic, but also the history of Belfast during that time period. As part of the tour, there is a short, slow-moving dark ride that tells the engineering details of building the ship at the shipyard. The museum does not include a lot of artifacts, but the galleries do a great job of telling stories. I was surprised by the scope of the museum and how little the sinking was covered compared to the rest of the exhibit. It is covered, including the aftermath with a really neat room projecting the wreckage on the floor, but it is not the emphasis of the museum. We spent a little over two hours in the museum before we headed back to the ship. There were taxis waiting in the lower level of the parking garage, so we grabbed a taxi and took it to the port. We did not feel like a 2-hour dinner, so we chose the buffet instead. Here is the day's Patter: