tourismtessy

FINALLY I have something positive happening here! The link attachment worked and I loaded the pics from Paris over on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.489335567876740.1073741836.219749854835314&type=3&uploaded=42

Here is the link to the London Pics:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.487553724721591.1073741835.219749854835314&type=3

Since I am not a quitter and I strive to give my best ALWAYS, I am going to play around with trying to attach a link to my Joyful Journeyist Facebook page. I have 2 albums loaded over there (so far) from this trip. The Ship and our day in London. It is easy for me to load pics there so I am going to get busy on the rest of our cruise so at least people can find them over in Facebook land! Here goes nothing:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.477846705692293.1073741834.219749854835314&type=3

I am going to hit submit and then go back to this post and see if it actually included the link. Fingers crossed

Since Hubby and I have never been to this city before, it was at the top of our “MUST DO” list. Booking the shore excursion with Princess just made sense because of the travel time from Le Havre and not wanting to be stressed about missing the boat. We chose the Full Day Paris Trip that included lunch and Notre Dame.

The bus ride into Paris was lovely. Beautiful green rolling hills and farm animals dotted the landscape. Our Tour Guide passed out maps of the city and gave some random facts about Paris. We stopped at a Gas Station with Convenience Store and restrooms about an hour into the ride. There were a few other buses from Princess there and it was of course, very crowded. If you wanted to buy snacks or souvenirs here, you certainly could. We were here for about 20 minutes before getting back on the road again.

Once we got to the city, our first stop was a square where we were able to get off the bus for about 10 minutes and take pics of the Eiffel Tower. I am used to having to take pics on the fly AND fast, so this was not a problem for me. Took a couple pics for strangers, had a couple taken of us, and then I ran to get a little closer and get a few more shots. The weather was kind of gray but at least it wasn't raining!

After this stop we drove through the city, down the Avenue des Champs Elysees, and past some of the main city landmarks. I was just literally snapping pics out my window so I could look later to SEE where I actually was. This is not my preferred way to see a city. I like to explore on my own, and on my feet! However, due to our limited time here, it was the best option to just sort of get a taste of Paris. After driving through the main part of the city, we went to the Restaurant for lunch. I was underwhelmed with the meal. It was basically a boneless chicken breast, potatoes, salad and bread. For dessert we had a very plain apple tart. It was dry and almost tasteless. Once again, not impressed. Wine did come with the meal but neither Hubby or I drink it. The folks that were wine drinkers said it was “just ok”. It started raining right as we went in to eat and the rain actually was pretty cooperative by doing most of it during our lunch. After lunch it was on to Notre Dame.

We were dropped off right next to the beautiful Cathedral and our Tour Guide said, “If you want to go shopping or inside Notre Dame, it is your choice. The line to go in will take at least 45 minutes to an hour and you need to be back at the bus in an hour and 10 minutes”. I felt like I had been punched in the gut! We had purposely selected this excursion because of the Notre Dame portion. Not having time to go inside was just a huge letdown. I knew that the odds of getting inside within the hour and then having any time to see anything at all, was slim to none. I didn’t want to “waste” our hour standing in line and not even get in. I was under the impression that the cost of this tour included going inside Notre Dame. Didn’t happen. We made the best of an unfortunate situation and just walked around while I took a ton of pictures. The Cathedral is truly beautiful on the outside so I’m sure that the inside is spectacular. But, you can't prove that by me :p I couldn’t allow myself to dwell on what we WEREN’T getting to see and chose to focus on what I was seeing. I had no plans to go shopping and spend money on souvenirs. The pictures I take ARE my memories and they don’t cost me anything. AND they don’t take up room in my luggage! The weather was also starting to clear up and we enjoyed our little bit of time here just walking around. I was able to get a couple great #sweetheartselfies of Hubby and I and that was fun! There was a cute little park right across the street that had a sign with “Free WiFi” so Hubby tried to connect on his phone. No luck there. We were just going to do a quick CHECK IN so we could have a ping of our location on Facebook. Another #epicfail!

We got back on the bus and headed through the city to go back to the Port. The sky finally got real pretty and as we went over a bridge I was able to snap a few bus shots of the Eiffel Tower again. THAT was the highlight for me! Beautiful blue sky and the bridge in the foreground made up for the Notre Dame Fail. I was now a Happy Girl and settled back to enjoy the ride back to Le Havre.

***SIDEBAR: I found out later from another passenger on the same tour but a different bus, that their Tour Guide actually brought them into Notre Dame via a separate line (for pre paid visitors). This stirred my feelings of disappointment back up and I made time later during the cruise to offer feedback at the Shore Excursion Desk. The Crew Member that helped me was needless to say, NOT very helpful. And when I say "not very" helpful, I mean AT ALL. I told him what transpired with our Tour Guide (not bringing us in and telling us we could go wait in the line if we wanted). I then shared how another passenger on the same tour but a different bus was actually walked into Notre Dame via a different and shorter line. Their guide stayed with them inside and provided information throughout. His response to this was "What is the name of the passenger you talked to?" I told him I didn’t know them, just had a random conversation in the gift shop onboard and we were sharing about our day in Paris. They said they were on the same excursion, just a different bus (We were on Red Bus #1 and they were on #2). He (Shore Excursion Rep) said that the Tour does not state that you will go inside so basically TOO BAD. Not even an apology or acknowledgment of my concern. I told him that they may want to make some clarifying statement on the Excursion information stating something like “there may be time to go into Notre Dame, however, it is not guaranteed.” Since there was no such verbiage AND it was a tour that cost a LOT of money and included Notre Dame, I made the mistake of assuming that it INCLUDED Notre Dame. Yeah, I already know what it means :-) I just felt better communication—specific to the Notre Dame portion—would be nice. I wanted to prevent others from having the same disappointment. Everyone on our bus thought the same thing I did—that we would go IN. They all shared the disappointment but I was the only one that actually took time to give feedback at the Shore Excursion Desk (according to the Rep that was—-well, was NOT helping me). That made me the bad guy in this scenario. I seriously felt like I was being interrogated and walked away with my head held in shame. After taking time to let them know of a discrepancy and inconsistency in a Tour that we paid dearly for. I wasn't looking to receive anything from Princess but definitely the Customer Service Response was inadequate. I spent money (and then my time) in hopes of receiving what I paid for and came away feeling worse than if I had just not given the feedback. As a former Customer Service Rep, I always seek to provide feedback that is useful and constructive. I wasn't complaining, just giving facts about the Tour. Anyway, bygones. Just a fair warning to those thinking about paying the hefty price for this particular excursion. The food—not worth it. Notre Dame—maybe you will get inside, maybe not. The rest of the day and excursion went seamless and all in all, a good day. Just not GREAT! You can take what I experienced and hopefully use it to help you decide if you are stuck between a couple choices.

I'm still struggling with attaching photos to my post here. I can't upload via the "insert image" link because it asks for an http address for the file. I'm not sure why it does this for a photo file (I use iPhoto). I tried to upload via "attachment" which is what I have done on a couple posts so far, and it gave me an ERROR response this time (after I selected 5 individual files and then hit UPLOAD). I get frustrated with computer technicalities because it is NOT my strength. I really want to share more of my pics and have them be full size but I am failing this assignment :confused:

If anybody has the time and patience to try and guide me through (via written instructions), I would LOVE YOU for it. I'm sure all the readers would too! Just don't call me stupid. I'm already a Tease and that would just make me a STUPID tease. Not gonna help my self esteem issues OR enhance your reading experience here :D

Wow, this detailed review is eight days old and hasn't even gotten to the embarkation port in Southampton yet. I've heard of teases, but this is taking that to new lengths.

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Well, I'm not sure what happened to you but I left Southampton on my last entry and we are well out to sea now:-) Maybe you got left behind somehow! Seriously though, I have no intention of teasing and leading you all on. I just have lots of other writing on my plate besides the normal day to day stuff that steals our time. My intention was to write every day and post daily but my heart is always way ahead of my hand :-) I will try and do better but I'm not going to make any promises! I don't want to set myself up for failure and leave you feeling empty. Trying to build a business that will generate income is taking a higher priority than writing and sharing what I am passionate about but that doesn't pay the bills. Let's all try and play nice here and keep feedback constructive and positive. Since I don't know you and can't gauge your personality from a paragraph, I am not sure if you were just kind of poking fun or being serious. The "taking it to new lengths" actually did make me smile because those that actually KNOW ME, know that I cannot tell a short story. I am a rambler when I talk, and a wanderer when I travel. So that particular comment held more truth than you were aware of---LITERALLY! Either way, I don't want to be labeled a tease so I am going to focus on putting that little fire out;) Responding to these kind of comments only takes precious time away from what I really want to be writing and sharing here. Not going to get drug into that arena from this point on.

In order to do that, I will leave this "page" for now and head offline to write about our day in Paris. I planned to take the weekend off from writing THIS review and focus on the many other tasks at hand but I am a SUPER Woman and I love a challenge. Thanks for giving me the nudge I needed to get this review DONE so I can help those that are in need and move on to other assignments:cool:

THANKS for all your feedback and questions everyone! It makes me smile to know that there are actually people showing up in my "class" to listen to me teach/preach and share :) I can't give too much input on "what to do for a day or 2 in London" pre cruise because we only had half a day. Because of that ENTIRELY TOO SHORT time frame, I thought the Hop On/Hop Off Bus Tour would be best. Because Hubby had never been and just wanted to see the highlights (physical landmarks of the city), this was the best option for us.

I decided on The Original Tour Bus Company after doing extensive research on all the different options for this type of tour. They seemed to be the one in business the longest and had the most positive reviews. I was not disappointed. They all cost about the same and provide pretty much the same product, its just a matter of personal choice. I also didn't want to pre-book and pre-pay just in case the weather or our bodies were feeling "under" the weather! Since I have been to London and Hubby didn't care as much, we left it open for same day booking and decision making. Because our day in London was immediately after getting off the Red Eye Flight, we weren't sure if we would be just exhausted and want to go to the Hotel and sleep. I knew I wouldn't--lol--but didn't need to make concrete plans regardless. Sometimes I like to just fly by the seat of my pants and make decisions SAME DAY for what we are going to do.

There is certainly enough to see and do in London to warrant a full week in this fabulous city and Hubby and I are definitely planning to go back and stay longer. It is really up to you on how much you want to spend and what you really want to see (indoor museums/theatre or mostly outdoor natural sights/parks). You can do both (a little bit of inside and outside, free and paid) and have a wonderful time. I always seek out the free stuff first and can be entirely happy just walking around a city for days enjoying the buildings, parks, and people. Because I am on a limited budget, I don't pay for anything I can get for free. I will go to the local Library, Free Museums and Parks before paying for a Exhibit or Garden. I have to be very frugal and I want to write and share about ways to travel BIG on a little budget.

If you have 2 days in London, you can do a LOT. Just research things that are interesting to you and narrow it down to your top 5 and go from there. Allow yourself flexibility in your schedule and adjust as necessary. The only thing you HAVE TO SEE is the #brightside! You will enjoy WHATEVER you decide to do, I am certain!

I chose our Hotel (Marriott) because we had a free night (due to our Loyalty membership and a bonus program) and the proximity to the Airport. It also had the free bus to and from Heathrow which is always something I look for (free and cheap public transportation). I can't give advice on anything I did not actually experience so I can't say anything about the National Express Bus. I have heard and read good things on here so thats the best I can do on that question.

For Lorraine's question, I would say there are several places on the ship that you could pick. Depending on the time of day you are meeting up with your group. Inside choices are the Wine Bar in the Piazza (if it is during the morning or daytime), the Library or Wheelhouse Bar/lounge, and Club Fusion. These don't get too much traffic during the daytime (unless a special activity is going on). Outside choice would be on the Promenade Deck 7. Its one of my favorite places to "escape" everyone. Plenty of chairs and hardly a soul there. You could pick a certain door to meet outside and go from there.

Maggie Q- I LOVE the theatre and if we were going to be in London longer, I would have popped by one of the box offices to see what I could get for same day tickets. They often have discounts and specials on the day of performance (if not sold out) and you can then wait until the day to just see what comes up. I often find that the BEST plan for my travels is NO PLAN! I usually have an A, B, and C all ready to go and often end up doing D--the one I didn't even thing of--DUH!:o

I hope this helps everyone so far. Keep the questions and feedback coming! I may be gone from here a couple of days because I have several "work" features to get written AND outdoor home projects that are calling me this weekend. They are actually YELLING AT ME because I have neglected to do them for 2 years now. Can't turn a blind eye anymore-lol! I'll be back on Monday with my next installment: Just a Day in Paris.

We enjoyed a wonderful complimentary FULL breakfast at the Marriott before going back to the Airport to pick up our Princess Cruise Transfer to the Ship. I easily found one of the Princess Reps near the Baggage Claim area and Hubby and I turned over our suitcases and had a seat. We would not be seeing our luggage until it was delivered to our cabin onboard (that was nice to hear)! We got there plenty early (about 9 am) and knew that the first bus wouldn’t leave till about 10. I amused myself by walking around and taking pics of signs, and myself.

We were called to head out to the bus at exactly 10 am sharp and walked to our chariot. It was almost full by the time we got there so Hubby found a seat in the middle and I was able to sit up front with some ladies I just bonded with. They were sisters from California traveling together with their parents. We had a wonderful time visiting and getting to know each other during the ride to Southampton. We were dropped at the Terminal about 11:45, walked in, NO LINE, right up to check in and walked onto the ship! I was actually a little bummed because I was looking forward to spending some quality time in the Platinum/Elite Lounge since it was our first time in this category. I got over it (instantly) and we stopped by our cabin to say Hello to our Steward and then off to the Horizon Court for lunch. It wasn’t crowded at all and we enjoyed our first meal and even met a new friend that was traveling solo. She is 84 and has been cruising alone since her Husband passed away years ago. I fell in love with her immediately and looked forward to seeing her during the Cruise.

We had a lovely sail away and the sun even came out for us. We were on Caribe Deck, in C101 and our Muster Station was The Princess Theatre. After a nice, relaxing briefing, we headed to the Dining Room for Dinner. We had Anytime Dining and sat with 3 other couples that we didn’t know. We enjoyed conversation, a wonderful meal (Prime Rib) and even a Magic Show from one of our Table Mates! We were exhausted by the time we finished eating (most of you already know that cruise eating is kind of like an active sport……maybe like a marathon……you have to train for it and it requires lots of stamina.) Anyway, EATING wore us out and we headed to our cabin to crash. The next day was going to be a LONG one with an early start. We were docking in Le Havre and taking the Princess Excursion to PARIS!!! Early departure and a late return. Sleep was needed to be fully prepared for our whirlwind day! Good Night all and we will see you tomorrow in FRANCE!

Oh, WAIT……before I go I want to share my little hashtag with you. I had started posting on instagram, twitter and Facebook about our trip and came up with (what I thought was) a VERY clever one. Because we were going to be seeing England, France, and then Ireland and Scotland, I decided to go with #londonfranceriverdance. It is catchy, reminds us all of the whole “I see London, I see France, I see someones…..…” RIVERDANCE!! The Land of Riverdance is far better looking than someones underpants.

Anyway, its a theme I am going with and you will see it more throughout the journey. I like to use themes in my stories because it just makes it more fun. For ME! I hope you enjoy them too but even if you don’t, I have enough fun coming up with them and cracking mySELF up! So now, REALLY, I’m being serious here………..I am going to sleep and I will see you all tomorrow to share about our “Day in Pa-Ree, Wee Wee” (the proper spelling is Paris and Oui but I wanted to make sure you got the whole rhyming thing so I spelled it phonetically FOR YOU—to make sure we had effective communication. Oh, You’re Welcome!) Now SSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I really need to go to sleep.

Until I can get more time to load all my pics to my flickr account, you can see some of them at my Joyful Journeyist Facebook Page. It may be easier to see them there in larger size than here (at least until I figure out how to upload them larger on this site). I have loaded 2 photo albums from the cruise there and will get more done in the next couple of days. Its a tedious process when you have multiple social media sites to upload to and THOUSANDS of pics to go through :o

HI, My name is Teresa and I have been camera free for ZERO days. Yes, I am an addict and No, I don't want the cure!

I am also writing about my cruise experience on my Joyful Journeyist blog. I need to go to sleep now (even though my brain is saying NO, NO, NO, my eyes are crying YES, YES, YES). I will definitely get the next entry done today when I wake up so you will have something new to read by tomorrow. Once again, Thanks to all for your feedback and constructive comments.:D

OOPS! Just played around with sizing and after reading it realized it might look like I am NOW YELLING AT YOU! I will go down to a 4 and see if that is better :o

Honestly, bear with me---I didn't mean to yell--honest mistake and I will keep practicing till I get it right. Maybe the third time will be my charm:cool:

SORRY for my absence! I actually "forgot" I was doing this review (I blame menopause) and have been focused on writing for my blog. I LOVE constructive criticism and welcome every comment, concern, and helpful piece of advice I can get. I am going to play around with the format and see if I can get it to read a little easier (larger font, paragraph setting, etc). I have a Mac and when I try to load the photo with the "insert image" link, it brings me to a http:// page and I don't know how to load a pic from my iPhoto via a website address (Sorry for my computer illiteracy). That is why the pics are currently so small and unable to enlarge (I am currently loading them as attachments). ANY and ALL advice on how to load iPhoto pics for FULL view is welcome and ENCOURAGED! PLEASE help me so I can help YOU :)

Don't give up on me and I will try harder to give a better product for your reading and visual enjoyment as well as education! I definitely want to help as many people as possible. For now, I can answer the question about the Hotel we stayed in. It was a Marriott Property (Renaissance London Heathrow). I don't think we paid for the bus from the property to Heathrow to go into London. We took a cab initially from Heathrow to the Hotel because of our luggage. It was 10 pounds for the 10 minute cab ride.

Seriously friends--I don't get offended or my feelings hurt when people comment in a non positive manner. Feedback is Feedback and I view it as communication. I would rather have too much, and unhappy conversation with you than to be talking and have NO RESPONSE and wonder if anyone is even hearing me-lol! I use everything you say to try and write better FOR YOU! I'll continue with the next day tomorrow so please come back and see me!;)

Day 1: Arrival and Sightseeing

We landed at Heathrow about 10 am and got through the LONG line in Customs by 11. We grabbed our luggage and hopped in a cab for the short ride to our Hotel for the night. We were using a Free Night Stay at the Marriott that we had earned as part of their loyalty program. We are members of both Hyatt and Marriott and trust their consistency with both service and quality. I am a HUGE advocate of Loyalty programs because of their cost: FREE, and their benefits: PRICELESS. Free wifi and water are just a couple of the bonuses we get just for being rewards members. We weren't sure if our room would be ready because it was barely noon at this time. We were prepared to just have our luggage locked up so we could head downtown and get our one day of sightseeing in. However, when we stepped up to the Registration desk, we were greeted with a big smile, warm welcome AND a room that was ready if we didn’t mind the airport view. NO problem for us. We weren’t going to be in the room until later that evening and just falling asleep by then anyway so the view was not important. We dropped our luggage off in the room and walked just a block down the street to the bus stop where we picked up the FREE bus back to Heathrow to get the Underground. I had planned on getting the Original Hop on Hop off bus tour for the day once we got to Picadilly Circus. However, they were selling the tickets for them in the same line as the ticket for the underground so we were able to get both in one place and wonderful guidance from the sales clerk. He clearly marked out his “suggested itinerary” for our one day in London and we were off! It was about a 45 minute ride on a fairly empty train to our stop: Green Park. We got off and strolled through the Park to Buckingham Palace and enjoyed the lovely weather. It was cool and clear even though it was supposed to be raining all day. I knew we would probably have some rain at some point so we were prepared with rain gear (Hubby wore a Rain Jacket and I had a plastic rain poncho in my bag). I did not expect to get out of London without having rain! We then walked to the bus stop to pick up the Original Tour for our ride around London. I knew we wouldn’t have time to get off and go into any Museums or attractions along the way. I was prepared to snap away from the top of the bus and just enjoy the day. I have been to London before but my Hubby has not. He was happy to just take in what he could from the bus and hit the main landmarks at least. The weather was looking angry and we hopped off at the stop by the London Eye and Big Ben so I could get a few better pics from the ground. As I was walking across the bridge to get the Big Ben shots, it started lightning and pouring! I whipped out my poncho and threw it on. My camera is the Canon D10 (waterproof and shockproof) so there were no worries there. It is the only camera I travel with and love it for those reasons. Even if I am not planning to take it in or under water, it is ready for any rain or accidents (like dropping it). I enjoyed the downpour, got my shots and headed back to my Hubby who was waiting under the cover of the building by the bus stop. We got on the next bus and were able to get seats inside and out of the rain. The rain ended up stopping about 10 minutes later so we were able to resume the ride on the top open deck of the double decker. I just took off my wet poncho, turned it inside out and laid it across the wet seats to sit on. We enjoyed the rest of the loop and got off to eat dinner before hopping on the underground and heading back to Heathrow and our Hotel for the night. Even though we only had a few hours in the city, we managed to have a great day AND see most of the main sights, including riding over the Tower Bridge. We definitely plan to go back to London one day and spend more time so we can actually go IN the Museums and some of the wonderful attractions and buildings. I took over 800 pictures and decided that if I can only show you 1, this would be it

Before I start with my review, I want to send a huge THANK YOU to all those that contribute information on this wonderful website. The forum is my Number 1 place for research before any cruise and the information is always accurate and helpful. I want to hopefully give back to a community that I have taken from so much in the past. I followed the advice of DeloreanGirl (after reading her extensive review of the same cruise from a couple years ago). There were a few things I chose to do different in some ports so I will be contributing NEW information for readers here! (Yay for new options) To avoid overload, I will give the review in daily roundups. Since I am from Texas, a Round Up seems like an appropriate choice of words. As difficult as it will be, I will post just ONE favorite pic from each day. I took an average of 800 per day so that in itself is going to be VERY difficult for me. Selecting just one pic to share that captures a whole day of magical memories……….Well, I do love a challenge! My wonderful Hubby and I took this cruise on 23 May to celebrate 23 years of marriage. To get the party started, I will tease you with a starter page: Our arrival in London. If you look closely at the photo (under the wing), you will spot some of the key landmarks that London is known for! A hint for one is: EYE spy something in the sky. I actually tweeted this photo and called it “getting high with a Virgin in London”. I write a blog where my goal is to inspire people to travel AND to see things with a new perspective. Taking old words and phrases and giving them new and IMPROVED meanings is part of my personality. It’s where I have the most fun! So, get high with me the NATURAL way and soar over the beautiful city of London as we set sail for the British Isles, like a Princess, NOT a Virgin :-)

ScrapyCruiser: THANKS! We will probably just use the Cork day as a "ship rest day". HOWEVER, I may check to see if there are any seats open on the ecoach tour you are doing. It shows it going from Cobh so I'm not sure if it will give me the option for pick up at Ringaskiddy once I try and actually book? Did it do that for you or just ask what ship you were arriving on? If DH is up for it, we will definitely pop in to the meet and mingle on Sunday! Would love to meet some of the wonderful folks from this board (and especially our fellow Texans)!:)

It looks like we will be in the overflow port of Ringaskiddy the day we are in Cobh for Cork. Has anyone docked here that could give me information on transportation options into Cork? Was going to just walk around Cobh and enjoy the little port but if we are not even docked there we may just head into Cork. Suggestions and recommendations on inexpensive transportation and things to do would be greatly appreciated! We leave on our cruise on Friday from Southampton!

Thanks guys! It is the darned American Press that I am thinking about--always causing a ruckus! We will just enjoy our day and sit back and relax while our bus driver does all the work :)

:mad:

Just found out that our one day in Paris (on our 12 day British Isles Cruise) is the day Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are getting married there (24 May)-BOO! I am envisioning traffic nightmares and roads blocked as our Princess Bus takes us on a whirlwind tour. I don't want to cancel cuz its our only chance to see Paris but I'm feeling a little sick to my stomach. Supposedly only 150 people attending it but I still anticipate traffic issues. Hopefully it won't affect us at all. Thoughts anyone?