Pirateskigirl

Last year on the Ruby Princess, they did some Thanksgiving decorations and they did offer a traditional turkey dinner in the dining rooms.  Not to much but it was nice. 

I just got off the Regal on May 27.  I found quite a mix on "formal" nights.  Many were dressed to the nines but mostly it was dress casual.  I'm not sure if people just didn't bother or it was such a port intensive trip that people were not interested in dressing up. 

54 minutes ago, smilesntravels said:

Thank you.  I think you're the one that was posting daily from this cruise just last week, or so!  I did see some of your posts.  Very nice.  I just haven't had a chance to go back and read more.

 

About the HOHO- you said a set number of tickets and just ask when booking when you get off at Queeensferry.  Are you saying not to book the HOHO in advance?  Or book in advance, and ask what?  So from the port, take the bus in to town then find the HOHO bus?

We booked both the X99 and the HOHO when we got off the tender at South Queensferry. Several folks there to help us and explain our options.  We had pre booked our castle tickets, so we didn’t need them but others used that option. 

I recommend looking at Discover Scotland tours for Inverness and Greenock stops.  They have some great tour options.  Glasgow is a great town to explore especially the National Museum and Glasgow Cathedral. So many pub options. 

8 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

The X99 Cruiselink bus (https://www.lothianbuses.com/cruiselink-x99/) is a dedicated non-stop service that runs into Edinburgh on days when there is a ship at South Queensferry.  About 25-35 minutes each way.  You can use the £12 round-trip ticket on every city bus and the Edinburgh Tram all day. 

 

With the saving over a ship's 'on your own' excursion,  you can buy a Royal Edinburgh HoHo combo-ticket (https://edinburghtour.com/royal-edinburgh-ticket/) from the X99 ticket sellers at the pier, which will get you on all the HoHo buses; entry into the Castle, Holyrood Palace and The Royal Yacht Britannia; and still have enough change for a light lunch!

 

 

The X99 with the HOHO add on worked great for our on our own day in Edinburgh.  Even though the castle was listed has sold out for the day we were there. The HOHO has a set number of tickets each day. Just ask when booking when you get off a Queensbury.

On 5/19/2024 at 3:53 PM, ECUnited said:

We are doing the 12 day in June. What are everyone’s opinions on how many Euros would be advisable to have? I figure most places take CC but for smaller incidentals I would expect them to prefer cash. 
 

Thanks in advance!

Credit cards are accepted all most everywhere.  Personally, I like to have local currency in my pocket for little things like a coffee, tour guide tips, etc.. Roughly, 50 each currency. Since, we lost two stops on this cruise, I had more left over Euros & Pounds than normal. I used some of that for crew tips and purchases at Heathrow. 

I just got off the May 15 sailing. We didn't have a large group of kids but there were probably 30 that I saw regularly around the ship. 

We self assisted off the May 15 Regal Princess. We went down to Deck 5 at 7am and they started letting guests off at 7:15am. We rolled our luggage off and were in our pre-booked car to Heathrow by 7:30am. Pretty easy.  It only took us an hour and 15minutes to Heathrow but Monday was a bank holiday, so traffic was light. Normal trip is closer to 2 hours. Princess was in the process of putting out the bags of those using Princess transfers and other ways of leaving the ship, when we ere leaving.  

Last day of the cruise.  We elected to do the Stonehenge tour.  Overall, we’ve been pretty lucky with the weather on this cruise. Partly cloudy and windy at Stonehenge. The set up was a bit different than my last visit 25 years ago. You have the option from the parking lot to walk up (25 minutes) or wait for the shuttle. We did the 7 minute shuttle. It’s an amazing place especially when it’s your first time.  You have to walk a specific path around the stones.  They have all these signs for wacky pictures you can take with Stonehenge. The exhibit of the housing that the people who built lived in was neat. The new to me larger visitors center/cafe/gift shop and playground was definitely well used. It’s a bank holiday weekend with nice weather, so folks are enjoying it.

Portland was lovely and not Normandy but they have an excellent D-Day Museum and several sites that played a roll on D-Day 80 years ago. I wouldn’t mind returning to explore the dinosaur fossil sites and other places.

It was Prime Rib in the Dining Room tonight. Sorry no menu pictures, I forgot. 

Back to the USA tomorrow.  Thanks for following along. 

2 hours ago, cr8tiv1 said:

I may have missed a post on this, I apologize.  But just reading more about casinos being no smoking on cruises based out of Southampton/UK.  Does this apply to Princess (Royal or any other ship) doing partial year cruises?  I can only wish for this.

 

Thank you for taking us all along on your cruise.

Only noticed some smoking in the casino one night when I was donating money and it was only in one small section.  On this ship the double down bar has slots in it Deck 6 just off the casino floor.  It is also where theTexas Hold em table is located. 

Here is today’s Patter

Good Morning from Portland, UK

Looks like a nice day.

5 minutes ago, nini said:

Congrats on your tour! How can one manage to do that..... inquiring minds and all 😁

My friend being a Princess elite high roller got us the surprise invitation the night before the tour. I was a lucky participant. 

We’ve had some quality entertainment on this cruise.  
Pianist Jowita in Crooners & Wheelhouse Bar

Oliver Holland in the Wheelhouse

Starlight Strings in Piazza

Vanilla Duo in Piazza

Vista Lounge featured comedians Mike Sealy & Phil Walker

Production shows: Bravo, World of Dance and Fiera.

Just to name a few. 

Today turned into a special day. We were invited on a tour of the bridge. We met the Captain who explained what we were seeing happening on the bridge and we were told not to touch any buttons especially the red one. We got a group picture and he excused himself. 
The first officer took over and explained how each station worked and showed us the radar, charts and the joy stick for driving the ship. He explained the watches and the duties of the members on the bridge. It truly is the best view on the ship. We were cruising towards the Strait of Dover, so we saw several sea windmill farms, oil platforms and tanker ships. It was a bit foggy & rainy but you still had visibility. We got our pictures taken in the Captain’s chair. We could take still pictures but no videos on the bridge. It was a very cool experience. 
 

You’ll be happy to know the guests did defeat the crew in the final guest challenge trivia Jenga to win overall for the trip.  
 

The weather started clearing up after 5pm and it was rather pleasant on deck with a lovely sunset. 
Tomorrow is Portland, England our last full day of the cruise 😞

A couple from the bridge visit including the famous Princess Love Boat horn. 
Examples of the Portland excursion offerings and tonight’s menu. It was steak and lobster night. 

Good Morning.  This is our last sea day on the Regal has we sail towards Portland, England. Last formal night.

Here is the Patter. 

21 hours ago, carajoemom said:

Thank you for the dinner menus, much appreciated.

 

Is there a second show in the Princess Theatre after the 7:15-8:30 showtime, for the people who have a later dinner seating?

Daily shows are 7:30pm & 9:30pm.  Both comedians had shows 6:30pm, 8:30pm & 10:30pm. 

Hello from South Queensferry, 

Another water taxi port.  The tenders started at roughly 0730, 20 minutes to pier. They had local folks helping people with transportation if you were independent. We booked a ticker on the X99 shuttle to the Hard Rock at St. Andrew’s Square, roughly 30 minutes. We opted to add the local HOHO which included the tram. This worked because, we had tickets to Edinburgh Castle at 1030 and tickets to Royal Britannia.  Needless to say, Edinburgh was crowded.  The later in the day the more crowded it got. Fortunately, we hit both the Castle and Britannia early, so missed the crowds.  We had a nice lunch and tea on Britannia. We managed to either be inside or on the bus during the rain showers.   A long but lovely day. We were just happy to have a scheduled port stop after losing 2 on this trip.  
Apparently, the labor strike in France that cause Le Harve stop to be canceled is a nationwide transportation strike.  It could really mess up folks in route to DDay ceremonies. 
Looking forward to a light dinner. Tomorrow is a sea day before our Portland, England stop.

Here is the updated Patter for our surprise sea day.

We’ve had a bag piper in the Piazza every evening at 6pm while we’ve been in the water off Scotland. 
Did have sushi at Ocean Terrace Seafood bar.  Enjoyed a cheese burger at Trident Grill.  There were folks enjoying MUTS, swimming in the pool and the hot tubs. 

4 hours ago, carajoemom said:

Sorry to hear that you have lost 2 excursion days.  I guess I better prepare myself, it has never happened to me on a cruise. 
 

Could you be so kind as to photo some more of the dinner menus? It would be greatly appreciated to look at.

 

i love reading your live report!

Here is tonight’s dinner menu. 

Well….We were informed at 7am today by the Captain that our call on the Orkneys was canceled due to high winds (35-40mph) on the dock.  Needless to say, we are very disappointed.  We will be having a foggy sea day hearing the mournful sound of the ship’s fog horn.  

Good Morning from the foggy Orkney Islands.

Here is today’s Patter May 23 

Good Morning from the foggy Orkney Islands.

Here is today’s Patter May 23 

We were told at 12n today that we are no more longer stopping in Le Harve, France due to a workers strike at the port.  😒 They have substituted a stop at the Isle of Portland to replace it.  Everyone is very disappointed in this change.  I would not want to be working the guest services desk today.  I think 25% we’re getting off a Le Harve to fly out of Paris.  

On 5/21/2024 at 2:26 AM, CruzeQueen2 said:

@Pirateskigirl sorry if I missed it. Can you post a pic of the officer board, please? TIA

Who is the captain?

Here you go. Captain Aldo Traverso.