Steelers0854

Day 3 Guernsey (7am-4pm) cont. Laundry complete and we relaxed the rest of the day. The seas picked up and the captain mentioned tender operations were tough in the afternoon and he thanked the staff. Glad we came back when we did. She said we would have 3 meter seas tonight until about 2am when the island would provide us some protection. Tonight was our first formal night. We got ready early and lounged around Crooners and read before dinner. We had the same section as last night and they hit their stride tonight. Service was spot on a quick but not rushed. DW got French onion soup and the filet. I got the crab cake and the filet. DW said her soup was outstanding. Both our filets were nicely cooked and very flavorful. For dessert they brought out the chef special dessert for DW which was just a variation of the appetizer from tonight. The head waiter wasn’t happy about this and said he would talk with the chef to get something different for tomorrow night. We are currently enjoying the evening in the piazza with the live music before we call it a night.

you need tickets up until about 8:30 or so. Depends on how busy they are. You’ll get them from the Photo gallery. I would suggest getting there early. Boarding takes a long time, atleast for us, as the waves were rough and it slowed everything down.

Day 3 Guernsey (7am-4pm) DW didn’t have any issues from dinner last night so all is well there. We didnt book any excursions for this port in advance. We hear that this port gets skipped quite a lot due to weather and it looked like there may be plenty to do right off the ship so we thought we would just wing it and wander around this day. Tender operations started promptly at 7. That meant the life boat sitting outside our balcony dropped at 6am. Good thing we went to bed on the early side! It is a beautiful morning outside. Partly cloudy and windy. Cool temperatures. We went to the buffet for breakfast. Pro tip: if you like crispy bacon ask them, they have a secret crispy bacon drawer they will pull it from for you. We headed downstairs and off the ship around 9:30. There was still a descent sized line when we got here but it was just a line to board the tender. It was a 20 minute trip, would have been 5 minutes shorter but we had to wait outside the port for a tender to leave. It was a windy day and a pretty bumpy ride in. We walked over to the Castle. It was £11pp but they provided a walking tour with a guide. Beautiful views. Great history at that castle between the different countries claiming ownership over the years. Fun Fact: Guernsey gets its power from 2 nuclear power plants in France. They have a diesel facility on the island as a backup. We spent the better part of 90 minutes walking around and with the tour. We have a very busy few days coming up so kept it pretty light today. We headed to the tender and had a solid line at a little after noon but it took only 10 minutes to wait for the next tender to arrive and we were off. The ride back was significantly smoother than the ride in. We headed to the buffet for lunch. DW got some nachos (sans cheese) and albondgas soup without the meatballs (contained gluten). She said the soup was delicious. After lunch we needed to do some laundry and relax a bit.

it’s a beautiful morning in Guernsey! unfortunately for us we are located right above the lifeboat they chose to use for tendering. Yay us for the 6am wake up call. But with this view it’s hard to be mad. update on the Wi-Fi. More of the same. But honestly this isn’t reflective of my experience. I’m able to load websites very quickly. No issues uploading photos here and I download YouTube videos pretty easily as well.

Patters for tomorrow.

100%. I feel Like it’s like the Grand Canyon, something you have to go see once, but once you do you dont need to go back.

Day 2 Portland, England (7am-7pm) cont. We lounged around and read until dinner. It turned into a beautiful day as we were leaving. Also, they literally shot off a damn canon as we left port. 3 times! This was really cool. Here is the menu for dinner tonight. Despite me telling them about my conversation with the head waiter the day before they sat us in a different section tonight. But it looked like where we sat last night was full so I’m not sure if it was intentional or not. Dinner tonight was a salad and NY strip for DW. I got the prawn cocktail, chicken tikka and the pork schnitzel. Dinner was mostly great. When DW got her steak she thought there may have been butter on the veggies. They said it was safe but got a new one just in case. Fingers crossed they were right to begin with. The other miss tonight was the chicken tikka. It was so over cooked and dry it was not good at all. DW’s new steak was perfectly cooked and very good and my pork dish was the best I’ve had this trip. I think we set a new speed record for dinner, from the time we sat down til we got our entrees was 30 minutes flat. The unfortunate side effect of this was we really felt rushed through dinner. DW grabbed the grapefruit sorbet which she really liked.

here ya go.

Day 2 Portland, England (7am-7pm): Stonehenge Last night was smooth sailing but they did have to use the fog horn for about 45 minutes last night around midnight. Thankfully we are in the back of the ship and it wasn’t noticeable. It’s a beautiful morning with just a few clouds but no rain yet. We grabbed breakfast at the buffet. Warning for those with food allergies, Princes has changed their hash browns and they are no longer Vegan. This was disappointing as DW loved the hash browns. But they did have breakfast potatoes and those were delicious and she could eat those. We met in the Princess theatre at 9:30 for our 10am tour. We left the ship at about 9:55 and left the port at 10:05. Word of warning: I forgot to mention yesterday our bus from London to Southampton didn’t have a restroom on board. Our bus today does have one but I saw others next to us going to the same location that didn’t. So plan accordingly. I feel like England is living in 3023. When at a red light the yellow light comes on before the light turns green. Genius. It was a very pleasant drive out to Stonehenge. We had a guide narrate our journey with facts about the city and the area. It took us an hour and 45 minutes. Would have been about 20 minute shorter but we got stuck behind a tractor. 😂 We had what I would consider beautiful weather. It was cloudy and cool but the rain stayed away and the ground was not soaked so clearly it hadn’t rained much up until now. The site is beautiful and was great to visit. The sun even tried to poke out from the clouds a few times. The 2 hours they give you is more than enough. If you don’t have cell service I recommend you download the app AND the audio guide in the app either before you leave or while you’re on the ship. It’s about 100mb for both. We did the audio tour and leisurely walked around as well as walked through the exhibition hall. We had about 30 minutes to spare. They do an excellent job with the shuttles to the site, you can walk it and a lot of people do but it’s about a 2 mile walk on uneven terrain. This tour was great and I would recommend it. Also the amenities at the site are very nice, plenty of very clean restrooms for use and a cafe. https://englishheritage.mysaffronportal.com/Menus/Details/Stonehenge. It lists all their offering with allergens as well. We got back to the ship and headed to the buffet to grab something light to tie us over til dinner at 7. This excursion was at an awkward time but we had some snacks at the site to hold us over. When we got back we were basically wrapped in complete fog.

Correct. And lunch stops at 1pm on embarkation day.

it’s a beautiful morning in Portland. They are expecting a small amount of rain later today.

Day 1 Embarkation cont Obligatory first cruise drink. We had 7pm reservations at Allegro. We showed up right at 7 and checked in. The line wasn’t too long and we were seating in about 5 minutes. Here is the menu for tonight. DW got the Greek salad with some modifications as well as the pork. I got the shrimp cocktail, the Piroshky and the pork. Everything was excellent but I feel like they should have included a second piece of pork. I almost felt like I was on carnival for a moment with the size but quickly realized I wasn’t when I took a bite as it was delicious! DW said hers was equally as good. For dessert DW got Raspberry sorbet and I got a fruit plate. We love Princess because they have true sorbet every night. It’s wonderful and DW loves it! She also placed her order with the head waiter for tomorrow nights dinner. I spoke with the hostess and they were able to, hopefully, put us at the same table each evening. It will make it much easier for everyone and we loved our waitstaff. I think I’m firmly now in #TeamTraditional. I’m probably in the minority but I feel it was so much easier to walk in at your assigned time, no waiting, you know your servers and they knew you and the service flowed much better. Now they have tables at different points in their service and I feel it puts a lot of strain on them. Maybe I’m wrong and I know it’s slowly going away but give me a traditional dining time any time! After dinner we called it a night. Tomorrows tour to Stonehenge doesn’t meet til 9:30 so it will be nice to have a leisurely morning. here is the patter for tomorrow.

I believe these are the Starlink antennas?

PES lounge offerings. It’s been a hot minute since we have been to one but I was impressed with the spread here. DW likes to swing in as they almost always have the guacamole and it’s safe for her to eat. She loves olives too so she was excited to see those out.

If you look at my speed test it identified the network as Starlink.

The internet issues appear to be a limited hiccup. Everything is working fine now. they appear to have Starlink on board. But the current connection speeds don’t bode well. Maybe once we get underway it will change.

So I’m not sure if they updated things or n board with the internet. But they completely block access to Speedtest.net and they also have blocked all the typical VPN protocols. I’ll try again later but I don’t think it will change. the PES lounge is alive and well. here is some other info including the patter for today.

Day 1 Boarding Day We booked a Princess transfer from Victoria Coach Station (thanks to a fellow CC member for letting us know this existed). This is hopefully going to be MUCH easier then trekking all the way back to Heathrow to catch one from the airport. We meet at the station at 10am and departures from from 10:30 to 11:30am. It was 1 tube stop away from our hotel and a short walk. It couldn’t have been easier. It was much busier than I thought it would be. I don’t think this option was widely advertised so I was surprised so many were here. I believe there were 3 buses here for us. Everything is easily marked, easy to find and there was plenty of staff on hand. We showed up right after 10 and I feel like we were some of the last to arrive. A bunch of overachievers. Lol. They started boarding just before 10:30am. We left 15 minutes later in a well organized process. It took us 2 hours on the nose to get to Southampton. From the time I stepped off the bus til boarding was 15 minutes. Interestingly security comes after checkin. Their security people are very strict, pretty sure my belt that passes American TSA will be fine here but they insist everything comes off which just makes the process take much longer. But no big deal. We went to our muster station and then our stateroom to drop our bags off. And this view will never get tiring. we did have another ship in port with us, the Mein Schiff. Today we hand over our passports til after day 7 with Ireland. We headed up to the buffet. Always love the buffet on the royal class ships. They are doing a better job of marking things in the buffet. Still not as good as celebrity but they are marking both vegetarian and vegan options, sadly not gluten. But DW had no issues finding someone to walk her through what she can eat and she got a salad with a new honey mustard dressing she can eat and 2 bowls of soup. There was plenty of other stuff she could have gotten but soup is her absolute favorite. A word of warning, ships internet will probably dictate how often I can post and how many photos etc. but I’ll try and keep as up to date as possible without burning through my cell data plan 😜

Day -1 London We wrapped up yesterday with some walking around the area which with the crowds and street closures was challenging but not impossible. We did swing by the hop on hop off cruise port and because we booked directly with them they were wonderful and moved our ticket to today. Which was great. Dinner was at Scarlett Green and it was great. I didn’t get photos but I got a salmon dish and DW got risotto. They had a grilled pineapple and coconut sorbet desserts that DW said was delicious. We called it a night after that as we were exhausted. We got up and grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel before heading over to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. It’s a glorious day out. Not a drop of rain in sight and we even are getting brief views of the sun. The temperature is perfect for pants and a short sleeved shirt. We got to the palace around 10:20 and it was fairly busy already but we got a great spot right along the fence line. I think we got a great spot, while we didn’t see the procession on the street coming in we were right by the entrance and exit point for several of the personnel and got great up close looks of the individuals. The process actually starts at 10:45 (a lot of sites say 11) and it was a great experience. I thought it was funny as the band was playing modern music during the changing of the guard like Michael Buble’s haven’t met you yet. It lasted just a bit over 45 minutes. We walked around to some of the various sites in the city before heading to tea. We had tea scheduled for the Drawing Room at the Brown hotel. I read that this places handles food allergies really well and can do a nice tea service for those that need a restrictive diet. So we put notes in our reservation when we made it. The hotel and the restaurant are beautiful old architecture. I’ve included the menu. They have a traditional and a plant based menu all the time. Because we let them know of DW’s allergies ahead of time they made her bread she could eat and essentially replicated the traditional menu with her allergy restrictions. She said it was the best bread she has had. I thought mine was exceptional. The bread was soft and delicate and each sandwich was full of flavor. You could order as many sandwiches as you wish. After the sandwich course they bring you scones and dessert. They also had a special coronation beehive pastry complete with honey from Highroad. They even made DW her own special version of that dessert. The lengths the Drawing Room goes to in order to replicate the regular menu for DW is staggering. It’s impossible to tell the visual difference between them. DW said her scones were very good and flavorful with a cake like consistency. She also said her desserts were the best thing she has eaten in a long time. Her favorite was the chocolate tower. She said it’s the best dessert she has ever had. You finish your meal with a piece of loaf cake. This was the only item they didn’t have a version for DW, but it wasn’t a big deal we were so full at this point! The service here has been outstanding. Never once do you feel rushed. If you leave hungry it’s your own fault. We headed from here to our hop on hop off cruise. Unfortunately we were too late to catch the trip to Greenwich but we caught the trip to Tower Bridge. They narrated the journey in a very nice boat. We got off and walked across Tower Bridge and towards Borough Market. Unfortunately they are closed on Sunday, fail on my part which DW let me know repeatedly lol. We caught the Tube back to the hotel to relax for as bit as it was a hike to the pier and we would have just traveled back the same way we came. After a brief rest at the hotel we walked back to the palace as we wanted to get some more photos without the major crowd that was there for the changing of the guard. We walked back to the hotel and I felt that I couldn’t leave London without getting fish and chips and a pint. Luckily right next door to the hotel is a pub, The Feathers. Kuddos to them, they have an entire online menu showing every allergen in everything they make. They asked for allergies when I placed my order. That’s fantastic, I wish every place was like this. I wasn’t all that hungry but I couldn’t leave without trying it, so I got the fish and chips and DW got chips. After that we called it a night. I think we have beat the jet lag and we wanted to get situated for the day ahead, boarding day! the-english-garden-afternoon-tea.pdf

Day -2 London Arrival and Coronation Day! We had originally booked a car service from Heathrow to the hotel. Well 4 days before leaving the company contacted me and due to road closures they had to cancel our pickup, so looks like we are using the tube! I kind of figured this would happen, we are so close to Westminster Abbey I couldn’t imagine that we could drive there, but i still held out hope. Also because of the coronation I didnt book much in London in advance. I figured its going to be a mad house and we could just go with the flow. But I did book a ticket on a hop on and off cruise. The best part is an onboarding stop is literally right by our hotel. I really wanted to be able to see the sites at night and this is a 24 hour pass meaning we can use it any time we may for the 24 hours following when we board the first time. So excited to try this out. We are staying at the Conrad London St James. The hotel reached out to us about 5 days before our checkin. They asked about our arrival time, any allergies, and everyone’s names. I thought this was a nice touch. We landed on time and breezes through passport control in about 15 minutes. Easy peesy. We beat our bags out so had to wait for those. Once we got our bags we headed to the underground and caught the tube to Victoria station. St James station was closed due to the coronation but thankfully Victoria isn’t but a 10 minute walk. Still dragging suitcases in the rain was less than ideal but it wasn’t a heavy rain thankfully. We had to bob and weave our way through closed roads and check points. It was all so well organized with a wonderful mix of volunteers, law enforcement and military folks. We simply had to show our hotel reservation and were directed through several check points. We got to the hotel about 12:15pm. Our room wasn’t ready but they checked our bags and we started walking around. We figured we would just see if we can find a spot to see the concluding procession and if not then no big deal. Crowds were definitely here but honestly weren’t as bad as I had expected. We found a spot closer to the palace and waited. It was really cool to be here for this and I’m glad we tried to see it in person. They did such a wonderful job organizing it and quite literally everywhere you turned there was some official to answer questions and direct traffic flows. We got really lucky as we bee lined it as soon as we saw the king. There was a major traffic jam leaving as there was a single choke point to cross a closed street. They only let people cross every now and then as people from the procession used that street to leave and they were given priority. I feel bad for the people behind us. We had to wait a while and we’re literally packed in. Thankfully after about 20 minutes we crossed the street and were home free. We headed back to the hotel for a breather before dinner. We passed on the hop on hop off cruise. The pickup spot is right in the thick of things and we didn’t want to deal with that crowd again.

Day -3 Departure cont It was an uneventful flight. DW had preordered a vegan meal, they have limited options and she could have either selected vegan or gluten free but not both. So vegan is generally the better way to go as often times it will either come gluten free or it’s fairly easy to identify what may have gluten. They confirmed her meal when we boarded and she got a green chickpea curry with coconut rice and a salad. She said both were good. For breakfast they provided muesli with apples which she said was just ok. I got for dinner short ribs, a type of chicken salad (mayonnaise based) and soba noodles. It was actually quite good, but obviously the lounge food will win this one. Even in lie flat seats I always struggle to sleep. This flight was also fairly bumpy so it made it harder to sleep. DW was out like a light but I didn’t get much sleep. Brussels airport isn’t much to look at. But it also wasn’t the worst airport I’ve been in. Our business class seats got us into a nice lounge and we didn’t have long before our connection. We arrived in the B gates and our outbound flight was also in the B terminal. Couldn’t have been easier. when in Brussels I feel compelled to get a waffle. They didn’t disappoint, especially for free!

Day -3 Departure cont. We arrived into Dulles Airport with enough time to enjoy the Polaris lounge. This is separate from the United Club and is only available to those flying in the Polaris class of service, you cannot buy a pass. Inside was a beautiful huge lounge that was redone about 3 years ago and it shows. Individual bathrooms with lights on the outside to indicate if it’s in use and a buffet that has a very large assortment of hot and cold items. We very much appreciated them indicating allergens on the cards identifying the food. The real star here is the dining room. They offer a small but very nice menu to choose from and there is not charge for anything including the alcohol. I already feel like I’m on the cruise! DW got a salad and a hamburger (sans bun). She was also going to swing into the buffet as they had a soups that looked good and an extensive salad bar. I got the croque madame, the char su pork and the burger. The server said the portions were small and when I asked for a recommendation she just said she would bring me both. Was it the best meal ever? No but it’s a really nice perk and a wonderful experience. The staff was also lovely. The salad was fresh and dressing was excellent, the egg on the croque madame was cooked perfectly. The pork was delicious, tender and juicy and the rice was full of flavor. The burger was also solid. If you only got one I would go with the pork. Yea it was that good. The staff didn’t seem super confident on the allergy situation so DW avoided the fries as they had a small batter on them, which could have been rice flour but we didn’t want to risk it. Plus the buffet had mashed potatoes she could eat. DW got the blood orange sorbet and I got the chocolate cookie skillet. We confirmed the sorbet was vegan, it’s because of the cookie crumbles they list it as vegetarian. The sorbet was refreshing and flavorful with a hint of orange. The cookie skillet was outstanding. If I ever come back I’m just gonna get 4 of those! The lounge definitely gets busy. It’s not just outbound passengers but those coming in from international flights that are connecting as well. But thankfully the space is big enough it’s not too big of an issue. It wasn’t long before it was time for us to board and head to Belgium.

Day -3 Departure It’s finally time to start our journey. We board our first flight in a few hours before our overnight flight tonight and with a connection are scheduled to land around 11am UK time. We booked business class tickets for this trip using points and are connecting in Belgium. I’m hoping I understand how it works in Belgium, from what I can tell our bags will transfer (its a different airline but a codeshare flight and booked all through United) and that since we are staying airside I’m hoping we don’t have to go through customs etc. I was a little confused because there is a differentiation between Schengen and non-Schengen flights. So we are going from a non-Schengen county through a Schengen country to another non-Schengen country. sooooo yea i have no idea. We have 2 1/2 hours to figure it out so I’m hopeful we will be ok.

That’s exactly our attitude going in. And hey we can say we were in London when the monarch was crowned. And that’s awesome!

yea I’ll do my best. I write these in word and then paste into here. CC likes to mess with the formatting and it’s really annoying. that’s interesting. We did this in Alaska last year and got the same table even every night. Guess we will see what happens! Thanks for letting us know so we can expect this. yup. Our hotel has been fantastic. They reached out a head of time and are working with us. They asked for our itinerary and arrival method, provided us with a number to text etc. so yea there really isn’t much we can do other than to be patient and expect it to be a nightmare. I think Heathrow may have lockers to check luggage. When we arrive we will text the hotel and see what they state of affairs is. Maybe we can check our bags and then go back and get them? Fingers crossed it all works out.