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Currently onboard the Regal and I’ve been very impressed with the offering. It’s not well attended but they offer a new hot dish every night that you cannot get anywhere else. We have had pork egg rolls, chimichangas, samosas, meatballs. We had a shrimp fountain one night. here is a photo from the first day. There is always the cheese, nuts, fruit, veggies and dressing (it changes every night), some cold seafood dish, a hot dish, fruit and a dessert. we are on a 12 night cruise and it’s available every night except for the captains circle party.

Day 7 Glasgow, Scotland (7am-6pm) it really ended up being a beautiful day after starting cloudy and drizzling. DW ordered from the vegan menu today and went with a salad with the vegan dressing, which is her new favorite, and the Quinoa burger. The burger itself was disappointing, there was no tofu steak and the quinoa just fell apart when you bit into it. It had a good flavor vomit it became a quinoa dish. Also the bun they used is not as good as the gluten free bread, it was much denser and way more dry. But she said the sweet potato fries were delicious. I got the hot smoked salmon, the shrimp and spinach dip and the Choucroute. The appetizers were very good, I was hesitant with the dip and I can say it tasted way better than it looked lol. The Choucroute was delicious. That smoked pork was probably the best thing I’ve had on board. It was so flavorful! Dessert for me tonight was the carrot cake and sticky toffee pudding. Both unfortunately were disappointing. The carrot cake only tasted sweet with just a hint of spice, not the moist delicious cake I was hoping for. And there was nothing sticky about my pudding, it had an ok flavor but again missed the mark. dessert for DW was the strawberry shortcake she loved from the other night (her request) and the passion fruit sorbet. here is the vegan menu for tomorrow. We sat and listened to the orchestra in the piazza before calling it an evening. Here are the patters for tomorrow. It will be our first sea day and boy do we need the break!

Day 7 Glasgow, Scotland (7am-6pm) It’s a drizzley cold day today. We decided to head into Glasgow for a bit. The rain isn’t supposed to be anything more than a drizzle and we atleast wanted to see the city. At 9am we walked right off the ship. We turned left out of the port and it was a 10ish minute walk. If you have mobility issues I would give yourself atleast 20 minutes or more. There are some uneven roads and some inclines you need to walk up. Pro Tip: buy your tickets in advance. When we got there there was 1 ticket machine and the office was closed and about 100 people wanting to buy tickets. It was very easy to do and the same price. If you buy in advance I think you can even save some additional money. https://www.scotrail.co.uk/train-times/greenock-central-to-glasgow-central It was an easy and very scenic 40 minute ride into town. They also have Wi-Fi on the train. Glasgow has some amazing architecture and I enjoyed walking around here more than Dublin or Belfast. We walked around for a couple of hours and got drizzled on for just a few minutes. Otherwise it was cool and cloudy.

Only the vegan one. But if you look at the main dining menus I post the vegetarian dishes are marked with like a plant leaf/basket shape.

Day 7 Glasgow, Scotland (7am-6pm) here todays patter We originally booked a tour today going to a museum with some time in town, but decided to cancel it before we left. This is going to be a busy trip and the excursion here seemed to be more of something to do than something we MUST do. So we plan on taking the train from the port into Glasgow (seems to be about a 45-60 min trip) and doing a leisurely stroll around town and enjoy our day. But it’s raining out today and we may just decide to stay on board or roam around the port city.

Day 6 Belfast, Northern Ireland (8am-9pm): Best of Giants Causeway and Atrium Coast DW got the wild rice and lentil salad from the Vegan menu, as well as a garden salad with the vegan dressing and the vegan frittata for her main. She said the dressing was excellent and the rice and lentil salad was also very good and well seasoned. The frittata she was concerned about as she had no idea what to expect. She said it was delicious. She said it reminded her a little of gf/vegan pizza, but way better, even better than Alfredo’s. I got the Vol-Au-Vent and the rack of lamb. The vol-au-vent was very good and the puff pastry was excellent. DW got a coconut panacotta for dessert tonight. She isn’t a jello fan and generally vegan panacotta has a hello like consistency but this one was very good and had a good texture. here is the vegan menu for tomorrow.

Day 6 Belfast, Northern Ireland (8am-9pm): Best of Giants Causeway and Atrium Coast Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Breakfast in the buffet and the. Princess Theatre by 8:30. We were on the bus by 8:40 for our excursion today. It’s another very nice, very comfortable bus with a restroom. Todays guide asked the group about food allergies before we left so he could call ahead. Our weather luck ran out today. Our scenic coastal drive was wrapped in fog unfortunately. We caught some glimpses of the coastline and I imagine on a clear day it’s remarkable. We are hoping as the day wears on and we get to the causeway it will burn off. It was about an hour drive and we stopped at the Londonderry arms hotel for tea/coffee and scones. We were here about 30 minutes and next to the hotel was a small bay where they filmed some of game of thrones. We departed and had an hours drive to the causeway along the coast. Sorrow and despair quickly turned around to wonder and awe as we apparently had a little luck left in the tank. As we drove along and turned the corner the blue skies came out and the Atrim coast showed her beauty. The photos don’t do it justice it’s just breathtaking. We stopped at 2 places along the way for photos. We arrived at the Giants causeway around 12:15 but were early for our assigned time and he took us down to Dunluce castle for a quick photo stop. We headed back towards the Giants Causeway and had just under 2 hours minutes here and it wasn’t enough. If you are a hiker and can do 3-4 miles you likely want about 3-4 hours to do it all. There are so many walking paths and if you listen to the guided tour they provide to you on a handset and take the time to explore the causeway and take it in you need the extra time. This place was amazing. The natural formations are incredible. Even with all the people there is still a peace and serenity about it. I would 1,000% book this excursion. We then headed on a 15 minute drive down the coast to the Royal court hotel for lunch. It’s a late lunch so was a good thing we had a big breakfast. We started with a plated melon course which was great. Then they came around and served Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, veggies and sliced beef. They provided gravy on the table with horseradish (which it desperately needed). Of all the meals thus far this one was the least impressive but it was still just fine. DW had hers plated from the kitchen which they brought out to her. Lunched wrapped up with a berry pavlova. The highlight of the entire trip this far is the tofutti ice cream they gave DW for dessert. You think I’m joking. But I’m not. DW was tickled and loved it. Kuddos to this hotel for having it and taking care of DW! 😉 We boarded the buses at 4 and headed back to the ship. We took a different route home so if you do this tour sit on the driver side of the bus as that’s your only chance for good views of the coast as you drive.

don’t quote me but our folio is in USD on board. Not sure if there is an option for pounds or not. they have the pound and euro at guest service and can give change. Ireland (not Northern Ireland they take the pound) takes the euro, If you need to convert it’s a $4.50 per transaction fee plus I’m sure some terrible conversion rate. I highly recommend using Wise. They send you a debit card and it runs in an app. Very easy to connect to your US bank account and you can easily convert money in the app to a vast number of different currencies at fantastic rates. Then when I’m in country I go to a local ATM (NOT a currency exchange) and pull out funds from my pot of funds that I had converted. I’ve never paid an ATM fee to this point and the Wise fee is a fraction of a dollar generally. Very easy to use. https://wise.com no issues using credit cards off the ship as long as you have a Visa card. Many places don’t take Amex and some won’t accept Mastercard (they take Maestro which is a European offshoot). I have used Apple Pay exclusively since we have been gone with 0 issues.

Well this isn’t supposed to be here!

tomorrows patter

Day 5 Dublin, Ireland (7am-7pm) DW got a salad tonight and a chicken breast with veggies, she was so sad to see the chicken removed from the favorites menu. She said it looked boring but she very much enjoyed her chicken. I got the corn and crab chowder and the pork chop. The soup was good. The pork was delicious but a tad bit over cooked. The real highlight of the evening was the dessert for DW. Kuddos to head waiter Michael in the Allegro. He asked the chef for a strawberry shortcake. And boy did they deliver! This is the Princess we know and love! DW was happy to report it was delicious! And they didn’t even need to clean her plate when she was done with it. we also realized that they have a Vegan menu each day. This does change every day so I’ll start posting these going forward as well. Here is tomorrows.

We have had exceptionally good weather. It’s been in the high 50s the entire time. Today hit low 60s and in the sun you would contemplate shorts. But it was cloudy most of the morning and finally cleared this afternoon. We should have another sunny day tomorrow as well thanks to a high pressure system that came in. I hear you on packing we had the same struggles. I recommend layers and plan for rain. Waterproof shoes will be a lifesaver and a good rain coat to avoid umbrellas is key as well. seems they really only have 1 formal night and another they essentially suggest as formal. The issue is our first sea day isn’t until day 7 which is why they had it in Guernsey. That and we departed there at 4 with an all about at 3 versus all the other ports at 7pm or later. So it kind had to be that day. you’ll have a great time. It’s been an epic trip thus far.

Day 5 Dublin, Ireland (7am-7pm): Best of Dublin (St Patricks Cathedral, Trinity College, Dublin Castle) Reflections on yesterday. I’m glad we went to Blarney castle. Even if you don’t kiss the stone it’s a great sight to see. Kinsale was just ok. If there is an option to just go to the castle I may recommend that instead. The tour guide was so knowledgeable that it made the time spent worth it. It’s going to be a beautiful partly cloudy day today. We had breakfast in the buffet and met our tour in the Princess Theatre at 8:15. We were on board the tender and on our way by 8:30. Apparently you can dock directly in Dublin but the port these days is very busy with cargo due to Brexit so we actually anchor in Dun Laoghaire and tender in. The trip took just under 15 minutes. We boarded another great couch bus. This one also had a bathroom, not as important today as the drive is short and we are in the city all day. Funny enough they said the coach was brand new and this was the very first trip. Traffic was a mess with a lot of road construction. If you’re doing Dublin on your own highly recommend the train. It’s a short walk from the pier and will get you to the city in 20 min. We went to several sites around the city and stopped for photos. The entire drive was narrated by a local to the area. Then we had an hour on our own. To get into St Patrick’s you need to have a reservation so we can only see the outside. Lunch today was at The Old Storehouse where we also had Irish music and dancing. Our guide spoke with the chef and worked with them to get DW soup, falafel salad and a fruit plate for dessert. Today is much less organized and they seem unprepared for us as they have limited staffing. But after this we just head back to the ship so if we are delayed it doesn’t really impact anything. I went with the salmon, seafood chowder and the apple crumble. Sorry I forgot to grab a picture of the salmon. grabbed a pic of my neighbors casserole The food was excellent. DW said the salad was great, she loves falafel and these were cooked perfectly. She also loves the soup. I enjoyed the salmon, it was a good portion and the seafood chowder was FULL of fish and shrimp and had a rich creamy broth. Excellent. We were here for about 2 hours. The band played the whole time and the dancers came on and off throughout. It was so much fun. They were taking requests from the crowd as well. What a great time. Dublin has so much to see. This tour I think was great because you did get to see and experience a lot, some of which I don’t think you could do on your own (like the music and dancing). Your choices are really to pick 1 or 2 things to do them in detail or do something like this and see many things at the surface level. Given our limited time in port I’m glad we did this So in retrospect I think this tour is worth it. And now back to the ship!

Hope you’re enjoying it! We love Princess. thanks for the kind words. Glad you’re enjoying it!

it’s another beautiful morning in Dublin

Tomorrows patter.

Day 4 Cork, Ireland (9am-7pm) Cont. For dinner tonight DW got a salad and gluten free pasta with bolognese sauce. I got the seafood antipasto and the kale Cesar and the butter chicken. DW said her salad was good and her pasta was fantastic. She said the sauce was delicious. The seafood antipasto was nothing to write home about but the kale Cesar salad was amazing. I’m getting that every night. The dressing was so flavorful! The butter chicken was ho hum. The chicken was over cooked and there wasn’t much sauce with it. Despite DW asking for a few things as options for dessert they didn’t do anything for her. She got the lemon sorbet which of course she loved. But Princess is big time slacking. They used to do rice puddings even made her tiramisu in the past. They are way off their game and phoning it in these days which is really disappointing. for those eagled eyed this one has Parmesan cheese but we caught it and they brought out a new one.

Day 4 Cork, Ireland (9am-7pm): Best of Cork and Countryside (Blarney Castle & Kinsale) cont. It took us around 20 minutes to get from lunch to Blarney Castle. It’s was such a nice day. A bit breezy but partly cloudy and the sun was out the majority of the time. We got VERY lucky. When we arrived we hit a lull in attendance. There were 5 buses for our particular excursion and I know of atleast 1 other excursion going to Blarney castle. We walked straight to the castle and straight up the very narrow steps. We only stopped in nice we hit the top landing. From there we had about. 5-7 minute wait. The views were breathtaking. When we had finished the line was HUGE as all the other buses had arrived. Let’s talk about the climb up. It’s very very narrow and very steep. There is a vertical rope to help you, but IMO you need to have no mobility issues to do this. No cane, definitely no walker etc. also, I’m a big guy, I barely got through some of the passages needed. So just a few words of warning. Plus when you get up there you have to do some acrobatics to actually kiss the stone. There is an employee there to help you but you lie on your back, pull yourself over a small ledge and essentially touch the back of your head to your back to kiss the stone upside down. You can google it for a better idea of what I’m talking about. If you have back issues I would go for the view but wouldn’t try and kiss the stone. We explored the site, gardens and shop as we had about 2 hours onsite. We headed back to the port around 4:30pm.

Day 4 Cork, Ireland (9am-7pm): Best of Cork and Countryside (Blarney Castle & Kinsale) cont. We sailed in to one of the most beautiful ports I’ve ever seen, lined with homes along the mountainside and an old church. We got breakfast at the buffet and headed to the Princess Theater at 9:15. We boarded our bus at 9:45 and headed out by 10. Our bus is a very nice coach with not only a restroom but in seat USB plugs (type A not C) but I did see a fair number of buses without restrooms. I’m betting it depends on how long your tour is. It was a wonderful drive through the countryside that was narrated by a local guide. We stopped momentarily at a photo spot overlooking Kinsale before heading into the town where we will have an hour. She does a number of different tours and said we selected the best one. She said Blarney Castle and the gardens will be beautiful this time of year. Kinsale was a quaint little town with lots of shops and cafes. An hour wasn’t much time so we swung in and grabbed a quick coffee for take away and then walked through some of the local shops. We also saw the oldest church in County Cork. It was an hour bus ride to our lunch stop as we did a driving tour through Cork. it was a very nice, modern little city, it would be fun to visit and walk around here. Apparently much of the city had canals running through it and a number of the buildings still had their entrances on the second floor because of the water levels. Now those canals run under the city. DW and I stopped by the shore excursion desk on embarkation and and let them know about her food allergies. They seemed to indicate this happens often and they will communicate with the tour operators. So we shall see what happens. We had taken precautions with a large breakfast and snacks just in case! Our lunch was at the Clayton Hotel silver springs. We spoke with our tour operator who connected us with the hotel management. They had a gluten free vegan dish that they offered. We also had local Irish performers play a series of songs and engage with the audience during lunch. They were great. The food was outstanding. DW said the curry was excellent not only packed full of flavor but with a good kick to it. My stew was also excellent with that rich gravy and perfectly cooked lamb. The cheesecake with light and airy and was the perfect ending to the meal. There must have been 200 of us here. It was very well done. The food came up steaming hot and they paced the meal perfectly. The facility was very nice with great restrooms. We were done with time to spare on our hour long stop. kind of a crime to go to Ireland and not accept the fee pint of Guinness.

I mean dont get me wrong. I would say the majority had a suit or some kind of sport coat. But tuxes were definitely in the minority. And I would say a handful were in something without a coat. The dining room we ate (6:45-7:45) was almost empty so a lot of people may have also chose the buffet.

you’ll find them more similar than different. We loved our Celebrity cruise and I feel like you’ll love Princess as well. Laundry is $3 per load per method (wash/dry) soap is also $3 so bring your own. We use the soap sheets. They are great for travel. We found a full cycle in delicates was just enough heat to get everything dry without nuking our clothes.

What a beautiful welcome to Cobh. We are running about 20 minutes late due to the very strong tide and headwinds from last night. Capt said they were running full out all night last night. this has to be one of the most beautiful entrances to a port I’ve seen.

Day 4 Cork, Ireland (9am-7pm): Best of Cork and Countryside (Blarney Castle & Kinsale) Well the captain was correct. Last night was not great. It was easily the roughest ride I have had in 18ish cruises (I’m not including Windstar, that seems a little unfair). And it wasn’t even the motion that made it so bad, it was the obnoxiously loud creeping and cracking the walls and ceiling made. All. Night. Long. I think I got an hours sleep, while I can sleep through a dumbo truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant, I can’t get to sleep if it’s loud Ike that. Thankfully DW knocked out on the early side before it got bad as she gets motion sick (although these days her Accupuncture has all but cured her of that). Oh well, as of 7am this morning we still have some strong swells but it’s not bad enough to come with all the noise so that’s good. And this is nothing some caffeine likely can’t resolve. It is a beautiful morning. We aren’t due in port until 9am and we meet in the Princess Theatre at 9:15 for our 9:30 excursion. Today we head to Kinsale and Blarney Castle!

Patters for tomorrow. Oaf. Internet is bad tonight. Had a rough time uploading these 2 images.

all over the map as usual. I wore a polo and slacks. Many with long sleeved vitriol down shirts. Some with ties. A few sport coats etc. my take is if your enjoyment of the evening is so dependent on what I wear you should go sail Cunard. But as you said I’m not taking up room in my suitcase to wear a suit for 10 hours in a 3 week vacation.