BRILLIANCE (British Isles) June 19-July 2,2018 REVIEW w/lots of photos

So having reached goal number 1 to have haggis for the first time, it was the moment to execute buying a whiskey to bring home with me and have on my bar to show off. This is where I screwed up... and I do know better :mad:

I was not thrilled with the pricing, they were way more expensive than I thought they may be at a distillery. I began to think they were focusing on the "tourist" trap mentality and overcharging here, and that I would find more places to buy whiskey (ie. like all the shops in Edinburgh) at a later time, perhaps Dublin..... WRONG!

The really good Deaston 12 year we had at Midhope Castle was a cool 38 pounds (that's around $60 for me).

The Ledaig I wanted was 44 pounds (about $70). I know I can buy Glenfidich and Dalmore (another higher end Single Malt) aged and boxed for about $75 here at home, so I figured these guys were selling at retail pricing instead of wholesale. One minute I'd decide to buy it.... the next I was putting the bottle back down and walking away.... ARGH. I'm usually not like this, I eventually made up my mind to not purchase and look at the next ports.

I regretted this decision. I never saw the Ledaig again.... not at the airport.... and not here at home either. Worse yet, to relive our time at Midhope with even my second choice, the Deaston was nowhere to be found either. So folks, I already know this, when you find something you really like and you're unsure that you will see it again, buy it right then and there.... the extra $5 you think you may or may not save, I'm sure you won't be thinking about that $5 tomorrow, let alone months and years from now!

Sigh... oh well. C'est la vie. In the meantime I roamed around the shop looking at some of their collectible whiskeys where they had a full wall of 20 to 48 year scotches... just incredible! You do not see this everyday. Take a look at this one and note the price tag.... now do the conversion in your own currency. YIKES!

I had asked Andy if we were going to see any Highland cows early on this day, and said we would as there is a specific stop along our route that has a few. It was here at the Trossachs Woollen Mill where we saw them

These cows are not like those in North America.... They're a Scottish breed with long horns and wavy coats, with the trademark hair covering their faces. We went to the back of property along the fences and a bunch of other people from other groups were trying to get pictures. The cows were sitting far back, with the really huge black one kind of hidden by the barn/stable area.

This is where Andy, yet again, made this little visit so much better for us..... he had disappeared for a minute, but was back with us again, bag in hand. In the bag was a whole bunch of cut up fruit (apples pieces, etc) to lure the cows over. Sure enough, these cows knew when the food was being offered and they came on over

Look at the horns on this beast.... massive! Compare his head to the size of mine in the previous photos. I estimate the span tip to tip to be about 5 feet on this big boy

He stuck his head over the barbed wire and super close to me as he was getting curious... or maybe he thought my head would make a great lunch compared to a few apple pieces! Ugh... this snotty nosed guy sure had bad breath

We all got a 5-10min break to head inside for the bathroom. I quickly looked around the very large store.... they had all sorts of typical tourist type stuff as well as a fantastic clothing section (men's tweed, hats, cashmere, local wool, etc).

Click the link if you want to "look" around the store... note some of the sale prices

https://www.ewm.co.uk/

20 pounds... reduced from 60 pounds... for full on cashmere men's sweaters. I know what cashmere is sold for here in my hometown. There were excellent sale prices all over the store. I wish we had more time there, even 15-20 minutes ... I would've dropped some coin here and brought home some local wool and cashmere clothing for great prices. But what really slapped me in the face was the price of the whiskeys.... both the Deaston and Ledaig were 20 pounds more than the distillery!!! AAAAAAAGH. I mentioned it to Andy and he said I should've bought whatever I wanted to buy at the Distillery as they are in fact the cheapest around. So there you go whiskey fans, don;t make my mistake when you visit a distillery in Scotland

Enjoying this review Hoopster, we stay in this area of Scotland, and I'm glad you are enjoying your tour. Our nephew was married in Doune Castle 3 years ago.

It's a shame you never managed to purchase a bottle of Deanston whisky, maybe when you do your land trip to Scotland & Ireland, you could revisit this area (there's still plenty to see). The statue you stopped at before visiting the Distillery is of David Stirling who was born in the area, and was the founder of the SAS (Special Air Service).

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

Margaret

Enjoying this review Hoopster, we stay in this area of Scotland, and I'm glad you are enjoying your tour. Our nephew was married in Doune Castle 3 years ago.

 

It's a shame you never managed to purchase a bottle of Deanston whisky, maybe when you do your land trip to Scotland & Ireland, you could revisit this area (there's still plenty to see). The statue you stopped at before visiting the Distillery is of David Stirling who was born in the area, and was the founder of the SAS (Special Air Service).

 

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

Margaret

Thx Margaret! Great comments re David Sterling... any ancestry/connection to Stirling Castle??

Notice I bolded and highlighted one of your words above.... definitely not if, most definitely when :D

Time was ticking away on our day, and Andy was expressing concern with our travels back to the ship. With motorway construction projects and rush hour, he did not want to chance being late back to port. From here we were to take the long way around to get back via a scenic route around Loch Lomond (I really wanted to see this area), instead we took a more direct route across the valley to the motorway. This would in effect likely cut off a good hour of time.

Heading in that direction Andy mentioned that we were heading back earlier than planned due to this change. He asked if we could stop for a quick 30-40 minutes at an beautiful and interesting site we could view. Of course, why would we say no?? So we ended up stopping at a place called Devil's Pulpit

None of us knew anything about it. Andy did mention that it would be likely that a few of us should not attempt the drop and climb back up due to mobility issues, and a couple did stay back. Andy took Sondra's camera to take photos and video for her,and a few of us headed in. There were a ton of cars everywhere... I guess with the great weather many locals came here.

After walking about ten minutes through a normal path in a forest or park, you come to an entrance hole with very steep stairs (if you can call them that) heading downward at a very steep angle

There's wet red mud everywhere, and many of the steps are slopping downward, making every step you take very treacherous. I also realized that this amazing landscape was changing from a typical Scottish Highland postcard view of green fields and sheep, to something like a cenote in mexico or the Caribbean with hanging vines, bright green moss and red mountain sides from the clay

Down... down.... down we went. The further down, the more damp/wet it felt and the more treacherous the steps were.

The bottom opened up to us.... WOW! This is a place you only see in movies. Is this really in Scotland? Crazy.

I could post this picture in any of my Caribbean reviews and likely no one would know the difference. Looks like many locals come here to cool off and swim/hike through the glen. So beautiful.

This stop was pretty much for the purpose of conquering the climb down and up, and to get a few photos... no further time could be afforded. We struggled back up the same way we came down up the slippery steps, being helped up at certain points by various other local climbers. Here's a better view of the area below and locals enjoying the scene as if it were a beach or lake, towels laid down, swimming/hiking through the water. What a very cool place you would never ever expect to see in Scotland.

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With the longer than expected detour to Devil's Pulpit, we arrived back to the port with about 20 minutes to spare before All Aboard. I haven't mention it yet, Andy and I made a pact that I wanted to be a true Scotsman all day today, so both he and I would not remove any of our gear whatsosever all day. And yes, I went down Devil's Pulpit with the kilt and my Scottish tweed cap still on. It was here I was hoping that Andy would forget that I was wearing it as I quietly move away from the van towards the ship (no, I really didn't do that)... I begrudgingly removed it and helped him fold it so he can put it away into the back of the van.

Note... hardly anyone getting back on the ship at this later hour

Although inside this warehouse is a grouping of stores, more like flee market type kiosks, selling various goods. some really good quality and some touristy... I shopped for about 10 minutes and grabbed a great tartan tie here to wear at work when I return home.

There's no security at this port within the warehouse... RCL set up the scanners on deck 4 in the Centrum as you boarded.

I said my usual hello to the security folks as they allowed me to cut through by the R-Bar to get to my room, and I noted the drink cards were out.... 10 drinks for $75 PLUS 18% gratuity. For those of you new to this, this offer does not show up on every ship and itinerary... the Hotel Director on board has authority to offer it if alcohol sales are down for the sailing to try to drive up sales. I find this card is offered way less often in the Caribbean.

"Welcome to Scotland".... well.... it's goodbye for now, will see you again some other day where I'll be watching the sunset while eating dinner at a castle rather than the Windjammer

I guess between the time I boarded and now (about 15-20 minutes after going to my room to change and put away things), a high school bagpipe band showed up to entertain us while we waited for the ropes to be brought in and Brilliance departs Greenock

I hung out here on deck 5 as were were starting to move and sail away from port. The band did a great job saluting us off with the famous "Scotland the Brave". Great job!

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I headed up to grab a glass of wine from the DL, but had no intention of hanging out there with an amazing (from what I saw this morning) sail away to come over the next hour sailing through the channel and out to sea. First a quick pick from deck 12 still pulling away right after the band finished

I grabbed my wine and headed back down to deck 5 to head out towards the helipad for a little bit before dinner. Now these next series of photos you'd think I was in Alaska, or Norway, or who knows where... I don't think I ever thought of the waters to be so blue and so still here in this area of the world.

Here's another one of my favorite photos of this trip, taken with my simple iphone6 using pano mode

Wow.... standing there with breeze through my hair as we continue our sailaway

I was getting hungry... it's been a long day and quite a while since lunch at the Deanston Distillery. As is my nightly routine, I made a bee-line through the WJ to the empty rear open area seating aft, to grab a table before getting food and FBmessenger the gf, however I first was able to gaze out this incredible live postcard in front of me for a while with feet up on the railing and wine in hand

Wow... again, right? How about a third wow?

WOW!

(ok that was 4)

OK... enough delay else I'll miss the show and events tonight... had to go grab dinner else I'd be getting hangry!

Going back into the WJ I went directly to the theme section to see what was offered tonight. Tonight it's "German Night"

This didn't thrill me at all. This was the first time I looked at the theme night and said.... hmmm, doesn't look that great. Looks like this was going to be one of those nights where I go over to the other side for the nightly regular counter of carved roast beef, mashed potatoes and veggies.

I then I saw over at the "made-to-order-counter" another white sign kind of hiding at the top shelf and wandered over. Low and behold it wasn't just the usual Mongolian stir fry station. Tonight it was a different Asian theme "Philipino". Excellent... spring rolls, garlic fried rice, Beef Tapa (Pinoy), Guisado (like a Phad Thai)... great option!!! I was all over it

I sat in my usual rear aft corner table... why not, there were only maybe 2 or 3 other tables being occupied out there any given night (crazy! People didn't know what they were missing)... and again got to say wow a few more times under my breath as I continued to watch sailaway with dinner and wine.

Finally we had reached trhe end of land, and the pilot boat was heading out to meet Brilliance and take the pilot away. This would be the last time I see Scotland on this trip. Farewell Scotland ... I'll be back!

I didn't want to miss the show this evening as it was a headliner I had seen on Jewel last year, Garreth Oliver, comedian and ventriloquist. This guy is hilarious! He had the crowd in stitches and it's all ad lib to what the participant he chooses is doing at the time.... not rehearsed, no script. Really well done and like the Beatlemaniacs a few nights ago, a standing O at the end... the fellow cruiser who "volunteered" also deserved a standing O as he played this out so well, and he was super funny too.

Turn up the sound and see if you can see Garreth moving his lips as he moves the apparatus on the cruisers face he put on.

Just a great show that made everyone laugh. Don't miss this guy if he's ever on your sailing

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With the show over, everyone's streaming out of the theatre. I normally scooted out of the side door onto deck 5 to walk outside towards the Centrum, except this time almost everyone was doing the same. Something was going on out there and everyone wanted a look. Here's what we saw when we looked out

Is that not something else?!?! How crazy gorgeous is that. Am I on planet earth or somewhere in Scotland? Who knew?? By looking at google maps and judging some basic time/distance/google earth, I believe we were still in the Firth of Clyde, and that Island we were passing was Ailsa Craig. No matter what it was called, even the worst photographer in the world couldn't possibly screw these pictures up

It was time for 70's night, and after spending a little extra time outside enjoying the view, it had already started in the Centrum.

Unfortunately it was quite lame to almost any 70's party I have been involved in. Abe was alright doing his thing from deck 5, however the music set is exactly the same as it;s been for 10 years now, and the activity staff was quite lame with regard to the crowd and especially the YMCA group.

Ah well, I didn't care to be honest... after this huge day I was simply a bystander on this night rather than a usual participant.

In fact, before it was over ( there were 2 songs left, incl. Last Dance... same old same old) I headed back to my cabin to hear how loud that cabin truly was. No joke, I could sing along no problem inside the cabin, clear as a bell and thumping away with the base. By far and away the very loudest cabin I have ever been in.

The show finally came to an end as I was settling in for the night, as I looked forward to another big day due up tomorrow in Dublin.

I hung out here on deck 5 as were were starting to move and sail away from port. The band did a great job saluting us off with the famous "Scotland the Brave". Great job!

 

O5FKZbMf-Ag

 

 

What a send off!

Day 7 - Dublin

The Compass for today

This morning we are arriving in Dublin for a two day (overnight) visit to this great city, my first time ever setting foot in Ireland! It's hard to believe we're already past the half way point of this cruise, time is flying by!

After a huge day yesterday and a great sleep, I had time this morning for a work out and some chill time before getting into Dublin for 11am. Initially we were to arrive at 8am, however about 6 months pre-cruise we were all notified of the change "due to tides"... really? I don't buy that. This industrial port is massive with many large vessels and plenty of traffic in/out as we approached, so I'm confused as to how "the tides" affected all those other ships.

And there off in the distance as we slow down to enter one of the wings of the port is the downtown core of Dublin. There's already another ship in port (looks to be an O ship). As you can see quite a distance from pier to any kind of city area... minimum 30-40 min walk just to get out of the port, let alone another 30-45min walk from the port gates to most any of the main sites. This is not a port you can walk into the city from the ship

As you can see, highly industrial. As Brilliance moves into position for the gangway placement, this is my que to head back inside to deck 4 Centrum

Today I'm once again a participant in one of Sondra's small group private tours which she set up on-line. We all met in the Centrum at 11:15am this time, after the initial rush of fellow cruisers and excursions wanting/needing to get going right away. All the tour buses were lined up with hundreds of cruisers heading out all at once with this late start to the day

We joined in, but truthfully was pretty quick after that initial line-up with no delay issues at all. Sondra noticed our driver and guide in the private van off to the other side away from the buses, we made our initial pleasantries/intros and we were off to explore Dublin

*Book Mark*

Our guide for the day, Garvan, gave us an intro to Dublin as we drove through some of the lesser streets away from the port gates. I noticed his lanyard he was wearing with his name, and I had to ask him how it was pronounced

There is no way at all I could repeat what he just said! Wow, Irish Gaelic is extremely strange to listen to by a local. It's also interesting to note I noticed most street/traffic/highway signage has both English and Gaelic. Gaervan chuckled and simply turned over his lanyard.... yep, that's better!

There really wasn't much to see as we went along in the van and away from the port gates, pretty much like any other major downtown city (offices/condos). It's interesting to note that the area we were going through up to about 20 years ago was totally empty and considered a very rough part of town... today there's plenty of construction with new condos and office buildings. The economy has been excellent for this city in recent years, punctuated by both Google and Apple having European head offices there... the tech industry has exploded in Dublin.

I figure it was approx. a 15min ride from the ship to where the van would stop to drop us off. Garvan mentioned to the driver to continue on around the corner and drop us off on the main street... this is when I felt the hustle and bustle of the city center come alive as we turned onto Dublin's main, and most famous, thoroughfare O'Connell Street.

Here we also get our first look at the 390 ft high Spire of Dublin,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spire_of_Dublin

which sits on the site where Nelson's Monument stood before being destroyed by a bomb in the 1960's

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And as we cross the street, it's clear the ginormous girth of the base in com comparison to pedestrians right next to it.

We're heading across the street to that colonial looking building., the GPO (General Post Office).

So having crossed the street and gone under the large colonial columns of the building, here's the front entrance into the General Post Office of Dublin

Uhm.... ok.... you're probably thinking "So Hoopster, why are you showing us a post office??"

I didn't know my Irish History.... this was ground zero for the "Easter Uprising" of 1916 launched by the Irish Republicans to end English rule. They were hoping to surprise the Brits on Easter Day and while they were focused on the 1st World War.

Here's a great website with plenty of photos and easy reading on what happened here.

https://www.rte.ie/centuryireland/index.php/articles/the-easter-rising-and-destruction-of-dublin

The inside of the post office is totally normal... much like any other post office you'd walk in to. It's interesting to note that much of the renovation/colours/millwork/iron work was renovated just before the revolution and is very close if not exact to what it just before the Rising. We did not get the chance to go into the new museum.

The thing I took most out of this was Garvan's passion about everything Ireland. This guy was a walking encyclopedia, almost to the point where it was too much. However, he said his goal was to hopefully have us understand the passion and intensity of the Irish people through these times. It as also incredible to see how when the English started bombing this area, the post office (GPO) was standing unscathed and everything around it was destroyed. Garvan showed us before and after pics

Garvan also showed us a copy of the Proclamation read by General Patrick Pearse. We will see the original later on in Trinity College. When I get home I need to brush up on my Irish history

Leaving the GPO, we headed back out onto O"Connell Street to continue our journey through the Streets of Dublin.

At the next main intersection before crossing the River Liffey over the O'Connell Bridge, is a monument called...

you guessed it... the O'Connell Monument!

So who's O'Connell you say? He's an Irish Political Leader who fought for Catholic rights (emancipation) in the early 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_O%27Connell

And here's more on O'Connel Street itself with more info on the Rising, damage to various buildings, and rebuild

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Connell_Street

Take a close look at the bottom left corner of the photo, just under the "O" of O'Connell.... that's a bullet hole. There's plenty of them to be seen here. This monument, like the GPO, survived the damage caused by the bombing of the area.

This is great... tourists & locals alike are urged via signs painted on the road to look the correct way for traffic as they drive on the wrong side .... er.... or we drive on the wrong side?... of the road. It's very easy to be confusaed, I got into the habit right away of looking both ways and made that a norm.

Looking away from the O'Connell Monument we see the O'Connell bridge ... kind of. Today it's a major throughway for trams, buses in the middle of a metropolis downtown core of teeming city life

Only about 10min walk and 2 blocks from here Trinity College comes to view, our next stop with plenty of things of importance to see here

I had zero clue what to expect here at Trinity College, however as we entered through that front gate we were blown away with how beautiful the buildings and surroundings were. This is a live working college with over 15,000 students I believe... could you imagine studying in a place like this? Gorgeous. It's ranked as one of the top Universities/Colleges in the world.

Here's our group gathered in the shade with Garvan opening up his encyclopedia mind to us.

We continued on around the corner as our main focus was to get to see the Book of Kells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Kells

This is basically an illustrated book of the New Testament created in approx 800 AD. There are a couple of other books as well held under tight surveillance under lock and key, and zero photography whatsoever is allowed as a pair of security officers follow people around the glass case to ensure no one is trying to sneak a photo, and thus possibly damage these ancient works.

So other than the holding area before the room which held the books, I have no pictures to share at all. Just know that it's quite a site to see an original 1200+ year old book and pictures there before you. The Book of Kells is extremely important to the Irish... to the world for that matter... as one of the oldest complete books in the world

The display case inside holds the books open to various pages with some of the illustrations in full view.... beautiful.

The only way to see them is via stock photos on the web and/or google images

We arrived with zero line-up... on Irish holidays and peak season, you can find an hour line-up with more line-ups inside in the waiting area. The books themselves take maybe 10 minutes to view and then you;re out the door. Luckily without a line-up or delay, were in and out in about 20 minutes.

Very much enjoying your review!

My husband is a Scotch drinker and I made note of the brand of Scotch you enjoyed during your Outlander tour... then I read how you didn't see it after the tour was over... There's a 10 year old Ledaig listed with the BC Liquor Store ($70.00)... is this the same one?

Very much enjoying your review!

 

My husband is a Scotch drinker and I made note of the brand of Scotch you enjoyed during your Outlander tour... then I read how you didn't see it after the tour was over... There's a 10 year old Ledaig listed with the BC Liquor Store ($70.00)... is this the same one?

YYYYYEEEEESSSSSSS!!!! That's it!

Thank you thank you. Never even thought to look online yet. I only looked around at my local BC store as well as a couple of private liquor stores.... it says I can go to Langley to get this....awesome!

Ha.... and $69.99CA is 40.50 pounds. Can you believe it? Less expensive than the 44 pounds at Deanston Distillery lol.

Thx again neighbor :D

Hey Wandering_Star...

Look what I just got![emoji2]

Thanks again [emoji106][emoji484]

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Yay!

Thank you again for your review! I'm going to get a bottle of the Ledaig for my husband's collection :)

So enjoying your review! We visited Ireland and March and love seeing your photos. Takes us back, looks like it definitely was quite a bit warmer for your visit! ;)

Great review so far, I've really enjoyed reading & looking at your photographs, Brilliance was my first cruise experience & it was good to see her at Guernsey (my home) twice this year, looking forward to your review of my island. :)

Claudio,

Your review has just been simply amazing so far, what an incredible adventure it must have been! Keep up the great work, sir :D

Fantastic review - makes me want to book it and it's not a cruise I would of contemplated before. RC should be paying you for this amazing review. The Scottish stops were beautiful and so interesting. We last went to Scotland for our honeymoon - 32 years ago, I think another visit is due !!