Caribbean Princess British Isles Review

[TouringTom]

Twickenham world rugby museum and stadium tour (1 star) – We only went to this because it was attached to our hotel and we wanted to see inside the stadium. I only give it one star because it’s only going to interest hard core Rugby or sports fans and it’s not near downtown London. If you are a Rugby or sports fan then this place is really cool. The tour was interesting. We sat in the royal box (surprisingly public), toured luxury suites and walked out on the pitch. We didn’t get to see the locker rooms because they are under renovation in anticipation of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The museum was interesting and taught us who William Webb Ellis was (he’s the mythical founder of Rugby. Not that he was a myth but most historians don’t think he actually founded Rugby. Similar to Abner Doubleday and baseball). They had several interactive exhibits that were fun because there were no crowds so we could do them over and over. If you are in Twickenham or interested in Rugby it’s worth a visit. Excellent Rugby shop attached.

City Cruises (3 stars) – Included in your London Pass is a 24 hour ticket on City Cruises. This is a ferry type boat that takes you and several hundred of your friends down the Thames. It stops at Westminster, London Eye, Tower of London and Greenwich. We originally planned to take it from the Tower of London to Westminster but the ticket office at ToL was mobbed. A few days later we took it from Westminster to Greenwich and then took the train/tube back to Twickenham. We really enjoyed this cruise. The guide (who claims he really is just doing it as a favor and is not a full time guide) was excellent. He pointed out historical sites, told stories and we now know where every good pub near the Thames is. We sat up top and had spectacular views. We got to Greenwich in the late afternoon and wished we had more time to spend there. Looked like a great place to visit and the town looked interesting.

Harry Potter Studios – Leavesden (1 or 5 stars) – If you are not a Harry Potter fan you can and should skip this attraction. If you are, you will find this to be awesome. http://www.wbstudiotour.co.uk/

HPS is located in Leavesden which isn’t far from Twickenham but difficult to get to from there. We actually ended up going to Winston Churchill War Rooms first, walking around London a bit and then taking the train from Euston Station to Watford Junction. Watford Junction is outside the area covered by the travel card so we went to the ticket counter in Euston and bought “excess fare”. Show your travel card and they simply add the difference between what you’ve already paid and the total. It was under 10 pounds total for the five of us round trip. Upon arrival at Watford Junction we had lunch on the patio at The Flag. This pub is just uphill from the train station and served good pub grub at a reasonable cost. From there we got on the Mullany Bus (2 pounds round trip, pay the driver on board, must have exact change). This bus is wrapped in Harry Potter images and leaves from just outside the train station and takes you straight to the tour. Allow plenty of time (more than suggested on the website) because the bus fills up and only comes every 20 minutes or so. We did not get on the first bus to show so it took an hour from the train station to the studios. We were worried about missing our entry time. It turn out you have a 30-minute window from your ticket time to use your pre-bought tickets (no tickets available on site. You must pre-book). You enter a queue which feels crowded and you start to wonder if this is worth it. Once you get in you are escorted through the actual Great Hall set and then out to the huge exhibition. From this point it’s self guided. They have many, many, props including Privet Drive, the Knights Bus, robes, tri-wizard cup, etc. Look carefully or you’ll miss some really cool items. After you finish with the first building you go outside where you can get butter beer (expensive) and food. Then on to the second building. Here you find artwork from the movies and end up looking at the model used as Hogwarts during the filming. The word model really understates this castle. It’s massive and well worth the price of admission all by itself. Plan at least 3 to 4 hours for this tour if you plan to go. We loved it.

Embarkation Day

Finally the 11th of July was here. We were sad that Sarah would be heading back to Denver (via Vancouver!). Because of this we changed our National Express bus from Victoria Coach to Heathrow. We to the 281 bus to Hounslow, walked to the East Hounslow tube stop and took the Piccadilly line straight into the airport. Easy. We then dropped Sarah off in terminal 3 (it’s important to know which terminal you depart from. United for example uses a different terminal depending on your destination. After sending Sarah on her way we followed the signs to Heathrow Coach and waited for our bus. This bus has a 22kg weight limit (we were worried about that) but nobody weighed the luggage when we got there. If you have luggage that appears “normal” you won’t have a problem. We boarded the bus and enjoyed a comfortable drive to Southampton coach station.

Upon arrival we gathered our suitcases and jumped into a waiting cab. Most of the taxis were station wagon types so it was no problem fitting four people and our luggage into a single cab. Our driver knew where the ship was and pointed out interesting places in Southampton on the 10 minute drive. He mentioned that the Caribbean Princess had a “go fast spoiler” (Skywalkers) on the back. I couldn’t stop thinking that every time we saw the exterior of the ship. The ride and tip was about 8 pounds.

Once we got to the terminal we were literally smothered by luggage handlers. We wanted to get our Princess tags ready and it was stressful while they essentially pushed us to move faster. There were only a few other passengers there so I’m not sure what the hurry was. Anyway, we used clear tape to make a stronger tag from our home printed luggage tags and then used a mini stapler we brought from home to affix the tags. Turns out they have them inside. Next time I’ll make up the printed, folded, taped tags in advance and use the mini stapler again. They took the bags away and we went inside. After a quick restroom stop we went upstairs where they give you a card with a number. Premium and suite passengers seemed to get a different color card and presumably faster service. The upstairs was jammed with travellers and we figured we were in for a long wait. About 15 minutes later we were called up and issued our cruise cards and shown to the security line. This also took about 10 or 15 minutes and we were on board.

We found the next few hours to be much better than other cruise ships we sailed on in the past. First, we were able to go straight to our cabin which while small (expected) had significantly better storage than other ships. We unpacked our already delivered four suitcases and stored them under the closet rod. We also had about 5 narrow shelves with a door and then 9 small drawers in the main cabin. There was a large shelf above the closet rod, which also held a lot of our things. The bathroom was tiny but had a large shelf underneath the sink and several small shelves up the side of the mirror. The only disappointment was that their was only two standard plugs (110v) in the room and they were so close together that only one plug with any type of large end could be plugged in at once and our iPod plug would turn on the light because the switch was next to it. I will bring an extension with multiple inputs next time!

After unpacking we went to the buffet for lunch. We didn’t encounter the usual crushing embarkation buffet scene. We guessed this was probably because everyone could go to the cabins. After lunch we toured the ship and then went up top for the sail away. We went through the “secret door” which I think is on deck 14 to get to the very front. You have to go through a cabin hallway to get to it and we never went back out there so my memory is a little fuzzy.

Now it was time for the lifeboat drill. Princess did this right. We went to club Fusion on deck 7 and sat in a booth the whole time! No standing on the deck in a crowd being herded around. We went through the safety information and tried on our life jackets and that was it. Very easy.

After the show and a nice dinner in the Palm (we had the 8:15 PM standard seating which worked very well for us) we were off to bed.

 

Next post – Guernsey. One of our favorite places even though we only had a few hours in port!

[TouringTom]

Ok, I figured out how to add photos. Here are just a few from London.

1. Sarah, AJ, Dennis and Emily - Big Ben

2. AJ, Emily, Kathy and Sarah - Trafalgar Square

3. Emily and the Queen (really)

4. Kathy, Sarah, Emily and AJ - Buckingham Palace Gates

5. Privet Drive - From the Harry Potter tour

[Luckynana]

Thanks Dennis! I began printing all of your suggestions, so that I can really peruse it all and begin to organize my notebook into sections...:D

 

maryann

[TouringTom]

Thanks Dennis! I began printing all of your suggestions, so that I can really peruse it all and begin to organize my notebook into sections...:D

 

maryann

 

Maryann: Sure glad it helps. Dennis

[TouringTom]

After months of planning one of my pre-booked excursions was finally going to happen. On Guernsey we chose to do a walking tour with Annette Henry http://annettehenrytours.gg/ around the town of St. Peter Port. We were the first to book with Annette and she offered us the choice of a walking tour or a driving tour. It was evident that she was very flexible and would have arranged pretty much anything we wanted to see within the time constraints of our shore time. We had a 2:00PM sailing so our time was limited.

 

We woke up early and headed to Islands dining room around 7:30AM as we had no idea how hard it would be to snag a place on a tender. It turned out to be easy. We received a number (in the 20s) and a few minutes later were heading to the tender and we were en route to St. Peter Port It was fun seeing Guernsey from the Tender. Castle Cornet, the marina area and the town are all right there in front of you. Princess did so well getting us off the boat that we were seriously early for our tour.

Once we landed on Guernsey we walked up to the street a bit but I wanted to stay close in case others in our group showed up early. There is a coffee shop with Wi Fi right on the pier that Annette told us about via email but we didn’t end up trying it out. Why? Because the good residents of Guernsey had a hospitality tent set up at the end of the tender gangway for cruise passengers only. So we gathered inside and chatted with our fellow passengers and the ladies from Guernsey while we waited for the rest of our group and guide.

 

Annette showed up much earlier than our appointed time and after waiting just a bit for the rest of our group to arrive on the tenders, our tour was underway. Annette led us on a fun, well planned, humorous and educational journey through the town. I would recommend Annette as a guide without hesitation. She is fantastic. She knows her subjects, is a natural storyteller, injects a lot of humor into her presentations and brings history to life. Her ability to become friends with a group of strangers is remarkable.

 

During our walking tour we learned about the **** occupation of Guernsey, the plague, the Romans, Pirates, Privateers and how Guernsey is clearly superior to Jersey. We also learned about Vernals, how to get rid of your husband in medieval times (ask Annette!!). We saw the historic downtown area, the Victor Hugo statue (Annette had wonderful stories about Hugo), and the Queen Victoria tower (interesting story on why and how it was built). Annette even had a key to the tower so our little band was able to go into the tower and climb to the top for spectacular views. I suspect most tour guides do not have such easy access to the tower so this was a real treat. We stopped by the Priaulx library, which is housed in an old Georgian home complete with Ghosts. The structure and grounds are beautiful and well worth a visit (and free Wi Fi). According to the library website – “Standing in its own beautiful grounds on the outskirts of St. Peter Port, the Priaulx Library is a converted Georgian Townhouse that became Guernsey’s first free public library in 1889. The house, known as Candie House, was donated to the people of Guernsey by Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx, along with his vast and important collection of books. … It is a wonderful place for tourists and clients alike to browse in the atmosphere of a Victorian library.” http://www.priaulxlibrary.co.uk/priaulx-library-guernsey.asp

 

The bottom line is this tour was fun. Annette kept it interesting and lively. Annette pointed out places for fans of the book “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society” (a short novel describing the **** occupation that I highly recommend reading prior to visiting).

http://www.amazon.com/Guernsey-Literary-Potato-Peel-Society/dp/0385341008/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375749182&sr=8-1&keywords=the+guernsey+literary+and+potato+peel+pie+society

 

Annette used humor to get her points across and we walked away with a good understanding of St. Peter Port and her history. I would highly recommend this walking tour and suspect the driving tour would be equally fantastic. Annette Henry is one of the best tour guides I’ve had the pleasure to book with.

 

After the tour we only had a short time before we had to head back to the Caribbean Princess. We browsed a few shops in Guernsey (there are a lot of interesting shops) and sampled some of the famous Guernsey Ice Cream at a shop recommended by Annette. She was right, it was very creamy and delicious (See Orkney for more Ice Cream tips). The shop was simply labeled “Ice Cream” in the Arcade market area near downtown so I don’t know the name.

 

The return trip to the ship wasn’t quite as fun. The line for the tenders snaked down the pier and around the corner into the street. We struck up a conversation with some fellow passengers including a retired Marine whose business card described his occupation as “papaw”. We really enjoyed our time with them and it made the wait go by quickly. Once back on board we went to our Cruise Critic organized Meet and Greet in Skywalkers. We were able to meet everyone from the roll call and put faces to names and cruise critic monikers. This helped us iron out details for other excursion days. If your roll call doesn’t yet have a meet and greet I would highly recommend it. We talked with our fellow cruise critic members often throughout the cruise and felt like we already knew many of the people on our excursions.

 

The M&G ended just in time for afternoon tea. Sandwiches, petit fours and scones! Tea became one of our favorite on-board activities and we went every time we were on board at 3:30.

 

This was also our son AJs 15th birthday. Princess put a sign on the door with balloons and provided a cake at dinner that night. Guernsey was a formal night so AJ looked great in his new suit for his birthday pictures.

 

Guernsey is a place I would like to visit again. Everyone we met was very friendly, there is a varied and interesting history and the island is beautiful. You may be tempted to stay on board to overcome jet lag but don’t let this opportunity slip away. Do yourself a favor. Get on an Annette Henry tour and enjoy what was one of our favorite stops.

 

The photos are the Victoria Tower, Annette entertaining the group and two of St. Peter Port.

 

next stop - Cobh/Blarney and the 100 degree bus

[ohhbother]

Dennis, thanks for the shout-out! Love reading about your trip, and can't wait to read more!

 

Amy

[TouringTom]

I see my Guernsey review had a word **** out. That word was the common phrase for the Third Reich (N*Z*). I guess it's on a naughty word list or something. Sorry for any confusion.

 

Dennis

[JanaJohn]

Hi Dennis, I just found your review and am loving it! Thanks so much for taking the time to give us your thoughts on your trip. I hope to do this cruise in '15.

 

I see what you mean about the word **** being edited by CC. I guess they assume you're using that word to call someone a name and not using it as an historical reference.

 

One question I have is how did you get your screen name of TouringTom since neither you nor anyone in your family (that you mentioned) are named Tom?

[Uniall]

I see my Guernsey review had a word **** out. That word was the common phrase for the Third Reich (N*Z*). I guess it's on a naughty word list or something. Sorry for any confusion.

 

Dennis

 

Hi Dennis, I just found your review and am loving it! Thanks so much for taking the time to give us your thoughts on your trip. I hope to do this cruise in '15.

 

I see what you mean about the word **** being edited by CC. I guess they assume you're using that word to call someone a name and not using it as an historical reference.

 

One question I have is how did you get your screen name of TouringTom since neither you nor anyone in your family (that you mentioned) are named Tom?

 

The Cruise Critic Moderator doesn't troll the boards looking for objectionable comments or board rule violations. The moderator responds to complaints registered by other posters who click on the on the little red triangle to file a complaint. :confused:

 

Sadly, we live in a time when political correctness prohibits saying anything negative about anyone for anything at any time even if it means re-writing history as it factually occured. :eek:

 

So perhaps it's best to refer to Britain's Isle of Guernsey's Five Year Tourist Progaram for Germany's SchutzStaffel (1940-45) ;)

 

John

[TouringTom]

The Cruise Critic Moderator doesn't troll the boards looking for objectionable comments or board rule violations. The moderator responds to complaints registered by other posters who click on the on the little red triangle to file a complaint. :confused:

 

Sadly, we live in a time when political correctness prohibits saying anything negative about anyone for anything at any time even if it means re-writing history as it factually occured. :eek:

 

So perhaps it's best to refer to Britain's Isle of Guernsey's Five Year Tourist Progaram for Germany's SchutzStaffel (1940-45) ;)

 

John

 

That's funny. Certainly not trying to offend but simply to describe what we learned. Dennis

[Uniall]

That's funny. Certainly not trying to offend but simply to describe what we learned. Dennis

 

It's really sad that I can't say anything negative about guys like Ghengis Kahn, Attilla The Hun (Oh oh, is Hun a violation?) and the like. :rolleyes:

 

So I reserve my judgemental comments for ancient guys like Mursili, King of the Hitites (1350 BC) because nobody ever heard of him. :D

 

Did you hear the one: "Two Hitites walk into a bar ..............." ? :eek:

 

John

Edited August 10, 2013 by Uniall

[caribill]

The Cruise Critic Moderator doesn't troll the boards looking for objectionable comments or board rule violations. The moderator responds to complaints registered by other posters who click on the on the little red triangle to file a complaint. :confused:

 

The moderator did not put in the ****

 

The Cruise Critic posting software automatically does this for a number of words that are considered offensive. Even parts of words, which results that sometimes real people's names have **** in the middle of them.

[Uniall]

The moderator did not put in the ****

 

The Cruise Critic posting software automatically does this for a number of words that are considered offensive. Even parts of words, which results that sometimes real people's names have **** in the middle of them.

 

I never saw the original post, so I didn't know that was the way the computer posted the copy.

 

But, that proves my point even more. Political correctness run amok can destroy truth and invalidate logic and reason.

 

Recently, a government official in Seattle WA issued a ban on using the words "brown bag" lunch or "citizen" because it miight be misconstrued as derogatory.

 

Personally, I think there's enough real evil and malice in the world that needs to be prevented without looking for it where it doesn't exist.

 

John

[MaChere]

We are hoping to take this cruise in 2014 or 2015, and LOVE your information. :):):)

[Uniall]

We are hoping to take this cruise in 2014 or 2015, and LOVE your information. :):):)

 

 

You might want to take a quick look at the Ruby Princess May 23, 2014 with the same itinerary.

There was a big price drop yesterday (don't know if it's permanent or a special short sale) and I rebooked with an $1100 price reduction on a mini-suite.

Edited August 10, 2013 by Uniall

[MaChere]

Thanks, Uniall, but I don't retire from teaching until the first week of June, 2014. That would be a great savings! Shucks!

[KruzPrincess]

Thanks. I'm now shopping a British Isles cruise and am enjoying reading your review.

[phabric]

Thanks. I'm now shopping a British Isles cruise and am enjoying reading your review.

 

If you take the British Isles cruise in August, you get to see the Edinburgh Tattoo, which is only held in August.

 

If you decide to stay in London while the Queen is away, you can visit the royal staterooms at Buckingham Palace, check the dates at http://www.royalcollection.org.uk.

[TouringTom]

The next day we found ourselves in beautiful Ireland. As we entered the buffet for breakfast we were just pulling into Cobh, which is a beautiful seaside village and the last port of departure for the Titanic. After a hearty breakfast we headed out to catch our tour with Butler Bus (also known as Ecoach). As we left the ship I noticed that the train station was right at the dock and there were plenty of taxis. So if you were interested in going you could quite easily get around by train or taxi. What I didn’t notice is there were free maps being handed out by security. Everyone else had them so I simply missed it.

 

Since we had prebooked with Butler Buses http://www.butlers-buses.com/cobh-shore-excursions.htm we bypassed all that and found our driver holding up an Ecoach sign. We checked in and he told us how to get around to our bus. It was a short (a few hundred feet) walk and we were on board.

Our driver Kevin was keen to get us going early and I’m glad he was. We headed out before most of the other buses and had a nice ride to Blarney Castle. Kevin told us some interesting things and that leg of the tour went well. He told us “Ireland is going to start driving on the right like the rest of Europe. They weren’t going to jump right in, just trucks and buses first”). The coach was clean and comfortable. We did notice a difference in sound quality based upon where you sat so look for the speakers in the ceiling and try and sit beneath one. So far so good.

When we got to Blarney Castle we used our pre-bought tickets and headed straight in. http://www.blarneycastle.ie/tickets

 

Admission is not included but they tell you that on the Ecoach website. I highly recommend pre-purchasing tickets to Blarney Castle if you are interested in seeing the castle. It’s quite a walk to the actual castle and you can’t see it from where the bus parks. If you don’t want to go in the castle you can go spend the time shopping in the Blarney Woolen Mills, which is right next to the parking area.

We went in and headed straight for the famous Blarney Stone. The gift of eloquence is what we were after! Thanks to Kevin getting us out reasonably early and Dennis saying “we’ll look at that after” we were able to get up the castle steps and only had a handful of people in line ahead of us. 30 minutes later the line stretched out the castle and down the path.

 

When you get to the stone you hand your belongings (to include glasses) over to the opposite side of the spot where you lay down. Then two men assist you as you reach way back and down to lay a wet one on the stone. Most people seem to miss the actual stone and smooch above it. Look before you bend so you know your target because everything happens pretty fast. Being early we decided it wasn’t too slobbery just yet and gave it a try. As you do it someone in your party can snap a photo and they snap one as well. After that we toured the rest of the castle ruin. They had informative signs telling you what you were looking at but not a lot of detail. Outside there is a gift shop that also sells the photos from the stone. Emily bought hers and now proudly displays her newfound eloquence in her dorm room at college.

The grounds have interesting gardens to include a poison garden (which includes a large cannabis plant strangely enough).

 

After enjoying the castle we had just a few minutes in the Blarney Woolen Mills. Looking back on it Kathy wished we had spent a little less time walking the grounds of Blarney Castle and a little more time shopping in the Woolen Mills. They had good prices on woolens and scotch as compared to the rest of the touristy type stops we saw later in Scotland. Be careful on the woolens, some of the really good prices were for a polyester blend. Look for 100% lambs wool for the lower prices and 100% cashmere for some good bargains. If you know what things cost in advance I think you can find some good items. We wish we had more time there.

When it was time to re-board (I think we had a couple hours total but I don’t remember) we headed to Charles fort/Kinsale area. Charles fort was one of the reasons we booked this trip. Kathy and I had visited there in 2009 and really liked it and thought AJ (the history buff) would enjoy it. On the way we drove through Cork and Kevin pointed out items of historic interest. We didn’t stop in Cork (and didn’t expect to).

 

On the way to Charles Fort one of the passengers needed to use the restroom. The bus was equipped with a restroom so no problem right? Well, the driver would not allow this gentleman to use the facilities “unless it was an emergency”. When informed that it was he still wouldn’t allow it. Instead he pulled the bus off the road and made the passenger go outside on the side of the road. I’m sure he was embarrassed and not at all pleased. Talking with him later he theorized that the driver didn’t want to clean the on board restroom After that we drove on to Charles Fort where we stopped for “5-10 minutes”. What a disappointment. Not the fort, the amount of time allotted. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Fort_(Ireland)

 

We snapped some pictures and managed to get inside by asking if we could use the restroom. We saw a little of the fort to/from the restroom but there was a lot left unexplored. With only 10 minutes allotted it wasn’t worth the four Euro price to enter. Looking at the website later it did say scenic stop at Charles Fort and did not mention touring (but it also didn’t say no touring). The views from there are over a bay and very beautiful.

[TouringTom]

After that let down we drove about 10 minutes into Kinsale. Kinsale is a harbor town that would probably be fun for a day trip (rent a boat or explore out of town) but for the hour we had there we really just had time to grab a bite to eat and then shop a little. The Butler website called it “the gourmet capital”. We didn’t get any advice on where the gourmet was. We ended up eating in a pub called the Armada Bar. http://www.kinsalepubs.ie/pubView.asp?id=12

 

The place was huge and probably a lot of fun when they have music or events. It felt a little empty mid-day but the food was good. Dennis and Emily played a game of darts and then we headed out.

The shops were pleasant and of course we had some ice cream. Good but not Guernsey / Orkney good.

 

All in all we drove an hour from Blarney for some photos at Charles Fort and pub food in Kinsale, then we drove an hour back. I think a better itinerary or more time at Charles Fort would have improved this experience.

 

On the way back the real fun began. As we drove along we started to realize that the bus had no AC. With nearly 50 people on board and windows that can’t be opened you can imagine that it started to get hot. The driver said he had tried everything possible so we just soldiered on. About 40 minutes in it was really hot (probably 90 to 100 degrees) and the passengers started to get restless. Finally we made it back to Cobh and we could see the Caribbean Princess. We thought we were done! The driver pulled up to a church in Cobh and people actually started yelling “just take us back to the ship!” Kevin wasn’t doing that so we all filed off into the pleasant 78 degree weather and felt a little better. The church was St. Colman’s cathedral. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Colman%27s_Cathedral,_Cobh

This is a beautiful modern cathedral (it was finished around 1909) and well worth a look. If you are staying in Cobh and just walking around I highly recommend this Cathedral if you are interested in architecture.

 

After walking around the Cathedral for 10 minutes or so it was time to head back. One of the passengers organized everyone in a line and then started telling the bus driver “the plan”. He had the driver drive away, pull around and pick us up so that we would spend less time on the bus for the last leg. It was entertaining. The driver, fairly defeated at this point, did as he was told and we eventually boarded the bus (after serious debate on just walking back). Guess what? The AC was back on! Kevin explained that he had to turn the bus off and back on to restart the AC and there was no place to do that in the hour drive from Kinsale. Not sure why we couldn’t have pulled off the road like we did earlier in the restroom emergency?? Anyway, we returned safely to our ship. Some of the passengers thought the reason for no AC on the hour from Kinsale was to save gas. I wouldn’t doubt that they were right when combined with the obvious “I don’t want to clean the restroom so you can go stand on the side of the road” experience earlier in the day.

 

My assessment of Butler Bus/ E Coach is middle of the road (2 or 3 stars out of 5). I’m reasonably sure our experiences were unique but they do need to offer the restroom and ensure the buses are in good working order. The Blarney part of the tour was better than expected after reading Rick Steve’s (who pans it as a tourist trap. He’s right but it was a fun tourist trap). The rest was really kind of a waste of an afternoon from our perspective. I would probably just take the train/bus to Blarney and then tour Cork or rent a car and hit some of the excellent sites available in that area on our own. Having said all that, ECoach is offering a sale right now so if the itinerary sounds good you can get in for 19.99 Euro. At this price it may be worth it. Research food in Kinsale in advance if you’re looking for gourmet.

Back on board we caught the tail end of an opera singer (male) in the main atrium. He was outstanding. We wish we had arrived earlier. Princess brought in local talent to entertain the returning passengers (and those who stayed on board). The entertainers would have to leave before we departed so the opportunities were limited. Head to the atrium or check your patter. Often these are worthwhile (under way the “street performers” on our cruise was consistently a balancing act. The act was interesting the first night but after seeing him balance a 10 speed on his head night after night it became a running joke in our family. “Look – there’s a guy with a 10 speed on his head, I haven’t seen that for hours”.)

 

After hearing the singer we headed out on deck 7 for the sail away. Literally hundreds of Cobh residents and a local band were out there waving goodbye. That was awesome! We found throughout the cruise that smaller, more central ports had this type of send off. Definitely plan to be on Deck 7 port side for the daily sail away. It is very fun.

 

We changed for dinner and headed to the 7PM show. It was a comedian who was pretty good. At dinner we enjoyed some excellent crab cakes and Emily had “an awesome “smoothie as her appetizer. The highlight was Pecan butterscotch pie (looked like a cheesecake). Hard to describe but excellent!

 

After dinner Dennis made a quick visit to the casino where he managed to have his most successful night of the cruise (net gain $2.50) and then off to bed.

 

 

Photos in part I

1. Kathy, Emily and AJ at Blarney Castle

2. Dennis kissing the stone! Notice the handrails

3. CharlesFort

4. The Sail Away band mentioned in Part II

5. AJ in the poison garden - Blarney (you figure out what is in there!)

Photos in part II

1. St. Colman's interior

2. Opera singer mentioned in Part II

 

Next installment, Dublin on a Sunday

[RevSmith]

Does the Caribbean P still do the seafood bar in the Lido

[melody hounddog]

Thanks so much for your honest review of Cobh. I've been debating whether to do the Butler tour or the ship's Fort Charles and Kinsale tour. After reading your take on it, I will book the Fort Charles and Kinsale tour. I would like more time at each of these places and not just a photo opt and a meal. Thanks so much for all the details and insight.

[TouringTom]

Does the Caribbean P still do the seafood bar in the Lido

I really don't know. They had a great seafood spread one day but we usually ate in the dining rooms so I don't know if it's a daily event or just once in awhile. Same for Sushi. Sorry

[TouringTom]

Thanks so much for your honest review of Cobh. I've been debating whether to do the Butler tour or the ship's Fort Charles and Kinsale tour. After reading your take on it, I will book the Fort Charles and Kinsale tour. I would like more time at each of these places and not just a photo opt and a meal. Thanks so much for all the details and insight.

If you want to go in Charles Fort then you want to be on a different tour or do it on your own. Location wise I think your only choice would be rent a car but I may be wrong. I take it the ship tour gives you more time?

 

Have fun on your trip!

Dennis

[Uniall]

Thanks so much for your honest review of Cobh. I've been debating whether to do the Butler tour or the ship's Fort Charles and Kinsale tour. After reading your take on it, I will book the Fort Charles and Kinsale tour. I would like more time at each of these places and not just a photo opt and a meal. Thanks so much for all the details and insight.

 

Having traveled to the "Holy Ground" of the "Auld Sod" many times, I can recommend several alternative tours in Blarney & Kinsale.

 

Blarney: The Blarney Woolen Mills

The best prices and largest inventory of Irish Woolen goods anywhere in the world. (ship home for free) While the women buy out the stock in the huge second floor retail shop, the men can enjoy the first floors' superb pub.

 

Kinsale: The Battle of Kinsale's battlefield (all of the town and surrounding area)

Learn how personal and petty differences between the last of the Irish nobility (cousins: O'Neill & O'Donnell, Earls of Tyrone & Tyrconell in Ulster) snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on Christmas eve 1599, thus postponing the end of British rule for another 322 years.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Uniall