MSC Magnifica picture heavy fun review -- 12 days British Isles incl. DIY port trips

[bridgetjonesni]

But this is how it could have been done, in case you plan to do DIY to the Giant’s Causeway at this port:

 

Three possible options to the Giant’s Causeway:

1. 08:20 – 09:40 Train from Belfast Central station to Coleraine

10:10 – 10:53 Bus 402 from Coleraine to Giant’s Causeway

 

2. 09:30 – 11:05 Bus 221 Express from Belfast Victoria Station to the Giant’s Causeway

 

3. 09:05 – 12:25 Bus 256 Scenic route from Belfast Victoria Station to the Giant’s Causeway

 

Three possible options back to Belfast

 

1. 12:26 – 13:09 Bus 402 Giant’s Causeway to Coleraine

13:19 – 14:39 Train from Coleraine to Belfast Central Station

 

2. 14:00 – 15:35 Bus 221 from the Giant’s Causeway to Belfast Victoria Station

 

3. 12:50 – 14:00 Bus 177 (open top) Giant’s Causeway to Coleraine

14:19 – 15:39 Train from Coleraine to Belfast Central Station

 

Pay attention – the Victoria Train Station is somewhere completely different than the Central Train Station! Both are at a 15 minute walking distance from the drop off point at the city hall … but walking in opposite directions!

 

Just to say that many of these bus options are sadly only available in the summer months, despite much harassing of our local transport authority :rolleyes: Always double-check. In winter your best option is likely to be an organised tour.

 

The red double decker busses were supplied by the city of Belfast to transport the cruise passengers to and from Belfast free of charge. Wow! Great service! Go Belfast!

 

We were off the boat at 9:15 and arrived (of course via one of the free busses) in the city center of Belfast at 9:35. You’ll be dropped off right next to the City Hall.

 

This is something I'm really proud that Belfast offers. I've been in lots of other ports on cruises where you have to pay a small fortune for a shuttle, which may even drop you off pretty far away from the city centre. I'm so glad we offer a good, free service to visitors.

 

By who? Wait and see.

So intrigued!

 

Not that anyone wants you to rush Belfast in fact I can't wait to see your Giants Causeway pictures as i've never been :o:(

 

You've never been?!?! Something that must be rectified as soon as humanly possible! :D

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

:owell -- finished writing my next post.

 

Need a few deep breaths until I work up the guts to actually post it. The first part ain't that bad I guess, but the second half might be a bit provocative.

 

I love you all --- and really hope that nobody will be offended. Gulp.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Well, first of all I must say that every single Northern Irish person we met that day was friendly, outgoing, witty and had this fun little twinkle of minor mischief in his or her eyes. They were absolutely charming! We just had one major problem … we couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Heaven … is that supposed to be English? Or was this Gaelic and we didn’t notice?

Anyway, on the shuttle bus we discussed our further plans … let’s face it … the distance to our wanna-see sights was too great to get there without motorized transportation … lol , although I think the “travel by Giant” idea is absolutely fabulous, Denise.

We could organize a last minute rental car … crap I had all kinds of public transport maps along … but not one with actual streets on it … so this was our second favorite plan.

Our favorite was to get off the shuttle bus and spontaneously find a locally offered tour, that would bring us at least to the Giant's Causeway and back …

...since the all aboard time had been switched to 18:30, we should find something that would bring us back in time … too bad that the free shuttle busses would stop running at 15:30 that day!

But we could always take a taxi from the City Hall to the port … no biggy. But would there be any tours left to book right on sight?

We didn’t have to worry - when we got off the bus, we were surrounded like celebrities. There were MANY local companies offering all kinds of tours. The first one saying the words “Giant Causeway” (which we actually understood – since he was a cute tiny Asian guy, whose first language was …something, but definitely not Northern-Irish-English) was our man. We listened real briefly as to what he had to say and were amazed by the low price and convenience.

There would be a bus, exclusively for the cruise ship passengers, that would leave at 10:00, take us on an all day trip first to the Carrick-a-Rede Ropebridge, then to the Giant’s Causeway and back – and now comes the best part – it would bring us back not to the starting point at the City Hall, but directly back to the port to our ship a little before 16:30 (they didn’t know about the changed all aboard times of course).

Perfect! And the price for this special cruise-tailored-tour was breathtakingly low … we paid a little less than 90 pounds for all three of us together.

It was a bit more expensive than their regular tours, but since it fit our needs perfectly, we went for it.

Tadahh – our tickets bought in the store behind Tanja. See, how she's still a bit sceptical about what we just purchased?

This is their flyer for the “regular” tour.

We were very relieved that we’d get to see our planned sights – and you can relax as well now, because you'll get to hear all about it … of course with added historical and or legendary background each.

Talking about background lectures … the tour not only got us to the sights, it also included a funnier than hell local busdriver, who told us … stuff. We understood near to nothing … except little bits like the Titanic name info I told you about … but it was the WAY he tried to talk to us, that was so endearing.

You know how some people tell you stuff, and their entire body tells the tale simultaneously as well? He was one of those gifted people (lol -- I believe it's a far advanced skill to talk with your body, while you're driving a bus). And the whole bus-crowd liked him … and we’re talking French, Dutch, Germans, Spanish, English, New Zealand’s, Australians and some Asian countrymen…not sure which. Many of them didn’t speak any English (lol, not like that would have helped much) … and still managed to laugh with him.

I know… crappy picture, but better than nothing.

The bus itself was rather shabby … but for the price we paid … who cares?

So we still had 20 minutes left. We used it to visit the restrooms at the Mac Donald’s across the street and walk around the area next to the city hall. Sadly we didn’t get to see much more of Belfast that day …

well, except the impressions we got from the shuttle bus and the tour bus.

I have to admit, I felt a bit shy to visit this city and although I’m usually all for history posts, I’m not sure if it would be too intruding to add one here.

We just celebrated the 25th anniversary of the tearing down of the Berlin wall. It was a big thing in this country. People were crying out of joy and relieve, that the separating wall went down. In Belfast you have not one huge wall but a total of 99 of all shapes and sizes.

But the thing is – we had the impression that they were (and I know that sounds odd) to a point still needed. It makes a difference if you have people on opposite sides of a separation, who are ready to tear it down … or if you have people, who still have a slight fear deep inside to do so.

We had the impression that the wish to be safe was in some areas larger than the will to tear down walls.

Tanja initially would have loved to tour one of the biggest walls between the protestant Shankill quarter and the catholic Falls quarter. They actually have the HoHo bus drive right by it. I’ve read on some forums though, that it isn’t real pleasant for the locals… I mean, how would

you

feel, if tourists just came to your home town, solely to stare at this structure, which -- although still serving a purpose --to a point portrays fear and seclusion? The murals are surely an exception … but still.

I believe you would rather present other outstanding sites of your city, that are far more worth a visit and that all of Belfast can be truly proud of (our tablemates for instance told us, the Titanic museum was absolutely fantastic).

But then again, maybe I’m not grasping the whole picture. This is just my personal impression. Maybe the religious part isn’t the main factor anymore … maybe it’s more of a conflict between the “proud to be Brits” and the “I’d rather belong to the Irish Republic” folks.

Please, please, please don’t feel offended by what I’m writing here.

What I loved in Northern Ireland:

The people!

Soooo friendly – and I must say sometimes a wee bit quicker in their actions than their southern neighbors. Lol – of course that doesn’t count for all of them… just something we observed…doesn’t need to be positive or negative.

Nature!

One of the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen! And we saw only a tiny part of what Northern Ireland has to offer! We definitely want to return to do more awe inspiring nature trips here.

The open and friendly welcome in Belfast!

The free shuttle busses were just a grand idea. It shows that the city values foreigners wanting to visit and is willing and able to support that wherever possible. The (wall-free) city center is a lively and open-minded metropolitan spot, which will be a joy to explore further in a future visit.

What I didn’t like so much:

The “gated community” feeling in some quarters.

There just seemed to be fences nearly everywhere and the places right next to some of those fences where decaying pretty badly. What a waste of space, especially in a big European city like Belfast.

Houses or whole streets with an abundance of flags.

Don’t get me wrong – I don’t mind flags to show who or what you’re a fan of … but I draw the line at one flag per house. We saw houses however with more than 5 flags each … on both sides – either Union Jack or Irish Rep. My personal opinion: If you feel the need to demonstrate your loyalty in such a way, there might still be strong feelings of uncertainty behind it.

 

It will be very interesting to see what’ll happen here in the next 20 or so years.

Oh, by the way --- I’m catholic, Tanja’s protestant and Tarik isn’t even baptized.

There --- I wrote it. This was the post I feared the most – and I’m glad I finally got it written. I really hope not to have offended anybody.

To all the Northern Irish readers out there:

Your country is absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed our visit very much! Thank you for the warm welcome and the fun times! Be assured to be included in our prayers for a peaceful and fearfree future.

Bridgetjonesni --- please don’t leave. After all --Just a silly German tourist babbling along.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Pluto_fan]

Stef, please don't worry. You're among friends here! :) Your post was thoughtfully written and I don't think anyone would take offense at it. (Of course I'm neither Northern Irish nor Irish...but from a neutral perspective I think you expressed yourself well).

 

So glad you were able to change your plans on the fly and still visit your top-priority sights!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Stef, please don't worry. You're among friends here! :) Your post was thoughtfully written and I don't think anyone would take offense at it. (Of course I'm neither Northern Irish nor Irish...but from a neutral perspective I think you expressed yourself well).

 

So glad you were able to change your plans on the fly and still visit your top-priority sights!

 

:oOh thank you so much for posting! You can't believe how much I was holding my breath until the first reply would arrive after my Belfast post.....Sooo good to hear you're still with me. You just took a load off my chest:o. Thanks again:p!

 

Stef

[denisey]

Stef, please don't worry. You're among friends here! :) Your post was thoughtfully written and I don't think anyone would take offense at it. (Of course I'm neither Northern Irish nor Irish...but from a neutral perspective I think you expressed yourself well).

 

So glad you were able to change your plans on the fly and still visit your top-priority sights!

 

Pluto, you said exactly what I was thinking!

 

And I LOVE Tanja's sceptical face! She is so expressive!

 

Too bad about the lack of Giant transportation!

[Irish Cath]

Hi Stef,

 

Another person here that's in the 'not offended' category. Although in some way my opinion doesn't really count because I have no personal experience of 'the troubles'. I am however aware that our beautiful country is possibly somewhat misunderstood abroad and that some tourists may avoid it as they may feel unsafe or afraid of the unknown maybe.

 

You are doing a fantastic job showing the world ( the cruising world anyway :D ) how welcoming and safe and open to tourists Belfast is. Well done and thank you for that.

 

I certainly don't want to start any kind of a political debate here but I hope you or any of your other readers don't mind me commenting on one of your points.

The flags issue - while loads of flags displayed may seem over the top -displaying such pride in an identity probably doesn't stem from great uncertainty, rather a sense of solidarity with ones perspective. These are people who have lost family and friends and each persuasion has at one time or another felt that their way of life and identity were in dire danger of being eradicated. The flags may simply be a celebration of being still alive, in my humble opinion :o

 

And now I can't wait to see your next post as I know your words and pictures will do this little country a great service! :)

[bridgetjonesni]

Not offended in the slightest! And in fact I really do agree with you. There are now three main "camps" of people in Northern Ireland: those who are zealously British/Unionist/Loyalist (whatever you want to call it); those who are zealously Irish/Nationalist/Republican (whatever you want to call that); and then the rest of us, who are sick of the whole thing, couldn't care less what religious or political viewpoints anyone else has, and just want to get along and enjoy our vibrant, lovely homeland together. Needless to say, I'm in the latter group. I hate flags, I resent the continued existence of "peace" walls, and I hope one day soon our politicians and the rest of society will join the rest of us in moving forward for the greater, communal good. The divisions in our society are just keeping certain communities in poverty, with poor education and a higher incidence of health issues and crime. I personally want to see an end to that, in part so that people from around the world will feel safe and welcome to come and see our beautiful country without worrying about what they've seen on the news. Maybe one day! I'm glad you enjoyed your trip apart from that though. Oh and don't worry about offending anyone from Northern Ireland - we're quite used to offending each other so it's no big problem when anyone else joins in! :p

[windjamming]

Stef, I can't comment on the flags or walls - not having experience in that regard - but I can totally relate on the love for both the Irish and the Northern Irish! We had stops in Belfast and Cork on one of our cruises (we went to Antrim and Blarney, respectively), and had a splendid time. In addition to the beauty (so green!) of the land, just like you, everyone we met was SO friendly and nice and charming.

 

It's on my list of places to visit again, and darn it, you are doing a marvelous publicity job for a British Isles cruise!

 

One difference though: I didn't have any problems understanding anyone in either Ireland nor Northern Ireland, perhaps because I work with a large contingent of Irish. Scots, on the other hand...let's just say I feel really stupid after asking for the 3rd time what someone said!

 

Great review, as always.

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[denisey]

I was telling my husband about this review over dinner, and the great conversation about walls.

 

He said, "Doesn't Stef like walls?"

 

"No"

 

"Well tell her she might want to avoid China!"

 

:D

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

:)Yay -- absolution from both Ireland and Northern Ireland!:)

 

Thank you for your tolerance and for the willingness to endure this somewhat controversial post. I feel very relieved -- and reassured that it was the right thing to post it afterall. Although this is "only" a cruise forum ... when visiting Northern Ireland, I believe it would be too shallow to ignore this topic. But I also believe it unneccessary to dwell in the past. I totally agree with bridgetjonesni ... it's time for a fresh, vivid start for ALL of Northern Ireland without constantly being held back by resentments.

 

:DThank you of course to the non-Irish for their supportive posts as well!

 

lol -- and now let's leave all the heavy stuff behind us and enjoy some pictures taken on the bus, okay?

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Blissfully Grazing in a green Paradise

 

I thought the Scottish sheep and cattle looked overly happy? Heck, that was boot-camp compared to the life the grazing animals enjoyed on this Isle. I just chose two pictures each ... sheep ... cattle ... horses. Just enjoy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

love the pictures of the shoreline? Well - good, cause there are more coming up in a minute!

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Wherever you looked it felt like a landscape in some legendary fairytale.

 

We already fell deeply in love with the Scottish landscape .... rugged, outdoorsy, purple, airy and just a pleasure for body and soul to regenerate in...

 

now this landscape was utterly beautiful as well ... just different ... sort of bewitched and with an elegant dark glow to it. ...

 

...really hard to describe. It had a magical touch to it. Very intruiging. And when I just think of the countless sights we didn't even get to glimpse ... I mean they have a waterfall trail that will blow your socks off ... Lanes lined with old gnarly trees that seem to be alive like the ents in the Lord of the Rings.

 

No wonder they filmed most of the Game of Thrones series here in Northern Ireland. It simply blows you away. But enough of my babbling. Let's enjoy some pictures of the shoreline.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

sorry to keep you all waiting, but life gets in the way sometimes. I'll try to continue tomorrow ... but I promise to definitely be back no later than monday...okay?

 

Stef

[showingdiva]

Stef

Just wanted to say that I am delighted that you enjoyed Edinburgh - my life-long home. I'm one of the volunteer cruise guides (you may have seen some my colleagues at South Queensferry - in purple) at the three ports on the Firth of Forth. Your photos are fantastic, as is your review, and I do hope you get the opportunity to come back to Edinburgh again soon.

I will tell Louise - who was playing the bagpipes - that you enjoyed her playing and the magnificent backdrop of the Forth Bridge.

You will be relieved to know that the other bridge - the Forth Road Bridge - is alive and well, has been fully renovated, and the new bridge - the Queensferry Crossing - which is going to take the strain off the increasing amount of traffic - is progressing well.

As for 2015 - we're already in the middle of planning for the 60+ cruise ships that will be visiting us.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Stef

Just wanted to say that I am delighted that you enjoyed Edinburgh - my life-long home. I'm one of the volunteer cruise guides (you may have seen some my colleagues at South Queensferry - in purple) at the three ports on the Firth of Forth. Your photos are fantastic, as is your review, and I do hope you get the opportunity to come back to Edinburgh again soon.

I will tell Louise - who was playing the bagpipes - that you enjoyed her playing and the magnificent backdrop of the Forth Bridge.

You will be relieved to know that the other bridge - the Forth Road Bridge - is alive and well, has been fully renovated, and the new bridge - the Queensferry Crossing - which is going to take the strain off the increasing amount of traffic - is progressing well.

As for 2015 - we're already in the middle of planning for the 60+ cruise ships that will be visiting us.

 

Welcome to the review!

I'm happy to hear you liked my posts about your home town Edinburgh. It feels great to have a local tell you that ... thank you! We absolutely loved it. Thank you also for the great work all of you volunteers are doing for the cruise passengers.

 

Lol -- yes please definitely tell Louise that her wonderful piping will stay in our memories forever. And I love the fact that I know her name now, thanks for that as well! I hope you stick around for the other ports ... there is one more Scottish port day coming up as well!

 

 

Also good to know that the road passage over the Firth is covered... because next time we'll be visiting by car ... and bring lots of time for many of the countless sites your wonderful country has to offer.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Some more pictures from driving around in the bus:

How about this little house for a romantic get-away? Very cute.

But to really live in, I’d probably rather chose this one:

I think our sheep would be ecstatic. Lilly (our head of the herd gal – lol, she’s only half as big as all the other ones, but the only one with horns

:-)

-- I guess that helps) would probably do little salti mortales … She can jump like no sheep I’ve ever seen before.

 

When I took this picture, I just thought the flowers looked pretty. Then I read the sign with the 7 towers and thought there might be a fun story behind it…

well – not really… they just stood for 7 prominent buildings you could see when entering the town.

 

The next pics were taken while driving through Ballycastle …. Just if you’re wondering …bally this, bally that…yes, you find this in a whole lot of names throughout Ireland. It comes from the Gaelic word Baile meaning "place of".

I just loved the looks of this pub

Next to the quaint little pub was this bright red butcher’s shop.

And two houses further down a vet practice

but I have to admit I like the looks of mine better…this one looks rather closed and run down.

Next up we’ll start with the first of our two big sights … the Carrick-a-Rede Ropebridge.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Carrick-a-Rede (post one of five)

Let’s start with some organizational stuff, before we get to the pictures of the stunning scenery. Our bus driver offered us tickets. He told us he could give us tickets for five pounds each, at the regular entrance we’d have to pay 5,60. Lol – we wondered: How can he get cheaper ones? We saw him get more from the lady at the parking lot hut. Lol – those tickets we got from him were group tickets and cost four pounds each if you buy a bunch of them…so I guess, if they split evenly that’s 50 cents win for each sold ticket. With approximately 50 people on each bus … quite the business. Here are our two adult (group) tickets.

We didn’t buy one for Tarik, since he only needed a child's admission. So we headed to the entrance and bought one child ticket for 2,90.

Tadah – Tarik’s ticket. Cool thing: we got this brochure along with the ticket, telling us all about the sight we were about to see.

Wait… I scanned it for you all. This way I for once don’t have to compose the history lesson myself and can just enjoy showing you tons and tons of pictures in the upcoming posts. But first… here is the brochure:

So ... we just spent twelve pounds and ninety cents for the privilege to walk over a bridge … would it be worth it? Or would we regret it? Or would we maybe even chicken out?

Stay tuned!

Stef

[bridgetjonesni]

Next to the quaint little pub was this bright red butcher’s shop.

 

I just noticed the sign about the sausages in the window of the butcher's shop and as I screwed up my face I wondered if you would even know what dulse is? It's dried seaweed, believe it or not. It's, erm, an acquired taste, which personally I have never acquired, but yet my mother loves it. Ballycastle holds an annual traditional fair called the Ould Lammas Fair, which is very unique to the area. Dulse is a traditional food sold at the fair, along with Yellow Man (which is kind of like honeycomb). You can see some great photographs of this year's fair (including the famous dulse sausages!) here:

http://www.u.tv/galleries/Auld-Lammas-Fair-2014/dd879b5e-9881-4651-93eb-7154f80ca751

 

So yes, just sharing another little Northern Irish quirk with you - pork and seaweed sausages!

 

Looking forward to seeing what you made of the rope bridge. I only went for the first time in my mid-twenties with some English relatives and it was quite a different experience than I had anticipated.

[windjamming]

Wow! On our last cruise, we saw and tried dulse at the Saint John, (New Brunswick, Canada) City Market, and I had thought it was a Canadian specialty. I had no idea it had Northern Irish roots!!!

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

Edited November 17, 2014 by windjamming

[posso]

more please

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Carrick-a-Rede (post two of five)

 

 

The walk to the bridge is quite long, but very pretty.

 

 

 

You can actually see Scotland from here...not the land you see up front, that's Rathlin Island, but the faint blue coastline behind it.

 

Now the view facing the other direction is even more mindblowing:

You can see the parking spot way in the back. This is about half way to the bridge.

 

 

Some of the path lead over these steps (although there is also the stretch of path returning, that I think is wheelchair accessible...)

 

 

 

I love this picture .

 

 

 

 

Well, weelchairs definitely won't be able to cross the actual bridge... as won't these guys:

 

There is a story told that the only casualty ever on the bridge was a dog, who fell off... but I don't know about the amount of truth in that... anyway these guys looked rather happy and full of anticipation...

 

What where they waiting for?

 

 

 

 

 

Ahhh, mystery solved. ... the rest of the desperately missed pack, who probably went across the bridge! I love happy dogs -- and happy kids ... in combination ... the best!

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

 

Edited November 18, 2014 by Kreuzfahrtneuling

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

So yes, just sharing another little Northern Irish quirk with you - pork and seaweed sausages!

 

I have never heard of Dulce! Thank you so much for telling me! Seaweed in a sausage does sound quirky... but I'd love to try. :DOne more thing on my list to do in life now! Thank you! Please feel free to add as many local quirks as possible! I love em so much! they're the real bonus of writing the review:).

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

:confused:can't decide what to post first ... the actual bridge crossing followed by the island or the two posts with scenic pictures ... you decide... I'll wait:).

 

Stef

[windjamming]

:confused:can't decide what to post first ... the actual bridge crossing followed by the island or the two posts with scenic pictures ... you decide... I'll wait:).

 

Stef

 

Aww, you can't leave us hanging at the edge of the bridge (with bonus pics of cute dogs and kids) without letting us crossing it! I vote for the bridge crossing. We'll enjoy the scenery after "our" hard work. :D