British Isles Cruise Review Summer 2014

[Travlin grrl]

Am I correct in that you had to wait in line for an hour and a half just to get into the castle? Or was this for the line to kiss the Blarney stone?

 

Whatcruisenext, I may have misunderstood your question.

Where you buy your tickets to go into the castle grounds there really wasn't too long of a line. Maybe 5-10 minutes but I pre bought my tickets just in case.

The long line was for the castle where you kiss the Blarney Stone. The tour busses seem to stagger through the day. Plus it was a Saturday, not sure if that makes a difference. Hope that answers your question better.

[Travlin grrl]

Liverpool is not as big as you think it would be. We didn't have any plans so we got off the ship and decided to do the HOHO bus tour.

When you get off the ship there is a bus right there you can buy your tickets from. But then you have to walk down to the next bus to wait and get on. Pre-buy your tickets if you don't want to wait. There was another tour company a little bit further down, so you may want to check out both before you stop at the first one. It takes about an hour so we just did the whole tour and then came back to the beginning and got off at Matthews St. to search for the Cavern and buy some Beatles souvenirs. We took pics in front of the Cavern and walked around the shopping area. We stopped at the "Poundland Store" which is their version of our 99 cent store. Great place to pick up junk food and candy bars.

 

We dropped our things back at the ship since we were about a 5 minute walk away and went to Albert Dock to do the Beatles Story. It's a museum of sorts that starts out in their pre-Beatles history and goes till the end. We got there around 6:00 p.m.and the girl at the front said it would take about an hour. They give you a free audio head set to listen throughout the tour. There were a few people behind us as well. We got to about 30 on the audio part which was as far as the Yellow Submarine and the workers at the end said they are closing at 7:00p.m. and we had to stop and turn our headsets in. There were about 10 people left and the gift shops was all ready closed. Wow...wished they would of told us that at the beginning. So we missed the end of the tour. There really was no one to complain to because they all just kind of disappeared, but there is Trip Advisor for when I get home.

 

Then we found a pub called "the Pig and Whistle" which wasn't crowded at all and when we asked the girl for a good recommendation she poured 3 beers for us to choose from like a taste testing session. We laughed and drank with the locals just happy to be somewhere across the world soaking up the British culture. I hope they don't get too tired of us saying.."What?"

 

Back to the ship for another filling dinner and Beatles show in the Theatre. The Beatles show was the most popular so go early if you want a seat. It was standing room only so stayed for just a couple songs and moved on to Fusion Club where they were doing Karoake and convinced my husband to get up there. He has a great voice so it was fun to see him singing away.

Bye Bye Beatles.

 

Working on my blog but manually entering the dates so you can read from Day 1 down instead of backwards. Also posting lots of pics.

[ontheweb]

On to Dublin to look for Bono. We took a Princess shuttle from the ship to town. If you take the Princess Shuttle my advice is to prebuy your tickets on the ship because if you try to buy them like we did before you board it's a long line. It was $16.00 round trip per person. So $64.00 total for 4 and I don't know how much a taxi was but if anyone knows let me know.

 

We decided to go to Trinity college first for "The Book of Kells". It's only a block away from where the shuttle drops you off. It's hard to believe that college is still active because it looks like a Museum. There was a long line to get in, I will guess about an hour. It is pretty fascinating but you can't take pictures of the manuscripts of course. It was a Sunday when we were in town and the "Dublin Castle" was closed, so on the advice of a worker he suggested Christchurch Cathedral. I'm going to say every church is probably beautiful and this one was picturesque. What was really cool about it is there is an underground crypt with a lot of information and history. When you go down the stairs it automatically gets cooler. It feels like you are in a stone cave and very mysterious.

I can't remember how much it was to get in but it wasn't too much.

 

After that it was on to the Guiness Storehouse tour. In Dublin it's easy to get lost with all the narrow windy streets. So of course we headed in the wrong direction but everyone is always so helpful with directions so after we got back on track it wasn't too far from our original location. We pre bought our tickets online and I would suggest it so you can bypass the line. This is a about a 6 story building that gets a little more fun the closer you get to the top. You get to learn how to drink the beer correctly, pour the perfect beer, take a group picture at the bar where you get a certificate and other fun things to do before you finally get to drink the beer at the top in a panoramic window bar that's more like a nightclub/bar setting. They have a great souvenir shop on the way out and my husband picks up a few things. What was one of those souvy's.....a bottle opener on a key chain. Okayyy.

 

After all that we headed back to our shuttle for the ship and had a late dinner in the dining room. The later you go the less crowded it is. The World Cup was playing so the entire pool area where the MUTS is playing and Club Fusion was jam packed standing room only with fans cheering on the teams. It was kind of fun to be caught up in all of that.

This was definitely a walking day and didn't get to Browning Street and a couple other places but still packed a lot in. A little rain off and on today but not too bad.

Tomorrow....Liverpool.

 

A comment on The Book of Kells at Trinity College---it is well worth it, truly amazing. And it is a shame that you cannot take pictures.

 

We were on the shorter British Isles cruise on the Ocean Princess. We got on line for the Book of Kells before it was open. There was a wait, but not that long. And it turned out that the couple in front of us in line was also on our cruise, so we passed the time with a pleasant where are you from, how often have you cruised, etc. conversation.

 

We did go back later to Trinity College, and saw that the line was very, very long. So, my advice would be get there early.

[whatcruiseisnext]

Whatcruisenext, I may have misunderstood your question.

Where you buy your tickets to go into the castle grounds there really wasn't too long of a line. Maybe 5-10 minutes but I pre bought my tickets just in case.

The long line was for the castle where you kiss the Blarney Stone. The tour busses seem to stagger through the day. Plus it was a Saturday, not sure if that makes a difference. Hope that answers your question better.

 

Thank you for this wonderful review and answering my questions! Do you only go into the castle if you want to kiss the Blarney stone or is there a line to enter just to see the castle? Thanks so much!

[HRPro]

Not the OP, but can answer having just visited Blarney Castle in May. As the castle is a ruin, there is really no reason to cue up and wait in line to see the inside of the castle as there is really very little to see. the gardens and grounds of Blarney Castle are worth the trip to see and wander around. Shopping at the Woolen Mills is excellent, and they have great food for lunch in the large cafeteria.

[Travlin grrl]

Thank you for this wonderful review and answering my questions! Do you only go into the castle if you want to kiss the Blarney stone or is there a line to enter just to see the castle? Thanks so much!

HRPRO pretty much answered it right. The grounds are spectacular.

There is only one line to go into a shelled out castle which is about 4 flights of circular narrow winding stairs to the top and you will see various "what used to be" rooms along the way. To kiss the Blarney Stone it is all the way at the top with great views of the countryside.

[Travlin grrl]

Hope this works. The Yellow Submarine.

[Travlin grrl]

Okay I officially give up trying to post pics. I have done so many failed tests but I am able to post pics to my blog.

 

We decided to see the 8th wonder of the world.....The Giant Causeways. Legend is the giant Finn McCool used the columns as stepping stones from Scotland to Ireland to visit his giantess lover. Or they were lava formations....you decide.

 

We took the Odyssey tour company and Alana was our guide who is young, cute, energetic and full of information! We absolutely loved her. We had an hour at the Causeways which isn't enough time and made the mistake of taking the Redtail path to the right. Don't get me wrong, it is beautiful and scenic but did not leave us any time to actually walk around the Causeway stones. And I'm a pretty fast walker. Be sure to take the path to the left or shuttle if you are on restricted time. If you are on a tour you probably don't have time for the visitor center which costs I think £7.50 or £8.50 to go in. So I took some quick pictures of the hexagonal rock formations and was afraid the shuttle wouldn't get me back in time being a long line so I walked and actually beat the shuttle going back.

 

Next stop was the Carrick Bridge which was also an hour to spend there. It's about a 20 minute walk to the suspension bridge and the most photographic moments of our trip. You have to wait for everyone to cross one way before you can cross so expect a little wait. Could be 10 minutes or so. The two Irish guys on each end are cracking jokes that you may not make it and please don't report them to the safety board. Once you get to the end cliff it's time to take a selfie of the fam and this may have to be our next Christmas card.

 

On to Ballycastle which is a quaint little town to have lunch on Alana's recommendation so we can get out in a timely manner. One thing you should know about Ireland...they don't do iced tea. So I guess I'll have a beer. We drive through the scenic Antrim coast on the way back and a quick tour through Belfast to see the history of the Protestsants and Catholics and view the Peace Wall which is so interesting. I'm glad we got out of the city to see the country because this is what I was waiting to see the whole time. So Ireland.

[Travlin grrl]

We came into port with grey skies and heavy rain. You will go through the Greenock cruise terminal where I picked up a "Scotland" logo rain jacket since my daughter confiscated mine. It was pouring down rain and hard to figure out which was our tour bus. I was looking for "Discover Scotland" but it didn't have a logo on the side of the bus. After realizing we missed the tour because we couldn't find it we found a pay phone in the terminal and called them. Apparently when they called our name someone else stepped up and said it was them but the other 2 people in their party couldn't make it. So busted! So we took a cab to their office at their expense and Michael took us on a private tour until we caught up to them at the Inverary Castle and the other 2 people had to go back with Michael to the cruise terminal. Let me tell you that all the Scottish people are unbelievably helpful and I felt like everyone was trying to help us get us to the right place the best they could.

 

One of the places we visited was "Luss" with a charming little church and graveyard out front. We then toured the "Inverary Castle" which has the Duke of Argyll history and the family lives on one side of the castle and open the other side for tours. Some of "Downtown Abbey" is filmed here and you may recognize some of it from the show. Onto some photo ops of Kilchurn castle and another old picturesque church.

 

We then ate at "Drovers Inn" which is said to be haunted. Didn't experience any ghosts there but if you stayed overnight there I'm sure you would. You can sneak up the stairs to check it out and it's a little ominous. One more photo op the Loch and that took up about 7 hours of the day. David was our guide who did a wonderful job in being our tour guide. A wealth of information and so funny. This tour was in a midi Mercedes bus which held about 12-15 people. The Scots as well as the Irish are very proud of their heritage and you will get an amazing history lesson from them that is better than any school classroom.

 

Came back to the ship and decided to do a little IC for dinner and ended up at MUTS for a movie. This was our first movie and we were laughing how you never have to get up from your chair. You bring a blanket over and here come the trays of pizza, popcorn, milk and cookies. I am definitely spoiled on this cruise. Tomorrow Sea day, sleep day.

 

http://travlintheworld.blogspot.com/2014/09/glasgow.html

 

This is the link to my blog of our day at Glasgow. If you click on the British Isles tab it'll start from Day one in London. I made tabs on the right to break it up a little so you wouldn't have to keep clicking on " older posts".

[HRPro]

Great pictures on your blog--can't wait to read more of your review!

[loma linda ca a & j]

your photos are absolutely gorgeous !!!!;)

our brit isles trip last year was one of our top favorites !!!:)

[paddingtonbear]

So glad those people who stole your tour got caught out! Amazing! So pleased the Scots saved the day. : )

[Shogun]

Hi There,

 

Nice to hear you had a great day in the West,

Only one question, when are you coming back, Scotland has much to over, and you have seen so little,

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[Travlin grrl]

Hi There,

 

Nice to hear you had a great day in the West,

Only one question, when are you coming back, Scotland has much to over, and you have seen so little,

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

Well Shogun, my son's favorite port was Guernsey, St. Peter's Port, my daughters was Paris and London, my husband and mine were Scotland....everywhere. We really didn't know what to expect and it was so beautiful everywhere you looked and the people were unbelievably friendly. I would love to go back again and again.

 

Great pictures on your blog--can't wait to read more of your review!

Thanks HRPro. I did so many fails here on the test page in the photo forum I finally gave up.

[Travlin grrl]

your photos are absolutely gorgeous !!!!;)

our brit isles trip last year was one of our top favorites !!!:)

Thank you. Some I took with my Digital SLR and some I took with my Samsung Galaxy phone. I'm a photo geek.

 

So glad those people who stole your tour got caught out! Amazing! So pleased the Scots saved the day. : )

 

Yes kind of funny. At least the company went out of their way for us. I never did see those people on the cruise after that. They probably have done that more than once.

[Travlin grrl]

I can't believe these many days have gone by and this is our first sea day. It's been a pretty busy, jam packed vacation so far.

 

Yea,I get to sleep in. Slept in till 9:00 a.m. after being up til 1:30 a.m. the night before. The teens stay out even later. Their teens club closes at 1:00 a.m. and then they hang out in the Piazza near the IC and all the older people have gone to bed so it's just teens. After getting our morning coffee they happened to be doing the vegetable carving demonstration. There is so much to do on a cruise if you miss it on one you might catch it on the other. This is one I didn't see last time but by chance saw it this cruise. Got some cute pics of it but don't think I'll be trying it at home.

http://travlintheworld.blogspot.com/2014/10/vegetable-carving-demonstration.html

 

Did a load of laundry and then went to lay out on a lounge chair on the aft of the ship and just relaxed for a few hours and as always met some wonderful people from London.

 

This is the 2nd formal night so we will skip pictures and go straight to dining. After that we went to a show called "Once Upon a Dream" which is the only one right now that is on the Ruby. It was one of the best shows I think I've seen on the ships. The costumes were great and the background visuals were worked into the production in an "Alice in Wonderland" visual. We loved it. Onto the fusion bar for Karaoke where I signed up my husband again and he is now one of the contestants for the final. Will keep you posted what happens.

[whatcruiseisnext]

Thank you again for this fabulous review. We are doing the Princess cruise tour around Ireland prior to a British Isles cruise in June of 2015. I can hardly wait. Your blog and photos are amazing. :)

 

Judy

[Travlin grrl]

Thank you again for this fabulous review. We are doing the Princess cruise tour around Ireland prior to a British Isles cruise in June of 2015. I can hardly wait. Your blog and photos are amazing. :)

 

Judy

Thanks Judy, I would of loved to of done the cruise tour through Ireland. I think the cruise tours sell out pretty fast so you're lucky you got on.

[Travlin grrl]

We woke up to sunny skies which is a far cry from the previous rainy day.

We dock in Invergordon which is about I think 45 minutes away. We booked a private tour today from Gordon at Highland Tours Inverness. He charges $30.00/hr. And we had him for 7 hours. We first went to a little town called Beauly which has an old church in ruins with a 17th century cemetery in front. So we stop to take a few pictures. Onto the town of Inverness for a quick tour and stop off at the church and river. We also saw the Caledion locks (think mini version of Panama Canal).

 

Up through the Highlands and very narrow country roads to look for the Loch Ness Monster. We even see the infamous guy who gave up his girlfriend and job to live on the loch for his search. He paints rocks and creates mini Loch Ness souvenirs for tourists as his means of income.

 

Did you know there are 5 million or so people in Scotland and 18 million sheep?

I finally get my picture of the Hairy Coo and some sheep. So Scottish.

When you have a private driver we discovered you can have them pull over anywhere.

 

On to Culloden Battlefield where the British Army's battled the Highland Clans and over 1200 people were killed in 50 minutes. Very sombering.

 

Not to far from there is the Clava Cairns and dates back to 2000 b.c. Beautiful and mysterious. When you walk into the first one you will immediately feel the coolness and dampness. Another beautiful photo opportunity.

 

Not too far from here is Cawdor Castle. Lady Cawdor still lives there but usually leaves in the summer months. A 14th century castle with beautiful gardens out back. There was a maze garden but you couldn't get in to it which is probably a good thing because I probably wouldn't get out. There is a cafe and gift shop there also if you want a quick bite.

 

On to "Clootie Well" where people go to tie on parts of their clothing to trees to rid themselves of ailments. This is definitely off the beaten path but so interesting to see and we were the only ones there. You will walk into the forest and as you get further you will see everything from scarves, t-shirts, shoes etc. tied all over the trees.

It's a little eerie and spooky.

 

This was our first time doing a private tour and you definitely see a lot more than on a bus tour. When you come back to the ship everyone shares stories at dinner "what did you today?". People couldn't believe how much we did and everything we saw. Our guide was so accommodating and of course a wealth of knowledge.

 

Here is a link to my blog and the day in Inverness.

 

http://travlintheworld.blogspot.com/2014/09/invernessinvergordon.html

 

After dinner we go over to see a comedy show featuring Jean Boucher. He incorporates 2/3 comedy 1/3 magic and he truly was hilarious. The shows on this cruise have really been good. Time to get rocked to sleep and ready for Edinburgh tomorrow.

[Shogun]

Hi

 

When in Invergordon did you see the Dolphins.

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[Travlin grrl]

Hi

 

When in Invergordon did you see the Dolphins.

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

Ohhh great ...thanks Shogun.

Something fabulous I missed.

For all the things I did miss, guess I'll just have to make another trip!

Again and again.

[Shogun]

Hi There

The dolphins are quite famous they live there year round, can even take trips to see them, when we were there a few weeks after you the pod came up next to the pier and put on a show just as passengers queued for boarding. I had told all on board to watch for them but know one believed me,

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[Travlin grrl]

Did you know they pronounce it Ed-in-burrow? Not Ed-in-burg.

Took the tender in and decided to be adventurous by doing the train. You can get a pretty good street map from the information guy who also gave me the directions to the train and told me it was 102 stairs. Turn left at the pier, go about 1/2 block and past Hawes Inn turn right. Follow the sign to the stairs and once you get to the top keep left all the way. Just hug the fence and stay left. You will see paths to the right....don't take them. Usually there's a bunch of Princess people so you won't be alone. Cross the street at the end of the path and you will see Dalmeny station. I paid £4.60 for three adults and £2.30 for my teen. Total £16.10 for the 4 of us. Versus £10.00 each total £40.00 for the bus. 3 stops in and you will be at Waverly Station in about 15 minutes. When you get your tickets make sure you wait to get your "out" tickets and "return tickets" then your last one is your receipt. It spits out kind of slow and I had to wait for 8 to print out plus the receipt ticket. Oh and did I tell you they have free wi-fi on the train?

 

When you get off onto the street you"ll see Edinburgh Castle on the hill if that's where you're going. It was a rainy, foggy day and this is getting towards the end of July. We headed up to the castle and this is a Saturday so it's pretty crowded. We saw most everything except for the "Crown Jewels" because the line was so long. We ate at the cafe at the castle....can't remember the name...maybe Red coat. Anyways it was one of the better places we ate at with reasonable prices. You can get hot food or just grab a couple pre made sandwiches. I decided to grab a scone because they looked like they just made them and I hadn't had one all vacation while my husband grabbed a "Crabbie" Ginger Ale beer which was definitely unique tasting. We also got a few sandwiches and chips, etc and were reasonably priced. After that we went down the Royal Mile to pick up some souvenirs before we met up with our underground walking tour.

 

I took Mercat but there are a few different ones to choose from. We went down to the underground vaults and it lasted for a little over an hour. There really isn't much walking if you're worried about that. It's mostly story telling about how they lived back then and if you're claustrophobic then this wouldn't be for you. It's small confined places and definitely spooky with a dampness and musty smell to it. It's a fun thing to do for something different and imagine what really happened so many years ago. When you come back upstairs into their display area you get to read about the ghosts down there. There are 3 known ghosts one being a child. My daughter swore she felt something on the back of her leg she told me after the tour and my husband felt a heaviness on his shoulders when he was down there as that is supposedly one of the things people feel. Sometimes people may even get scratch marks. Me...nothing.

 

Back out on the street it was late afternoon and pretty foggy. We headed back to the train station and if you're confused where to go just ask information. We went to platform 20 and I think it was the "gamethorpe" train. I know that's not the name but it's something like that. If you bought return tickets you have to go back before 4:15 otherwise it costs a little more. Not sure how much.

Back to the ship via tender and the fog is as thick as pea soup.

 

Went to the comedy / singer show at night. She had a cute British accent and her singing voice was deep like Cher. All the teens were in the front two rows from the middle to the end and enjoyed the show more than all the other older passengers. They raised their arms and swayed when she sang and even gave her a standing ovation at the end. It was great seeing that and knowing that they were being respectful.

 

Here is a link of the day in Edinburgh.

 

 

http://travlintheworld.blogspot.com/2014/09/edinburgh.html

 

Good bye Scotland. Amazing, beautiful and wonderful people.

[Travlin grrl]

There are only 2 sea days on this 12 day British Isle cruise. So sleeping in is on the schedule and one more load of laundry.

 

We went to the Princess theatre to see the executive chef and executive maitre'd do a cooking style show and it also happened to be a comedy routine which I was not expecting because you wouldn't think these guys would be funny....but they are hilarious. They are on stage with big screens around the theatre so you can see what they're cooking and how. It was an impromptu thing we did which is usually how our days go and I'm glad we did.

 

After that we went to the galley for a quick little tour before we went to our wine tasting. For $9.50 you get to taste 6 wines. It's fun and you get to learn a little about their wines. One of them is a liqueur and they gave us little Princess shot glasses for souvenirs.

 

After dinner we go to Club Fusion where hubby is a finalist in the Karaoke contest. They set it up like a T.V. Show and have a green room in the back. After everyone sings they go back for an interview that we see on the camera. My husband was last and they had a spoof of him saying something to all the Filipino's. So he opened his mouth and pretended to be talking while the d.j.was actually doing all the talking. I turned around to the Filipino women behind me to ask what he was saying. They told me...." Oh that he loves us and wer're all wonderful etc.etc." When he came out at the end all the men were coming up to him and asking him where he was from ...and unfortunately he had to tell them the truth that he really doesn't know the language and isn't Filipino. But I think he did get a few votes for that. He should of won and didn't but that's okay because we had a lot of fun.

 

We somehow end up in the Vines bar with friends and all the other contestants drinking champagne and someone brought their guitar so we had our own little get together concert sing along. Didn't get to bed til late and I'm only going to get about 3 hours of sleep now before our short day in Paris.

 

But YOLO.

[Travlin grrl]

I can not believe it is our last day of the cruise and the last port. Quite a few people disembark here and spend a few days in Paris, but we have run out of vacation time and money. If you go to Paris expect a 3 hr drive in and back and about 5 hours to spend in Paris. Clearly not enough time but we've travelled half way around the world so we are going to see the highlights.

 

Doing the Princess shore excursion "Paris on our own" because I know they're not supposed to leave without you. We have a cute French guide who tells us the history all the way in. What to watch out for, don't sign anything and act snobbish so you don't get pick pocketed.

 

We get dropped off at Concorde Plaza and start walking to the Louvre. We don't have enough time for that so we just take a few pics of the beautiful architecure outside. We walk across the bridge of locks. You can buy one from the street vendors or bring your own. Not much room left to put any up but it was fun to take pictures of. We pick up a few souvenirs (Paris pocket mirrors and posters) and head over to Notre Dame. I would of climbed the stairs but again.... Not enough time. There's a huge, long, winding line outside but it's moving pretty fast so we get in line and go inside to see the most amazing church. Beautiful inside and out. I think this is one of the most amazing churches I have ever seen. Once we exit we cross the street to get a quick lunch at one of the sandwich/crepe places. Who knew my son knew what a fromage crepe was. He said he knew some French words. We walked over to the bridge, sat on a bench eating French sandwiches and crepes and thinking "I can't believe I'm in Paris!"

 

After we walked to the next street to catch the #72 bus which happened to be waiting right there to take us to the Eiffel Tower. 2 euros each and it will save us a lot of time and walking. Just look for the Eiffel Tower and get off. We started taking pictures and right when we were about done it started raining.

Lots of street vendors selling trinkets and mini Eiffel Towers but I was looking more for a souvenir shop. So after pics and selfies we head up to the Arch de Triomphe where I walk past pastry shops and stop at another souvy shop and my husband buys a few things. We walk down the Champs Élysées before we get to our coach just in time to head back. Paris in 5 hours.

 

My photos of Paris.

http://travlintheworld.blogspot.com/2014/09/paris.html