LIVE: Caribbean Princess, British Isles, Aug. 17, 2017

[Woobstr112G]

Friday, August 25, 2017

 

Our day in the highlands was terrific. We booked an independent excursion with Invergordon Tours. We were in a coach with two dozen others along with a driver, guide, and guide in training. Our first stop was Urquhart Castle--ruins along Loch Ness. We had a little over an hour there to explore on our own before getting on a boat for an hour cruise up the loch. We did not spot Nessie on the way, unfortunately. We stopped at a nice garden center for lunch. They had a restaurant inside. Our guides arranged for sandwiches and soup to be ready for when we arrived. They had it all set up--trays full of sandwiches, pitchers of water, and then served the soup shortly afterward. All of the sandwiches I tried were tasty. My favorites were the shrimp salad and the curried chicken. We were at a table for six with 28 sandwiches. There were a few left at the end. I did not try to tuna or the ham.

 

We drove by the Culloden Moor, site of a famous battle in 1746 where the British defeated the Scottish, then stopped at the nearby cairns, which date to the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Our final stop was Cawdor Castle. We were too hurried there, but I still enjoyed seeing the castle and the flower garden. Our driver dropped us off at the ship at 4:20, in plenty of time for our scheduled 5:15 all-aboard. The Princess tour buses apparently did not get the memo. They kept coming and coming. We enjoyed the Invergordon performers in the Princess Theater. They consisted of an accordianist, a bag piper, a singer, and four female dancers. They presented an enjoyable performance. The last Princess bus pulled up a little before 6. A group of seven bag pipers played us off. It was a nice touch.

 

Sounds like a great day. Glad you enjoyed it.....:):):)

 

Bob

[geoherb]

Today was the last day to send out laundry. We did not send out any more. Our cabin steward delivered my last three pieces (from yesterday morning) a few minutes ago. It turned out to be next day service for every batch we sent out except for once with DH's, when it took two days instead. The total credit around $170. We also finally traded in some items from our mini bar setup: trading the beers for Perrier and the soft drinks for Diet Coke.

 

We will start packing tomorrow. We did not buy many souvenirs, but it's still a struggle to keep our larger piece of checked luggage under 50 pounds. Speaking of pounds, but in the monetary sense, I saw a guy using the exchange machine on the ship. He seemed very happy that the exchange rate was "so good." I was kind not to point out that he wasn't thinking correctly. The ship's machine was paying $1.18 per pound plus the $4 service charge. The official exchange rate is around $1.30 per pound. I ended up with 25 pounds in paper currency and a few coins. We'll use it to buy lunch and souvenirs at Heathrow before our flight. I have 80 euros in paper currency, but we will still have a chance to spend that in Le Havre. I checked the museum's website this afternoon after realizing that a lot of the museums we've been to are closed on Mondays. Fortunately, the one in Le Havre is closed on Tuesdays. But there is an installation of a new exhibit going on, so some of the museum's other areas will be closed.

[georgiacat]

I notice that it does not appear that you went to the Tattoo performance. Any particular reason why not? What tour companies did other passengers use for the Tattoo, and how did they like them?

 

We are taking this cruise next year. I was wondering if we wanted to go back to Edinburgh after spending the day of the Tattoo there.

 

I am really enjoying your review and learning a lot. Thank you for doing it.

[kzooartist]

Sunday, August 13

 

I tried to sleep but could not very much even with the eye mask and ear plugs they provided. DH slept more. Around 7:30 London time, they served breakfast—peach muffin, piece of cheese, and yogurt. When we landed, the captain made an announcement that there was not a gate ready for us and we would be deplaning on the tarmac and shuttled over to the terminal. The process went as well as expected—a bit of a mess. We were on the fourth shuttle bus. We had a long walk to the place they had to check our passports and entry cards. The cabin attendants passed those out the night before. Apparently some people did not keep theirs, but there were more of them in the terminal for people who did not have them ready. By the time we got to the luggage carousel, one bag had already been unloaded and our second one was coming around the belt. Then we had a long walk to the tube stop for the Piccadilly Line. I had checked with our credit card company about our cards being compatible with contactless chips. They have the right symbol on them, according to the woman at the tube who helped us. But they did not work. We bought Oyster cards instead with 20 pounds each on them.

 

I unfortunately did not look at a map very well and relied on our hotel’s website for directions. We took the Piccadilly Line to Earl’s Court and had a long walk to our hotel on Kensington High Street. We stayed at the Hilton Olympia. I booked the room on Priceline for under $100 a night. It’s supposedly a 4-star hotel. It does have nice amenities (very comfortable bed, nice linens, good quality toiletries, and huge fluffy towels) and very helpful staff members. Our room, though, was tiny, about the same size as our inside cabin. It’s a 15-minute walk from the Kensington High Street station, which is a little closer than the Earl’s Court station.

 

We got to the hotel a little after noon and were able to check in right away, which was very nice. I knew that the official check-in time was 3 p.m., but had hoped a room would be ready. Even though I did not sleep much on the flight, I knew we needed to keep moving to get over jetlag. We took the No. 9 bus to Trafalgar Square. It went past the Travellers’ Club on Pall Mall where I worked 32 years ago. It does not seem to have changed at all on the outside and neither did the surrounding Athaneum and Reform clubs. But the rest of the area has. We walked from Trafalgar Square down past Scotland Yard, No. 10 Downing Street, and the Horse Guards, to Westminster Abbey in time for evensong service. The abbey is closed to tourists on Sundays, open just for services. The service was lovely.

 

I sang evensong regularly with a group at my church during college and attended evensong when I lived in London, although at a church near Marble Arch and never at Westminster.

After church, we walked back through the edge of St. James’ Park back to the Travellers’ Club and then caught the tube at Piccadilly Circus. We ate an early supper at the Hare and Tortoise, an Asian restaurant on Kensington High Street near our hotel. I stopped by the Sainsbury’s Local also near the hotel for some pastries for our dessert. And then we went to bed at 7:30.[/quoteA

]Hi, we will be on Caribbean Princess in September. Do they have pickleball course on this ship?DH enjoyed on Royal During Spring TA. Itson The bb Coury On Sports Deck If They Have It. He Wants To Bring His Own Paddle If They Do. Thanks,Michele

[cherrypop]

I would like to thank you again for taking the time out of your cruise and posting live, it was amazing. Safe travels home.

[geoherb]

Sunday, August 27, 2017

 

Last night was the finale of "The Voice of the Ocean" in the Princess Theater (with simulcast in Explorers Lounge). We made it in time to find two seats together, but too late to get a vote. They had run out of the little voting pads. The theater was packed, with just a few seats remaining available. All six singers did an admirable job.

 

We lost an hour last night, moving our clocks forward to match the time in France. At least today is a lazy day at sea. The first event I want to go to isn't until 10:15--the culinary demo. I'll skip the galley tour part to go to trivia. Other activities this morning include Mass, stretching class, Zumba, Chinese herbal medicine, Effy sale, Texas hold 'em, and ice carving demo. This afternoon has the slot tournament, Celtic dance class, art auction, service club get-together, "Are You Smarter than a Cruie Staff Member?," line dance class, a magician's act, "Life is a Circus" (variety show), wine tasting, bingo, and trivia. Tonight's show in the theater is "Broadway Ballroom."

[geoherb]

Hi, we will be on Caribbean Princess in September. Do they have pickleball course on this ship?DH enjoyed on Royal During Spring TA. Itson The bb Coury On Sports Deck If They Have It. He Wants To Bring His Own Paddle If They Do. Thanks,Michele

Yes, they have pickleball on the schedule. It has been listed as open play. We haven't made it up there to see what the court is like.

[geoherb]

I started the morning with a relaxing swim in the Oasis Pool. The culinary demo started late, so we only watched them make one dish: fettuccini with smoked salmon cream sauce. We then headed to trivia. We split up since there were too many people for one team. My team tied with another, and Ian did not do a tie breaker. I got a very lightweight Princess backpack. I stayed to watch bingo. One of my trivia teammates bought cards. She did not win. We then went to lunch. We ended up at her table along with a couple we had eaten lunch with on the first day. It turns out that they had attended a newcomers meeting on the first day and won Elite status for the length of the cruise. They said they had really enjoyed the laundry benefit and the internet minutes.

 

After lunch, it was time for the game show "Are You Smarter Than a Cruise Staff Member?" Once again, we had too many people and split up. My team won again. I got another water bottle. They had an interesting Cirque du Soleil performer doing an afternoon show in the theater. He was an entertaining juggler. He also talked about his years of performing. I came back to the room for a quick nap, and then it was time for afternoon trivia. Once again, too many people showed up and DH ended up leaving to go swimming. We placed third--two points away from the winners. If only we had gone with a couple of different answers we would have tied.

[twotexans123]

Hi there. Can you tell me how close the ASDA is to the port? Was hoping to pick up some wine! Thanks, Kaye

Edited August 27, 2017 by twotexans123
Grammar!

[Level six]

Great review, thanks!

 

We are on a TA starting on Sept 9 on the Regal. You stated there was a free shuttle in Belfast, right? Some are saying it was $18. Is it free? Also, where did you dock? Stormont? Thanks again

[geoherb]

We were too late going to the Skywalkers event. They closed it down early to start setting up for the most-traveled passenger party. Our tablemates said it was fabulous. They especially enjoyed the lamb chops. We went to the Harry Potter trivia instead. We teamed up with the mother-daughter pair we had met at the Cruise Critic party. They had taken the Harry Potter tour in London. The daughter is really into it. Our team tied with four others--getting every possible point. Some of the questions seemed so obscure to me, but the daughter knew the answers. We lost the tie-break question. But when I went to ask the cruise staff member who had conducted the trivia what the winner had received, she said she had not claimed the prize. She said our answer to the tie-breaker was very close, so she awarded us the bottle of champagne. I hurried to take it to the mother and daughter in the theater, but they declined. So we were able to share it with our tablemates at dinner.

 

Tonight was the Italian menu. I enjoyed the melon and prosciutto, a special penne arabiata the head waiters were cooking in the dining room, and the branzino. They did the baked Alaska parade and all the intros tonight toward the end of dinner. Tomorrow night will be open seating again due to our late departure time from France. We'll gain the hour we lost last night back tomorrow night after leaving. It will be nice to have an extra hour of sleep before having to disembark. We are in the 8:40 group leaving the ship on Tuesday, taking the Princess shuttle to Heathrow.

 

The production cast performed "Broadway Ballroom" tonight. It's my favorite of the shows they performed. Tomorrow night the singer from the West End (Paul Baker) will perform a new show just once in the theater. There's a live feed to the Explorers Lounge. We will skip it if we can't get a seat in the theater.

[geoherb]

Hi there. Can you tell me how close the ASDA is to the port? Was hoping to pick up some wine! Thanks, Kaye

It was about a mile to the port. It's near the SeaCity Museum in the heart of Southampton. I don't know if there are nearer places to buy wine, but maybe someone has written that on the Great Britain board here on Cruise Critic.

[geoherb]

We are on a TA starting on Sept 9 on the Regal. You stated there was a free shuttle in Belfast, right? Some are saying it was $18. Is it free? Also, where did you dock? Stormont? Thanks again

I'm not sure where the dock was in Belfast. The shuttle was free, taking us into Belfast to Donegall Square North, right outside the Belfast Welcome Center. The one in Dublin was also free, taking us to Merrion Square. The one in South Queensferry cost 10 pounds or 15 dollars to go to Edinburgh. I think I read about a shuttle tomorrow in Le Havre, but it's not mentioned in the Patter.

[Woobstr112G]

We were too late going to the Skywalkers event. They closed it down early to start setting up for the most-traveled passenger party. Our tablemates said it was fabulous. They especially enjoyed the lamb chops. We went to the Harry Potter trivia instead. We teamed up with the mother-daughter pair we had met at the Cruise Critic party. They had taken the Harry Potter tour in London. The daughter is really into it. Our team tied with four others--getting every possible point. Some of the questions seemed so obscure to me, but the daughter knew the answers. We lost the tie-break question. But when I went to ask the cruise staff member who had conducted the trivia what the winner had received, she said she had not claimed the prize. She said our answer to the tie-breaker was very close, so she awarded us the bottle of champagne. I hurried to take it to the mother and daughter in the theater, but they declined. So we were able to share it with our tablemates at dinner.

 

Tonight was the Italian menu. I enjoyed the melon and prosciutto, a special penne arabiata the head waiters were cooking in the dining room, and the branzino. They did the baked Alaska parade and all the intros tonight toward the end of dinner. Tomorrow night will be open seating again due to our late departure time from France. We'll gain the hour we lost last night back tomorrow night after leaving. It will be nice to have an extra hour of sleep before having to disembark. We are in the 8:40 group leaving the ship on Tuesday, taking the Princess shuttle to Heathrow.

 

The production cast performed "Broadway Ballroom" tonight. It's my favorite of the shows they performed. Tomorrow night the singer from the West End (Paul Baker) will perform a new show just once in the theater. There's a live feed to the Explorers Lounge. We will skip it if we can't get a seat in the theater.

 

Hope you are enjoying your next to the last night on board.....:):):)

 

Bob

[Level six]

I'm not sure where the dock was in Belfast. The shuttle was free, taking us into Belfast to Donegall Square North, right outside the Belfast Welcome Center. The one in Dublin was also free, taking us to Merrion Square. The one in South Queensferry cost 10 pounds or 15 dollars to go to Edinburgh. I think I read about a shuttle tomorrow in Le Havre, but it's not mentioned in the Patter.

 

 

Thanks so much!! Safe travels.

[geoherb]

There have been very few problems for us this cruise. Tendering was great going from the ship to shore. Coming back we had to wait in South Queensferry for our tender to fill up. But our wait was mild compared to the two-hour wait I heard about from people coming back in the afternoon from Guernsey. The rougher waters there slow up the process considerably. People prone to be seasick should probably skip that port. Riding on the tender there reminded me of the "Vomit Comet" ferry from Cozumel to the mainland.

 

We had great service from our regular waiters. My complaint would be that there were too many nights when they did open seating. And I can't quite figure out why. I knew it would be open seating the two nights we were in port the whole time during dinner. But we have open seating again tonight with a 7:30 all-aboard time. Some of the service we have received in the dining room from other waiters hasn't been as quite as good--water glasses not refilled without asking, pouring me the wrong tea without asking, slow service, etc. Overall, though, I would give service an 8 out of 10. But when it comes time for me to fill out my survey, I'll give it a 10 since we did have traditional dining and it's probably tied to our regular waiters rather than our overall experience. I can't remember exactly how they word that question. They did mention the survey last night during the dining room speech.

 

The buffet is generally better than I remember it being. We have eaten breakfast there more on this cruise than ever before due to the convenience of our Lido Deck cabin and the early times in port when we've been eager to get off the ship. I don't think Steamers and Planks are being used much on this cruise. They may be more successful on Caribbean itineraries. I'm amused by the peanut butter sandwich bar. I've heard complaints that the ramen bar isn't very good--the broth isn't hot enough to cook the vegetables. I have not tried it. I've heard folks wishing there was sushi available (other than at Vines). It would have been great to have had it at one of the Skywalker events like they used to on the Japanese slipper night. Our tablemate misses the beef tartare. I don't.

 

The entertainment hasn't always been scheduled conveniently for people with second seating traditional dining. We miss out on a lot of the night trivias and game show events. But that's been happening for many years, and it's one of the tradeoffs we have to live with to get traditional dining. Overall the shows were good. I am tired of some of them, but I realize not everyone has sailed on the CB as many times as we have. Our last five Princess cruises were all on this ship. They did a terrific job of bringing on the local musicians and dancers. We missed most of the port lectures, once again because of inconveniently scheduling them during our dinner time. The acts in the atrium haven't been very varied. I enjoyed seeing variety acts--jugglers, magicians, acrobats--performing short shows on previous cruises.

 

As I'm writing this, the internet isn't working. The ship is about to dock in Le Havre, so it's not because we're in the middle of the sea. The internet manager said it's a fleetwide problem. I've managed to conserve my minutes by typing in Notepad and copying and pasting. The connection speed seems slow, even by cruise ship standards. I'm glad I did our airline checkin the evening we were in Glasgow and did not wait until today. It could be a mess for those who need the internet if it doesn't start working by this afternoon.

 

According to the youth counselor I spoke to yesterday, there are 80 children on this cruise. It seems like more. Overall, we haven't had any major problems. One of the toddlers at the table next to ours has had some outbursts, and one on a tender ride also had one. I haven't seen any out of control teenagers or young adults.

 

Our cabin's shower is tiny as expected. We have good water pressure, but the temperature can shift suddenly. I'm always prepared for it to go from comfortable to too hot or too cold any second. We also had the toilet problem on the afternoon after Guernsey. I'm glad it was contained to the toilet bowl and did not overflow when stuff came back up. That would be a real mess. There's also a foul odor sometimes coming from the toilet bowl as if it's not sealed well.

[geoherb]

Monday, August 28, 2017

 

Obviously the internet is working again. That will be good for those coming back from excursions who need to confirm flights. We had a nice walking tour of Le Havre on our own. We went to the two large churches--Notre Dame and St. Joseph's. The latter is very modern. It has a soaring tower over the altar. Very interesting. Then we headed to the Museum of Modern Art--called MuMA here. The name is not accurate. Most of the art is from the late 1800s and early 1900s. There are also older works. The strength of the collection is Impressionists. Unfortunately, they're working on installing a new exhibit, which will open September 10, on them. There were still quite a few paintings by artists I recognize. Eugene Boudin, a local artist from the second half of the 19th century, has a ton of his works represented in the collection. I enjoyed seeing the views of the harbor and other nearby sites as they were over 120 years ago.

 

Another interesting thing to me was going to a local market. There were individual stalls of vegetable sellers, cheese mongers, butchers, etc. Then there was a supermarket as well. I thought some of the prices were very high. Zucchini, for example, were six and a half euros for a kilo. That put them around $3.50 a pound (if I did the math correctly). I wish, though, I had a way to buy a lot of the cheeses and take them home. They were relatively inexpensive. I saw a lot of people carrying baguettes around. We passed one of the bakeries on our way to the first church. I looked for it on our way back, but we did not come back on that street. So we made it back to the ship in time to eat lunch at the International Cafe. It was nice that they had a lot of vegetarian selections for my Meatless Monday. We'll start packing this afternoon, go for a swim, take a nap, and play the 4 p.m. trivia.

[Grego]

Thanks geoherb for posting your diary for us to read. We will be aboard the CB on the 22nd of September for her TA back to Port Everglades and we stay on board for her 14-day tour of the Caribbean. Our itinerary on the western Europe includes LeHarve, Brussels, and Lisbon then on to Bermuda and Florida.

Edited August 28, 2017 by Grego
spelling correction

[geoherb]

I did get a short nap in before heading down to play the bean bag toss--what we'd call corn hole. I beat DH, but we both got a prize: another bottle stopper and a pen. We went for a short swim before trivia. We played with our Air Force buddies and a woman from Arizona with whom I played before when we split up yesterday. We tied then won the tie breaker. We got bottle stoppers again. That brings our total haul to seven bottle stoppers, three aluminum water bottles, two drawstring backpacks, a pen, and a bottle of champagne. We'll look for folks to give away most of these on the ship so as not to add weight to our luggage. We took our packed bags to the gym to weigh. One came in at 40 pounds and the other at 46. DH will add a little bit to the lighter one. We also weighed ourselves. It's hard to compare since we had just eaten a bit at the Skywalkers event. I think I gained a couple of pounds. That's not bad considering I've been eating way too many desserts on this cruise. They've been tastier than they were on some of our previous cruises.

[geoherb]

Thanks geoherb for posting your diary for us to read. We will be aboard the CB on the 22nd of September for her TA back to Port Everglades and we stay on board for her 14-day tour of the Caribbean. Our itinerary on the western Europe includes LeHarve, Brussels, and Lisbon then on to Bermuda and Florida.

That sounds like a great trip. If you have time, be sure to see the exhibit at the museum in Le Havre. I knew ahead of time that they were going to be working on it while we were here. It looks like it will be very good if you like the Impressionists.

[kzooartist]

Yes, they have pickleball on the schedule. It has been listed as open play. We haven't made it up there to see what the court is like.

 

Hey, thanks for responding. They put nets on the bb court to play. At least they plan for games! Players regulate themselves.

Michele

[geoherb]

We had a nice final dinner with our tablemates. Our regular table was taken. The head waiter arranged three tables for two together so that the six of us could be in our regular section together one last time. I like the round table a lot better than the rectangular one. But at least we got to have our servers. Everyone tried a little $3 shot where we got to keep the glass. DH had a B52, which is Kahlua, Baileys, and Grand Marnier. The husband of the Canadian couple and the mother of the mother-daughter pair also got those. The other two ladies had brain hemorrhages: Kahlua, peach schnapps, and grenadine. The assistant waiter put those in clear glasses so they could see the different layers. The Canadian made the mistake of stirring the mixture. It curdled. She eventually smoothed out some of the lumps.

 

After dinner, we attended the West End singer's show. I don't remember his name, but he was pretty good. We missed his show earlier during the cruise. I've packed all the Patters and can look up his name after we get home.

 

We have an 8:40 departure time. We are taking the Princess shuttle to Heathrow. Our flight is at 2, so we should have plenty of time even if they're running behind in the morning.

 

I went to the casino after the show to make my contribution. There was a woman playing the machine I like (Spartacus), so I played a nearby one that was not as much fun. It was one of the ones with the Japanese accent shouting out about orbs. I got into the bonus and decided to cash out after it ended. I made $1 on my $10 investment.

[Woobstr112G]

We had a nice final dinner with our tablemates. Our regular table was taken. The head waiter arranged three tables for two together so that the six of us could be in our regular section together one last time. I like the round table a lot better than the rectangular one. But at least we got to have our servers. Everyone tried a little $3 shot where we got to keep the glass. DH had a B52, which is Kahlua, Baileys, and Grand Marnier. The husband of the Canadian couple and the mother of the mother-daughter pair also got those. The other two ladies had brain hemorrhages: Kahlua, peach schnapps, and grenadine. The assistant waiter put those in clear glasses so they could see the different layers. The Canadian made the mistake of stirring the mixture. It curdled. She eventually smoothed out some of the lumps.

 

After dinner, we attended the West End singer's show. I don't remember his name, but he was pretty good. We missed his show earlier during the cruise. I've packed all the Patters and can look up his name after we get home.

 

We have an 8:40 departure time. We are taking the Princess shuttle to Heathrow. Our flight is at 2, so we should have plenty of time even if they're running behind in the morning.

 

I went to the casino after the show to make my contribution. There was a woman playing the machine I like (Spartacus), so I played a nearby one that was not as much fun. It was one of the ones with the Japanese accent shouting out about orbs. I got into the bonus and decided to cash out after it ended. I made $1 on my $10 investment.

 

Safe travels home.....:):):)

Bob

[SOLIVITA LADY]

Safe travels home. Loved following your trip report and cruising vicariously through you.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[geoherb]

I finally spoke with a crew member about the propulsion problems. He did not give me much of an answer. He said that the ship currently is limited to around 16 or 17 knots. When the propulsion problem is fixed, it will have a max of around 24. Wind and current will make that max plus or minus a bit. One of the couples we had breakfast or lunch with and saw around the ship later said that there were four excursions in Cobh (Cork) canceled due to our getting there four hours late, including theirs to Waterford.

 

Someone else mentioned that there was a shuttle into Le Havre yesterday. It cost $16 round trip. The 20-minute walk was not bad. There was not much traffic, and there's a sidewalk along the road, although it does get narrow in a few places. I had to stand on a low wall when we met a couple going the opposite direction.