Live - Emerald Princess - July 8-20 British Isles

[polk01]

1 hour ago, Steelers0854 said:

 

Can you tell me how you did this?  Our TA says the only transfer available are to and from Heathrow. This would be much better for us as its right next to our hotel.  Thanks!

You can book directly.

 

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

[Gettingwarmer]

14 hours ago, polk01 said:

You can book directly.

 

https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

Yes but it might not take you directly to the ship. Best to book through Princess. 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Gettingwarmer

[Billish]

19 minutes ago, Gettingwarmer said:

Yes but it might not take you directly to the ship. Best to book through Princess. 

£5 taxi ride from the bus stop to the ship. 

 

 

[cruisequeen4ever]

Loving your trip report; keep it coming! We too experienced bad service at Fortnum and Mason when we went in 2018; I’m still glad to have experienced their tea once, though. 

[Steelers0854]

On 7/30/2022 at 1:45 PM, kiwimum said:

Are you able to get into the Travel Section of your booking when using a TA.   Transfers are there in a drop down menu.    I know for our 2023 disembark from Southampton we can select Victoria Coach Station as one of the options, $59 pp.  The buses in the past has dropped off passengers from Southampton and then loaded those going to Southampton.

 

No unfortunately I cant when using a TA.  This is good to know, ill circle back with our TA.

 

23 hours ago, nini said:

 

We reserved the transfer through our TA who called Princess. We took a cab from our London hotel to the Victoria Coach Station (NOT Victoria Station). This was on a Monday morning and all went well and very affordable from the East side. As has been said, a Princess rep met us at the main entrance and instructed us where to go, etc. It was $59.00 per person and took about one and a half to 2 hours.

 

This was a much more affordable transfer versus Blackberry Cabs or a few others. It is also closer than Heathrow from a London hotel.

 

Thank you!  Ill give our TA a call.

 

[joemooch]

On 6/29/2022 at 9:03 PM, Tiki_Koro said:

Greetings! This is my first time posting a trip report on Cruise Critic, and I thought it would be fun to share our upcoming vacation.

 

Day nine - Saturday July 16 - we will take the train from Invergordon to Inverness and spend the day at the 200th Inverness Highland Games.

 

Day ten - Sunday July 17 - we will begin with touring Edinburgh Castle, followed by the Rick Steves Edinburgh: Royal Mile audio walking tour. Along the way, we will stop by The Elephant House cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the Harry Potter books, Greyfriars Cemetery, Deacon Brodie's Tavern for lunch, and the Museum of Edinburgh.

Did I miss anything?! We are so excited for this trip, and I look forward to engaging with everyone following along on this post. 

Tiki  We will be cruising to Invergordon and Edinburgh in Sept on the Island Prin. Do you recall if there were any rental cars at the Port of Invergordon? If not, did Princess provide a shuttle into Invergordon or Inverness? 

Hope you had a great adventure.

Joe from Clermont

[Tiki_Koro]

Cruise Day Six - Belfast

 

Of all the stories my family and I have shared with friends about our trip, we keep coming back to our day at Belfast as the most meaningful and interesting. We learned something about ourselves from learning about the Troubles. I have a friend who visited Belfast years ago, and she said she felt the same way after her visit. The experience I am referring to is a private cab tour through the segregated neighborhoods through Cab Tours Belfast https://cabtoursbelfast.com/. I think anyone visiting Belfast, whether by cruise or otherwise, should book this tour. It was almost an afterthought for us, but after reading so many good reviews, we decided it was worth a try. I hate to put spoilers in my report, for much of our enjoyment of the tour was learning new things. But, for those who may never go on this tour, I think the details are worth sharing. I will mark where the spoilers begin and end, similar to a movie review, and I recommend those who are going on this tour to skip the spoilers.

 

I learned about the black cab tours through the Rick Steves Ireland Guidebook. There are other cab tour companies, but I chose Cab Tours Belfast because it is owned and operated by both Protestants and Catholics and aims for a neutral tour. Before I booked the tour, I reached out to the company and asked if we could be picked up at the port. That was no problem and was an extra 20 pounds, well worth it for the convenience! 

 

Our tour began at 9:30am, so we had time for a leisurely breakfast in Da Vinci. As the ship approached the port, I sat on our balcony and watched as the ship turned around. This gave me a good view into the dry dock with the Harland and Wolff gantry cranes Samson and Goliath in the background. 

 

 

 

The ship docked at the port, and we walked off with no wait and found our tour guide waiting for us just behind the fence. If we did not have a way to get into town, a shuttle bus was available for the 20-minute trip and cost $15.95 per person for a round-trip ticket. This was according to the Patter. 

 

SPOILERS BEGIN

 

Because we were a party of four adults, our driver picked us up in a mini-van, and it was quite comfortable. He introduced himself, Thomas, and asked us what we knew about the Troubles. We told him we knew how it was covered in the news and depicted in the movie, "Belfast." He did not seem to be a fan of the movie, but, in retrospect, I think the movie does a pretty decent job portraying some of what we learned, if only at a surface level. Thomas explained that the struggle between Protestants and Catholics is not a religious fight and that most involved in the attacks were not religious at all. He also gave us some of his background. He had been injured and had family who died from the attacks. He then asked us what is the first question we think Americans ask him on these tours, and my father took the bait - "Are you Catholic or Protestant?" He jokingly gave my dad a hard time for being so insensitive and told us he would tell us at the end, but we would first have to guess. He wanted to see if he could give a tour that was not sympathetic to either side, or, rather, was sympathetic to both sides. 

 

As we drove to the neighborhoods, Thomas explained that, although they are enjoying a time of relative peace, the tensions still exist and are at least one generation away from lessening. Protestants and Catholics are still segregated by neighborhoods and schools. The city center is neutral territory and a place where Protestants and Catholics could work together and intermingle, but after business hours, they return to their segregated streets. The Peace Wall has five gates. Three of them are opened during the day and closed at night. A fourth gate is opened during the day and manned by police, while the fifth gate is kept closed at all times. 

 

If the tension between Protestants and Catholics is not religious, then what is the source of the tension? Thomas asked that question, and I suggested it is political. He said no; we Americans are crazy when it comes to politics, but not them. He said it is all about identity - the Protestants identify as British, while the Catholics identify as Irish. That was the lightbulb that turned on in my mind, and I am sure my fellow Americans reading this can relate as our politics have increasingly become our identities in this country (indeed, we are not immune to violent attacks in the name of our various political identities).

 

Thomas explained that the Protestants identify as more British than the British, and the Catholics identify as more Irish than the Irish. They are still fighting a civil war. This was my main takeaway - the violence, tension, hate, and separation is not unique to the Northern Irish. I initially respected the Troubles as a Northern Ireland problem that I did not understand, but I left recognizing it as a human problem that we all have dealt with at one point to various degrees of success. It was a sobering moment. 

 

Our tour was on July 13, the day after July 12, which is a Northern Ireland bank holiday commonly known as Orangemen's Day or Orange Day. This is a Protestant holiday that begins after midnight on July 11 with bonfires. These are not ordinary bonfires, however. They are fires so tall that they dwarf many of the buildings! Catholic symbols, including effigies of the Pope, are burned on these fires, and there are also fireworks going off during the celebration, much like our American Independence Day celebrations. Thomas showed us a picture similar to this one from a previous year's celebration:

 

 

Thomas's story of the Troubles was largely told through the murals throughout the neighborhoods. We began with the Shankill Road Protestant neighborhood. As we entered, we saw this mural greeting us in multiple languages except one - Irish Gaeilge. Even sign language was depicted!

 

 

This was where the Peace Wall began.

 

 

The neighborhood was covered in Union Jacks, and houses had pictures of Queen Elizabeth in their windows. I did not take pictures of individual houses out of respect for the residents.

 

 

Thomas asked us when we thought the tensions began. Knowing a little about the fight for Ireland independence, I suggested a couple hundred years. He showed us this mural and explained that it all began in 1690 when Protestant King William of Orange defeated Catholic King James II at the Battle of the Boyne, hence the name Orange Day. By the way, I never knew the Irish Flag symbolizes green for Catholics, orange for Protestants, and white in between for peace. 

 

 

Across from the William of Orange mural is this most disturbing mural commemorating the Protestants' "top gun," the person who has single-handedly killed the most Catholics to date. 

 

 

His eyes eerily follow you no matter what angle you look at him, symbolizing he is always watching over the neighborhood. Likewise, next to this mural is a smaller one with guns that also follow you at every angle, a threat to Catholics. Even when my mom stood against the wall between the guns, she saw them pointing at her!

 

 

We then crossed over to the Catholic side on Falls Road and saw the Catholic murals. Thomas said the Troubles as we know them began not in Ireland but in Alabama with the American Civil Rights Movement. Catholics were inspired by Blacks in America asserting their civil rights, and they began asserting more of their rights in Northern Ireland. This is depicted in their mural honoring various civil rights leaders.

 

 

Furthermore, Catholics relate with minority groups all across the world and depict that in their murals. They even take a stance in favor of Palestine, while the Protestants are pro-Israel.

 

 

Next, we visited the Peace Wall separating the two neighborhoods. 

 

 

Debris on the ground included rocks and objects that were thrown the night before by Protestants attempting to hit Catholic houses during the Orange Day celebration.

 

 

The wall has been raised twice to try and protect the Catholic houses on the other side. Fencing has been erected over the houses along the border of the wall to prevent objects from hitting the houses. 

 

 

Thomas told us about the Good Friday Agreement brokered by President Clinton in 1998. President Clinton visited the wall and found it depressing. Someone suggested to him that he write an inspirational message on the wall, and that began the tradition of signing the wall. The wall is repainted frequently with new murals to allow new visitors to sign the wall. Thomas gave us markers and had us leave a message.

 

 

My message? "Veni Sancte Spiritus," the opening phrase to the Catholic prayer invoking the Holy Spirit to come and shine Its divine light of healing, grace, and peace (I am Catholic, and my family are Protestant, by the way). 

 

We ended the tour at Bombay Street, where the first attack on the Catholics began in 1969. 

 

 

 

There is a Catholic memorial commemorating those who died. The first names are martyrs who died for the cause, but as the names continue, they are mostly innocent victims who were not fighting in the riots.

 

 

 

Thomas showed us rubber bullets that were used by British authorities to keep the peace. He asked us what we thought rubber bullets looked like, and we were way off! Rubber bullets were used with the intention of not killing people, but they did kill some, including children.

 

 

 

Thomas ended the tour by asking us to guess whether he is Protestant or Catholic. I am not going to give that away, but my mom, brother, and I guessed wrong, while my dad guessed correctly. Thomas succeeded in his objective of giving a neutral tour!

 

 

 

SPOILERS END

 

Again, I cannot speak highly enough about this experience, especially with our guide Thomas. As we rode back to the city center, Thomas asked us about our lunch plans. I had booked us a reservation at the Crown Liquor Saloon, a famous pub I had read about. He suggested we avoid having lunch there because it is such a tourist spot and instead have lunch in the Cathedral Quarter near St. Anne's Cathedral. We took his suggestion, and I canceled our reservation. Thomas dropped us off at Belfast City Hall.

 

 

 

We walked from City Hall to the Cathedral Quarter and found one of the restaurants Thomas suggested, the Thirsty Goat. Unfortunately, many locations he suggested were still closed because they considered July 13 to be a holiday in addition to July 12. 

 

 

 

 

The food was good, but the service was very slow. We spent over an hour on lunch, and we had tickets for the Titanic Museum for 3pm. We also had tickets for the Hop On Hop Off bus, which we had planned on taking to the Crown Liquor Saloon. From there, we would take the bus on the rest of its tour before getting off at the Titanic Museum. I pulled up the map of the route on its website and found that it had a stop by the cathedral. We walked to where the bus was supposed to stop according to the map, but we then watched the bus drive by without stopping! We walked back from the cathedral to City Hall, about a half mile, and discovered that the bus no longer stops at the cathedral! This killed our afternoon plans, so we took the bus from City Hall to the Titanic Museum and skipped the rest of the tour. Fortunately, most of the tour focused on the Shankill and Falls neighborhoods, so we did not feel like we missed much from skipping it. In hindsight, the food at the Thirsty Goat was not so good that it was worth disrupting our plans.

 

The Titanic Museum was very interesting. Similar to the Guinness Storehouse, the tour winds up different levels of galleries telling not only the story of the building, launch, and sinking of Titanic, but also the history of Belfast during that time period. As part of the tour, there is a short, slow-moving dark ride that tells the engineering details of building the ship at the shipyard. The museum does not include a lot of artifacts, but the galleries do a great job of telling stories. I was surprised by the scope of the museum and how little the sinking was covered compared to the rest of the exhibit. It is covered, including the aftermath with a really neat room projecting the wreckage on the floor, but it is not the emphasis of the museum. We spent a little over two hours in the museum before we headed back to the ship. There were taxis waiting in the lower level of the parking garage, so we grabbed a taxi and took it to the port.

 

 

We did not feel like a 2-hour dinner, so we chose the buffet instead. Here is the day's Patter:

 

 

[antsp]

Great information on the tour, a history lesson in itself. All new stuff for me. 

[AF-1]

I was in Belfast two weeks ago.  We were on a land guided tour; and spent the night.  We did all the same places as you and learned the story of the plight of the two religions; and also we learned why some in Belfast and Northern Ireland want to go back to the republic of Ireland; and others want to stay under the British.  We also visited the Titanic Museum and went to city hall .  Cheers

[wowzz]

6 hours ago, antsp said:

Great information on the tour, a history lesson in itself. All new stuff for me. 

Also worth noting, and I am not sure if this was mentioned during the taxi tour, that the IRA murdered over 150 civilians in England during the 25 years of the "Troubles ". 

[Tiki_Koro]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

Also worth noting, and I am not sure if this was mentioned during the taxi tour, that the IRA murdered over 150 civilians in England during the 25 years of the "Troubles ". 

Yes, both sides had terrorist organizations - the IRA and UDA - that committed awful acts of violence. That was covered. 

[wowzz]

9 minutes ago, Tiki_Koro said:

Yes, both sides had terrorist organizations - the IRA and UDA - that committed awful acts of violence. That was covered. 

Although the UDA never carried out bombing atrocities in England. 

[Tiki_Koro]

18 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Although the UDA never carried out bombing atrocities in England. 

You asked if the terrorist activities (bombings) were covered on our tour, and they were. Our tour guide explained that both the IRA and UDA have been proscribed by your government and designated as terrorists by my government.  I am sure the topic is much more sensitive to you and those who live in England and Northern Ireland who were impacted by the attacks, and I hope my coverage was respectful and did not downplay either side's violence or culpability. 

[wowzz]

Just now, Tiki_Koro said:

You asked if the terrorist activities (bombings) were covered on our tour, and they were. Our tour guide explained that both the IRA and UDA have been proscribed by your government and designated as terrorists by my government.  I am sure the topic is much more sensitive to you and those who live in England and Northern Ireland who were impacted by the attacks, and I hope my coverage was respectful and did not downplay either side's violence or culpability. 

I felt your report was sensitively done. Thank you.

It is just that sometimes the deaths of innocent civilians (including children) in England by the IRA is underplayed.

[patrickmoran]

Was there a ship's shuttle from the dock into central Belfast?

[AF-1]

24 minutes ago, patrickmoran said:

Was there a ship's shuttle from the dock into central Belfast?

Post #157 mentions the shuttle. $15.95 for twenty minute ride to town. Cheers

[High C's]

8 hours ago, Tiki_Koro said:

You asked if the terrorist activities (bombings) were covered on our tour, and they were. Our tour guide explained that both the IRA and UDA have been proscribed by your government and designated as terrorists by my government.  I am sure the topic is much more sensitive to you and those who live in England and Northern Ireland who were impacted by the attacks, and I hope my coverage was respectful and did not downplay either side's violence or culpability. 

You are extremely articulate and very well spoken.  Thank you. 🙂

[Tiki_Koro]

Cruise Day Seven - Glasgow

 

If you have been following from the beginning with my pre-trip report, then you may recall this was supposed to be the day we traveled across Scotland to visit our ancestral home, Fingask Castle in Perth. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the trip, I got an email two days prior to our arrival in Scotland from the owner of the castle informing me that he had come down with COVID. We were given the option to still come out to the castle and visit the grounds and the cemetery up the road where our ancestors were likely buried, but out of an abundance of caution, we made the decision to skip our plans and spend the day in Glasgow instead. It was not worth the risk, and it gives us another reason to return to Scotland soon!

 

By changing our plans, we also were relieved of the stress of getting to and from Perth. We decided we would have a leisurely breakfast, take the train from Greenock to Glasgow, and do the Hop On Hop Off Bus tour of Glasgow. 

 

Getting off at Greenock after breakfast in Da Vinci Dining Room was a breeze, and we were greeted by resident ambassadors eager to point us in the right direction.

 

 

Unfortunately, we misunderstood the "right direction" when we were told to "turn left at the ugly building" to get to the train station. We went to the wrong ugly building and got lost! It was not a problem, though, for we saw others from the ship heading a different way and followed them to the train station. At that time of the morning, trains were departing about every 30-40 minutes, and we had to wait about 20 minutes for the 11:46am train to Glasgow. 

 

The train ride was 40 minutes, and we arrived at Glasgow Central at 12:26pm. We had to be back on the ship by 5:30pm, so we planned on returning on the 4:06pm train from Glasgow. 

 

The resident ambassador at the port told us that, when we got off at the train station, we should walk down Buchanan Street towards George Square. She said that is the main tourist shopping corridor, and we would have no trouble finding the Hop On Hop Off Bus somewhere in that area. Sure enough, George Square is the initial departure point for the HOHO tour. Similar to Grafton Street in Dublin, Buchanan Street is a pedestrian street lined with lots of shops.

 

 

Along the way, we found the Duke of Ellington with his famous cone hat!

 

We caught the bus at George Square and settled in for an hour roundtrip tour of the city. We had no plans to hop off anywhere, and our time was limited to about three hours in the city before catching the train back. 

 

George Square is the location of the Glasgow City Chambers and many monuments featuring birds perched on statues of distinguished Scots, such as this one of James Oswald MP.

 

We rode along the River Clyde past the OVO Hydro Arena and the SEC Armadillo auditorium. 

 

 

We then went to Glasgow's West End down Byres Road, Kelvingrove Museum, the University of Glasgow, and Barony Hall (a former church and now events venue for the University of Strathclyde).

 

 

 

This modern mural on High Street is Saint Mungo, the patron of Glasgow, performing his miracle of bringing his pet robin back to life.

 

Tour finished with a drive through Glasgow's East End, as we rode past the Cathedral, Tolbooth Tower and St. Andrew's in the Square, a former church that is now Glasgow's Centre for Scottish Culture. 

 

If I had to do it differently and had planned for a day in Glasgow, I would have planned on an earlier morning and gotten off at a few of the stops on the tour. Glasgow has quite a few free museums and sites to see, and we really enjoyed our time riding around the city. After the tour, we had about an hour and a half before our train back to Greenock, so we did a little shopping on Buchanan Street and decided to grab a late lunch at the train station. The train trip back was an easy 43-minute ride, and there was no wait to board the ship. I enjoyed a cup of tea while watching from my balcony as we traveled through the Firth of Clyde back to sea. 

 

We were not very hungry and did not feel like a long dinner, so we did the buffet for dinner. Wanting to skip the busy laundry rooms on our first sea day, my mother and I spent the evening doing laundry. I will wait to cover that experience on my next post, as I plan to go over my thoughts on the cruise experience then. Laundry took us all night, over 3 hours! I had hoped to enjoy the evening in Speakeasy with a cigar, but I was too tired after dealing with the laundry. Fortunately, the next day being sea day, we could sleep in with no alarms.

 

Here is the day's Patter:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tiki_Koro]

On 7/28/2022 at 6:05 PM, alibabacruisers said:

Thank you so much for taking us along!  Love your trip report and all the fascinating things you did!

 

Thanks! It was an amazing trip!

 

On 7/28/2022 at 6:46 PM, andimark said:

Loved your Guiness moustache!

 

Thanks! Not sure which Guinnesstache category I fit into, but it was fun being silly! 

 

On 7/28/2022 at 7:07 PM, MSPCUBS said:

Thank you so Much for the reports and pictures. I will be on the August 13 sailing. 
Dublin was canceled for our cruise. (Restrictions on the number of cruise ships allowed) Instead we will be in Cobh until 2 pm the next day. Luckily, I have been to Dublin before.

Quick question - Did the staterooms have USB ports?

 

 

You're welcome! Sorry you will miss Dublin on your trip, but I would have enjoyed spending an evening at an Irish port and having dinner on land with some traditional music. I do not recall seeing any USB ports, but I travel with a travel USB port hub (not a surge protector) for all of my devices. 

 

On 7/28/2022 at 11:52 PM, geoherb said:

Wow! You certainly fit a lot in during your day in Dublin. We did a cruise that spent overnight in Dublin so we could get two days there. We saved Guinness for the second day, when we took the hop-on/hop-off bus around the city. We ate lunch at Guinness. I remember the chocolate cake made with Guinness. It was great. I found a recipe for brownies that reminded me of it.

 

 

I would have loved an extra day and an evening in Dublin! Definitely going back someday. We fit a lot in using the Rick Steves tour. I wish we had time to do the Part 2 tour north of the River Liffey. I approach those walking tours as a way to get a feel of the city, as if the city itself is one giant museum. If I had a full day of just doing the walking tour, I would have included seeing the Trinity College Library and the Book of Kells. I also would have spent more time at Guinness. If you don't mind, could you share the recipe for the brownies? That sounds delicious! 

 

On 7/29/2022 at 6:36 AM, AF-1 said:

Tiki_Koro;  what a great day in Dublin.  I just returned from a land tour of Ireland last week.  We spent three nights in Dublin;  there is a lot to see and do in that city.  All the best

 

Thanks! I'm ready to go back for a more in-depth tour of Ireland. Wondrium (formerly The Great Courses) has a lecture series on touring Ireland with a lot of great information on Ireland's history and things to see across the country. 

 

On 7/29/2022 at 3:35 PM, nini said:

@Tiki_Koro

We were in B749 and unfortunately did experience cigarette smoke virtually each time we went out on our balcony.

I LOVE the pic of your Mom with Victor Hugo! DH took one of me as well; he is one of my very favorite authors and yes, I did read ALL 1500 pages of Les Miserables in high school (required reading).

 

Thanks for your lovely review!

 

That's too bad re: the cigarette smoke. I would not have liked that, either. Glad you are enjoying the review!

 

On 7/29/2022 at 3:53 PM, ROWSE said:

@Tiki_Koro Thank you for wonderful review!  Very fun to see the different, and same, things you did versus our trip in May!  We loved Dublin!  Sorry to hear some on your cruise did not.  I figured Temple Bar would be packed area so we did not even attempt it but so much to do there, our day was full

just like yours!

We also realized Pearse station was the one we should have gotten off on also, and we didn't get off till Connolly so that put us on the North bank, but fun things to see on our way to South Bank anyway.  If anyone else has an upcoming trip and want the best station to get off at I would say Pearse is the one!

 

You're welcome! Your review was so helpful, and I saw things from your review and thought, "Ah, that's where that is!"

 

On 7/29/2022 at 4:08 PM, nini said:

We met a lovely local lady on the train and she coached us on where to get off of the train. We were headed to Trinity College. She was on her way to work as a paralegal and was raising a cute little girl.

 

We found everyone we encountered while on land at the various ports very friendly and helpful. I loved hearing different but similar phrases, such as "Not a bother" instead of "No problem." 

 

On 7/30/2022 at 12:52 PM, Steelers0854 said:

 

Can you tell me how you did this?  Our TA says the only transfer available are to and from Heathrow. This would be much better for us as its right next to our hotel.  Thanks!

 

On 7/30/2022 at 1:45 PM, kiwimum said:

Are you able to get into the Travel Section of your booking when using a TA.   Transfers are there in a drop down menu.    I know for our 2023 disembark from Southampton we can select Victoria Coach Station as one of the options, $59 pp.  The buses in the past has dropped off passengers from Southampton and then loaded those going to Southampton.

 

On 7/30/2022 at 2:05 PM, nini said:

 

We reserved the transfer through our TA who called Princess. We took a cab from our London hotel to the Victoria Coach Station (NOT Victoria Station). This was on a Monday morning and all went well and very affordable from the East side. As has been said, a Princess rep met us at the main entrance and instructed us where to go, etc. It was $59.00 per person and took about one and a half to 2 hours.

 

This was a much more affordable transfer versus Blackberry Cabs or a few others. It is also closer than Heathrow from a London hotel.

 

This answer is what I was going to give. We booked through a travel agent who set it up for us, but if you are traveling without a travel agent, it can be booked through the website. In hindsight, I cannot imagine an easier way to get from London to Southampton unless we had traveled by train or bus the day before and spent the night in Southampton. I would not have attempted traveling on my own the day of departure. Being a tourist without a good understanding of the travel logistics, there seem to be too many variables that could go wrong. 

[Tiki_Koro]

On 7/31/2022 at 5:52 AM, cruisequeen4ever said:

Loving your trip report; keep it coming! We too experienced bad service at Fortnum and Mason when we went in 2018; I’m still glad to have experienced their tea once, though. 

 

Thanks! I hope things change for the better at F&M. I have recommended to so many friends traveling for the first time to London to do afternoon tea there, but I cannot give that recommendation anymore in its current state.

 

On 8/1/2022 at 7:53 AM, joemooch said:

Tiki  We will be cruising to Invergordon and Edinburgh in Sept on the Island Prin. Do you recall if there were any rental cars at the Port of Invergordon? If not, did Princess provide a shuttle into Invergordon or Inverness? 

Hope you had a great adventure.

Joe from Clermont

 

We did not go far enough into the port for me to notice the availability of rental cars. I see online that there are car rentals available in Invergordon. We booked the Inverness On Your Own excursion through Princess that was a roundtrip coach ride from the port to Inverness. It worked out perfectly. There were no free shuttles to Inverness, and the excursion had one time of departure and one time for returning to the port. 

 

On 8/2/2022 at 12:37 AM, antsp said:

Great information on the tour, a history lesson in itself. All new stuff for me. 

 

Thanks! Our tour guide Thomas was really good at explaining the history in a way for all of us with various understandings of the history to grasp. My father had a conversation with Thomas about the legal system and the potential for bias to interfere in the rule of law. Thomas also explained to us that the school systems do not teach much about that period of history to the children for two reasons. First, being segregated schools, it is a tough topic to discuss fairly. And second, there is a hope that the next generation will be the first to set aside differences and learn to live better together. That resonated with us as we are having debates in America on how to teach our history to our children. 

 

On 8/2/2022 at 6:42 AM, AF-1 said:

I was in Belfast two weeks ago.  We were on a land guided tour; and spent the night.  We did all the same places as you and learned the story of the plight of the two religions; and also we learned why some in Belfast and Northern Ireland want to go back to the republic of Ireland; and others want to stay under the British.  We also visited the Titanic Museum and went to city hall .  Cheers

 

Thanks! Cheers!

 

On 8/2/2022 at 12:21 PM, wowzz said:

I felt your report was sensitively done. Thank you.

It is just that sometimes the deaths of innocent civilians (including children) in England by the IRA is underplayed.

 

You're welcome, I appreciate that. While on our walking tour of London, we learned that Downing Street only started having a gate and guards after the IRA bombings. So tragic. 

 

On 8/2/2022 at 8:24 PM, High C's said:

You are extremely articulate and very well spoken.  Thank you. 🙂

 

Thanks, and you're welcome. Just last weekend, I heard a talk by an author named Joseph Pearce. He was involved in the UDA and went to prison twice. He had a spiritual conversion and wrote about it in his book, "Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love." I met him last year at a conference and bought his book, but I haven't read it yet. I look forward to reading it now that I have a better understanding of the topic. He became Catholic, and in his talk he was quick to point out that the IRA and Sinn Fein are not at all faithful to Catholic theology. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Race-Devil-Journey-Racial-Rational/dp/1618909622

[Tiki_Koro]

Good evening, everyone. Just a quick note on why this is taking longer than I expected. I will finish my reports, but each one has taken me about 2-3 hours to write and pull pictures. I averaged about 200 pictures a day, a blessing and a curse of digital photography! I am also in the middle of some life changes, including a career change, and my current job has a political component that has heated up as we approach our primary elections in Florida. Returning to this project has been a fun way to relax whenever I can find the spare time. Thanks for your patience and hanging in there with me!

[alibabacruisers]

Thank you for letting us know what you are going through and appreciate all your time and effort to share your experiences with all of us!

[Malleykatt]

We are on count down as we will be boarding on the 13th Aug. Really enjoying your report and seeing what's in store for us. We haven't been to Scotland or Ireland before even though we're "locals" haha. Packing starts tomorrow.

[SomewhereGirl]

9 hours ago, Tiki_Koro said:

Wanting to skip the busy laundry rooms on our first sea day, my mother and I spent the evening doing laundry. I will wait to cover that experience on my next post, as I plan to go over my thoughts on the cruise experience then. Laundry took us all night, over 3 hours! 

Oh oh, I'm afraid of what's coming.  When you get to that point, was the laundry open 24 hours?  How long were the wash and dry cycles?  

[Tiki_Koro]

Cruise Day Eight - First Day at Sea

 

Our day at sea went by so fast, even though I felt like I hardly did much of anything! I do not have nearly as many photos to share from this day, so I thought I would use this post to go over some thoughts and observations about the cruise experience. I am not nearly as experienced a cruiser as many on this forum, so I expect this post may generate quite a bit of engagement with input from those who can offer more insight. But first, I will give a quick overview of the day.

 

We all slept in and decided to do breakfast on our own. My dad and I were ready about the same time, so we both went to the buffet together, while my mom and brother got room service. My mom and I wanted to try afternoon tea, so we decided not to get lunch because our breakfasts were late in the morning. My parents and I wanted to catch up on our email, and I wanted to work on some drafts for my trip reports (I still had hoped to find WiFi on shore to upload live reports). We went up to Skywalkers Nightclub, found some seats near a window, and spent a few hours enjoying the view and working on our devices. I got easily distracted by the cliffs outside the window. We were traveling at the time in a strait called The Minch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My mom and I left around 2:30pm to get ready for afternoon tea. There was a long line to get into Da Vinci for tea, but it moved quickly. In fact, "quickly" pretty much sums up the whole experience! We were sat at a table with another party, a woman and her teenage children from Savannah, Georgia. Before we could introduce ourselves, the servers walked around the table and poured us each a cup of tea from a carafe. We were not given a choice of tea, and it was already brewed. Then, more servers came by with trays of sandwiches and offered us the option to take what we would like off the trays, followed by servers with pastries, which appeared to be the same ones offered at the buffet. We had a few moments to try the sandwiches before a server came by with a basket of fresh scones still warm out of the oven, and another server followed with jam and whipped cream. My favorite part of afternoon tea is scones with jam and clotted cream, so getting whipped cream was a bit of a letdown. The experience lasted maybe 20 minutes before we were over it and ready to go. It was not what we expected and was not at all relaxing. Needless to say, we had quite the appetite by the time we got to dinner!

 

After tea, my mom and I went to the Princess Theater for Deal or No Deal. This game show was hyped by the cruise director all morning, so we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. We did not purchase game cards to participate because we did not know going in how it worked. While one person is called up for each round from the audience to play for money, anyone who purchased a game card could play for other prizes, sort of like bingo where you would score when your game card briefcases matched up with the briefcases on the stage screen. It was fun to watch, even without playing.

 

 

 

After Deal or No Deal, it was already time to get ready for dinner. One of my new smoking friends I met in Speakeasy had recommended trying the pasta course, which I had been skipping previously. I had the Seafood Trenette as my entrée, and it was delicious! I also had the Caprese Salad Revival and the Stilton-Mousse with William Waldorf Salad.

 

 

 

 

 

(Sorry for the poor photo. My finger must have been on one of the lenses)

 

After dinner, my parents went to see the Elton John Tribute in the Princess Theater, and I returned to Speakeasy for an after-dinner scotch and cigar. On the way, we saw a performance by the singers and dancers in the Piazza, and I caught the sun beginning its descent from my balcony. 

 

 

It was a relaxing day and just what we needed to recharge for the rest of the trip!

 

I am going to break up my observations by categories. Please, FEEL FREE to offer thoughts and suggestions on my experiences with the cruise. I want this to be helpful for other cruisers, and if I made a rookie mistake that contributed to some of my poor experiences, then I hope the discussion can help others have a better experience. 

 

Room

 

This was my first time staying in a balcony room. Compared to my other two cruises where I had an interior cabin, I felt the room was plenty spacious. My brother and I had our own twin beds, and they were very comfortable. We never felt cramped in the room. I had read reviews of the dreaded "partial obstruction" aft balcony rooms, and I was worried when I found out our balcony had the beam. When I saw it for myself, however, I did not feel like the beam was much of an inconvenience at all. We were able to sit our chairs in front of it with plenty of space, and if I had the choice of an aft balcony with the beam or a side balcony, I would go with the aft balcony with the beam. I really enjoyed the full panoramic view of the aft balcony and watching the wake of the ship. 

 

Bathroom

 

I did not have a problem with the size of the bathroom. Believe it or not, I have stayed in European hotels with smaller bathrooms! One time in Paris, I could not open the shower door without opening the bathroom door! My main objection with the bathroom was the stench that built up during the duration of the cruise. We did not notice it the first few days, but by the halfway point, it was bad and got worse each day. The issue was with the toilet. We kept the lid down to keep the smell contained, but whenever I lifted the lid, the fumes knocked me over! I can only imagine it has something to do with how the waste is treated, but if someone can offer an explanation, please do. I would actually reconsider doing a 12-day cruise again if this is a normal experience.

 

Room Service

 

I had really good interactions with the Princess crew members, but the one area where service was weak was with room service. I understand how busy they must get and how there seemed to be a staffing issue, but on more than one occasion, the wait was over an hour for room service, even over two hours for my parents. My main issue with room service, however, was the missing items. On multiple orders, my tea service was missing milk. I had a box of tea I bought at Twining's while in London, so the main reason I ordered room service tea was for the milk. I also ordered sparkling water with a slice of lime and multiple times did not receive a lime. One time, I received a lemon instead. I can excuse a mistake here and there, but this happened too many times to be a mere oversight. On a positive note, we discovered a favorite nonalcoholic drink on the menu that all of us ordered at least once every day - the Sunshine Daiquiri! This is also available at most of the bars, and it consists of pureed strawberries, lime juice, lemon juice, and mango nectar. It's a great breakfast drink!

 

Food

 

Our meals in the Da Vinci Dining Room and the Crown Grill were consistently great, both breakfast and dinner service. With the four of us, dinner ran almost 2 hours every meal, while breakfast was under an hour. When my dad and I had dinner in Da Vinci just the 2 of us, dinner was served in 90 minutes. We were not planning to eat at the buffet for dinner on this trip, but there were nights when we did not feel like a 2-hour meal. The portions were perfect and not too big, considering the multiple courses. 

 

The buffet, on the other hand, left a lot to be desired, both in options and quality. There were plenty of options, to be sure, but not the kind of food that interested us. Still, we could find things we would eat, even if it meant making a meal out of fried cheese sticks! Food quality suffered the most at breakfast. I should have known better when I saw the trays upon trays of eggs benedict under the warmers above the buffet, but I tried the eggs benedict and found the egg yolks to be the consistency of dried playdough! The pancakes had hard edges, and the chef scooped the world's smallest ladle of syrup across my plate as if garnishing the pancakes rather than saturating them, which they needed to be edible. I recommend opting for room service for breakfast if not dining in the dining rooms (we never had an issue with room service timing when we left the card out on our door the night before). 

 

Laundry

 

Okay, here we go! We did laundry three times on this trip. The first time was our first night on the ship. We needed to wash our clothes from the London portion of our trip. On our level, Baja (11th), the laundry room had two washers and two dryers. They were being used, but a crew member recommended that I go down to the 10th level because it had twice as many machines. Unfortunately, one of the dryers on the 10th level was out of service the entire cruise. I was washing for all four of us, so I had two full loads. When I was ready to dry them, a man was starting to put his clothes into a washer and said, "You're going to leave one of those dryers for me, right? I don't want to be here until midnight!" My initial thought was no, I got there first and needed both of the dryers at that moment. But, not knowing if that was a breach of etiquette, I tried cramming both loads into a single dryer so that he could have the other dryer. Of course, that meant my clothes were not dry after the first run! A crew member came in and told us the laundry room was closing at 10pm, so we would not be able to finish our laundry. My mom took the damp clothes back the following morning to finish drying them. 

 

Our second laundry experience was even worse! It was the night before our first sea day, and the laundry room on our level was, again, fully occupied by a man using both sets of machines. My mom and I took our clothes to the 10th level, and a couple of ladies were already there using two of the washers. Instead of taking the two available washers, we decided to just use one and run multiple washes through it, leaving the other for the next person who needed it. The problem began when the token machine failed to provide tokens. We were able to get a few tokens initially to begin our washes, but we could not get enough to run the dryer. There was a phone in the laundry room to call for service, so my mom called and was told someone would be down to fix the token machine. In the meantime, I ran up to the 11th level to get more tokens.

 

As I walked in, I caught the end of a verbal fight between two cruisers. A lady was leaving as I entered, and she yelled back at the man, "HAVE A NICE LIFE, SIR!!!" Minding my own business, I tried the token machine and found it not working, either. So, I ran down to the 9th level laundry room and found it, too, had a broken or empty token machine! By the way, the laundry rooms on each level are not on the same end of the ship. This meant I was walking a good portion of the length of the ship each time I tried another level! When I got back to the 10th level, I tried calling for service again and was told someone was on their way to help. We waited over an hour for a crew member to finally arrive and provide us tokens. We were afraid of getting kicked out at 10pm, but that did not happen. We managed to finish all of our laundry and left after midnight. 

 

The next morning, my mom had the foresight to stop by a laundry room and stock up on tokens for doing laundry one more time later in the cruise. As for that experience, it was my brother's turn to help. They finished in under two hours with no incident. That figures!

 

I do not see how to get around doing laundry on a 12-day cruise, but having that dryer out of service the entire time was a real inconvenience. I hope it is fixed by now.

 

Entertainment

 

We enjoyed all of the entertainment we experienced in the various venues throughout the ship. I only saw one of the big shows in the Princess Theater, but my parents went to most of the ones that featured music (we are not into comedians). They lasted around 35-40 minutes, which, in my opinion, was long enough without being too long. We also saw a few musical performances in the Explorers Lounge, with the Elton John impersonator being our favorite. The talent is really good on the ship. One night, we went to Crooners, and the performer led a singalong of standards from the 1930s and 1940s. The audience was as entertaining as the pianist, for they were really getting into it! My favorite form of entertainment on this cruise, though, was catching the random acts in the Piazza while having a coffee or a glass of wine. Two young ladies played pop music on electric violins. A man did a variety of comedy circus acts, such as plate spinning and knife throwing. A bagpiper in Highland dress performed a couple of nights. And, periodically, the singers and dancers from the stage shows would do a number. On formal nights, a house band performed, and a dance party broke out. 

 

Disembarking/Embarking/Excursions

 

By this, I mean getting on and off the ship at the ports. While I already touched on this in the daily reports, overall I found the process of getting off and on the ship to be very well-organized. We avoided the peak times and had no problem with long waits. Excursions were simple, as well. Our excursion tickets told us where to meet (either in the Princess Theater or Michelangelo Dining Room), and when it was time for our group to go, we were led out by crew members. 

 

Overall, we had many more positive experiences than negative. The crew members we interacted with were very helpful and friendly. If there is an aspect of the cruise experience I missed, feel free to ask. I would also like to hear from those who had different experiences from ours.