¡Live! Regal 12 Night UK Cruise (6/25-7/7)

[KarmaCruisers]

so because of some issues (I forgot what Capt Tim said) we didn’t actually shove-off from Liverpool until 7:45 (planned was 6)

[KarmaCruisers]

Had a good nights sleep; and got up for our tour of Belfast (Giants Causeway & Titanic Experience) via Finn McCool’s.

Cool, dreary Irish day here in Belfast. 
Sitting on the bus waiting on the other bunch of passengers

[KarmaCruisers]

Whew! What a day! Busy busy busy!

I had no idea Giants Causeway was so close to Bushmills Distillery!

The stone formations were pretty cool, although if you’re not fleet of foot, you won’t be able to really go see them good. (It’s like a real-life Qbert gameboard!, Haha)

after that we loaded up and went to take a photo of the rope bridge (it’s helllla far down that cliff!!)

Next, we stopped at The Dark Hedges..which apparently is a thing from Game Of Thrones..(never watched it)..it reminded me a bit of Oak Alley in Louisiana.

Finally, we were on our way to the Titanic  Experience. Which was pretty neat to see. They had some artifacts from it (first class lunch menu, and recreations of 1st/2nd/3rd class cabins) It’s hard to think that just 100 years ago, the PINNACLE of ship building, and largest, was just about the size of the former Pacific Princess!

We ONLY did 9600 steps today, haha.

Were just relaxing in the cabin until dinner at 8:30.

I’d post some pictures..but the WiFi at only 3Mbps can barely do it.

[Fortunate 2 travel]

Roaming around Giants Causeway was an amazing experience.  It was a must for me, being a huge Zep fan.  

[KarmaCruisers]

Forgot! Also we can see “Samson” and “Goliath” (two largest cranes in the world) from our balcony

[KarmaCruisers]

Good LORD this casino has our number..quite literally we don’t bet more than $5 a spin on the machines and my wife will play just above minimim on the Heads up Hold’Em table ($5 min; she plays $10) and we’ve lost $500 a piece each night! That’s absurd as we’re pretty regular gamblers and it’s not uncommon to have a few losing sessions..but six nights of BOTH OF US going busto…verrrrry sus. I mean literally never putting in the $500 going up $200 or $300 (we’ve had some hits but none to get us actually ABOVE $500 for a day)

I guess on the other side of that coin; we’ve earned 9000 points between us (wife probably has some “hidden” points because she plays some tables and they don’t accrue “visible” points)

i seen some single players with 10-12k points..only betting like $1.25-$2.50 a spin! That means they’re literally in the casino each night from opening-closing…someone ought to tell these people..believe me, Vegas will treat you better!

So on the gambling front, that’s enough butt kicking for one trip! The next six days will be no casino-ing

[KarmaCruisers]

Ugh, we just realized the boat docks at 7, and our tour with BusyBus is at 7:30! That means we gotta get up at 5:30 to be able to get cleaned up and have breakfast before offboarding.

damnit! Should have went to bed earlier! 

[KarmaCruisers]

Cute little church in Luss

[KarmaCruisers]

Scenic view of Loch Lomond

[KarmaCruisers]

A stop in Inverary. We’re having lunch at The Cottage; so far the mushroom soup was GREAT!

my main is a steak pie, haha.

some photos from our ride so far 

[KarmaCruisers]

Pretty picture of the loch here at Inverary

[sawtooth]

enjoying your LIVE.

What is the port stop of this last post?

[KarmaCruisers]

Just now, sawtooth said:

enjoying your LIVE.

What is the port stop of this last post?

Glasgow (but actually, Greenock)

[nini]

For those of you who want to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, you can purchase tickets ahead of time. We were there in May 2022 and had plenty of time to get there via the train. I think we got off about the 7th stop but I am not sure. It was a short walk to the college. A local on the train coached us. She was on her way to work. She was a sweetheart.

[Sulialto]

17 hours ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Good LORD this casino has our number..quite literally we don’t bet more than $5 a spin on the machines and my wife will play just above minimim on the Heads up Hold’Em table ($5 min; she plays $10) and we’ve lost $500 a piece each night! That’s absurd as we’re pretty regular gamblers and it’s not uncommon to have a few losing sessions..but six nights of BOTH OF US going busto…verrrrry sus. I mean literally never putting in the $500 going up $200 or $300 (we’ve had some hits but none to get us actually ABOVE $500 for a day)

I guess on the other side of that coin; we’ve earned 9000 points between us (wife probably has some “hidden” points because she plays some tables and they don’t accrue “visible” points)

i seen some single players with 10-12k points..only betting like $1.25-$2.50 a spin! That means they’re literally in the casino each night from opening-closing…someone ought to tell these people..believe me, Vegas will treat you better!

So on the gambling front, that’s enough butt kicking for one trip! The next six days will be no casino-ing

With any luck they’ll offer you either a big discount/upgrade or free future cruise! Evidently that’s how it seems to work - it’s the more you loose, the better your chances🤣😢

[Catchum]

2 hours ago, nini said:

For those of you who want to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, you can purchase tickets ahead of time. We were there in May 2022 and had plenty of time to get there via the train. I think we got off about the 7th stop but I am not sure. It was a short walk to the college. A local on the train coached us. She was on her way to work. She was a sweetheart.

We also booked ahead - simply amazing to be in the presence of something so beautiful over 1000 years old. Also the library with the original Guinness harp is so cool.

[KarmaCruisers]

2 hours ago, nini said:

For those of you who want to see the Book of Kells at Trinity College, you can purchase tickets ahead of time. We were there in May 2022 and had plenty of time to get there via the train. I think we got off about the 7th stop but I am not sure. It was a short walk to the college. A local on the train coached us. She was on her way to work. She was a sweetheart.

Even if we could have “walked right in” to the library, with all the other stuff we did..ain’t no way..something would have had to get dropped 

also, good luck catching DART back to the ship at around 5pm on a weekday..workforce crush crowd going home.

[KarmaCruisers]

So the Scottish Highlands were nice (reminded me of our Sierra foothills when they’re green; except here in the highlands the land was completely clearcut thousands of years ago and replanted with no native trees)

we popped into Tesco that’s right across the street from the port; as we needed some laundry supplies (we entirely forgot them) and I wanted to get a REAL bar of soap (rather than the “body wash” they provide)…we also got some crazy crisp flavors haha (Dorito’s flavored as Burger King Whopper)

we “earned” a free dinner at Sabatini’s tonight, lol (our $5000 dinner) so we’ve got that at 8pm.

[KarmaCruisers]

And just like that, StarLink isn’t providing WiFi (I wonder for how long now; because 3Mbps isn’t TOO bad..but we’re back on good old SES with their HEO birds and running a ping of ~1500MS and download speed of 56Kbps!

[KarmaCruisers]

Looking out the window at Sabatini..

[KarmaCruisers]

Whew! Stuffed!

had the Frito mista, Papardelle, and Osso Bucco

[KarmaCruisers]

Cool not-quite-sunset from the balcony of the room

Edited July 1, 2023 by KarmaCruisers

[KarmaCruisers]

Weird that pano photo is dining up as just black…

[KarmaCruisers]

How about this one from the highlands earlier..

[KarmaCruisers]