Half-Live: Regal Princess British Isles 27 May 2024

[Cloudyrain]

Disembarkation Details

 

We return to Southampton on Saturday 8th June via the Mayflower terminal.

 

Princess offer several options depending on how you are travelling onwards.

[Cloudyrain]

Liverpool Weather Report

 

Morning: T-shirt warm.

 

Afternoon: Hoody needed as the cloud cover increased.

 

Late afternoon/early evening: Sunshine! Actually warm in the sun, and definitely sunbathing weather on the balcony - unless you were the opposite side of the ship, and in this case tou probably would think it was freezing and that I was crazy!

 

7pm: Sunny, beautiful, freezing on the deck! Do not be deceived 😂

 

Sorry, photos are not particularly helpful to represent the weather. The first photo was early afternoon, and the second two are late afternoon and then early evening.

[insidecabin]

7 hours ago, helenb said:

For those of you on the cruise, when did you learn that the Cork port was Ringsakiddy? Our cruise just says 'Cork' on the itinerary (on Princess' site) and we have a private tour booked. If we will actually dock at Ringsakiddy then I need to let them know where to pick us up!

A couple of lists(I guess the first is kept upto date sooner with changes)

 

https://www.portofcork.ie/cruise-schedule/

 

https://www.cobhedition.com/port-of-cork-cruise-liner-schedule-2024/

[Cloudyrain]

The Piazza

 

This is a great venue, very attractive etc, but for me it's unusable. It seems like every bar/floor has their own music playing (sometimes quite loud) and it just becomes a terrible cacophony of noise. I'm clearly in the minority for this as it's a really popular venue, but honestly after 10 minutes it makes me feel ill and discombobulated 😬

 

It's also quite chilly on Port days due to the draft from the deck 4 gangways.

[helenb]

4 hours ago, insidecabin said:

A couple of lists(I guess the first is kept upto date sooner with changes)

 

https://www.portofcork.ie/cruise-schedule/

 

https://www.cobhedition.com/port-of-cork-cruise-liner-schedule-2024/

 

Thank you (and everyone else who has responded)! I had been looking at those links as well. Right now it says that Regal will dock in Cork and Star Legend will dock at Ringaskiddy on June 11. Hopefully, that holds firm, but I'll pay attention onboard and ask the shore excursion people as well.

[insidecabin]

1 hour ago, helenb said:

 

Thank you (and everyone else who has responded)! I had been looking at those links as well. Right now it says that Regal will dock in Cork and Star Legend will dock at Ringaskiddy on June 11. Hopefully, that holds firm, but I'll pay attention onboard and ask the shore excursion people as well.

Cruise ships don tend to berth using  the city options in Cork

 

The main berth is in Cohb 13miles by road.

Ringaskiddy is 10miles.

[ellp]

Greenock report:

It started off cool, but was sunny in the afternoon. We simply walked off the gangplank and the tour buses were nearby. It was quite windy, so it was definitely long pants, short sleeves and light jacket weather.

 

At this stop DD and I did the "Outlander" tour via Serca tours, and it was fabulous. We were out from 915 to 545 pm, and there were 13 of us on the tour.

We saw and explored 3 castles, had lunch at a quaint tea room in Falkland, and saw some "hairy coos" and did a bit of shopping at the Trossachs woolen mill. We also saw thousands of sheep and their wee lambs.

 

We were also provided with a taste of whiskey and shortbread.

[beltsbear]

Dinner with a sub!  Seen from the Concerto dining room at 8:30pm

[Cloudyrain]

12 hours ago, beltsbear said:

Dinner with a sub!  Seen from the Concerto dining room at 8:30pm

We saw it too from the Buffet: definitely not a usual sight 😂

[Cloudyrain]

Greenock Weather Report

 

Cloud.

 

Lots of cloud.

 

All day.

 

Those used to cold-weather = hoodie weather.

 

Those used to hot-weather = wear a hat!

[Cloudyrain]

Greenock

 

(I don't tend to put port-info in great detail as it's all subjective and based on personal interests etc, but thought this might be helpful as it seemed to be a stop where people didn't book big tours, and used it as a break-day after a hectic few port days!)

 

This is walkable, and has a small selection of not-great shops in a shoping centre/Mall: don't be put off if you enter the "Zombie Apocalypse" entrance (in a world where only Argos survived), there are more shops at the other end. There are chemists, supermarkets etc, and you can buy cadbury chocolate a LOT cheaper here than on the ship, so worth a walk to Tesco just for that 😂

 

There is also a donation/free Fire Service museum at the Apocalyptic-end of the Mall with lots of helpful and informative volunteers. It is open when the ships are in port and worth a little wander.

 

The port terminal building has a little gift area, helpful staff/maps, and a gallery.

[Cloudyrain]

Greenock/Glasgow daily and the port access information for the remainder of the cruise

Edited June 3 by Cloudyrain

[Cloudyrain]

The Trawlermen

 

Again, I don't tend to review entertainment as it's subjective, but these guys were brilliant. It was a popular show (both shows actually) but there were still seats available.

 

They do a mix of English, Irish and Scottish folk/traditional/sea-shanties/pop, and use a variety of instruments.

 

I really recommend their show, it's a real foot tapper 😊

[Cloudyrain]

Belfast

 

There is a shuttle bus to Belfast that yiu can book on the ship or at the dock, $16 return. There are also plenty of taxis (including wheelchair accessible taxis) that charge £10 to the Titanic Experience quarter (which takes around 10 minutes). There are also taxis waiting outside the museum to bring you back to port. 
 

Just be aware that most taxis only take cash (GBP £) and don't have card facilities. Some will apparently also take Euros, but I cant comment on the rate they charge at, or how many actually do!

 

You can pre-book Titanic Experience/Nomadic tickets online (with concessions available). There is also a good science museum across the way, and it's very easy to walk in to the city from there.

[remydiva]

On 5/29/2024 at 10:10 PM, ellp said:

Warning: this is a personal rant...

The one thing I've noticed is that they really do the hard sell all throughout the ship which is a bit annoying. Not only are there multiple tries to sell you on the plus packages, there's the future cruises/excursions thing, then the jewelry/watches/inch of gold stands in the hallway, then they also cruise around the MDR trying to sell you on souvenir shot glasses with the princess logo. I know it's a personal thing, but I do find it annoying as it seems like they're trying to push something constantly.

 

That said, I did succumb to the inches of gold promotion... Got a gold plated necklace for $35, which included a matching bracelet.

 

Interesting re jewelry tables … there were NONE on our Regal TA April 2023 and hubby’s watch broke so we were disappointed!

[remydiva]

We are booked for Sept cruise. Would like to do the Stonehenge disembark tour enroute to LHR but it says only for flights leaving after 5:45.

our flight leaves at 5:15 but we do carryon only so no need to stand inline to check bags.
Anyone know if princess will be ok with that? 

[ellp]

Oh yeah... My mum is on the cruise with DD and me. While she and I were doing some shopping in Dublin, near Trinity college, she got pick pocketed! I don't know how that happened as we were walking briskly towards the bus station, and I was right beside her.

 

The money, both euros and pounds was in a little coin purse, and she had put it in a zippered pocket in her backpack, which I suppose made it easy to pickpocket. She lost a couple of hundred pounds, and a hundred euros.😞 Thankfully she didn't have anything else in the coin purse, and she wasn't physically hurt.

 

[ellp]

Belfast report:

It was very grey, windy and looked like it might rain this morning. Definitely long pants, shirt, sweater, AND jacket weather.

 

We had booked the Giant's Causeway shore excursion coach tour through Odyssey tours, which picked us up at the dock. It was a small group tour that had about 22 people. 

 

We drive along the coast which had fabulous views of the Irish sea, and stopped for a comfort break in a little harbour village. Coincidentally it was a sight of a Game of a Thrones scene, so it was fun to reenact it. 😁

 

After about an hour or so, we had arrived to see the rope bridge, but it was all fogged over, so that was disappointing. The causeway was great though. Full sun, lots of people and great pictures. Then we stopped for lunch in a small village, then drove home. The route home led us through some country roads with tones of sheep, cows, and even a donkey.

 

As we entered Belfast, our tour guide also provided a tour and history of Belfast and the "troubles". Very informative, interesting, and sad.

 

OH!!! The captain just announced the our Le Havre stop is cancelled due to the nation wide strike!! Instead we are going to Zeebrugge, Belgium! I'm off to go do research...

[ellp]

Giant's Causeway and the white stairway where Arya climbs out of the ocean.

Edited June 3 by ellp

[KKB]

22 minutes ago, ellp said:

 

OH!!! The captain just announced the our Le Havre stop is cancelled due to the nation wide strike!! Instead we are going to Zeebrugge, Belgium! I'm off to go do research...

WAY better stop! Bruges is lovely while we find Le Havre a bit "meh"

 

Regarding laudry--yes you must buy token from the machine w/ your Medalliion. 
(It is tricky...) $3/load for each washer & dryer to buy.

 

I HIGHLY recommend Arm & Hammer washer sheets. I bring a few of these & a few dryer sheets. They take up no room & keep my suitcase fresh. (DO NOT put near any food or meds...the smell will permeate them!)

 

We just toss our laundry in our carry on, roll it down & then toss it all in to fold it back at the room when done.

 

PS DO NOT open dryer after you start it. I did this to get a sock that landed on the floor.

Unbeknownst to me, the dryer did NOT start again, even tho I pushed start & thought I heard it.

When I checked 45 min later--still wet! UGH. Had to get another token & come back later...

[ellp]

Anyone have any info on  Zeebrugge/Brugge?  Usually I do research for weeks beforehand, at home. Now we only have a few days, and I don't have any wifi after we leave port.

Edited June 3 by ellp

[KKB]

47 minutes ago, ellp said:

Oh yeah... My mum is on the cruise with DD and me. While she and I were doing some shopping in Dublin, near Trinity college, she got pick pocketed! I don't know how that happened as we were walking briskly towards the bus station, and I was right beside her.

 

The money, both euros and pounds was in a little coin purse, and she had put it in a zippered pocket in her backpack, which I suppose made it easy to pickpocket. She lost a couple of hundred pounds, and a hundred euros.😞 Thankfully she didn't have anything else in the coin purse, and she wasn't physically hurt.

 

While rare in UK, can happen anywhere. That's why I use a crossbody when traveling, or put it in a deep interior pocket  if I have my backpack.

Likely someone observed her get it out to pay for something & then saw which pocket she put it in. 

[KKB]

Just now, ellp said:

Anyone have any info on  Zeebrugge/Brugge?  Usually I do research for weeks beforehand, at home. Now we only have a few days, and I don't have any wifi after we leave port.

Our friends said Bruges was a lovely town to just walk around & enjoy the architecture.

[ellp]

Just now, KKB said:

Our friends said Bruges was a lovely town to just walk around & enjoy the architecture.

I'm all for that. I'd also like to try some waffles, chocolate, fries...

[KKB]

Just now, ellp said:

I'm all for that. I'd also like to try some waffles, chocolate, fries...

ALL good choices! There may have been a few beers imbibed as well.😎