Live from the Land of Princess

[YVRteacher]

What comes after snack? The garden center.

 

For my Vancouver friends reading along, this is similar to Garden Works.

 

 

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Ireland is now top of my list of countries to visit for longer than a cruise allows. Thank you, Ireland, for your beauty, your spirit, your music, your resilience, your flowers, your blankets and your Irish soda bread with butter.

[YVRteacher]

Unlike Ireland, the water shuttle experience was not delightful. Our shore excursion arrived back at the pier at 5:32pm. The line up for the water shuttle back to the ship was the equivalent of 4 blocks long. Not even in Cabo have I seen a tender line this long. I assumed it would move quickly. 
 

I was wrong.

 

Princess had pulled up all but one tender.  As you saw in the photos once the rain cleared we had sun. Sun is hot. Part of the line up is in glass enclosed corridor. One woman fainted and another threw up. They took away the water station but they did bring cookies.

 

Whoever is responsible for tenders on the Regal Princess, shame on you. You did not meet passengers’ needs and this could have been solved by keep the tenders in use.  Yes, I registered my concerns with guest services as did many other people.  
 

Our tender did not leave Dun Laoghaire until 6:33pm. We waited over an hour baking in the sun.

 

I arrived at the port at 5:32pm and arrived at my cabin at 7:15pm.

 

Truly, that was awful.

[Muckyduckway]

18 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Ireland is now top of my list of countries to visit for longer than a cruise allows. Thank you, Ireland, for your beauty, your spirit, your music, your resilience, your flowers, your blankets and your Irish soda bread with butter.

But.... what about the whiskey 🤔 

[YVRteacher]

Moving on. I will never dwell on something negative. I deal with, regroup and move on. Then I write about it on Cruise Critic!!

 

I felt like I wanted a more leisurely dinner so went to Symphony. I couldn’t find the menu outside so I told people in line that Inwasnt budging, that Inwas just looking at the menu. There was no menu posted inside either. The seating guy said it was behind the wall. I liked the look of the menu so went to stand in line. I knew not to stand in the line with people who had reservations and no one was in the place where people without reservations would be. 
 

I don’t know why I did this but I looked at the line and said with embarrassment “sorry I’m new to Princess” and an Englishman said “did you just get on the ship today?” 🤣  I ended up sitting next to him and his wife and really enjoyed chatting with them.

 

 

 

 

 

Vegan Green Goodness salad

Mushroom Arancini 

 

They had an action station in the MDR and were cooking penne arrabbiata.  

I wish Cruise Critic had scratch and sniff. I was next to the action station and the garlic mingled with the basil and peppers and wafted right in my direction 

 

 

 

 

Vegan pasta with chick peas, half portion

 

 

I wish Cruise Critic had scratch and sniff. I was next to the action station and the garlic mingled with the basil and peppers wafted right in my direction 

 

Cruising with Princess has made me realize a few things 

NCL food is not ok

I am a terrible cook

I need to learn how to flavour food properly when I am cooking

Amaretto creme brûlée 

 

This was a wonderful dinner.

 

 

Edited July 30 by YVRteacher

[Muckyduckway]

14 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

Unlike Ireland, the water shuttle experience was not delightful. Our shore excursion arrived back at the pier at 5:32pm. The line up for the water shuttle back to the ship was the equivalent of 4 blocks long. Not even in Cabo have I seen a tender line this long. I assumed it would move quickly. 
 

I was wrong.

 

Princess had pulled up all but one tender.  As you saw in the photos once the rain cleared we had sun. Sun is hot. Part of the line up is in glass enclosed corridor. One woman fainted and another threw up. They took away the water station but they did bring cookies.

 

Whoever is responsible for tenders on the Regal Princess, shame on you. You did not meet passengers’ needs and this could have been solved by keep the tenders in use.  Yes, I registered my concerns with guest services as did many other people.  
 

Our tender did not leave Dun Laoghaire until 6:33pm. We waited over an hour baking in the sun.

 

I arrived at the port at 5:32pm and arrived at my cabin at 7:15pm.

 

Truly, that was awful.

That should not have happened. Sounds like a case of following a plan without taking into account how many passengers were still to board. As in most areas of life, plans should be dynamic. Sorry you all ended your last day in Ireland like that. Hope they learned something from it.

[YVRteacher]

10 minutes ago, Muckyduckway said:

But.... what about the whiskey 🤔 

I am remiss!

[Thrak]

On 7/25/2024 at 8:23 AM, YVRteacher said:

More from St. Ives

 

Every time I see one of these red telephone booths I stope for a photo. Does anyone else do this?

 

 

 

I tend to keep my eyes peeled for this one:

 

[azbirdmom]

The tender lines were crazy long when we returned from Dublin last year too but I'm fairly certain they at least had 2 tenders running.  It still took us close to an hour to get back to the ship.  Heckuva way to end a wonderful day but I'm glad things improved again with your dinner.

[azbirdmom]

When you asked about treats before I forgot about these. I can usually walk right past sweets but these were quite yummy. 
 

[BamaVol]

I’d have bought one of each of those jars of mustard.  I once met a woman who had a separate fridge for mustard.  She had over 80 varieties on hand.  I’m not that weird.

[paddingtonbear]

On 7/28/2024 at 9:44 PM, YVRteacher said:

Can anyone recommend an Irish treat? I think that is more “me.”

Try honey mead. Or did you mean food? I could live on mead. 
 

Oops too late. Sorry. 

Edited July 30 by paddingtonbear

[YVRteacher]

Fueled by a honey lavender latte and a Muesli Bar

 

 I braced myself for today’s tender process. Once again they didn’t have enough water shuttles ready and we had a long wait in the Princess Theatre for our excursion numbers to be called.

 

 

I sat up top and had my first glimpse of Wales! I feel like I’ve been waiting all my life to come to Wales.

 

 

We sat on that tender for 44 minutes while the driver made attempt after attempt at 

parallel parking the water shuttle. It could have been peaceful but it was bump into the dock, back away, bump again.  Someone on the tender said “this IS our excursion.”

 

I really shouldn’t comment, though, because I can’t even parallel park my Chevy Trax. 

 

I could see the port staff talking to Princess staff saying they were going to try to contact the harbourmaster to contact the owner of this boat to get them to move it.

 

Shouldn’t that have been done BEFORE we arrived? This is not Wales’ first time receiving a cruise ship. As we were driving away I watched the next tender park swiftly with ease. He clearly excelled in Water Shuttle Parking 101.

 

 

Edited July 30 by YVRteacher

[YVRteacher]

I have come to the conclusion that the world would be a happier place if we all got to drive through narrow roads with tree canopy tunnels on the daily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

I had to laugh at myself today. When I’m on a tour I write down key words in the Notes app. The way I spelled our first town and the correct way have nothing in common!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If I don’t post anything here for the next few days it is because I am redoing my resumé and browsing Welsh Zillow.

 

 

 

[Mommapadraig]

3 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

Snack time, courtesy of @Muckyduckway’s recommendation 

 

It wasn’t the seaside but I made sure to swing my feet with glee! I shared a table with the kindest man named Carlos from our cruise. He bought himself an ice cream and it looked delicious.

 

We flew Aer Lingus one time and they served Tayto’s. Loved them. I ordered some from Amazon when I got home.

[YVRteacher]

When you want a day but only get an hour in Betws y Coed

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Back on the bus en route to Porthmadog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[YVRteacher]

Lunch at Aberdunant Hall (this is a resort hotel with a spa)

 

 

 

We drove far for this lunch and it was worth it! They had turkey, ham, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding that was not cooked in beef drippings so I could have some,

 

vegetarian stuffing, roast potatoes, sliced potatoes, colcannon, cauliflower in cheese sauce, sautéed snow peas and green beans and buttered carrots.  Our guide asked us to tell him about dietary restrictions and they had prepared an amazing lentil loaf and vegetarian gravy for me. I called the owner over to thank her and tell her how much I appreciated the vegetarian food. I really wanted to ask for the recipe!

 

We were offered beer, wine or cider. The cider was fresh, crisp and tasty.

 

The whole experience was great except we were very rushed and no one came to take our dessert order so we missed out on Banoffee, apple crumble or tubs of ice cream.

 

  I would have preferred it if we just had two hours at the first stop instead of driving for hours to get here.  I heard our guide tell our driver this was the first time this tour has been offered in this configuration. Neither our guide nor our driver had been here before and the Inn had to send a driver to meet our bus and the bus driver followed along behind.

 

Tour guide Richie said this was the best spread they’ve had in years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BamaVol]

Driving on narrow roads is different than being driven on narrow roads. I might have lost a side mirror on a Wales rental car. But what a place to see castles!

 

I see mustard again!

[YVRteacher]

The place we went for lunch had a whole mustard bar.

 

Is mustard a thing here? I don’t even have mustard at home.

[YVRteacher]

I don’t like to stop writing partway through a day but it’s late and my eyelids are drooping!

Still to come in Wales: another town, a train ride, mountains, sheep and a smooth tender back.

 

I wasn’t hungry for a big meal tonight and I just wanted to be away from crowds so I went to Ocean Terrace for dinner. 
 

My plan was to get edamame, a vegetable roll and ask for an off-menu avocado roll. When I asked what was included in the casual dining package meal, the waiter and the chef explained that it was a set menu. This menu was seafood based. The sushi chef, Victor from Brazil, said he could create a vegetarian version for me. He asked me if I wanted rolls and when I said he could be creative and make whatever he wanted his face lit up.

 

Look what he made!

 

Yes, it was as delicious as it looks! 
Yes, I will be writing a glowing comment card and survey response.

Yes, I will be using my other casual meal at Ocean Terrace.
 

 

 

 

This is sake. I think this is about 4 servings in one glass. The post I wrote while sipping this has many typos. That was good sake!!

 

[YVRteacher]

Oh yes I did

[Hogladyrider]

@YVRteacher  OMG those photos of your tour today OUTSTANDING!

[Coolmama_1]

Thank you for all the wonderful photos. My mom was of Welsh heritage and would make the Welsh cakes. Brought back fond memories.