Puffins,Coos and Kelpies oh my! :16 day , photo travelogue on the Caribbean Princess to the UK, Ireland, and Iceland 7-12-24

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[karatemom2]

Is that Dunrobin castle? It looks like it is. One of our favorite places we visited in Invergordon. Looks like an amazing itinerary. Can’t wait to see more photos!

[scubacruiserx2]

8 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

Is that Dunrobin castle? It looks like it is. One of our favorite places we visited in Invergordon. Looks like an amazing itinerary. Can’t wait to see more photos!

 

  Well spotted and yes it is . We had 24 hours of planes , trains and automobiles yesterday until late last night . So we're still in the recovery mode but there will be a lot more photos in the future . We showed the ship , and a photo from Iceland , London , Ireland and Scotland to start . We hope to go day by day like the Princess Patters do . We did enjoy 2 days before the cruise in London and one more after the cruise at a different place in London .

[scubacruiserx2]

 This trip began on May 31st when having dinner with some friends who showed us this cruise that they and their kids were going on . We did a quick look at it and found a couple of cabins that we liked . We then found a unique way of paying for it . With that decision made , we booked or favorite airline and it was on . Our DD gave us a ride to MIA on July 9th .

 

 

 

 

 

After check in ( we were early so we were the 1st in line ) . Virgin Atlantic shared a lounge with LANTAM before boarding 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Our computer is acting funny but we may have solved the issue . A test video of the plane to see if it works .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 We were seated in First Class in side by side box seats .The ones in the front were larger if you can book them .

 

 

 The pre flight goodie bag and my old fashioned MP 3 music and Bose corded noise cancelling headphones . A snack of chips or Crisps in the UK .

 

 

 

 

 

I mostly watched the interactive map that you could enlarge .

 

 

 

 

Dinner was about an hour and a half after our 1830 departure . I had the well spiced lamb meat balls that I made into a Gyro .

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cute Wilber and Orville salt and pepper shakers that we heard that you can pinch . It even says so on the bottom of their feet , but we did ask the lovely flight crew first .

 

 

 

 

 

[KarmaCruisers]

Following as I’ll be on the CB (for the first time) in September; voyage to Norway.

[scubacruiserx2]

59 minutes ago, KarmaCruisers said:

Following as I’ll be on the CB (for the first time) in September; voyage to Norway.

 

 We love Norway and are old friends with the CB . We were suppose to do a similar cruise on her 9 years ago this September which also included Norway and a TA to Brooklyn . My wife broke her knee cap into 3 pieces 2 weeks before we left so thank Heaven for trip insurance . So this was a bit of a redemption cruise for us .

 We did have a nice cabin that had several problems and we wished that we would have booked our original choice . But if we knew then what we know now , we would have booked differently .

Edited July 31 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 We almost forgot the best part of dinner . We have to get our tummies in shipshape for the cruise .

 

 

The flight crew was fantastic and made up the almost fold flat seat into a coffin like bed . I nodded off with the quite sounds of the Moody Blues song Are you sitting comfortably ? cancelling the engine noise on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner .

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Wakey , wakey ! We were knocked up about 2 hours from London to order breakfast .

 

 

 

It was served near Ireland . Our flight had followed the East coast of the US and Canada before jumping over the pond .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Welcome to MicCanberra .  We thought of and missed you and Rosie on this similar cruise that we had to abort with you . We hope that you are well and we still had the best Roll Call ever with you 9 years ago .

 Nolafan , it was great meeting and cruising with you and we hope that you enjoyed our cruise together . Well we're both in the same boat again during this H season watching the tropics and praying that we don't get the H word during this storm season . 🌀

[scubacruiserx2]

  After landing and collecting our checked bags we went through Immigration with a photo and Facial Recognition . It's a very long walk and I had Cellulitis in my left leg just before we booked this cruise . 3 days and 2 nights in the hospital plus 6 different antibiotics made it feel good enough to walk slowly but painfully . The leg remains swollen and stairs are a real challenge but not enough for a temporary disabled permit or prescription pain killers . So it's OTC analgesics and play through the pain as my coaches used to say .

 We made reservations for breakfast at the Virgin Atlantic Revival Lounge to kill some time before our hotel would let us check in . The breakfast was good but the line for the 2 washing rooms was long . They do have about 10 showers with toilets , but the attendant would not allow us to use them since we didn't book them in advance .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 We caught a ride to the Royal Horseguards Hotel in London where we spent 2 nights .

 

 

 

https://www.royalhorseguardshotel.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmb_website_click

[coscab]

5 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 Wakey , wakey ! We were knocked up about 2 hours from London to order breakfast .

 

 

 

It was served near Ireland . Our flight had followed the East coast of the US and Canada before jumping over the pond .

 

 

 

Funny story, we were renting a house to some folks that had just arrived in Florida from England, the wife said to my husband  "come round and knock me up in the morning", he almost passed out!!  That's the first time I have heard/seen that expression since.  Looking forward to this review, sailing on Caribbean Princess in December, wondering if the rumors of drydock in October a true.

[mtnesterz]

Thank you for posting pix of the First Class airline experience. Sticker shock may deter me, but I've been getting to the point I don't want to fly anymore, which then limits our cruising destinations. May be worth the extra to give it a try. Now that you've flown, do you feel it is worth the extra expense?

[scubacruiserx2]

54 minutes ago, coscab said:

Funny story, we were renting a house to some folks that had just arrived in Florida from England, the wife said to my husband  "come round and knock me up in the morning", he almost passed out!!  That's the first time I have heard/seen that expression since.  Looking forward to this review, sailing on Caribbean Princess in December, wondering if the rumors of drydock in October a true.

 

 

 We did hear that the drydock is true from the crew .

[scubacruiserx2]

12 minutes ago, mtnesterz said:

Thank you for posting pix of the First Class airline experience. Sticker shock may deter me, but I've been getting to the point I don't want to fly anymore, which then limits our cruising destinations. May be worth the extra to give it a try. Now that you've flown, do you feel it is worth the extra expense?

 

  We cruise less but enjoy it more . Our last European cruise was in 2019 so we paid the price after saving a couple of years during Covid . We wanted First Class on the red eye over but booked Premium Economy on the way back hoping for a upsell .  We did try that at check in for the return flight like we did on our last VA flight in 2016 , but it didn't happen this time . Summer is more a peak time , thus fuller prices are charged .

Edited July 31 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Our room was not ready so we went to the Equus Bar in the hotel for lunch and a Pint . We were enjoying the quite there and watching the world go by .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mixed drinks named for famous people 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 After lunch we crossed the street to take a photo of a statute and the hotel before taking a nap in a real bed .

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31 by scubacruiserx2

[Nolafan]

11 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 Welcome to MicCanberra .  We thought of and missed you and Rosie on this similar cruise that we had to abort with you . We hope that you are well and we still had the best Roll Call ever with you 9 years ago .

 Nolafan , it was great meeting and cruising with you and we hope that you enjoyed our cruise together . Well we're both in the same boat again during this H season watching the tropics and praying that we don't get the H word during this storm season . 🌀

It was great meeting yall too. We did thoroughly enjoy this cruise and we are still trying to get readjusted back to reality. 
 

Yes- we are definitely keeping our eyes on the tropics this time of year and keeping our fingers crossed for another uneventful H Season.

 

 I am looking forward to reading your review and trip report of our cruise. 

[scubacruiserx2]

5 minutes ago, Nolafan said:

It was great meeting yall too. We did thoroughly enjoy this cruise and we are still trying to get readjusted back to reality. 
 

Yes- we are definitely keeping our eyes on the tropics this time of year and keeping our fingers crossed for another uneventful H Season.

 

 I am looking forward to reading your review and trip report of our cruise. 

 

  The readjustment periods keep getting longer with longer trips but slow and steady is getting the job done .

[scubacruiserx2]

 After our nap we went out to get a few things like a London mug for my old fashioned soap and brush shaving mug . There was a small store under the Hungerford and Golden Jubilee Bridges a block or 2 away .

 

 

 

  We saw this tricked out Pedicab on the way and have had good luck with them in Key West and San Francisco .

 

 

 

The shop was well guarded and walking behind our hotel a garden fronted the Thames near the Eye , was a nice walk .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 

 Top Hat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 There is a rear entrance to the hotel here and a private garden where they use to serve breakfast but post Covid , dinner only .

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 The equestrian theme is carried out throughout the building .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But the painting over our bed was well , different in less it was a Miohippus .

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miohippus#:~:text=Miohippus (meaning "small horse",late Eocene to late Oligocene.

 

 

 My doctor who was in London said that we might meet for some Indian food on our first night depending on what his host had planned . As we were boarding the CB he was winging his way to Bombay , the city of his birth for a visit . But we did order some Indian take out for the table in the room which was very good .

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 We spent our first evening looking for the Wimbledon semi finals on the Telly , but to no avail . We did find a show about Paramedics that we watched to see how it's done on this side of the pond . Their call was a Diabetic Coma with trouble obtaining an IV access to give Dextrose to wake up their patient . I did the same work in Miami Dade County for 28 + years . We were also Firefighters but I spent most of the time on a Rescue Truck and the least amount of time on a helicopter as a Flight Medic .

 

 

 

Rescue Skin diver air deployment . I had to become SCUBA certified to fly on Air Rescue but this diver didn't have his tanks on and looks to be headed for a face plant .

 

 

 Sleep was sweet and we were up early for the buffet breakfast 

 

 

 

 We chatted with the Concierge who looked a lot like a smaller version of our oldest grand son . We were trying to get the scoop on the Horse guards parade .

 

 

The unmade bed before we set out .

 

 

 Strangely enough a Paramedic was parked outside of the hotel which I chatted up with some shop talk and questions .

 

 

A statue dedicated to the Gurkha , from Nepal and famous for their fighting , dedication and their  Khukuri , a forward-curving knife . 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gurkha

 

The entrance to the Drill grounds . The Horse guards were not on their mounts until 10 AM , behind the black doors .

 

 

 A pano video clip

 

 

 

Edited August 1 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

   The hotel room faces East toward the sunrise in the morning . It's always best to keep the sun at your back for photos when using natural light , so we decided to cross the street to the river .

 

 

 

 We didn't want to get ran over by a horse bus so we used the crosswalks . I used a flash to read the WW II plaque with poppies .

 

 

 

 

 

 While we crossed the street safely when the light stopped the vehicular traffic , the bicycles almost nailed us riding full speed and yelling at the top of their lungs . They do not stop for people in their lane .

 

 

 Returning to the safety of the garden , we saw a statute of William Tyndale in front of the Hotel .

 

 

 

 

  He translated the Bible into English which was against the law of the Catholic Church . 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyndale_Bible

 

 There was a time not so long ago that in every hotel and cruise ship there was a Gideon's Bible in the end table next to the bed . But in our 3 last hotel rooms and our 2 last cruises , The Book is missing . Who or what has caused this change ?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gideons_International

Edited August 1 by scubacruiserx2