We have been going through all of our the pictures, and have added both pictures and revised text to the postings, starting at Transatlantic Day 5 up through our Travel Day home. Enjoy!
We have added a Menu Tab at the top of the main page for direct access to the Photo Albums Page for this trip. Select the tab titled “Trip Photo Albums” to proceed directly to the photos. In addition, there is also a Menu Tab to go to the Photo Album Viewing Tips page that outlines a few helpful hints on viewing the photos individually and in slideshows.
TIP: To skip all of the Trip Planing Posts and go directly to the posts for the trip itself, choose the “Trip Posts Only” Menu Tab above this post.
Stephanie and I are currently planning the details of our cruise, mainly what we want to see and do in each Port of Call. The purpose of this cruise is to celebrate our Birthdays, both of which are in April. This cruise will be for my 50th Birthday Celebration, and will be for Stephanie’s …..(well I will be nice and not state which birthday this is for her!!) XX Birthday. We will celebrate Stephanie’s on the actual day, April 15th, during one of our day’s at sea crossing the Atlantic. We will pick a “belated” date to celebrate my birthday, since it occurs on the 6th, prior to our departure date on the 10th.
The cruise is a 15 day Transatlantic cruise, with Ports of Call in Bermuda, Scotland, Ireland (2), Great Britain (2) and France, ending up in Southampton, UK. The original plan was to then travel to London by train, and spend two additional nights in London before departing on our flight back to Jacksonville.
Although the cruise “officially” ends in Southampton, UK, we now plan on leaving the ship a day earlier, at the port of Le Havre, France. We will travel from Le Havre to Paris by train, and spend the night in a Paris hotel. This will allow us to avoid the 2.5 hour return trip to the ship in Le Havre, and giving us a few more hours to see Paris, and especially to see Paris at night. We will leave Paris on Saturday afternoon, April 25, and take the “Chunnel” Train to London. Once there, we will spend two nights in London, per the original plan, and depart Gatwick Airport on Monday, April 27 for the flight home.
We start the trip with a drive in a rental car to Ft. Lauderdale early on the morning of Friday, April 10, 2009.
Stephanie and I will be off on our trip two weeks from tomorrow. We are getting ready, putting packing lists together, trying to minimize the clothes we want to take, and continuing to read about our destinations. Yesterday we finalized our plans for the stop in Falmouth, UK. Planning our activities for Dublin, Ireland is already finished, as is Bermuda.
Well, its official, Princess is going to let us off the ship a day early in Le Havre, France. We had not planned on seeking permission, but after reading a few more cruise forum postings, we realized that it would be better to get official approval ahead of time. We contacted Princess and Travelocity, and found out how to process the request. Since we booked through Travelocity, they had to make the official request through the Princess “Dispatch Department”. Within a few hours, our information on the Princess Web Site indicated our Disembarkation point as Le Havre, France instead of Southampton, UK. Now we just have to make sure all is set once we actually are on the ship, and can make sure the arrangements fit our plans in person.
We have completed most all of our planning for the ports, at least in so far as making sure we have all of the information with us to make the final choices. For a couple of ports of call, we have “options”, mainly so we can have alternate plans in case of bad weather. We are trying to avoid having to use our free ship board Internet time for port planning, it is both slow, and tedious to try and accomplish much through that service.
Since we have a lot of days at sea before we arrive in the British Isles, we will utilize that time to finish reading our Rick Steves’ guide books and make our final choices.
We start the fun process of packing this week, mainly trying to eliminate the “extra” items and pack as lightly as we can. Nothing worse than lugging unused items around on a train as we travel at the end of the cruise in Paris and London.
We finally made it to Ft. Lauderdale, the drive was uneventful, and the rental car made it without any problems. Departure time from home was an early 6:00 am. We went to the Ft. Lauderdale airport to return the rental car, and took the free shuttle to the port. After going through security and check-in, we were in our cabin by 12:15.
After a brief and small lunch of fish for Good Friday, we walked around the ship and finally made it to the computer area to work on this Blog.
It is sunny, but windy here, and not as warm with the temperature in the 70’s. We are now waiting on our luggage to make it to the room, hopefully without incident, i.e., confiscation of any “spirits”, strictly for medicinal purposes of course! It is a long time at sea, and we could get ill.
The ship only seems to be about 2/3 full, there are a lot of empty cabins with no name tags, mostly interior cabins.
Relaxing on the Balcony
We depart at 5:00 PM this afternoon. We hope everyone enjoys reading about our adventure, and we welcome any comments.
Update: All of our luggage arrived safely and without incident (including all of our medicinal spirits). The weather actually cleared, and with the additional sunshine, the temperature warmed up more to what we expected from southern Florida.
We left port on time at 5:00 PM, and headed north-eastward along the coast.
Leaving Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
We ate dinner in the buffet, which consisted of boiled shrimp, and king crab legs. Princes Cruises are so predictable, this is the normal buffet spread for the first night on cruises normally departing for the Caribbean.
We headed back to the cabin early; we were both tired from the early rising and full day’s travel.
Today we awoke to sunny skies and fairly calm seas. After visiting the buffet for breakfast, we sat out by the pool for most of the morning and afternoon. We are trying to take advantage of the warm weather while it lasts, knowing that as we cross the Atlantic, we are likely to see much cooler temperatures, and possibly rougher seas.
In the afternoon, we attended Easter Vigil Mass in the Explorer’s Lounge. Mass was done by a priest from Houston that is traveling on the cruise.
We went to dinner in the dining room tonight, and the service was good and prompt. Since the cruise is only about half full, there was no line to get a table. We are doing “Personal Choice Dining”, which gives us the option to go at whatever time we want, similar to going to a normal restaurant.
After dinner, we happened upon the comedy show in the main theater, it was absolutely full. We had to stand to watch the remainder of the show. I think all of the passengers on the ship were there, we hardly saw anyone else walking around before we got there! The comedian was from Great Britain, and was very good.
We are expecting to run into a little bit of weather tomorrow as we approach Bermuda, the Bermuda weather is calling for winds gusting to 35 knots, and unfortunately, a cold front will be passing through on Sunday, and the high temperature for Monday is only expected to reach 65 degrees. We were also informed that the bus drivers on Bermuda are on strike, and this limits the availability of public transportation to explore the island. We will most likely have to take taxis to visit the beaches since the main mode of transportation is the buses.
The Easter Bunny actually visited our cabin last night, courtesy of Stephanie. The weather this morning was sunny, but a little more windy and cooler, as was expected from the weather forecast. We went to breakfast, and walked around the ship. The crew had been busy last night decorating for Easter.
Easter Sunday At Sea
There was a display in the atrium made by the chefs. It consisted of giant decorated chocolate eggs, and other works made from various decorated dough and chocolate items. There also were other decorations and balloons placed in most of the common areas and lounges.
Easter Decorations in the Atrium
It was a nice sunny day on deck, and we spent the afternoon lounging around the pool, eventually watching the Masters Golf Tournament on the big screen. We are now 1 hour ahead of Eastern Time, so the golf tournament did not come on until later in the afternoon.
It was humorous that the ship actually posted the incorrect time for the coverage of the tournament to begin, they themselves forgot about the time change, even after continuously reminding everyone the day before about the change.
Tonight was the first of three formal nights, and it was the Captain’s Reception, so we got dressed in our formal wear and went to the atrium area on the ship for the free champagne cocktails, and the champagne fountain display.
Stephanie went and poured champagne onto the fountain with the assistance of the Maître D. It seemed mostly to be a ladies participation event, but eventually couples started to go together, so we did that.
Champagne Fountain – Formal Night
Afterward we went to Dinner in the dining room, and had a good table near the window, and found a waiter and assistant waiter that we liked. We are now reserved for that table for the cruise.
After dinner, we went to the Easter Ball, and Stephanie got dance lessons for the Waltz and Cha-Cha from one of the assistant cruise director’s staff. There we a lot of couples participating, and the cruise staff were giving out raffle tickets to the dancers for free bottles of champagne.
It was a nice evening, and we turned in early knowing we are in port in Bermuda tomorrow morning, and need to get an early start to our day ashore.
This morning brought us to Bermuda. At sunrise, we were off the west end of Bermuda, and traversed through the channel on the northwest side of the islands to berth at Dockyard, the old naval port for Bermuda.
Sunrise Off The Coast Of Bermuda
We were about an hour and a half late in actually getting berthed, but it matched up better with the Ferry schedule to St. George’s. It was a bit windy, with the temperature in the 60’s in the morning. The high for today was forecast to be about 68 degrees.
Hillside in St. George’s, Bermuda
We purchased our transportation tickets at the information booth right at the port, and walked a few blocks to the Ferry dock. The ferry arrived at 9:30, it was a water jet powered catamaran that looked like it could hold about 200 passengers.
The winds were out of the NW, which is not the normal prevailing wind direction (Normally SE), so the seas were a bit rougher on the North side of the island than normal, but it was still a fairly smooth 25 minute ride over to the city of St. George’s.
Once we departed the Ferry, we walked around the town, and we visited an old Anglican Church. We then headed out to walk to Fort St. Catherine. Unfortunately, we did not have a good map of St. George’s, and got just slightly lost. We eventually got directions to the fort, and took a longer, but very scenic route.
Canon in Fort St. Catherine, Bermuda
Some of the areas of the fort were undergoing some restoration, but most of it was open, and it was very interesting to see the underneath levels of the fort; places where all of the food was cooked, weapons were stored, and where the powder and shells were stored.
Ferry Boat to St. George’s From Dockyard
We then made our way back to the city where we got on a bus for the 35 minute ride to Hamilton, the largest city on Bermuda. The entire island was much more elevated and hilly that we had expected, and the roads are very narrow and winding. It was nice to be able to see different parts of the island as we traveled to Hamilton. We actually passed through the airport terminal area on our way.
Once in Hamilton, we walked around a little, mainly trying to find a place to eat lunch. We found a small sandwich shop and had some very good Panini’s. Afterward, we boarded another bus to ride to the south shore of the island, where most of the famous beaches are located. We stopped at a beach called Jacob’s Cove, known mostly for its rocky shoreline.
Rocky Coastline – Bermuda Beaches
We walked from that beach to another more famous beach called Horseshoe Beach. The entire area is a string of beaches tied together by trails through the dune areas, mostly used by joggers. Stephanie collected some of the “pink” beach sand Bermuda is famous for.
Pink Sand Beach – Bermuda
It was a long uphill walk back to the main road from Horseshoe beach, where we got back on another bus for the 45 minute ride back to the Dockyard. We arrived about 4:00 pm, and had enough time to walk around and take a few more pictures before we re-boarded the ship at 4:25.
The Cruise Ship Dock in BermudaStephanie & The Golden Princess – Bermuda
We did not realize that we were about the last passengers to get back on board, even though we were still earlier than the 4:30 pm time that was posted as the required time to return to the ship.
We guess that most of the passengers just got back early. By 4:50 pm, the ship cast off and we were once again underway. We again navigated the channel around the north side of the island, and then we were out to sea.
Fort St. Catherine As Ship Departs, Bermuda
The seas were rougher that they had been at any point so far.
We spent about 30 minutes in our usual hot tub near the spa area and then returned to our cabin to get ready for dinner. By the time we finished dinner, the seas were quite rough, and continued that way for most of the night.
After a rough night, we awoke to partly sunny skies, and slightly calmer seas than we had overnight. However, it was still fairly rough, seas were running about 10-12 ft, and the temperature was in the low 60’s. We went to the buffet for our breakfast, and then spent some time walking around the ship. There was a fruit and vegetable carving demonstration in the Atrium that was very interesting to watch. We did not do much else the rest of today, we just spent the time relaxing.
The pools had all been emptied overnight due to the high seas, but also appeared that the crew was performing some maintenance in the pool areas. I guess the cruise line anticipated the cooler temperatures keeping everyone inside, away from the pools, and they were correct.
The seas calmed down some in the afternoon, the sun came out, and made for a nice afternoon. We spent some of the afternoon reading on our balcony since it was protected from the wind, and the ship was in a position to expose the balcony to the sunshine. After that, it was off to the hot tub for our standard late afternoon soaking.
Our Dinner Table for the Cruise
Dinner was at 7:30 pm, and we headed to the Dining room for dining with our wait staff, Nicoletta and Rommel. We had a nice dinner, and were able to watch the “Chef’s Dinner” that was taking place at a table located very near to ours. We had a nice view of the ocean during dinner, with the time changes, sunset was not until 8:20 pm.
After dinner, we had planned to go watch some of the live entertainment, but ended up staying in the cabin and watching a good movie on our TV. Tomorrow, we will be celebrating Stephanie’s Birthday!
Today is Stephanie’s Birthday – HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPHANIE.
It was another bouncy night last night, but by morning when we woke up, the seas had once again calmed some, only about 5-8 ft. The temperature today is forecast to be 59 degrees, but the sea temperature is 67 degrees, so it may feel a bit warmer. Luckily, the wind is mostly coming from behind the ship on our current heading, so there is not a lot of wind out on the decks. The seas did increase as the day went on, once again getting to at least 10-12 ft. However, since the wind was now almost coming directly from the stern, it was not that rough of a ride. Our cabin steward, Melwyn, had placed Stephanie’s birthday balloons outside above the door, so we were greeted by that when we left for breakfast.
Stephanie’s Birthday Decorations On Our Cabin
We spent another day relaxing at sea, reading books that we had gotten from the ship’s library. I was actually able to find a book I had been reading before we left, but since I had only a few chapters to finish, I had not wanted to bring it along since it would not take long to finish. We had not thought about using the ship’s library and not bring our own books, now we will know better. We also played putt-putt (Stephanie won both games), and shuffle board (Stephanie also won, must be her birthday), and ping pong.
Tonight, we celebrated Stephanie’s birthday at dinner. We took a bottle of wine to drink with our dinner, which consisted of a “surf and turf” main entrée, filet Mignon and grilled shrimp, which went perfectly with our bottle of Merlot. The wait staff brought Stephanie a special birthday dessert, and about 10 waiters sang her Happy Birthday.
Wait Staff Singing Happy Birthday to Stephanie
Our dinners have been very nice, there are so few persons on the ship that we get almost personal attention at dinner, and most nights there may be one other couple in our section. We got to meet several of the wait staff, it was surprising to find out that several of the female waiters are married to other waiters on the same ship, and our waiter, Nicoletta is married to one of the head waiters, Carlos, whom we also met. These are the nice things we get to experience by being on a ship that is not full.
Our Great Waitstaff, Nicoletta and Rommel
After dinner, we went to a show at the Explorer’s lounge and ran into Ricky, one of the assistant cruise directors we had met a couple of nights ago that was teaching Stephanie the Waltz. When Stephanie told Ricky it was her birthday, he preceded to take her up to the stage and have the performer, Maritzio, sing her Happy Birthday in front of the entire audience.
Ricky then gave us a bottle of Champagne. It was a special birthday.
Entertainer Maritzio Sings Happy Birthday to Stephanie
After a couple of dances, we went over to the main bar in the lounge, and happened to meet up with some other couples on the ship, along with the art sales director, who had been on our last cruise. We spent a couple of hours talking with our new friends, and then we retired for the evening. Unfortunately, since we lost another hour tonight adjusting the time changes as we proceed across the Atlantic, it was really 2:00 am before we made it back to the cabin.
Ricky Gives Stephanie a Bottle of Champagne for Her Birthday
We awoke this morning to calmer seas, but gray and rainy skies, with a temperature of about 50 degrees. I guess we are getting closer to the British Isles, and this will probably be typical weather for a good portion of the trip. It ended up raining all day and into the evening, just a steady drizzle.
Large Chocolate Easter Egg Decorating Demonstration
After breakfast, we attended a demonstration on how the chef’s make the large decorated chocolate eggs that had been on display for Easter. It was very interesting to see and hear all of the different techniques used to make and assemble the eggs.
Real Chocolate Decorated Easter Eggs
The remainder of the day we spent going to a future cruise presentation, looking at items for sale in the atrium area, and watching the ocean pass by before going to our normal late afternoon hot tub session.
Afternoon Hot Tub Session by the Spa
We went to dinner and again had a great time with our wait staff, both for our table and the station next to ours. We enjoy talking to the staff and learning about their lives both on and off the ship.
We listened to music in the atrium, and then retired early, there was just not a lot going on this particular evening, and we were a bit tired from the previous night’s birthday celebration.
This morning, we were awakened by room service at 8:00 am. They brought me a small birthday cake, compliments of Princess. Earlier in the cruise, we had picked today day to celebrate my “belated” 50th birthday on the ship.
Early Morning Birthday Surprise Cake
Unbeknownst to me, Stephanie had called the Pursers Desk earlier in the cruise to let them know it was my “birthday”, but we were both surprised by the cake delivery, and for it being delivered at 8:00 am. I tried to convince the waiter he had the wrong room at first, thinking it was just someone’s breakfast being delivered. However, after I saw it was a cake, I realized it was for my birthday. We had planned on sleeping in today, but the cake was a nice, but early surprise. I went ahead and got up and walked to the buffet area for two coffees, to go.
It was another cloudy and foggy morning; the temperature was about 49 degrees. Throughout the day, it looked like it would clear up, but had not done so by 1:30 in the afternoon. The temperature did rise into the high 50’s, and it did not seem to be too chilly. The sun actually appeared briefly a couple of times. I guess we are getting more used to the lower temperatures, but we hope to once again see the sunshine.
We did a load of laundry, and then headed to one of the specialty restaurants for a “Pub Lunch”. The lunch was nice; they had several typical pub choices, fish and chips (which we had), bangers and mash, cottage pie, and another dish we had not heard of.
After lunch we went to a quiet lounge area to work on the blog. Tonight is the second formal night, the Captain’s Circle Reception, and my Birthday Celebration Day. Nice of Princess to go to all of that trouble just for me!
At 7:00 pm, we headed to the Captain’s Circle Reception, and ran into a couple we had met on Stephanie’s birthday, Ruthe and Brian. from Lakeland, FL. After the reception, Stephanie and I went to dinner, where it was lobster night. Of course, we ate too much (well I did), and then we had my birthday celebration with the dining staff. Once again, they did a great job helping us to celebrate, and I even got another small Birthday Cake.
Chuck Celebrates a Birthday with the Dining StaffFoil Swan “To Go” Container
Since we had some of the birthday cake left over, along with a few of the assorted sweets that had also brought out, we asked for a “to go” container. One of the nearby wait staff actually put it into a handmade foil swan. We had fun taking pictures with our new pet!
We caught up with Ruthe and Brian later on in the Explorer’s lounge, and then we all went up to the Skywalker’s Night Club, which is located in the very top and rear of the ship, giving it the appearance of a car spoiler.
We danced some and just had a fun night talking about things we have in common, and various different cruises and trips we have been on. We had a great time, just ended up staying up late, and we had another hour time loss again to make it even later. We are now 4 hours ahead of Eastern Time, with one more hour to go before we are on London time.
Today we woke up late from the previous nights birthday “celebrating”. The wind had picked up, but at least it was somewhat sunny. According to the noon weather report from the bridge, the winds today are blowing about 30-35 knots. However, the seas are not that bad. The water temperature is now at about 53 degrees, and today’s high is supposed to be in the low 50’s.
Gray, Cloudy Weather in the Atlantic
It is nice to have the glass covered pool on the Sun Deck, towards the middle of the ship, and also nice that it is no longer empty due to maintenance. It is a comfortable place to sit out of the cool and windy weather.
We walked around the ship and also played some cards in the afternoon before heading out to meet up with Ruthe and Brian in the Atrium area.
The Atlantic Ocean Slips By
We sat around chatting with them before Stephanie and I went for Vigil Mass at 5:30 in the Explorer’s Lounge. We then got back together with our friends for drinks before we all headed in to get ready for dinner.
After dinner, everyone met at the Explorer’s Lounge to listen to music. Later on, we all went to the Skywalker’s Nightclub for dancing.
As we are approaching Ireland and Scotland, we have seen more small ships and birds. Once again, it is somewhat cloudy and overcast, and of course, cooler as we continue to head North-Eastward to Scotland.
Seeing More Ships As We Approach the British Isles and Ireland
We went for lunch at the buffet, and walked around the atrium shops. In the afternoon, we attended a champagne art auction, where the ship’s navigation chart was auctioned off for charity for $500.
Relaxing on the Promenade Deck
We took it easy today, mostly resting for our first port of call tomorrow in Scotland, and knowing we still have one more hour to change on the clocks tonight. We realize it will be tough getting up early for the first day in a while, we were getting used to sleeping in. The ship is scheduled to dock in Greenock, Scotland tomorrow at 7:00 am, and with the time change, it will seem like 6:00 am to us. We certainly questioned the logic of making the last time change on the night before our port call instead of the night before, but since we are not in charge, will have to accept it. It means that not only do we have to get up early, we will also lose an hour of sleep at the same time.
Later in the afternoon, in the distance, we could see a lighthouse on the western coast of Ireland. It was the first land we had seen in six days since leaving Bermuda.
Irish Lighthouse – First Land Sighting In 6 Days
We went to a casual dress night dinner and turned in early. Tomorrow will be our first port of call, Greenock, Scotland. We will be getting up early to catch our trains for the trip into Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
We arrived in the port of Greenock this morning, it was a long transit up the firth (river) from the ocean. It was also the first morning in a long time where we had sunny skies, although it was a little foggy during the early morning sunrise.
Foggy Sunrise in Greenock, Scotland
Foggy Sunrise in Greenock, Scotland
We were tied up at the pier by about 7:00 am, and we got off the ship at about 7:30.
We asked for directions to the Greenock Central Train Station from the wonderful port staff that had set up in a building to greet us and provide maps and directions of the various cities around Greenock. However, the first order of business was to find an ATM machine so we could get some British pounds sterling money for the train. It was about a 15 minute walk through town to the train station, and we passed by several ATM machines, one of which we used to get our money. Upon arrival at the station, we bought our return tickets (round trip) to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. The trains connected through the city of Glasgow, where we actually had to walk to a different train station to make our connection.
There were signs to follow, but somewhere along the way, we took a wrong turn. We think one of the signs was turned slightly, and we thought it pointed in a different direction. Thank goodness we had a Glasgow city map, and we found that we had only gone a couple of blocks out of the way; we chalked that up as an unforeseen sightseeing trip in Glasgow. Once we got to the station we caught the train to Edinburgh, we had only lost about 15 minutes being on our extra sightseeing side trip, and missed just one train connection (the trains run every 15 minutes).
We traveled through some very beautiful countryside, where all of the grasses were growing, and the flowers were blooming for springtime. There were many herds of sheep, and there seemed to be an awful lot of baby sheep running around. In all, it was a pleasant train ride, taking us a little over two hours total from Greenock.
Once we figured out which exit to take from the train station, we were off to climb the hill to the Edinburgh Castle.
Heading Up To Edinburgh Castle
It was very pretty, with views of the entire city from the various vantage points, most of which were areas made for mounting cannons. We went through and saw the Scottish Crowned Jewels, and learned a lot about their interesting history. There were several museums and chapels in the castle, which we also toured.
Inside The Edinburgh Castle Walls
After spending a couple of hours there, we walked the street knows and the Royal Mile, which is lined with various shops, hotels, and restaurants. and the St. Giles Cathedral, which we toured.
Inside St. Giles Cathedral
We made our way back down the hill and walked through some of the beautiful gardens.
By that time, the temperature had warmed up considerably, and during the lunchtime hour, many of the locals were sitting on benches, the grass hills, and blankets. Apparently, it must have been one of their warmest spring days yet, probably in the mid 60’s, which was about 10 degrees warmer than normal for this time of year.
Chuck & Stephanie Enjoy a Spring Day in Edinburgh, Scotland
We then walked back to the train station for the return trip to Glasgow, again having to make a station change for our connection back to Greenock. This time, we actually took about 30 minutes to walk around Glasgow, not really seeing anything in particular, but we had some time to kill before we had to make our connecting train.
The Glasgow Central Train Station was very nice inside; it is all covered in a roof of glass domes.
Glasgow, Scotland Train Station
We found our platform, and took the 40 minute train ride back to Greenock. Once back in Greenock, we took some time walking around the small city, and we actually found a Scottish Wal-Mart look alike store, and went inside. We always like to look and see what there is in the stores, and how different things are, especially drinks and sodas.
We made It back to the ship around 4:45 in the afternoon, and enjoyed some bag pipe players that assembled on the dock for our sail away.
Bagpipers On The Pier for the Sailaway
The weather remained sunny for the entire day, and it was a very scenic transit back to the ocean, there were many nice houses, and lots of sheep grazing on the green grassy mountain sides.
Our friends Brian and Ruthe had taken an excursion to Loch Lomond, and came back with some very funny hats that resembled the Loch Ness Monster. We had a lot of fun wearing them on the ship for the sail away, and then later after dinner.
The Loch Ness Monsters Are Discovered
We then had a beautiful sunset to cap off the day.
Sunset Over Scotland
It was an enjoyable day, and we turned in early to be rested for our next port tomorrow, Dublin, Ireland.
This morning we woke up to clear skies with an early sunrise at 6:00 am. The ship was in the final stages of our approach into the port of Dublin.
Sunrise in Dublin, Ireland
As we were getting tied up at the dock, it started to rain. I guess the weather is like that here, sunny one moment, and raining the next. We got prepared for our day of sightseeing, and then went to breakfast.
At about 8:30, we met up with Ruthe and Brian, we were all going to spend the day together. The plan was to use the Hop-On/Hop Off bus to tour the various areas of Dublin. Stephanie had never done one of those, but they are in almost every European tourist city. It is a nice concept, you pay for the day, and you can ride around and get on and off as many times as you want. They typically are set up for stopping at most of the popular sights, and are on about a 15 minute time spacing between buses, but we found out that that varies between 2 minutes and about 25 minutes at times.
It remained cloudy for most of the morning, and was cool riding the open top, double deck bus. However, it did not rain any more after what we saw first thing in the morning
We rode around and stopped at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and went in for a look around and to take some pictures.
St. Patrick’s CathedralInside St. Patrick’s Cathedral
We boarded the bus once again and headed over to the Guinness Brewery. We got off the bus and went inside the gift shop, but decided against taking the 15 euro per person brewery tour. Our logic being that at some point in the day, we would rather drink some Guinness than pay that much just to see it made.
We hopped back on the bus and continued our loop around the city. We went through a very large (0ver 1,700 acres) park, and saw all of the blooming flowers, and large, old trees.
Large Park and Gardens in Dublin
Next stop was an area of Dublin called Temple Bar, where we went to the actual Temple Bar and had lunch. The “bar” used in the description of that area of Dublin does not stand for a drinking establishment, but a section of the city.
Lunch and Guinness Beer at the Temple Bar
When we left the Temple Bar, we found that it had cleared up outside, and was sunny, and less windy. It ended up being a very nice afternoon, even a little hot.
We walked around the city, occasionally stopping to look in shops.
Walking Around Dublin, Ireland
We stopped in another pub and had one more Guinness, (well the girls had something a little less “stout” ) We had decided to take a taxi back to the ship in lieu of the shuttle bus we had taken from the ship to the city center in the morning.
They had changed the time in and out of port, so the ship was not scheduled to leave until after 7:00 pm, but the last shuttle was at 4:30. As it ended up, it was less expensive for the four of us to taxi than it had been for the shuttle, and a lot quicker.
Once back on the ship, we went ahead and got ready for dinner and the sail away.
Today’s port of call is Cobh, Ireland. Cobh is famous for being the last port that the Titanic left before it started its ill fated trip to New York. Cobh was the port where most of the Irish immigrants departed from to start anew in America. It was also the port that the Lusitania was closest to when it was sunk by a German U-Boat, so there were memorials in Cobh for both of these ships.
The town of Cobh, Ireland Seen From Our Balcony
We took the train from Cobh into nearby Cork, and from there, took a bus into Blarney to see the castle and kiss the famous Blarney Stone. It was unfortunate that the weather was very cool, and very windy in Cobh. It was overcast and less windy at Blarney, but still not that great for taking photos. There were some beautiful gardens around the castle, and it was an interesting walk up to and then up into the castle to the top area where the Blarney Stone was placed.
The Famous Blarney Castle
We waited a little in a line and finally, it was our turn to lie on our backs and bend over backward and kiss the stone.
There are assistants there to help out and a permanently mounted camera for them to take pictures for you to purchase for 10 Euros each.
Chuck Kisses The Blarney StoneStephanie Kisses The Blarney Stone
We did take some of our own, and opted not to purchase theirs. We walked around the grounds and then started back to the bus stop to catch the bus back to Cork.
In Cork, we had a little time to wonder around before our train back to Cobh. We went up to a church, but they did not allow photographs, and it was not that pretty anyway. It was supposed to be famous for allowing you to ring their steeple bells, but of course for a cost.
We wondered back and caught the train back into Cobh, where we went back to the ship for lunch. The ship was literally parked next to the train station, so it was very convenient to get to the train and back to the ship.
After lunch we went up to the St. Catherine’s Cathedral in Cobh, and it was very nice inside, and they allowed pictures, which always makes me happy.
St. Catherine’s Cathedral, Cobh, Ireland
Stephanie was excited because there was a cat inside the cathedral. Obviously it was the “house cat”, he was very friendly and had a collar. By that time, the wind had picked up, and there was a little drizzle starting as we wondered through the town. We stopped at a few shops, and then went back to the ship, and shortly thereafter, we left the port.
Irish Countryside As We Leave Cobh
After taking a few pictures while leaving the port, we went back to the room and got ready for dinner.
Lighthouse Marking The Entrance to Cobh Harbor
Tonight is the last Formal Night of the cruise, and they served lobster , and this time they also combined the lobster tails with some very large prawns.
Out For Drinks – Last Formal Night
After dinner, we headed out to meet up with our friends for a nightcap. Another good day exploring Ireland. Tomorrow’s stop will be in the port of Falmouth, Great Britain.
Today was a tender port day, there is not a large dock at Falmouth to tie up to, so we had to ride a tender into a dock in the harbor, which took about 25 minutes.
The City of Falmouth, Great Britain
We had decided to spend the day mostly in and around the city, with the exception of taking a 20 minute ferry boat ride across the inlet to the town of St. Mawes. It is the end of a peninsula, but only feasible to reach by ferry from Falmouth.
We had about 45 minutes to wait before the next St. Mawes ferry left from the City Pier in Falmouth, so we spent that time walking around the town. It was a sunny day, but windy, and a little cool.
Sailboats in the Falmouth Harbor
Right before we got on the ferry, a fog bank blew in off of the ocean, and made for a cool and windy ride over to St. Mawes.
Fog Rolls In Off of the Ocean
On either side, there are twin forts built by Henry VIII, one is called Pendennis Castle, which is on the Falmouth side, and the other is called St. Mawes Castle.
St. Mawes Castle From The Ferryboat
We opted to visit the one in St. Mawes since we were going over there. Both require a hike of about a mile up the hill from their respective cities, but once we got there, we found that it was a very nicely maintained attraction, and a very good spot for photos.
Stephanie & Chuck Outside St. Mawes CastleCannon Inside St. Mawes Castle
We spent about 2 hours getting there, walking around the castle, and walking back down the hill to the ferry boat dock. we made it just in time to load that hours ferry back to Falmouth.
It is interesting that the tidal range is about 12 feet, so the handrail along the stone steps we used when we got off the ferry earlier was now completely submerged under about four feet of water
Town of St. Mawes Seen From Ferryboat
The ride back to Falmouth on the Ferry was much warmer, the fog had lifted, and the wind was at our backs. St. Mawes was quite a beautiful seaside town, and we were glad that we had chosen to visit.
Once back in Falmouth, we had a Pasty, which is flaky baked dough filled with various meats and veggies. They were very good. Then we walked back to the tender area, along a street filled with shops and bakeries. Then we waited in line to get on a tender, and spent about 35 minutes riding in rough seas back to the ship.
Lighthouse on Peninsula Across From Falmouth
As the ship got ready to depart, the sea fog rolled in and visibility was reduced to about a mile. It was the first time we had been on a ship in that much fog, and we were surprised that they actually blew the ship’s horn about every 2 minutes.
I guess that was for smaller vessels that might not have radar, or show up on the ship’s radar. While we were getting underway, we had some time to start packing our luggage for tomorrow’s Disembarkation in Le Havre, France.
We got dressed and went to share our last bottle of Spumanti with Ruthe and Brian before we went our last dinner on the ship with our dining staff, Nicoletta and Rommell. They were sad to see us go, as were some of the other staff we had met at the serving station next to ours.
We went to the Explorer’s Lounge to have a final drink with our friends, Ruthe and Brian, and said goodbye to some of the other people we had met. Then it was off to finish packing and retire early, we have to get up at 5:00 am to be off the ship in time for our train into Paris.
We had a good, but short sleep before getting up at 5:00 am. The skies were clear, and the sunrise was beautiful. We did happen to notice that we seemed a bit far from the port to get there by 6:00 am, but did not think anything more if it.
Sunrise at Le Havre
We got ready and went for a quick bite to eat before going to the Pursers’ Desk to check out and wait on our Passports to be returned from French Immigration. Again we were thinking that it seemed that we arriving in port later than scheduled, and this was confirmed when we arrived at the Pursers’ Desk. At first we were informed that due to leaving late from Falmouth yesterday, we would be an hour late arriving this morning at Le Havre. In almost the same sentence, the staff person we were talking to also said that there were engine problems and that was the reason for the delay in arrival at Le Havre.
A short time later, it was announced that the delay was due to other ship traffic at the port, which seemed more likely. In any event, we were not going to be able to get off the ship in time (7:00 am) to make our 8:00 am train into Paris. This was all further confused by the difference in ship’s time and France time, which was an hour ahead. That was the reason we needed to be off at 6:00 am ship’s time, it was really 7:00 am France time. Fortunately, there is a train every hour, but now we were not certain our pre-purchased ticket would still be usable. Then 7:00 am came and went and still we had no passports, although other passengers were now getting off. Finally at about 8:00 am (really 9:00 am in Paris), our passports were returned, and we were cleared to get off of the ship. If you are confused by all of this, you are no different than most of the crew and passengers that we talked with this morning!
We disembarked and took a taxi to the rail station in Le Havre. Stephanie went to the ticket office to verify if our tickets were still good, only to find out they were not, and we had to purchase new tickets. Due to the uncertainly of the ship’s port arrivals in general, I suppose now that it would be more prudent just to get tickets that are good for travel at anytime of a particular day, not on an exact schedule.
However, we had thought the ship would be on time for this port since a lot of people are going into Paris, a three hour trip each way, and the 2 hours lost were substantial for the overall amount of time available to tour Paris.
We wondered if the ship’s departure would also be delayed, but no announcements were made to that effect. We will have to check with Ruthe and Brian after we get back to see if it was. The only announcements the ship made were that “tours would not be affected”, but I can’t see how that would be the case.
As I am writing this, we are on our train to Paris, and it is a beautiful and sunny day, so we will just make due, and forget about the extra ticket cost, it was not that much anyway.
We made it to Paris without any issues, but had a little trouble getting to the Metro to ride to the stop nearest to our hotel. Once we bought our Metro tickets, we found that all of the escalators going down to the Metro (subway) were broken, which meant a lot of stairs, and then more stairs, and just a few more stairs, all with our luggage in tow. Once we got on the Metro train, we had to change to a different line, and that meant, yes, more stairs. Finally, we got to the correct station and once we exited, we just had a few blocks to walk to our hotel. The room was not yet ready, so we stored our luggage at the hotel and went for a bite to eat at a local restaurant nearby. Once we were checked in, off we went to see the sights of Paris.
Notre Dame Cathedral
Our first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral, where we walked around inside the church. We did not climb the tower as we had planned, there were too many people in line. The cathedral was very large inside, and very ornate. We spent about two hours walking around and looking at all of the beautiful interior sights.
Altar Inside Notre Dame Cathedral
Next, it was back on the Metro to ride to the Arc de Triumph, and again, just like at Notre Dame, there were too many people waiting in line climb to the top.
Arc de Triomphe
We figured that with the crowds, we would most likely have to wait in line for the Eiffel Tower, so back on the metro we went and rode over to the Eiffel Tower area.
Stephanie & Chuck at The Eiffel Tower
After a few pictures from below the tower, we got in the long line to get tickets and then ride to the top. The tower was being painted, so there were some nets hanging on a few of the levels. After waiting for about an hour, we rode to the second level, then waited in another line to ride to the very top.
View from the Top of the Eiffel Tower
After spending about 30 minutes at the top level, we descended down to the second level for more pictures.
Shadow of the Eiffel Tower Over Chuck’s Left Shoulder
It was just crowded in Paris today; we were trying to figure out if there was something special going on, or just the time of year. We then went to an area across from the tower to wait for it to get dark, and take some pictures of the tower at night.
Eiffel Tower at Night
With that accomplished, it was back on the Metro to go back to the hotel and find something to eat nearby.
After eating a late dinner, we ventured back to Notre Dame for some night pictures of the cathedral.
Notre Dame Cathedral at Night
We also could see the top of Eiffel Tower from there, and took a picture of the rotating light beacon.
Rotating Beacon From The Eiffel Tower
Finally, around midnight, it was time to turn in. This had been a long, but scenic day in Paris.
This morning we actually were able to sleep in just a little, getting up about 8:00 am. We got ready and completed our packing before heading out to find a pastry shop and getting some croissants and other goodies for breakfast. Our plan for this morning was to walk to the Louvre and just take some pictures of the outside grounds. It started out as a cool sunny morning, but then started to get windy and cloudy. The forecast was for rain in Paris today, but supposedly mainly in the afternoon.
Notre Dame Cathedral
After taking pictures at the Louvre, we just walked along the Seine River and headed back in the direction of our hotel. We stopped and looked in a few shops along the way, then headed back to Notre Dame. We had not gotten any pictures of the back of the church (actually the “front” end of the church where the altar is, opposite of the entrance), so we headed towards that area. There was a beautiful garden there, full of blooming tulips and other ornamental plants and flowers.
We then headed back to the hotel in order to complete our final packing and make the 12:00 noon check-out. Then it was time for another walk to the Metro underground station for the ride to the train station, where we would catch our Eurostar “chunnel” train to London, going underneath the English Channel in the tunnel.
Euostar Train Station In Paris
The train ride was smooth and fast and we arrived in London right on time about 2.5 hours after leaving Paris.
Stephanie and Luggage Waiting on the Chunnel Train
We purchased our underground tickets for the “Tube”, and picked up our pre-reserved tickets from a machine for the commuter train to the Gatwick Airport on Monday. We had a little difficulty finding the correct underground station, but once we found it, we made it to our stop successfully.
Our Euostar Chunnel Train in London
We had some difficulty finding the hotel, the directions were obviously written for someone familiar with the station. The hotel was very near, but we went the wrong direction out of the underground.
Once there, we checked in and then went out to the nearby Catholic Church, and went to Mass. Then it was off to walk around, going over the Tower Bridge, walking along the Thames River, and then back over the London Bridge.
We stopped at a Pub to get a bite to eat, and after waiting for a waiter for about 20 minutes, we got up and left. There was another Pub down the street, and so we decided to try it there.
When we went inside, there were large signs instructing that all orders are to be placed at the bar, including orders for food.
Since we had been downstairs in the first Pub, we had not seen the signs, nor did we get the benefit of seeing anyone else place orders.
Apparently, in these types of places, there is no service at the tables for ordering. We learned that you first get a table, then place you order at the bar, and tell them your table number. When the food is ready, they bring it to your table.
The Tower Bridge – LondonTower Bridge with the HMS Belfast Docked in the Thames River
Another thing that threw us off was having menu’s at the table, but we learned that once you pick out your food, you have to go to the bar and place your order. I guess it saves on personnel, and there are no tips.
After eating, it was back to the hotel room for some sleep. Tomorrow, we will spend the entire day sightseeing, it will be the last day of our trip before heading home on Monday morning.
The weather was sunny this morning when we woke up, a surprise for us to have two sunny days in a row, being we had heard about all of the foggy, rainy days that you can have in London.
Big Ben & Parliment Buildings
We ate breakfast in the hotel, it was quite good, although there were some items on the hot buffet that we had not considered as breakfast items, like baked beans. The toast was good, as well as the ham, and also some type of boiled egg, similar to a sunny side up egg, but well done, and in the shape of a small circle. There were also some pastries that were quite good.
After breakfast, we ventured out to the “tube” for a trip over to the Westminster area. We came out of the tube stop right at Big Ben and Parliament House.
The London Eye
The streets were closed, we found out that the London Marathon was being held today, we had not even know. This might have been part of the reason we had a little difficulty finding a hotel when were were looking a couple of months ago, a lot of the race participants probably booked rooms before us.
The race finish line was at Buckingham Palace, so a lot of streets in the area were cordoned off for the race route. We had no idea the race was that big, there were supposed to be over 34,000 participants. The size and location of the race finish line did cause us a to have to fight the crowds in that area, but it was not too bad.
We wondered over to the “London Eye”, a large wheel with “pods” attached to it. Each pod appeared to hold about 25 people. From afar, it just looks like a giant bicycle wheel. The Eye continuously rotates at a slow speed, taking about 30 minutes for the one rotation you get for your admission price.
We purchased our tickets and took our “rotation”. Everyone gets on and off at the bottom, as the wheel continues to rotate.
London Eye Pod After Loading at BottomParliament House From The Top Of The London Eye
The views were very nice. We were glad it was a clear and sunny day, and not the typical London Fog weather.
When that was done, we ventured over to Westminster Abbey, which was closed to tourists today since it was Sunday. We just took pictures of both the Parliament Building and the Abbey from the outside, and then it was off to Buckingham Palace.
Westminister Abbey
It was a longer walk to Buckingham Palace than normal due to the barricades used to outline the race route. In addition, we really had to fight through the race crowds. Once we got to the Palace, we walked the grounds in front of the Palace, and took photos. It was nice to see and photo from the outside.
Buckingham Palace
Apparently, the Queen was in residence, the British flag was flying above the Palace, which, according to the locals, is the sign she is there.
Then we took the tube over to Piccadilly Circus, which I guess is similar to being in Times Square in New York.
Piccadilly Circus
Next, it was off to walk to Trafalgar Square to see the monument to Lord Nelson.
Monument to Lord Nelson In Trafalgar Square
We then rode the tube over to the St. Paul’s Cathedral, which was also “closed” to tourists because it was Sunday, but they did let you inside to sit in some chairs at the rear of the church so you could at least see the inside of the Cathedral.
St. Paul’s Cathedral – London
It was quite spectacular, and while we were there, they rang the church bells there for about 30 minutes, for reasons unknown.
We had seen a couple of tour buses with signs in the front window indicating they were there for an official “christening”, so that might have been the reason for the bell ringing. We wondered if it was a special “tour”, or if it was just a large family brought in on buses.
St. Paul’s Cathedral – Front Entrance
We walked back across the Thames River, and walked the riverwalk on the south side. We stopped in a couple of Pubs, and had a beer with the locals, who were out in large numbers, either because of the race, or because it was such a sunny day, or both. Out of the wind, it was nice, probably in the low 60’s, and it was funny to see some of the clothes the locals wore. Although we were not cold, we still had on long sleeves and at times a windbreaker coat. The locals acted like it was a 75 degree day not a 63 degree day. I guess they are just used to colder weather.
HMS Belfast Exhibition on the Thames River
We wondered along the riverwalk past the H.M.S. Belfast, a WWII Royal Navy Cruiser that is permanently on exhibit, and ended up at a Mark’s and Spencer Simply Food Store, where all of the items they sold were prepared foods, ready to eat or warm up, but sold in single servings. Sort of like the old sandwich vending machines, but with salads, meat, pastas, almost everything you need, but sold in small containers. We bought some cheese, ham and crackers to have a light dinner in the room while we did our final packing, and drink our last bottle of wine from home.
We walked back to the room and relaxed before packing. We also realized that we could actually see Big Ben from our window, and so we took photos as the sun was going down and the light on the clock tower came on.
Big Ben Viewed From Our Hotel Room
We will be going to bed early tonight, we have a 5:30 am wake up call waiting on us, we have to be on a train to the Gatwick Airport at 7:00 am to begin the long trip home. It must be time to go, the forecast is for rain tomorrow, so we need to get out of here while it is still nice, and we don’t experience the typical London weather.
We were pleasantly surprised to see the sun today after having seen the rainy forecast on the weather yesterday. All went well with getting ready, checking out, and getting to the train station for our trip to the airport. We almost made an earlier 6:43 am train, but decided not to rush with the bags, and take the next one at 7:01 am, as we had planned. Unfortunately, after we were about halfway to the airport, we experienced out first train “traffic jam”. Apparently there was some sort of rail switch problem and we had to wait on a rail siding for about 20 minutes to get through to that station. Then, since everything was now backed up, when we got to that station, the crowds waiting there had already missed a couple of delayed trains, so, of course, they all jammed onto our train. When we finally got to the airport station, it was a madhouse of luggage toting Englishmen trying to get to their flights. Luckily, our airline was in the same terminal as the train station, and the US Air check-in was just inside the door.
We got checked in, and the people running the counter were so nice. One of our bags was a little over the weight limit, but instead of making us shift items from one bag to another to meet the weight, once the gate attendant saw the other bags were less than the limit, he just sent them through. Not like here in the USA, where they want to charge you if you are one pound over. At security, Stephanie got frisked and received all of the “extra” security. We got something to eat, and bought some mens cologne with some of the pound notes we had left. We had looked on the ship, and even with the exchange, it was slightly cheaper in the airport duty free shop. The only problem was that we will need to remember to put it in our checked baggage once we arrived in Charlotte, after collecting our bags for customs processing before re-checking them on to Jacksonville.
The flight was smooth, the plane was fairly new, and we each had our own small TV’s on the seat back in front of us to watch on demand movies. We actually got a hot lunch, and another hot snack on the way. After the 8 hour 45 minute flight, we landed in Charlotte, and then had to wait about 25 minutes locked up in the plane while Customs got ready to receive flights. I guess we were a little early, and they apparently had not yet started work for the day.
All went well through Immigration, we then collected our bags, added the cologne to the checked bags, and went to Customs, where we got flagged for supplemental x-ray and questions. Stephanie must look suspicious, she got checked twice. They were satisfied, and we were on our way to wait for our flight to Jacksonville, where we are now writing this post.
We had a great trip, the weather was much better overall than we expected, and we got to see a lot of interesting sights. It was tiring, I think we could sleep for a week, but it is off to work tomorrow morning for both of us.
We will still be adding pictures, it will make the entire Blog much more interesting. So even though the trip is over, make sure you check back over the next week as we try and find the time to add the pictures, and also do some spell checking, as I am sure we have a few errors. We were so busy, we have not even looked at all of them ourselves, and we apologize for not getting them in each day.
