DeloreanGirl

Hello Emily. Great travelogue-- we are hoping to do the same cruise in June 2017. So, did you ever get that job with Princess?

JoAnn

 

 

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Hi JoAnn!

The Princess headquarters is right across the street from my gym, so I see it all the time! I still have my eye on it and it will be the first place I apply to when my son goes to kindergarten (2018) full day.

I saw that Disney Cruise Line is now doing 12 Day British Isles (have to take out a second mortgage on the house to afford their version) and I still drool at the Princess brochures for their BI itinerary. June will be here before you know it!

I'm dragging my toddler on the Ruby next April for a no-flight Coastal. Can't wait!

Hi Emily, it has been so much fun to read your review and remembering that fabulous voyage and the lovely people we met like you and Melissa. The BI cruise also remains one of my favourite cruises which I would take it again in a heartbeat! Thanks for the memories.

 

Sandy :)

Agreed! Hope you are doing well, Sandy!

First off, Awesome review. My wife and I are taking this cruise in June and thanks to your review we have way too many shore plans now... LOL

Since this is our first UK cruise we have decided to most if not all of the tours through the ship. We are even booked for a pre-cruise three-day stay in London and plan to do the HOHO bus you mentioned. We are staying at the Pullman Hotel which is right close to most everything.

Again, thank for the great review...

Thank you so much! Can't believe it's been almost 4 years! It's still been my favorite vacation to date. Glad I could be of some help with the shore excursions! Can't go wrong booking them through the ship as well for peace of mind.

Gotta another question :p

 

I see you mention you were surprised by how much territory you covered on foot in such a short amount of time. So if you were to do it again and time and money were not an issue, besides the moving there option ;) How many days would you plan for visiting London? I was leaning towards 5nts in order to have 4 FULL days to explore.

 

Thanks kindly for all your helpful advice!

 

Patty

Hi Patty!

Clever, as I would want to move there! If I were to do it again, I would stay at the same hotel (Park Plaza Victoria I believe) and would still walk to all the highlights. I think 4 days would be perfect! If there's a place you want to dedicate a full day to (museum, countryside, etc.) you would have that option plus a few other days to hop around the city. I really enjoyed the HOHO buses over the Tube as they were a great way to take in the sights.

If user "JohnBull" is still on the British Isles messageboard, he should be of huge help also!

First of all...AWESOME review!

 

My question is... Since on formal nights you opted to go to the buffet, can you tell me if you noticed an average of how many other cruisers shared your experience? If it was awkward having an after dinner drink or enjoying a show without formal attire?

 

Formal Nights~We personally can take them or leave them and depending on the sailing that's exactly what we do :p

 

Smiles,

Patty

Hi Patty!

I don't remember the buffet being crowded at all on formal nights, and everyone dressed normally. Granted, the crowd on this itinerary was a bit older so everyone was dressed rather nicely (and a bit warmly) even on "casual" nights. It definitely wasn't a tank top and flip flop cruise!

No awkwardness at all with post-dinner entertainment and mingling around the ship in casual attire. Even if we were to dress up for dinner, I know my husband would be running back to the room to undo his tie and change into comfortable clothes as he has done in cruises past.

Many folks strolled around in casual pants, khakis, etc. Since there were only 2 formal nights out of the 12, we decided to save the room in our luggage and forgo the dressy attire.

Another fan here! I have had your review bookmarked for a few years now. It made me want to do this cruise. Never been to Europe. Booked a TA and the British Isles as a b2b. All within the past 12 days. We leave April 23. If anyone else reads this I would suggest allowing more time for planning!! It has been my full time job planning this for the last week or so. Don't want to miss a thing.

 

Thank you again for this wonderful review !

Holy smokes, less than a month for planning!! :eek::eek: Kudos to you! What an amazing itinerary you have lined up back to back! Have a blast!

I just read that Princess has sold the Ocean Princess - which did most of the British Isles cruises. This is going to be harder to have figured out ahead of time....:confused:

Wow! Hadn't heard that. Hopefully Caribbean, Grand, or Ruby will step in? Are you looking for a 12-day or the 8-day itinerary? Ocean did the 8-day, no?

I haven't read through the review yet - need to get ready for New Year's Eve :D But I am wondering if anyone can tell me WHEN the sailings for the British Isles are open for booking? We are looking into July of 2016 and I don't see anything on the website yet for that month.

You're right, it looks like they only have the April-Sept 2015 dates up. I'd hope by spring they will have 2016 dates and itineraries up.

Hi Delorean girl,

 

I enjoyed your British Isles review so much and now we're back from our British Isles cruise as well. I'd love to invite you over to my review, maybe I can repay some of the fun moments you blessed us with. Be my guest!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2094891

 

 

Stef

I would be honored! Had no idea MSC even did British Isles cruises. Thanks for sharing the link!

Emily,

 

What an incredible review! I've lived in both London and Edinburgh and my family is from Scotland, so this brought back some wonderful memories. It also spurs me to look at a British cruise!

 

I hope you had a wonderful time on the Norwegian Pearl. Did a Coastal on her a few years back, including a stop in Astoria, and had a wonderful time.

 

I do hope you get a job with Princess. You have the enthusiasm, and the writing style, to be a great representative for a company which does a wonderful job looking after their customers.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The P.Coastal was great and I'd probably do it again. Wish I had spent more time in Oregon while the opportunity was there.

When I first read this review a couple of years ago, I was instantly convinced that a British Isles cruise was for me!!! I loved EVERY post and EVERY photo in the review and actually created my own document with only the review posts.

 

Well now I need to re-read the whole review as I've just booked the Royal Princess out of Southampton on May 9th 2015 with my son who has moved from OZ to London this year and will turn 30 on May 15th - we should be in Greenock!!!

 

A million THANK YOUs to you Emily for painting the most vivid and exciting picture of your experience that I haven't been able to get out of my head for 2 years.

 

Living the dream, just as you are now with your precious son.

Wow, what a shock to wake up and read this e-mail! Thank you SO much for the sweet words!!! I am thrilled that you were able to book your dream vacation and, even better, spend it with your son! I haven't been able to get the vacation out of my head for the last two years. Your own trip will be even that much more special! Enjoy every minute of the planning process!!!

I think the Titanic museum in Belfast read Emily's review, because on the storyboard just before you go into the theatre, it mentions the Titanic broke in half! So Emily, they have 'fessed up!

Oh!!! :eek: I just read this. Thank you for mentioning it! I'll have to share this with my hubby. :D

So, I joined a gym to work off the baby weight (and them some...*cough*) and the best part is that the view is of the lovely Princess headquarters. ;)

he is just too darn cute !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

are you back to work or just working 24/7 at home ??

 

ann & jim

I (and my bosses) knew years in advance a family was in the works. I left on great terms and visit them often! Being at home is 24/7 for sure! We'll see how this goes for a year or two or more and then I'm marching up to the doors of Princess across town with my resume! :rolleyes:

Emily, thank you for making this post. I know that this took a great deal of time and effort. Since this thread started, I see in your signature you had a child. Congratulations on the new baby.

 

bruce...

Thank you! He is on vacation every day. I, however, am not. :)

I'm already eyeing a Princess Pacific Coastal for next spring. The cruise bug has bitten me!

They beat me to it! :) Yep, Euros for Ireland and France and pounds everywhere else. We had to spend the rest of our Euros to get rid of it but needed more pounds by the time we got to London. The Capital One Venture card was a safe card to use on all big stores/attractions/pre-booking.

We didn't have any excursions planned (just bought tickets to the castle online beforehand) and we took the train. It was great! My experience with it is written below:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34199591&postcount=130

Brave and How To Train Your Dragon both took place in Scotland at least. :) Speaking of which, you are so brave (and awesome) for bringing a 10 month old with you! I have an Ergo too and I think you'll get quite the mileage from it. I also hope that baby formula is allowed in larger quantities on an airplane. Does she drink the powdered that you could bring to mix with water onboard? Tommee Tippee makes little cups that screw into the lids of their bottles to hold scoops of powder to be mixed later with water. Also, smart thinking on the packing and re-packing. I can't believe I underpacked!

Norwegian Pearl was the ship I was on last May with my mom for Pacific Coastal before it began it's Alaska run.

Also, I see you're from Brea. I grew up in Walnut! :)

Hi Emily! Thanks for the suggestion of Brave I will have to get that one for her and have her watch it. She is all about Frozen these days but I think Brave would be great for her to watch. My almost 4-year-old Kathleen is looking forward to the castles she was excited to hear that real princesses visited the castles and I like that I can let her run around the castle grounds. She is big Disney Princess fan. We chose excursions that only lasted about 4 hours since her limit is not for long excursions. The only long excursion is the 8-hour Normandy visit but my whole family is going on that one so we will have plenty of help. Anytime we don't have an excursion planned we plan to just walk around the local village and get her back in time for her naps. My 8-month old who will be 10 months old in May Madeleine is easier to manage we are bringing our Ergo carrier and our smaller Chicco stroller that is easy to fold up. You can tell why we got the Family Suite we have so much gear for the kids. I also have to bring formula for Madeleine and all her diapers and have to figure out how much liquid formula to bring on our 10-hour plane trip. Also we are bringing our iPad for my oldest daughter it was a lifesaver on our Alaskan trip. I plan to download all her favorite movies including Frozen (the digital version came with the DVD) and her favorite Scooby-Doo episodes.

 

I plan to start packing in early-May since I am the kind of packer that packs several times before going on long trips and every time I re-pack I always make my luggage lighter. I am the main person who packs the luggage for our trip my hubby does his at the last minute. Your packing list is amazing I plan to print it out. I am also bringing an outlet strip for me and hubby's many electrical gadgets. When we had our daughter Madeleine during the hospital stay I brought a six-outlet strip and it worked out well for us for charging all our stuff. I also found where to order the wifi packages me and hubby plan to review which one we want. The babysitting services are great on the ship and I really like their kids clubs. I plan to sign Kathleen up for one of the Princess kid clubs she really liked the one on Norwegian Cruise Line. They do fun crafts with kids and it is always in theme with the port you are at. They also give you a phone so they can call you immediately when she is ready to leave. It worked out well and she made new friends.

 

Jennifer

 

P.S. My hubby comes from Santa Clarita the area is beautiful!!

I recently found this post and love it! We leave in May for the British Isles cruise. We have a almost 4-year-old and 10-month-old coming with us along with my parents and my brother and his girlfriend. Me and hubby splurged for the family suite since it gave us a separate room for the girls naps and I do love the suite benefits! Priority boarding and embarkation which I believe includes the tenders is really nice when you have a rambunctious 4-year-old who does not do well waiting in lines. We both have family roots in all the countries we will be visiting so this is a really exciting trip for us.

 

We took our then only child who was two years old at the time on the Norwegian Alaskan cruise and that was fun. This will be the first time taking two kids at once but at least we have plenty of family help and they all want to babysit the girls so me and hubby will have a few date nights. Date nights are something we treasure we don't get very many of them with two young kids. Thanks for the great travelogue and love the Liverpool part. I told my hubby about it and he is now looking forward to visiting Liverpool. Any easily walkable cities are always a plus with young kids. I recently found out my great-great-great grandfather was born in Liverpool so I am really excited to see this city where my family came from. We already planned a Scandinavian cruise for next year.

 

Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip with you and congrats on your new addition to your family! It is fun taking your kids on cruises we love the fun kids clubs and giving our daughters new experiences is always such a blessing for us! We are blessed to able to travel and show them new worlds and cultures.

Hi jrose!

You are my inspiration! I can't wait until we can take our son on a cruise! It seems like a great way to be in a safe environment with babysitting services while still being able to escape for a nice dinner and show! The British Isles will be an amazing opportunity for your kids. Your daughter is probably too young but has she seen "Brave"? That may help. And the Beatles museum in Liverpool is a bit kid friendly -- it's very colorful. All the castles they will see will be real and enchanting! The ladies dress up in old timey costumes in Cobh near the ship as well. I'm so excited for you!!

I must say it is truly a testament to your writing skills that this thread has lasted several Years, rarely happens. I just read your report today and enjoyed every word. I saw England and Scotland over 2 trips both of which were driving trips my partner and I did on our own. Loved them. We also did 2 weeks driving around Ireland which we loved and could probably go back ina minute. But, I must say the cruise sounds interesting and different from what it was like doing a land trip. We have the Mediterranean booked for next year but will definately look at this in the near future. Plan on printing out your report for future reference. thank you so much for sharing and for taking your time doing it. :)

Wow thank you! That made my day! If we had a bit more time (and bravery), I'd love to tackle the road trip version of the UK. Enjoy the Med! That one is on my bucket list as well. :)

Can I be an obsessive planning brother? We just booked the August 25, 2015 British Isles cruise on the Royal Princess. I've already been planning it for months, and now at least we have actual reservations. We're a family of four - 2 dads and 2 daughters, who will be 12 and 10. This is our "Brave" tour - we're going to see some of the places that inspired the animators of the Disney/Pixar movie "Brave." My elder daughter is a bit of a tomboy, and Merida is one of the few Disney princesses that she can tolerate! We have booked M203 and M209 - adjacent inside cabins on Marina deck. These are some of the very few category IF cabins that have a horizontal orientation rather than a vertical orientation. We also want to see Inveraray Castle when we dock in Greenock, having fallen in love with what we saw in "Downton Abbey." I've read this amazing thread and the one by Ohbother (I might have that misspelled.) What great helps they are in our planning. We're trying so hard to get in a little bit of everything. Those Princess shore excursions are really expensive - we'll be looking to try to do more on our own. Thank you for all of the help - it is making the planning even more exciting!

Yes, please join our club! :D ;) I think it's great that you're taking your daughters to such wonderful countries! Brave came out the month we got back from our British Isles cruise and boy did they get the look of Scotland right. I swore I even saw knockoffs of Urquart Castle in there. I am a HUUUUUUGE Downton Abbey fan and Inverary looks amazing!

If you poke around on TripAdvisor.com or simply Google what types of trips you're looking for, you may be able to find private day trips that are the same if not a pinch cheaper than Princess.

Good luck and happy planning!

Hi Susan!

Hurray, another obsessive planning sister!! The work is always worth it when you get there and have a layout of the amazing options in front of you every day. But also, the things you don't expect (gee, getting lost in Dublin?) are also just as exciting. Sixteen months probably feels like forever but will be here in a flash. Planning is always half the fun and the messageboards on here are so very, very helpful. I hope you've found the "British Isles & Western Europe" board. Lots of nice folks there.

I see you're from Illinois. My husband is from Springfield and I'm sending him out there next month to visit his parents who are moving to Monticello.

Best wishes!

Emily! I think I've found a soul sister! My husband's family had a good laugh at my travel binder during our Alaska cruise last summer.

 

We are most likely doing the British Isles itinerary aboard the Royal Princess in June 2015. I usually would spend all my time leading up to the trip reading every post on CC and pouring over travel books to plan every moment of our trip.

 

I just got done reading (and copying/pasting!) your thesis/review. No wonder this thread is still so popular 2 years after your trip! What am I going to do for the next 16 months?? My planning is done... I've never put together a travel binder so quickly, LOL

 

Thanks so much for all the great information and tips.

 

Best wishes to you - Susan

Thanks for the great info. Going this summer and will use much of your advice.

Thanks! I keep in touch with some of the British Isles CC members on Facebook. Amazing how time flies.

I agree with the above posts. The weather might be a bit chilly and/or rainy and the ports are so amazing that you may come back a bit exhausted. However, if you're up for it, trying it for one day might be worth it if you know the forecast ahead of time. Perhaps a sunny at-sea day if you're lucky? :)

thanks Emily for the thread that helped me convince hubby to take this cruise, I hope they keep the same itinerary for 2015! guess I better start saving my pennies.:)

Wow, thank you! So glad you made the choice to do this itinerary. You wont be dissapointed! :D