rosepetal_irl

Oh the excitement!!! We just booked ourselves on the Comfort tour with Alla tours after many hours of reading reviews and comparison they seem to do what we are looking for.

If anyone is interested see below:

see you all soon!!

:)

109 days to go....YAY!! We are so excited about this one. Got a great offer on drinks & OBC too so it's already a trip to remember

regards

Rosepetal_irl a.k.a. Bridget & Joe from Ireland (we also signed up to meet & mingle so we are up to 8 people now!!)

Go for it. You don't need to be drunk everyday to enjoy the package. With cocktails (alcoholic & non) ranging from $6-10, fresh juices $3.75 and glasses of wine $7-15 even getting a bottle of wine at dinner sets you back $30!! Throw in some beers or frozen drinks and then sodas and before you know it you're close to daily amount. I'm not recommending you go mad drinking but it does allow you to get adventurous and try different drinks without wasting money if you don't like them. We loved having no expenses (other than a trip to paid restaurant)...in the end you know what you like and your budget!

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Embarkation

The fastest I have ever seen. We decided we would arrive around 11am so that we wouldn't be hanging around waiting for check-in like we had to with NCL in Barcelona. We got a taxi from our Hotel, the Hilton Marina, and we arrived in around 10 minutes. We had our bags whisked away by a porter and off inside we went. It's well signposted and plenty of friendly helpers to point the way. I loved the fact there was a queue for each deck so it wasn’t a cattle-herd situation. There were 4 open desks on our 'Deck' line and we were next on the queue. Took our photos and had our passes already printed for us so off we went onto the ship! ( 5 mins superfast!!! well done RCL!)

We were going 'cash account' so we had wondered how much was the minimum amount but the check-in desk never mentioned an amount to us and that we could go to Guest Services at any time to settle the account in cash. Very cool! We waited for over an hour with NCL to pay a minimum of 300 euro before we got on board only to discover we could've boarded and then applied the amount to our account there.

So far so good for RCL!

WELCOME ABOARD

We had the usual photo and then got scanned in. I was a bit unimpressed by the welcome but we did arrive into the Centrum and it was a great entrance to do. (NCL Epic we were herded under the lifeboats and in through a fire exit onto some random staircase and told nothing!!)

We headed straight to the Windjammer for some lunch and to try out our drinks package :)

Great selection of food for a welcome buffet and I hadn't even sat down when a server took my drinks order and was back in a flash, WOW, that's what I call fast track to holiday mode!

Our room was ready at exactly 1.30pm, although we had overheard a few people had already been to their room before the announcement. Off we went to see what we got!

STATEROOM 2066

We decided that since it was a short cruise we only needed an Oceanview and I was happy enough with the size. I was a bit worried since I suffer from seasickness in rough seas and being on Deck 2, well, not looking forward to meeting a storm anywhere! But I needn't have worried. No motion felt, the windows let in lots of light and the room felt more spacious than it was.

The reports of 'tiny rooms with no space and tiny bathroom' well, I don't know if they've actually been on this ship! The room had plenty of storage space, the wardrobe was a triple and stored 3 suitcases and a small backpack with no issues. There are small mirrored cabinets with shelves on the vanity unit and 3 large drawers under the TV, three small drawers and hairdryer to the right. It was a bit funny, we couldn't find the roomservice menu anywhere in the room, the breakfast menu was on the hook behind the door but no room service menu. It was the evening of the 2nd day when we found our cabin steward and asked for it only for him to pull out the chair at the vanity and pull out a drawer!!!! OMG!! We both thought that was just the top of the unit and not a working drawer..

The bathroom is small but functional. Actually it was a bit bigger than some hotels I've stayed in so I wasn't complaining. Lots of shelves and yes you only get soap but if you happen to stay in a hotel the night before just take some tiny bottles and bring with you, no big whoop! The shower curtain is a very affectionate shower curtain, especially with a big girl like me (for those that say 'I'm 150lbs and I struggled to fit', ermm, I'm close to 250lbs and I could probably fit another 2 people in with me, so get real!!)

Room was kept spotless, only fault was we were never introduced to our steward on the first day and so we couldn't request a bucket of ice. Then we got one the second night but the last night it was gone again. So I wasn't overjoyed with the Steward.

DRINKS PACKAGE

Ok, for those of you in a tizzy about the negative reviews and hype over the drinks package. DO NOT WORRY!! We ordered the package before we went and the Soda cups where in the room waiting for us. We had no problems ordering drinks anywhere. There were stations set-up in Windjammer to refill for you or you could go up to any bar and they'd do it too. No issues.

Drinks were strong and you could ask for any drink in any bar and they'd make it for you. We discovered this after spying 2 vodka mudslides being handed out in the R bar and we asked the server what they were since it wasn't on the menu. So she said would you like a couple? and off she went and made them for us, excellent!! Yes there are bars that only have bar tenders and servers doing the same job and it does get busy. But if you can walk, hobble, crawl your way towards the bar guess what happens?? you get a drink and a smile!! no '40mins for a drink', ask and you shall receive! :) The best bars in our opinion were the R bar and we set-up home in Viking Crown as it was so quiet, so cool and we got a full view of the big screen for the World Cup Games:) We only went to the pool bar to refill our sodas and also the solarium, it was busy but no more than 5mins wait. The Schooner bar, well, this place is ok but one of the servers nearly ruined the cruise on our first night. We ordered pre-dinner cocktails and got them but for some reason she held onto our sea passes. After an hour and close to our dinner reservation time, another server asked us would we like another drink and we told her well, we probably would only that server has our sea passes for the past hour. She wasn't happy and went over to speak to her, there was a heated debate and then our cards were reluctantly handed to her to give to us. We still don't know what the issue was but it soured us going back there for a drink. I mean we saw her giving people back their passes with their drinks and they had come in after us so she had no real explanation for her behavior.

We never went to the Some Enchanted evening lounge since most of the entertainment was either bingo or trivia and not our thing.

FOOD

MDR: Only went on the first night as the menu suited and we wanted to try at least once. We per-reserved our time of 7.15pm before the cruise and so we just showed up and was shown to our table for 2. There was an unbelievably long queue for no reservations people so maybe pre-book? Server was prompt and nice to talk to. Food was good but not spectacular. We just went for mains and dessert and it was good. My entire meal was from the healthy choice so was only 450 calories...well I had to offset the cocktails somehow :)

Windjammer: Went here for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Great selection. Pastas, veggies, fruits and salads, breads, soups, and the usual burgers, dogs, fries. The chicken, meat and fish dishes changed daily and there was a carvery station for sliced meat fresh in front of you. We loved the stir-fry station on day 2 and the make your own pizza station on night 3. Breakfast was the usual cereals, granola, yoghurts, fruit and hot dishes of oatmeal, bacon, scrambled eggs, boiled eggs or you could queue and get an omelet. They had different sausages throughout the cruise. Also different curry options, I even had nachos for lunch covered in spicy cheese and tomatoes!

Cafe: Ben & Jerry's ice-cream and milkshakes. Husband had strawberry shake with 3 scoops of ice cream in it for $5 and I had a small mango sorbet for $3. Pastries and cookies were free and you could have as many as you wanted, you also didn't need to be buying a beverage to avail of it.

Solarium: Pastries, wraps and sandwiches. Didn't go here but passed by it and it had a few people interested.

Chops Grille: Way too expensive for what it is. Ok, it was a last minute thing and we hadn't planned on spending much but we had to try it. The food was lovely, the ambiance was elegant and the servers attentive (too attentive and might I add, too fake in their scripted speeches) The portions were big for a fancy restaurant but still not worth the $86 for the 2 of us with no wine or other drinks. Just a bottle of water for 6.95 that for some reason is classed as 'premium' and not included on a drinks package!

ENTERTAINMENT

Good choice available. The entertainment director was really into his job and got the people involved. The thriller dance classes were good fun, the sushi demo was great (free samples!) and the bands around the various bars were good. We missed the first night show but we saw the Tony Rilmann (sp??) show and OMG was he great. What a voice and he got the place hopping and grooving. Why oh why do cruise lines only give 45mins to an act that is as phenomenal as this? He could've done a full-set, it just felt like we were getting going and it was over.

We never made it to another show nor did we do the Nightclub so cannot comment.

Spa

The spa was well laid out and clean. I was pondering what to do and went up a few times to see how the spa was run. I have to say I was slightly disappointed that the staff aren't more attentive. I stood browsing the price list for 30mins and nobody came over to me to ask me if I was interested in anything or tell me about specials. There were 3 staff standing around chatting about how busy they weren't and how drunk somebody got last night....mmmm....I'm a Spa Manager and I would not be impressed if any of my staff conducted themselves like this with a potential customer nearby. Needless to say I didn't partake in any services. There were never any 'specials' if you read the offers they give, you are not saving a lot. So far the best Spa service I received was on the Costa Concordia in 2006. I got a full body massage, green tea ritual and facial for $65. Even NCL had a mini 3 treatment package for under $60 and they had set-up on the pool-deck during the day so you could book your specials without needing to go to the spa.

EXCURSIONS

Didn't do any. We had pre-booked our Fort Lauderdale by Land and Sea excursion so we could pass the time before our flight and get our luggage transported as well :) However, on the morning of the second last day we received a phone message that it had been cancelled due to lack of interest and so we got a refund to our on board account. No big deal, a bit disappointed but the concern was now we had to use up this credit. Would've been much better to issue it back onto the card I used to pre-book! (hence the last minute trip to Chops Grille!)

We did get off in Cozumel and do it ourselves. As this trip was more for relaxing and doing nothing we opted to just stroll around the port a little bit. Can I just say, anybody reeled in by the hype from the Diamonds guy, please ignore the rant. It is not necessary to get a taxi anywhere unless you really feel the need to go 3.5km (not 7km as suggested) to a shopping center. There is a perfectly good selection of shops in the port and a shopping outlet style layout at the entrance to the port with a Senor Frogs on port side and a Hard Rock style restaurant on the roundabout. There is also a Diamonds International here if you really need to part with your cash!

We went to a small souvenir shop and then browsed the well stocked Duty Free shop. I thought that Cozumel was a bit pricey ($6 for beer, $8 nachos) for things including food and drink, so we didn't hang around. Maybe places off the beaten track might be better value but we couldn't be bothered to go traveling around unnecessarily when we are relaxing!

We just strolled up the street for about 1km and then headed back as at nearly every step there were taxis or moped scooter vendors begging for you to spend. Not for us and as it was so humid decided to just get our souvenirs and head back for a well-earned cocktail or 2!

PHOTOS

Have to admit, there were not enough Photographers or photo opportunities on this ship. Sure they had 'Photo Shot Scenes' set-up and at one stage I was wondering why grown adults were crawling on the floors until I saw the photographer directing them (really??) Now don't get me wrong I absolutely loathe getting a photo but sometimes you get a good one from these guys and you have a decent looking photo were you don't look like a balloon or are melting in the heat! We just had the photo as you get on the ship and then the rest of the photos seemed only to be in the MDR on formal night or if you arranged photos yourself. They are also very secretive of the prices....why??? Ncl, MSC & Costa have no problem telling you its x for 1, but if you get x the value is...x. So we ended up not buying it anyway. To be honest I didn't think the quality of the shots warranted paying money for them.

Disembarkation

Not too bad. Since we were now looking to waste time until our 5pm flight, we were in no hurry anywhere. We were allocated number 24 which meant we got off at 9.30am. Queues were orderly and moved quickly through the Atrium and out the door to the terminal. Once inside we divided into two queues and waited about 5mins until the security guys let us go find our number and bags. Then there was another queue for passport control. Yes, it snakes around and looks worse than it is but from the time we were beeped off the ship until we got into the taxi outside it was exactly 1hr. There were 5 security desks open and they progressed through quickly. I heard horror stories of 2-3hrs waiting time but thankfully this didn't happen to us.

And so, our cruise had ended but thankfully we had a whole week in Orlando to look forward to, so not many tears were shed. This cruise definitely suited us and felt like home to us. Much better than NCL Epic and heading in the direction of MSC and Costa. So we conclude that small to medium ships are more our thing, yay!! (when's the next one???)

I hope I covered everything but if not, feel free to ask me anything and hopefully I can help!

:)

We have arrived in England after a pleasant flight from Atlanta and are looking forward to a relaxing day before boarding our ship, the Jewel of the Seas, for our fourth transatlantic voyage. After claiming our luggage, we catch the train to Harwich and settle back with a newspaper to catch up on the local news.

I am not sure if it is due to global warming or the fact that their ancestors wore tights and powdered wigs for two hundred years, but the British slide towards complete eccentricity appears to be accelerating - exceeding even the level to which I have become accustomed. Whatever the cause, I always enjoy reading the English newspapers for their sheer entertainment value; and as I open the paper, I am pleased to see that once again I have not been disappointed:

News Item: The English are now claiming that they (and not the Scots) invented the world’s worst food (Haggis) – claiming they have “discovered” the recipe in an ancient English cookbook from the 1600’s. This claim is quite surprising, as anyone who has ever eaten English cooking knows that they have no need to add to their reputation. The paper even published one of the evening meal recipes in the newly found “Cookery Book”:

DYNAIRE

Step 1. Fyndeth sum kut of olde tuffe meate

Step 2 Boileth til aul flavour hath byn kilt

Step 3. Serveth wyth sum kynde o rawe mashed roote – lyke tournipe, or paersnipe

Clearly, the English have not strayed far from their culinary roots, but, in evolving to a more discerning palate, they have added something called “mushy peas” to the vegetable mix. Made from marrowfat peas, the dish most closely resembles a thick, green, lumpy porridge, and often, during the cooking process, sodium bicarbonate is added to reduce what Wikipedia.org refers to as “later flatulence” – which explains why you rarely see mushy peas served at High Tea. (Note to self: avoid mushy peas at the group dinner tonight.)

News Item: An alert has been issued about several prisoners who have escaped from prison, but (and I swear I am not making this up) prison authorities cannot release their names or pictures, as it would harm their privacy rights. The prison, Hollesley Bay, apparently has an unofficial early release program as 39 unnamed prisoners have walked away over a period of months. The article did not report whether or not prison officials were allowed to give the names of the escaped prisoners to the police. (In retrospect, this may be why the constable at the train station was asking each person boarding the train if they had been to Hollesley Bay recently. Having trouble with his accent, I thought he had said Holliday Bay and said; “ No, but it sounds fun and we might look into it our next trip over.” It was at that point that my privacy rights were violated and I had to show him my passport).

News Item: Radio 4 reported that a man diagnosed as clinically depressed by the National Health Service was scheduled for controversial shock therapy when it was discovered that he was not depressed, but merely Scottish. (He had probably read about the English claims about Haggis!)

At this rate England is going to soon catch up with California. Furthermore, I suspect that on some future trip to England we will find that the entire population has drifted off into the mystical land of Hogsmeade.

But I digress.

Day 1 – Harwich

The English may not have the best culinary skills, but they certainly know how to get people on and off a boat. I guess it comes from their heritage as the greatest maritime nation in the world. The boarding process was smooth and almost as fast as the de-boarding process we experienced when we left the Vision of the Seas in Harwich back in April.

After securing our gear in our stateroom, we had lunch in the Windjammer where we ran into an delightful Canadian couple and spent an interesting hour talking about our upcoming cruise. Then it was off to explore the ship and familiarize ourselves with our home for the next two weeks.

Day 2 (Wednesday) Le Havre, France

Our transatlantic trip is finally underway and after an arduous journey we have finally arrived in France. The whirlwind excitement of boarding, finding our room, meeting people from our roll call, and exploring the ship makes it seem like it was just yesterday that we left Harwich. Wait a minute! It was just yesterday. The first stop on our 4,000-mile transatlantic voyage has occurred after a grueling 20-mile channel crossing. I suspect that the ship left Harwich, waited until we were asleep, and then parked itself in the channel for a few hours before slipping into Le Havre in the wee hours of the morning – simulating a hard night of sailing. I can only hope that we will be in port long enough for the ship to refuel and restock provisions before we leave for an even more arduous day of sailing to Cherbourg - which is a much longer trip of approximately 120 miles.

Occupied by the Germans, Le Havre was heavily damaged during WWII, so many of its administrative, historical and cultural sites were destroyed. The rebuilding of Le Havre was in the neo-modern post-cubist style, which has resulted in the city now being listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site due to: (and I quote from the UNESO.org website) “the innovative exploitation of the potential of concrete”. What! Based on this, I think the innovative ways in which I have applied concrete patching may qualify my driveway for an historical site listing.

The stop in Le Havre basically offers three options for shore leave – (1) a 2-½ hour train ride to visit Paris, (2) a city tour to see how concrete was exploited, or (3) a tour of Normandy and/or Omaha Beach. As we have been to Paris and are really not into exploring the creative uses of concrete, we elect to visit Omaha Beach.

After picking up our rental car I am reminded how sensitive the French are about their language. If you can’t speak it perfectly they prefer you not speak it at all. But I assure SailorJill that, as most Canadians do, I took French in High School and, with all due modesty, am probably still quite proficient. As I am not quite sure about which road to take out of the city, I ask the man picking up the car next to us which was the best road to take to reach the English Channel. Well, as it turns out, my high school French may not be as perfect as I had thought as he glared at me, muttered something and got in his car. The only word I could make out was “idiot” – which I guess is the same in both languages.

I heard some chuckling behind me and a kind gentleman (from Belgium as it turned out) pointed me in the right direction. “By the way”, he said “what you basically said to him was: ‘Can you take me to the best English salted water.’” I thanked him, got in the car, started the engine and wondered how long SailorJill could stifle her laughter. She held out for nearly 30 seconds.

I would describe our visit to Omaha Beach in more detail, but words cannot accurately convey the emotion of that moment. As an Army veteran myself, I can only imagine what ran through the minds of those 19 and 20 year old kids as they stared at the German fortifications as their landing craft crawled towards the beach. Many of those kids never even made it to shore, and over 10,000 Allied soldiers were killed or wounded before that fateful day ended.

The relics, memorials, and cemeteries all highlight the courage and sacrifices of those who fought on both sides on that day and the visit is a sobering one. The drive back to Le Havre is a quiet one as we both reflect on what we saw and learned.

Day 3 (Thursday) Cherbourg, France

Young men often do extraordinarily stupid things when they want to impress a young woman and you may be somewhat surprised to know that I occasionally fell into that category…and Cherbourg, unfortunately, reminds me of one of those times. I was dating SailorJill (well, she wasn’t actually SailorJill at the time) and wanted to impress her with my continental sophistication, so I took her to see a romantic movie that is often called the most beautiful movie ever made - entitled Umbrellas of Cherbourg starring Catherine Deneuve. This, I figured, would score me some BIG points. I should have done my homework. It was a musical with singing dialogue. Not just an occasional song. Every single line of dialogue in that movie was sung. Every single line! In French! I’ve had root canals that were less painful than the two hours I spent waiting for that movie to end. Of course, SailorJill was utterly enthralled by the movie so I had to sit there with a silly grin and pretend that it was a great movie. I don’t know which was more painful – listening to incoherent dialogue sung in French for two hours or nodding and smiling idiotically every time SailorJill glanced my way.

Of course, now that we are here, SailorJill wants to see if we can find the little umbrella boutique from the movie and some of the other filming locales. I think she knows that after all these years the chances of finding any of them will be nearly impossible, but she thinks it would be great fun to try – so we are off to find a guidebook and spend a day exploring Cherbourg.

OK, we’re back. Not much to see in Cherbourg. The best thing was the fairly impressive “City by the Sea” - it is a combination of a museum, an aquarium, and has what is billed as the largest submarine in the world (Le Redoubtable) that allows visitors. It turns out that Cherbourg is where France builds its submarines. Apparently, getting into the submarine building business was a natural for France because, historically, most of its naval ships wound up under water anyhow.

By the way, SailorJill thinks she found the little umbrella boutique – only it was selling adult toys now. Now that would have made an interesting musical!

Day 4 – Cobh, Republic of Ireland

This may be the only major seaport in the world with only one vowel. As cheap as we Scots are deemed to be, the Irish may have bested us here. While the Irish are clearly in love with consonants, one would think that for a mere $250 they could have bought another vowel and come up with a name that could actually be pronounced without learning the Gaelic language.

That said, Cobh is a small, charming port (the arrival of the Jewel increased the population by 30%) that has a great deal of history behind it. This was the last port the Titanic called upon before striking out across the Atlantic - and it was the port to which the survivors of the Lusitania were brought after it was sunk by a German U-boat.

We would like to spend time in Cobh, but because we can’t pronounce its name we would be unable to tell our friends about it, so we elect instead to take a tour to Ballynabrannagh and Knocknagappagh. On the way, our first stop is at Blarney Castle, home to the famed Blarney Stone. Legend has it that those that kiss the stone are granted the gift of gab and eloquence and I am eager to acquire those skills.

ALERT! Contrary to my earlier perceptions, the stone is not a large rock set in the earth. It is a stone that is part of the castle wall. To kiss the stone one must climb to the very top of the castle’s battlements, lean over backwards while someone either sits on your legs or holds your feet, hang your head 300 feet out over the ground below, reach across to the opposite wall and grasp an iron rail in order to kiss what Tripadvisor.com calls “the most unhygienic tourist attraction in the world.”

HIGH ALERT! In describing the appearance of the stone, Wikipedia.com reports, “Apart from discoloration and wear caused by human contact, the stone is not readily distinguishable from its neighbors.” In other words, the saliva from 300,000 people a year has so stained and etched this particular rock that along with the Great Wall of China it might well be one of only two manmade artifacts easily discernable from outer space. I suspect that by now it may well glow in the dark as well! Lord only knows what new life form may emerge from the thick layer of primordial ooze that must now cover the stone!

As I would be unable to spray the stone with the sanitizer I brought while spread-eagled backwards over a wall 300 feet in the air, I decide that the gift of gab may not be all it’s cracked up to be and graciously offer my place in line to SailorJill.

Day 5 – Belfast, Northern Ireland

We have arrived in Belfast, Northern Ireland - a relatively small country approximately the size of Central Park.If Northern Ireland were a person, its name would be Monk and it would be in intense therapy, with standing appointments every Monday and Friday afternoon. It suffered deep trauma as a result of its breakup with the Republic of Ireland, went into a deep depression over the loss of the Titanic, experienced nearly thirty years of personal Troubles, and has developed a bit of an inferiority complex as a result of its sibling rivalry with the Republic of Ireland. (Example: On the music scene, the Republic of Ireland has the well-known groups U2 and Celtic Woman; Northern Ireland, on the other hand, is stuck with Stiff Little Fingers and Putrefy.) And, adding insult to injury, just when things were starting to look up and it got a new low cost air service to the Belfast airport, it finds out that it may have to pay to use the airplane’s toilet. Talk about developing low self-esteem! Despite all of this, the country is now starting to experience strong growth and can look forward to the day when it can get up off the couch and give that time slot to Portugal.

This is SailorJill’s first visit to Northern Ireland, so we rent a car; buy as much insurance as they would sell us, and head out – remembering to drive on the left hand side of the road after receiving several international gestures of good-will. There is so much to see in this beautiful country, but our time is so short that we are severely limited in our options – so we elect to visit the attractions in northern County Antrim. Our first stop is at Bushmills distillery; makers, over the past several centuries, of exceptionally fine blended and single barrel malt whiskies. Highlight of the tour (of course) is the opportunity to sample some of that fine Irish whiskey.

After the tour we head for the Giant’s Causeway – a stunningly unique geographical formation made up of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns – and voted by Britons as the fourth greatest ancient natural wonder in the United Kingdom (narrowly edging out Keith Richards). It is only 3 miles from Bushmills, but after 30 minutes of driving SailorJill is apparently becoming somewhat concerned that we will miss the ship’s departure.

“Admit it,” she said, “you’re lost!”

“I can’t be lost, I still have gas in the tank.” (One cannot be lost whilst one still has enough gas to drive to where one is going!)

“I just don’t understand it. You could find a 300-year-old distillery in the middle of nowhere without missing a turn, but you can’t find the Atlantic Ocean or the northern coast of an island when it was only 3 miles away!”

I have to admit she had a point, but under the circumstances I didn’t think it wise to tell her that I had visited Bushmills on several previous occasions when I was working in Belfast. I was looking for a suitable response to SailorJill’s concerns when, validating my keen sense of direction, we spot the Atlantic Ocean out my side window; and within minutes, we are at the Giant’s Causeway.

While it may have been one of the longest 3-mile drives we have ever taken, the stunning panorama before us made the trip well worthwhile! One can understand why earlier visitors thought these columns were manmade - to wit, by a Giant named Finn MacCool - which is a really great name! If we have a son I want to name him that. (As it is, we have a daughter and named her Alexis because if we hadn’t had her we could be driving one.) But I digress. The columns are hexagonal in shape and some stand as high as 40 feet tall. They are so uniform in shape that they look like they were chiseled by a master stonemason and lined up side by side to form, well, to form a giant causeway. They march from the base of the cliffs out to sea and disappear under the water – forming a road – according to legend - so that Finn could walk to Scotland to fight his brother, Benan Donner (no relation to Blitzen or Dasher).

Actually formed by volcanic eruptions some 60 million years ago, the Causeway is spectacular and well worth the visit. While I would have liked to walk along the scenic trail overlooking the rock formations, our time is running short so we head for our final stop, the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge.

We find the bridge with no trouble and while it is very nice, it pales in comparison to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, which is just up the road from where I lived in North Vancouver. The Carrick-a-Rede Bridge is about 60 long and 90 feet high compared to Capilano’s 450-foot span and 230 foot height. Still, it is a pleasant diversion. But time is at a premium, so we elect not to tarry, but to return to Belfast and the Jewel. Unfortunately, SailorJill refuses to stop by Bushmills on the way back. Oh, well.

Day 6 – Somewhere in the North Atlantic

This evening we were invited to a cocktail gathering with the Captain. After going through the reception line, we were each handed a glass of champagne and invited to mingle with the other guests. As we headed towards a group of elegantly dressed passengers I furiously worked on an opening comment that would quickly establish myself as an interesting and dynamic conversationalist. After completing our introductions, an elderly man in an immaculate tuxedo announced to the group, “I was the first openly gay policeman in the United States.” My God, the man was brilliant! Not only had he thought up a comment that was contemporary, but also one that was both edgy and provocative. In one preemptive move he had negated the clever opening line I was going to use - “I organize my sock drawer by color” - and solidly established himself as the Alpha Male of the group.

I don’t know what it is about cruise ship conversations, but either the first or second question is usually, “Where are you from”? As the inevitable question was asked of me, I responded, “British Columbia” and all other conversation stopped as the group eyed me

Rofl!!!! Just so you know...it's quite easy to pronounce most of our Irish place names and in fact, Cork is one of the easiest! Cobh is said like 'cove' as in Pirates Cove etc. So easy and even better for the stonemasons working on the milemarkers!!

I was watching a British cruise channel on tv and they can't handle it either....Cob this and Cob that....no no no we are not ears of corn, thank you very much!

Totally agree about Blarney...ewww...I could talk for Ireland anyway but I'd never kiss a rock to get better at it!!!

Love the image of Northern Ireland being our slightly bipolar sibling....must ask the tourist board to put that in the description!!! Forget the Wild Atlantic Way come visit the eccentric cousins and don't forget to bring grapes (wine accepted also)

Love reviews like this...keep up the good work!

Slainte!

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VAT =value added tax...tax added to the sale of goods and supply of services set by the individual country. Spain set 10% to ALL ships leaving from their ports...its a way for government to gain more revenue and out of the control of cruiselines. Just another thing to get used to.

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