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Three Nickles take on the British Isles. And a little bit of France.


bnickle
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England embarkation

Ok, so here’s the dealio: we are boarding the cruise after a three day visit in London and I’ll catch up on those days after writing this. I just wanted to write and post about the cruise in hopes that it may answer any questions anyone may have on their upcoming British Isles cruise. We boarded on Wednesday, June 6. There are three of us; me, my husband, and our 26 year old daughter, Kate.

What a perfect glorious day to pop down to Southampton! The weather smiled on our entire London visit and continued to smile on Wednesday, as we finalized our packing and went down to the Pret to give them one last morning of our business. I have to say, Pret is kind of our trusted go to in New York and in London, and they do not let us down. The fruit was always fresh and the croissants were light as air.

Quick, no hassle check out at the Grand, hop into a black cab, and off to Waterloo Station, a short 8 minute drive away. We retrieved our pre-purchased tickets at a kiosk and settled to wait until the platform for our train was announced. This particular run had no luggage storage, so we took up four seats: three for us and one for our stacked up luggage. It was a really fast one hour trip, then we were unloading at Southampton Central train station and easily hailed a taxi. It’s about a 10 minute ride to the port, and there was our home for the next twelve days, all shiny and (hopefully) ready to greet us.

By the time our taxi arrived at the port it was about 11:05. Porters were waiting to take our tagged luggage, and we went into the terminal and were directed upstairs. At that point there was no line, and I had done our check in online, so check in at the desk was quick and efficient. We were given a card for yellow group 21, and waited for our group to be called. By 11:30 they began calling groups, and called ours about 11:50. By 12:00 we were on board and in our room by 12:10. It was really quick and easy.

A note about boarding with wine: we had each brought our allowed one bottle each, and purchased an additional bottle each, and had them ready to show and be charged the corkage fee for the additional three bottles. We went through security, and, noticing that the next step was to simply walk up the gangway and scan our card to enter, I asked the security agent where we declared our extra wine. He told us that really, they’re too busy at embarkation to deal with it. Their goal is to move passengers along through security and get everyone on board and the process is convoluted enough but has been perfected to streamlined ease without that extra wrinkle. We were just trying to be honest, but hey. He did tell us that at each port they are much more exact about the bringing extra wine and liquor aboard rules, but the policy about embarkation seems to be, at least at the port at Southampton, “we don’t have time for that.” We enjoyed our wine, which we were never charged for.

Upon walking up the gangway, we had our cards scanned and our photos taken. Kate’s card would not scan, so we had our first trip to the front desk to fix it. They issued her a new card. We went up to our room, and, after checking all three cards at the door to our cabin, we discovered her card would not work to open it. We decided to take care of it at dinner.

We had a mini-suite on the Marina Deck (deck #15). It’s fine for the three of us, with storage space efficiently laid out. We stowed our luggage under our bed, I tossed two loads of laundry in the washers in the launderette down the hall, and we chillaxed a bit. The launderette has two washers and two dryers in each room, two rooms on the decks that have launderettes. There is an ironing board, an iron, and a spray bottle of water to iron with. The price is 3.00 per load to wash, 3.00 per load to dry. You swipe your card in exchange for tokens at a machine on the wall. One load costs one token. The washer takes 30 - 35 minutes, depending on water temp and cycle choice, and the dryer takes about 35 - 45 minutes, depending, again, on the cycle choice. I purchased, upfront, tokens for 3 loads of laundry (6 tokens) which ended up being a good thing because the machines appeared to be empty of tokens one evening when a very nice lady was in the launderette with me, attempting to do her laundry. I had brought from home some travel washer-dryer laundry sheets, so I didn’t purchase the products sold on the ship.

Ok. The Muster Drill. First of all, to get to the usage of the TVs in the cabins, you have to power it through a filmed safety video starring the actors from The Love Boat. Time has been kind to some of them (I need to know Issac’s secret) and not so kind to others, but it’s a fun, cheesy, Jack Jones accompanied journey to the past to explain safety of the present. Once you get through that, you have access to what your TV offers. The Muster Drill was announced, and we made our way downstairs (10 fights) to our muster drill on deck 6. There was some major confusion and chaos, as the scanners didn’t work so there was no way of really knowing who showed up and who found creative ways to skip the presentation. Also, we were in one of the bar areas, so there was no organization to lining up, etc. We just all sat around and watched the presentation about emergency disembarkation.

We went to stroll about a bit before dinner, and to take care of Kate’s room card. Greg had read about the Enclave at the spa and thought that a trip pass would be good for me. I have a torn meniscus in the back of my left knee, and have brought aboard an entire little “knee kit” to help me walk, wander, and roam. Greg thought that a daily soak in the whirlpool would be good for me, and knew I was not comfortable gimping my stupid knee around the pool area to the whirlpool, so he signed me up for the unlimited pass, which I actually would make unlimited use of.

We headed back to our room, and our luggage was waiting for us. I nested, (a habit of acclimating to travel accommodations I have) and we decided to go to dinner about 6.

We had chosen Anytime Dining, and by the time we got down to the entrance of the Symphony dining room a line had already formed, with about a 30 minute waiting time. We were given a pager, and we very happily sat in the bar nearby, sipping a glass of wine and chatting the half hour away. It was pleasant and lovely, and frankly, I can’t sweat waiting to be seated for dinner while on vacation. And the wine was nice. Really nice.

Dinner was excellent. I had prime rib, Greg had a roasted pork entree, and I completely forget what Kate had. Kate is vegetarian, and the only complaint I really have about our dining experience isn’t really strong enough to be a complaint. The only whine I have about our dining experience is one I noted on our cruise with HAL last year: the process to gain access to the separate vegetarian menu and to order from it is cumbersome I suspect to discourage people from utilizing it. To use it, one must liaise with the dining room Maitre ‘D the day before dinner to order, off of the vegetarian menu, the dinner one wishes to eat 24 hours later. One of the many joys of Anytime Dining is the ability to leave decisions on where to dine and at what time to the last minute, and I think this protocol really works best with Traditional Dining. Luckily, Kate is pretty laid back because, as she puts it, she knows that vegetarianism is a choice for her, not a requirement, so she assumes all responsibility to make sure there are options available, and she was pleased with the options offered each night on the regular menus. Our waiter was Manuel, and he was efficient and friendly.

Back to the room. Our steward had popped in earlier to introduce himself and had, while we were at dinner, prepped Kate’s sofa-bed and turned our covers down. A word about the sofa bed: when asked, Kate said she never woke up during the night to see if she was comfortable. So let that be your guide. The sofa basically becomes a twin bed, with a pillowed layer placed over the mattress and a twin sized duvet on top. It seemed pretty clunky to prepare, so Kate told our steward that he didn’t have to convert it back; it could just stay in the bed arrangement for the duration of the cruise. It ends up being kind of like a day bed.

 

Again, the room layout was fine for the three of us. There is actually a ton of storage space, and the closet is spacious and efficiently arranged with a set of shelves and a safe, which would become my nemesis. But for now, we were wined, dined, happy, and tired, and we turned in early and slept the night away!

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England - Guernsey

Smooth overnight sailing (I assume, as I didn’t wake up during the night to check it out) brought us bright and early to just offshore of Guernsey, St. Peter Port. We had set our alarm for 6:45, and were all three showered and dressed and up at the Horizon Court for breakfast by 8:00.

Yesterday’s lunch at the Horizon Court was really nice. This morning’s breakfast was not, but then, I may have chosen poorly. The coffee and juices were fine and the fruit was very fresh and well presented. I have no clue what the egg product is that they use for scrambled eggs, but it was kind of nasty. I should have gone to the omelet station; I heard many people commenting that the omelets were really good. There was a pretty brisk amount of passengers up and about but we had no trouble finding a table, and the staff there, like yesterday, was helpful and friendly. Also, kudos for the hand washing stations at all the entrances.

Time to tender! We went down to the Symphony Dining room to get our tender tickets and had a wait of about 10 minutes or so before our numbers were called. We went down to the fourth deck, where the gangplanks were, to be scanned and get on the tender. Once again, Kate’s card was not recognized by the scanner. It had also stopped working on the cabin lock, as had mine. This is after two trips to the front desk for her card. And also, the security at the door looked at her like she was trying to pull something. As if she had successfully stowed away up to this point and had decided to do some sightseeing. So they took her aside and looked up her info and matched it to the picture they took of her yesterday and decided she was not, in fact, a criminal sneaking on and off of the ship. I do acknowledge the importance of safety and security, but a system that works as it should would be lovely so that people with glitches in their room cards can get them addressed. In fact, IT overall is a huge ugly mess on this ship, and we cannot imagine the nightmare that would exist for passengers and crew alike if they had plowed ahead with the Medallion scheme.

But I digress. Because I’m sipping wine while I type. The tender ride was about 13 minutes, and pretty smooth overall. Disembarking at the port was easy; we got off at Albert Dock (I love the story that Parliament finally told Victoria, “We get it. You really loved Albert. We’re not funding any more memorials”) where there is, of course, a lovely statue of Albert. You’re basically in the heart of the town, and across the street and up for several blocks is some pretty pedestrian shopping. If you leave the dock and take a left, it’s a short, maybe a little less than a mile walk to Castle Coronet.

It’s a busy small village, cheerful and welcoming. St. Peter Port has a rich and vibrant history and their heritage is presented proudly through various spots around town. Wikipedia these islands, especially if you love WWII studies. These islands were German occupied for five years during WWII, and the spirit and bravery of the citizens here lifted them out of this despair to the welcoming charm that you see now. One short block over from Albert is, appropriately, Victoria, and you will pass her as you head to the Castle Coronet. Walk through a parking lot and up some stone steps to gain access to a walkway along a breakway that leads to the Castle. The views are lovely, and fishing tugs and sail boats dot the horizon.

The Castle opens at 10:00, and is £10.50 per person. That gets you into the entire grounds, which consist of several small carefully maintained rooms, and three very nice museums. Walk all the way to the top and you will have a truly gorgeous 360 degree view of the area. I couldn’t walk up to the top with my knee problem, and accessibility is not easy for anyone with difficulties. The gift shop is very nice, and it should be noted that the Castle grounds were very well marked so that it was easy to follow a pathway and to see it all.

Please take our recommendation on this with a big grain of salt; we’re a history family and heading to a moldy ancient castle is a huge highlight for us. We had prepped by reading up on Guernsey and it’s long and rich heritage, and it is fascinating. The fiction book, Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was very well written and I am glad I read it just before visiting.

We at lunch at a lovely small bistro called Dix Neuf, right downtown, and it was overrun with cruise tourists. While the wait staff looked harried they were patient and the food was really good. We had a nice ale with our sandwiches and it was very enjoyable. We decided to head back to the ship; my knee was kind of snarky, and Kate, our birthday girl, had a massage scheduled for 3:00.

Tendering back wasn’t really an issue. We got back to the dock about 1:15, and people were already lined up through a cattle line to get aboard. The line moved quickly, and by 1:35 we were stepping onto the tender, and back at the ship by 1:55 ish. And again...Kate’s card did not read on the scanners. So back up to customer service, where they fixed my card, and “fixed” Kate’s card.

We got up to our room, and my card worked, but hers did not, and she has no confidence that when we step off the ship tomorrow, she’s not going to be pulled aside for them to look her up because her card does not scan. My daughter, the IT nightmare. Really, it’s not intentional. Usually scanners love her!

I headed to the Enclave and soaked my knee, along with the rest of me, in the lovely whirlpool, then took a nice and relaxing sauna, and hung out on the warm stone loungers. I hear a lot of people complain about the loungers but they have worked both days that I’ve been in the Enclave. Kate had a massage, and I forgot to warn her about the sales pitch, but she can handle herself. But note to Princess: the seaweed wrap, by virtue of having a high alkaline count, will not prevent cancer. Just thought ya’ll would like to know. Also, when you pitch a product to a customer and they politely decline, looking at them all concerned and asking, “Is there a reason you do not wish to treat yourself well” is not a huge endearing tug to make a reluctant customer reconsider.

Here’s where things get really fun. I had gone back to our cabin, and we had sent for ice so I could ice my knee, and I opened the safe to get out a dollar for tip money for the delivery. I dropped the dollar, leaned down to get it, straightened up, and whacked the top of my head on the edge of the safe door. Because I’m me. It bled quite a bit, as head knocks do, and Greg called the medical office to see if we should go down and have it looked at. They put us on hold, and disconnected. I am not relaying this story because I bumped my head. I’m Brothers Grimming my little adventure because the medical office HUNG UP on someone who was injured. 10 minutes later, the front desk called and asked if we had a medical problem, but the cut on my head had stopped bleeding and we thought it was ok. 20 minutes after that a nurse from the medical office called and asked if it was correct that we had called about an injury, and if we had been hung up on. Greg said, you bet that’s what happened! She apologized and said she would deal with the people responsible. It was a thing. Nothing major at all just...don’t hang up on people concerned about a medical occurrence. My head is fine, my knee is iced, the waters are calm, and Kate enjoyed her massage. All is right with the world.

For her birthday, we had made reservations at Sabatini’s, and Holy Happy Tummy, Batman, was it good. We ordered a bottle of wine with dinner, and I am completely blank on what we ordered. They brought a piece of cake to Kate for her birthday and sang to her, but it was chocolate and she’s not a chocolate fan. Neither she or I are chocolate aficionados, which the rest of our family finds odd, as if we’re aliens. We’re not. Really. I promise.

We had found a movie trivia game at a bookstore in London, and after dinner, decided to sit in a quiet corner in a bar and play it. Actually we had a wonderful time, sipped wine, and Kate welcomed 26 in a really lovely day.

 

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England - Cork

The day looked like this: We had booked an all day tour of Cork, Blarney Castle, Kinsale and some scenic driving, through ECoach, to be met at the dock at 9:30. Back at 5:00ish, dinner, relax.

We decided to try the traditional sit down breakfast, held at the Allegro dining room from 7:00 to 9:00. It was good and I found the secret to getting good eggs: order an omelet. It was nice and fluffy. I had fresh fruit with it, and toast. Kate had the special omelette, which was a Mexican Omelet with black beans and salsa, and she asked them to hold the beef, which they did. She said it was really good.

A word about disembarking: it seems to be pretty happenstance. For Cork, we docked pretty much at 9:00 am, instead of being docked at 9:00 am. This makes a world of difference in getting off the ship to meet any planned adventures. We went to our assigned disembarkation area, which I think was the Symphony dining room, about 8:50, and were not able to disembark until 9:25. This would become problematic other days as well, so please be aware when making reservations on your own for tours that timing may be dicey. Have your tour guide’s number, or any phone number dealing with that tour, available, as you may be making a call to ensure them that you really are there, the process is just running long.

The bus that ECoach provided was comfortable, and the driver was friendly and truly talented in his presentational patter as he drove us around. We were scheduled to head to Blarney Castle first.

Blarney is actually a nice small village, and I would have enjoyed wandering it over attempting to explore the Castle. Two things worked against us at the Castle: there was virtually no signage to direct you around, and the map given at the ticket office does not do a good job of laying out a route to walk or to get from one place to another. Also, we never encountered anyone who served as a guide or a point of information once we had our tickets. This is important, because the line to get into the Castle and the line to kiss the Blarney Stone are the same line, up to a certain point, but none of it is marked well at all. We just wanted to see inside the Castle and aside from waiting in an insanely long line, we couldn’t figure out how to do it, because that was the second problem: every person everywhere seemed to be there in Blarney. It was crazy crowded, and our tour guide remarked that it was the busiest he had seen it in a long time. It was crowded to the point that along with the lack of guides or signs, it ended up being a time suck.

The Woolen Mill there is amazing, and we added to the local economy greatly, but not sure it was worth the time we spent there. We understood that after leaving Blarney we would drive to Kinsale and would have time to shop and eat lunch there, and that may be on us for misunderstanding, but our driver took us on a long and frankly boring drive through downtown Cork, telling us some local history that really, given the amount of time we had for the entire day and the overly ambitious itinerary, was a detraction from other sights. It was fully almost 3 in the afternoon when we finally arrived at Kinsale for lunch, and our driver’s joke about Cruise passengers needing food every two hours fell a little flat. We could see Kinsale, we were salivating for Kinsale, we were HUGNRY for Kinsale....and just before we turned into the village our driver took a small side street for a ten minute stop to visit Charles Fort. Charles Fort is actually a place we would have enjoyed spending more time at...after eating lunch. It has lovely views and an interesting story (the area of the Sinking of the Lusitania) but holy cow were we ready for lunch.

Kinsale is a really lovely small village that, again, we would have enjoyed more time at. We ate at a small bistro called the Lemon Leaf, scouted by me because they had several vegetarian offerings. It was really good, and they were friendly and fast with service. We had maybe 25 minutes or so to wander Kinsale after that and we would have liked a more substantial visit. The village is full of small craft shops, interesting stores and businesses, and two really cool used book stores.

We headed back to the ship, which is, at that point, about an hour and a half or so trip, and by this time we were tired and frankly a little disappointed in the way the day laid out, when the ship comes into sight...we are almost there...we are a block from the ship, and the driver suddenly turns and pulls over beside a church, announcing that we have ten minutes to hop out and take pictures. I swear, it had taken on the feeling of some kind of forced Excursion to Hell, only you figure that at least they may have some kind of diner or something in Hell, and you get there and actually Hell isn’t that bad but then you find out you have ten minutes there and have to leave. I mean...it’s Hell, but they had sandwiches.

Here’s the thing, and I have really wondered at how to word this entire review of the day: the biggest problem is, I think, that the day was too ambitious for the crowds, and not well presented to purchasers over the exact itinerary time wise. The drive through downtown Cork could have been eliminated altogether, it could have been made plainer that one could chose to skip the castle at Blarney and simply wander the charming village, and for god’s sake, plan lunch at lunch time. It was just too much, and too crowded. It’s odd because our driver was funny, friendly, and very entertaining. He drove well and was organized as far as following the plan, the plan just kind of was too much.

Since we had such a late lunch we just kind of snacked for dinner at the Horizon Court, I soaked my knee at the Enclave and rested on the warm stone lounger (the angle really hit the back of my knee well) and then iced it before turning in for bed. We know how to party.

 

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England - Dublin

I am actually writing this the day after Dublin, and we are not halfway through the cruise yet, but I know that our day in Dublin will be my favorite. It was wonderful. I was ensorceled. Dublin is a vibrant, alive city straddling the river Liffey and teeming with fun, character, and Gaelic charm.

The plan: we had purchased tickets to visit Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, followed by a light lunch, a tour of the Guinness Storehouse, and wrapping up with dinner and a listen to some good Irish folk music at a pub. While we mainly stuck to the plan, it should be noted that all plans should be flexible, for many reasons.

We were up and at ‘em by 7:30, again enjoying breakfast at the Allegro sit down offering. Kate had an oatmeal laced with brown sugar and honey, and I just had some fruit and a croissant. Pretty sure Greg stuck with his eggs, bacon, and toast. But boy howdy does he love the orange marmalade.

So here’s a possible “Get it together, Princess” moment. Once again, where the Patter says that the ship docks at a specific time, they mean the ship docks in kind of a ten to twenty minute window of that time. So it said that in Dublin, we dock at 11:00, we actually were docked and cleared by 11:20. This caused cranky people syndrome. There is a shuttle service offered to Dublin. The information is provided by the ship, and reservations and ticket sales begin at the start of the cruise. Many people opt for Princess excursions, many opt for privately arranged excursions, and some people are DIY lunkheads like us, and just want to backpack their way through town like the obnoxious tourists they try to not be. We had decided to kind of go by faith that taxi service would be available at the dock. We had tickets to two attractions, and plans to scope out a pub and enjoy a brew. My leg was braced, my euros were flush, and with all the aplomb and self assurance of a 20 year old with a fake ID we planned to meet Dublin and make it our own.

What happened was this: we were herded to an area for people who had “independent plans” to travel, where we waited until 11:20 to disembark. The very efficient, very organized Princess officers and crew were motioning us out the door when we were stopped a few people ahead of us to allow people with Princess tours to get off the ship and get on their busses. Three tourists became incredibly belligerent, prompting an officer to show up to settle them down. I have no clue where they were from but it made me realize that the US doesn’t have the Ugly Tourist market cornered. It’s all over.

In any case, we trooped out, finally, and indeed, there were several taxis lined up, ready to serve. We got in line, grabbed out taxi, and had a delightful ride into Dublin (about 15 euros, which was less than we would have paid for a shuttle ride for the three of us) with Ian, a delightful, loquacious Dubliner taxi driver. He gave us a nice overview of Dublin and dropped us off in time to pop into Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. I had pre-purchased our Saint Patrick’s tickets online, and we skipped a longer line to hustle right in and get hooked up to our audio tours. It’s a beautiful cathedral, rife with history and atmosphere. I had no idea Jonathon Swift played such a starring role in it’s history. The audio tour takes 35 minutes, and, allowing a little wandering time and some time in the very nice gift shop, I would plan on an hour there.

From there, we popped across the street to the Cathedral Cafe, which had a very limited but delicious menu, and scarfed a sandwich. I had, and not making this up, a goat cheese, avocado, arugula, and peanut butter panini. I asked them to hold the peanut butter. She nodded like...”all the time, they hold the peanut butter. What’s up with that” but the sandwich was really good and in no time we were striding down the street (and this may have been my downfall. More on that later) towards the mecca of stout...that behemoth of beverage...the Guinness Storehouse Tour and Tasting Room. We walked it, and it was pretty much right at a mile. Be aware that you wander through some quiet neighborhoods, but you end up caught up in a frenzied crowd headed towards the same goal: quaffing all the Guinness they can in a short amount of time.

Again, I had pre-purchased our tickets, which included drought glasses etched with Greg’s name and with Kate’s name, and queuing up to print out our tickets and our drink voucher took no time at all. The tour is self-guided but well laid out. We learned the history of the Guinness family, and Arthur Guinness’ business savvy that resulted in leasing the land that the Guinness storehouse is on for 9,000 years. We learned all we ever wanted to know about hops. There are several opportunities to redeem your drink voucher; we chose to visit a pub on one floor and selected a flight of three half-pints each to test and savor. There is a floor devoted to the history of Guinness advertising, and a large and well stocked shop. It was fun, but super crazy crowded, and we never got full advantage of the top floor with the 360 degree view of Liverpool because....super crazy crowded.

We stumbled out of the Storehouse hot and happy to breathe fresh air, and decided to take a cab to the Temple Bar, where the plan was to find a pub featuring live Irish local music. Spoiler alert: that’s every single pub in Dublin, practically. The Temple Bar area was packed with locals, tourists, sketchy characters and any number of souls just enjoying the gorgeous weather. We wandered about a bit, and settled on The Old Storehouse, located right in the middle of the Temple Bar. It is a two story business, with the pub proper on the first floor and a restaurant on a decked second floor, overlooking the first. When we arrived, a musician was in the midst of his set, which, according to the waitress, lasts two hours (by law). Then, there’s a break and another musician or group plays for two hours. This starts about noon, and goes on all night till, literally, 4 or 5 in the morning. We heard some incredible Irish folk music, saw some local Irish dancing, enjoyed some Irish beef stew made with Guinness Stout, and had a perfectly wonderful time.

A nice thing about Dublin is that downtown, all over, there are taxi stands, with any number of taxis lined up ready to serve. We easily caught a cab and were taken promptly back to the pier, and were back on board ship by 8:15. I cannot tell you how much we loved Dublin. Enjoying our ale, listening to the Irish singer is a total delight I will never forget.

Note to the tardy: we were about a half an hour late sailing from Dublin, because some private tour was late getting back to port. I am sure there’s a story there. But be aware if you are the few people holding up the ship, there are people lined up on their balconies cheering and jeering as you scamper aboard.

All the heading up and downtown on foot caught up to me, and I spent some time icing then heating my knee before turning in for the night. What a great day.

 

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We’re just sailing out of Liverpool, and I’ll write more tomorrow about the great day we had here. I’m logging off of the ‘net, but I will check for messages when I can and try to answer them as best and quickly as I can. Happy sailings!

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Great review! we will be doing this cruise next month and are really looking forward to it. You have been really lucky with the great weather so far, hope its the same for us. We are in Manchester which is quite close to Liverpool , it was very warm here today but we had some rain this evening.

 

Just one point Cork and Dublin are in Ireland not England! you might upset a few people in Ireland.[emoji4]

 

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Looking forward to hearing more.

 

Re: your daughter's cruise card problems

Check to see if she has anything magnetic on her or close to her.

My friend's card kept giving her constant problems until we realized it was her fitbit that was causing it not to work. Her fitbit closure was magnetic.

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Thank you for the detailed review of your cruise. My DW and I are booked on this cruise in August 2019 for our 35th wedding anniversary. Looking forward to hearing about the remaining ports of call and disembarkation.

 

Paul

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Great review! we will be doing this cruise next month and are really looking forward to it. You have been really lucky with the great weather so far, hope its the same for us. We are in Manchester which is quite close to Liverpool , it was very warm here today but we had some rain this evening.

 

Just one point Cork and Dublin are in Ireland not England! you might upset a few people in Ireland.[emoji4]

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Forums mobile app

 

If there are any people I do not want to upset it’s the Irish. A lovelier, friendlier group of people I have never met. I’m typing these ahead of time and then posting, and saving them under the heading “England - “ to keep them organized but your point is valid!

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Looking forward to hearing more.

 

Re: your daughter's cruise card problems

Check to see if she has anything magnetic on her or close to her.

My friend's card kept giving her constant problems until we realized it was her fitbit that was causing it not to work. Her fitbit closure was magnetic.

 

We thought of that, but she was careful to keep it separate. She commutes via subway to work everyday and the subway cards are notoriously sensitive to magnetic interference so she’s used to taking precautions. I would bet that was the issue for a lot of people here, though, because there is a steady stream of people at the desk exchanging cards.

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Thanks for taking the time to share and answer questions! What time did you arrive in St Peter Port? We’re scheduled for 6am and was wondering when the tenders would start.

 

 

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We pulled into St. Peter Port right at about 9:00. It took a bit to get organized for disembarkation, then right away that process started. Our tender number was called about 9:10 and they load the boats pretty quickly. It’s maybe, depending on the waters, about a 13 minute trip to shore, so we were walking down the streets of St. Peter Port by 9:25ish.

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Really enjoying reading your report.

 

About the vegetarian options in the dining room. To my knowledge, Princess does not have a vegetarian menu or at least not when we have sailed. Instead the headwaiter brings the next day's menu and helps you pick out items that normally would not be vegetarian, but can be prepared instead to be vegetarian. For example, the French onion soup normally is made with beef stock, but can be prepared with a different vegetarian base. Such special orders do need to be set up the night before so they will be ready for you the next evening.

 

Also, the port arrival time is meant to indicate when the ship will reach port, but when it will be docked and cleared for passengers to disembark. Often the ship does reach port early enough that disembarkation can start at the scheduled arrival time, but that is not the promise. This is not unique to Princess.

 

Enjoy the rest of the cruise!

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What a lovely review. I'm glad to hear you're having such a wonderful time.

 

I completely understand about the tour that was too long and not well planned - lunch at 3pm? That's not good.

 

We once had a tour that was supposed to end with taking a water taxi back to the ship - the tour ended just after 3pm (for most - though if you walked fast you may have ended before 3pm). The water taxi went every hour on the hour - except for 4pm (no water taxi until 5pm). So it was about 3:10 and we were told we'd have to wait until 5pm for the water taxi to return to the ship - oh, but don't worry - here's a bar you can wait in. :rolleyes:.

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