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British Isles Cruise Photo Heavy Review


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Titanic Experience

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The Belfast shipyard and White Star line building

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When you do an itinerary like this, people ask you what was your favorite port. I do think that Belfast was probably it. This day still stands out in memory as a magical day. I think it made all of my Irish dreams come true.

Okay, my Irish dreams. I walked in Irish glens. Peered over the coast to Scotland. Walked along the sea and in the steps of giants. Now kind of girly, I know. But I am a girly girl after all. The dream of an Irish cottage on the a cliff over the sea - yep. Having an Irish gentleman offer to pour me a cuppa - yep. Having that Irish gentleman argue on my behalf - yep. ( after Michael got himself a pot of tea and a large cup for tea he asked if I would like to have one. I naturally said yes. He went back into the kitchen and brought out another large mug for me. He then said to me in a great Irish brogue “ Terri, would you like for me to pour for you?” Like I would say no?? The owner saw that I had a large mug and told Michael that guests were not served in a cup like that. She wanted me to have a pretty tea cup and even brought one to the table. Michael asked if I wanted the tea cup and I said no. I like the one he had brought me. I said it warmed my hands and I was fine.) Be with my wonderful husband on the Irish cliffs next to the ruins of a historic castle by the quaint Wee Cottage? Oh YES!! Belfast and this Irish experience has won my heart :)

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I am loving your review and pictures. We are taking a similar cruise this summer and your review is helping me with my planning....again, thanks for the time you are putting into this.

Anita, I'm so glad you are enjoying the review. Thank you for joining in. I am also glad you are finding this helpful.

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Glasgow was a difficult port for me when planning. I had heard and read that it was an industrial city and that really didn’t appeal to me. I watched travel shows and tried so hard to figure out what we were going to do. Then I read a wonderful review here on CC. The review was by ohhbrother, here is a link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1851903

She had some fantastic advice. Because of this review, I decided to book the Sterling Castle on your own and Falkirk Wheel excursion through Princess. I also was not expecting much from the Falkirk Wheel because of this review. Our guide for this excursion spoke while we were on the bus to the castle, showed us the meeting place in Sterling then came along for the ride on the wheel. Non obtrusive and just right for us.

It was a chilly, gray day for our visit here, but not a bad day. The castle was very interesting with great history. It being smaller than Edinburgh Castle which made it easier to tour and it was far less crowded.

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View from up top

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From the Sterling Castle website:

The Stirling Heads are one of Scotland’s great art treasures – metre-wide 16th-century oak medallions carved with images of kings, queens, nobles, Roman emperors and characters from the Bible and Classical mythology.

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After gathering up our group, we were off to visit the Falkirk Wheel. I enjoyed the wheel and seeing just how this lock alternative worked. I enjoy reading books written by live aboards who use the locks throughout Great Britain and France. The narrow boats here on this river also tickled me.

 

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When you do an itinerary like this' date=' people ask you what was your favorite port. I do think that Belfast was probably it. This day still stands out in memory as a magical day. I think it made all of my Irish dreams come true.[/font']

I love your review! We’ll be in Belfast next summer - I’m so excited!!

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Thank you for your wonderful review and photos. I have been thoroughly enjoying following your travels, particularly as I spent time in Ireland and Northern Ireland after my Baltic cruise in June. Your review has revived many happy memories as I went to many of the same places that you went to. Thanks.

 

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I love your review! We’ll be in Belfast next summer - I’m so excited!!

Thank you. I'm sure you will enjoy Belfast no matter what you do while there.

 

Thank you for your wonderful review and photos. I have been thoroughly enjoying following your travels, particularly as I spent time in Ireland and Northern Ireland after my Baltic cruise in June. Your review has revived many happy memories as I went to many of the same places that you went to. Thanks.

Sent from my A1601 using Forums mobile app

I'm so glad you are enjoying the review and that it brings back happy memories. I can't even imagine traveling here after the Baltics. We were wiped out after our Baltics cruise and needed some serious down time. You must have had one heck of a vacation.

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I am booked with Alister for next July...so happy to hear it was a great day!

 

 

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We had I believe three groups booked with him from our Roll Call. Everyone was happy and had a great time. I hope you enjoy your day as much as we all did.

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Finally a sea day. This was our first sea day and we made the most of it. At least for us. We slept late, ate well, and figured out my Gopro, gimbal and selfie stick. We watched from the balcony as we came so close to the coast of Scotland. Too bad it was cloudy and misty. It did make it harder to see the Isle of Skye as we sailed by. I also did a couple loads of laundry. This is one thing that Princess does that Royal and Celebrity does not do. The self serve laundry worked out really well. This was a three week trip for us and I did my best to do it with just a suitcase and carry on for each of us. All under the 50 pound weight limit. The fee for the laundry wasn’t bad, and you paid with your sea pass card for the tokens. I brought laundry soap pods and Downy fabric softener sheets. The Downy sheets are also a good way to keep you luggage from smelling funky.

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Following our first sea day, we were on to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands. Kirkwall is the capital of Orkney and a place we spent very little time. We spent our time on the island exploring the Neolithic history of the island. I chose to book an excursion through the Princess as I knew there was a chance this island could likely be a missed port due to weather. I had read that there had been a lot of concern about privately booked tours and the inability to get refunds after the port was canceled. Our tour was fully booked and even though we arrived to the bus well before the boarding time we were not able to get seats together.

Our first impressions of the island were that this was truly a very different side of Scotland. Orkney is decidedly more flat and has remarkably fewer trees. Kevin laughed throughout the day that we could likely count the number of trees on just our hands. Orkney has a more windswept appearance, but is still very pretty.

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The port area.

On the road to Skara Brae and the Skaill House

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Next we left to see the Ring of Brodgar and the Standing Stones of Stenness. We also drove past Maeshowe Chambered Cairn said to be “Europe’s finest chambered tombs”.

The Ring of Brodgar is so huge I couldn’t get it all into a single photo. It seemed that even when I tried from a distance I would still loose a bit.

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The sizes of the stones varied in height and some had broken off completely.

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Here is that bonnie heather again

This is the Standing Stones of Stenness. It is a much smaller circle.

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We are missing you. Is there more?

There is much, much more. I am so sorry for the delay. Work is a killer and trying to sell a house in at the start of the holiday season has me a little tied up. Next up is Inverness, I promise. Until I can get it all written here is a little sunset as we saw it after Orkney.

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