Live from the Golden

[Lindypc]

Hello Everyone,

After paying a ton of money and anticipating and planning for almost a year, we find out Kirkwall (tomorrow) has been cancelled due to the swells and wind. I really booked this trip for the Scottish ports and all of us are very disappointed. I know we have no control over the weather but we're all very sad. Sue had worked weeks and weeks to get us all a tour that was going to Maeshowe, the Rings, Skara Brae, Skaill House, Stromness (the large music festival) and then a tour of the harbour and St. Magnus. We had been so looking forward to this. Hope ya'll have better luck than us!

Like Beth, I can not say enough about Mini-Coach. Both Caroline (Pronounced 'Car Line' -her baby was due yesterday) and Rodney met us at the port and fortunately for us, we got into Jim's coach. He had purchased a DVD of the area that we watched and then it was Irish music the rest of the way except when he was talking. This was probably one of the best tours our group has ever been on. Princess was just going to the Causeway/ Coast and we did 10 things--theirs cost $100 more! We drove along the lovely coast full of fields of sheep and cottages. We stopped at the Bridge to take pictures and then went to the Giant's Causeway. Some of us saw the 12 minute movie (discounted for those of us on a bus) and then walked down to the Causeway. What a sight! After this stop (maybe an hour and a half) we made our way to Fullerton Arms. I was worried about how all of us (2 busloads of cruise critic people--55) could order and eat, but Caroline had it so organized. A menu was passed around on the bus and we all selected a meal--Jim dropped it off on the way to the Causeway so when we arrived at the Arms, we sat and our food was brought straight away. How organized is that?

Wasting no time, we drove to the big whiskey distillery (Bushnills--it is whiskEy in Ireland--(which was not even on our itinerary) and Jim quickly took in 5 guys to buy some 12 year old whiskey. We then again left our itinerary (everyone received one, believe it or not) because Jim knew we wanted to see where the Titanic was built. From there we got a tour of Belfast and we got to see all the murals and where the Senn Finn headquarters were. We then stopped at a beautiful pub for a pint before heading back to the ship. We did so much on this tour and fell in love with Jim--he was rewarded for his extra care quite handily. And again, Rodney & Caroline were there to see how it went.

We have only seen the cruise director for about 5 minute when he introduced the opening number. He may go where we don't but have never been on a cruise where we have never seen the director. We do see the assistant quite often.

PC dining on the Golden is fabulous. We eat on the Plaza Deck's dining room and the waiters are wonderful. We have fallen in love with Arnan from Thailand (any second I expect to see costumes from the King and I) and Dorota from Poland. Marvin & Kelshell from Grenada are also wonderful. I wanted to order steak one night and Marvin wouldn't let me--he really made me get the lamb which was the best I've ever eaten. An addition to the menu is the Princess Dream EVERY night. This reminded me of several years ago when we again always had that choice.

[Darrenk]

Lindypc

Sorry to hear you are missing out on Kirkwall. Will the GP spend the day at sea?

 

I just checked out the bridgecam and the sea does look choppy. How is it on board? Not too rough I hope.

[calikak]

Hi all, just checked in to ditto what Lynne said about us not stopping in Kirkwall tomorrow. The captain, Nick Nash (some of you may know him as the guy who crashed the Diamond in Victoria last year), said that there was a large storm in the N. Atlantic last night (force 10 winds) so he's had us sailing around the Irish Sea until just a little bit ago when he finally turned the ship northward. We'll be trailing along behind the storm as we circle around to the north of Scotland. The captain also said that even if we'd been able to make it up to Kirkwall by tomorrow, the forecast for tomorrow is for very rough seas up there as well so it's unlikely we'd have been able to anchor/tender up there anyway. But he says we should make it to Edinburgh on time on Monday. It's a shame we couldn't have spent the night in Greenock instead of sailing around in the Irish Sea again. I get the sense that Capt. Nash is being extra careful with the ship, which I suppose is a good thing, although everyone is disappointed about the missed ports. So, for those coming on the next sailings, I'd say you're probably better off sticking with the ship's tours for the tender ports, because you never know what the weather will bring up here. It's super-hot in the south of the UK, but cold and rainy and very windy up here!

 

I heard from the tour company in Wales that our ship made the national news because of the rescue of the yachtsmen in the Irish Sea on Wednesday, although it wasn't actually us who rescued them, it was another boat.

 

Oh, also wanted to say that I had my massage this morning and I feel a bit like I've been tenderized, but very relaxed. The Irish Coffee I'm drinking is also helping reduce my stress! :D

 

For the foodies out there, last night was Continental Dinner (formerly French) with Cherries Jubiliee in the traditional dining room. Since I'm not a huge fan of cherries, I had the raspberry creme brulee, which was fantastic. The french onion soup was as terrific as ever (especially with a bottle of Beaujolais). The always-available salmon was not so great, though.

 

OK, I'm off to read my book a bit (it's about the muder of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots, fitting in with our sailing!) and then I'm planning to go to the art auction again today. I love watching people spend thousands of dollars on art that I couldn't possibly afford. They've got several original Peter Max paintings onboard that are in the Explorer's Lounge right now, I'm hoping someone will snatch them up today. :) Tonight is our second formal night (so, they were on the first and second scheduled sea days), and I might go to tea in the dining room today. Will check in tomorrow, since we'll be at sea again!

[lkmamom]

Oh Beth and Lynn, so sorry that the weather has not been cooperative. I know that all of you did a lot of planning. It sounds as if Belfast and area was fantastic though. I loved the sword fight story as well!

 

Your massage sounds devine Beth, I could really use one of those right now.:rolleyes:

 

What have the shows been like, or do you even feel like going to them after a long day of sightseeing? Does the ship plan extra activities when you are forced into missing a port? It sounds like the menus have changed a lot, if you have the time can you expand? No pressure, just curious, we will be doing PC dining.

 

I hope that the skies are blue and the seas are calm the rest of your journey. Have a great rest of your cruise, and thanks again for taking the time to keep all of us envious ones back home updated:)

Linda

[GottoCruise]

A very big Thank you to everyone posting.........it's so informative for those of us following.

 

We are on b2b July 31 & Aug. 10.......a little nervous about the 2 cancelled Ports - should look into the "cancellation" policies carefully on our private arrangements!.

 

Disappointed about not being able to get back from Dublin late eve. by ourselves - we were going to plan a show or something on our own....How is it that Princess tells you you can't take a taxi back to the Port??? - and how disappointing is it that the Princess shuttles stop runing........ Really don't want to book the Princess evening Show Tour - sounds very touristy and hokey ...rather find something ourselves.......appreciate your comments on this??

 

Thanks again - GotToCruise (aka Renee)

[Jeffry]

Hi Lynne and other Golden cruisers

 

Sorry to hear about another cancelled port I know how much you were looking forward to visiting Kirkwall. I sent you an email this morning (Lynne) hope you got it. Todd just asked me if you knew who (didn't tape this one or watch, LOST was on at the same time and much more important) won American Idol or not.

 

I hope the weather clears up for your next couple sea days and that they are smooth sailing. Been watching the web cam and it looks bad.

 

Jeffry

[June Bug]

Just out of curiosity....our tour book says our Golden cruise to Dublin, will be in port from 3:30AM to 9:30PM. How late does the last Princess shuttle run back to the ship? We were planning on exploring Dublin on our own. We were told it is easy to get from the port to the town, but is that by Princess shuttle ONLY or is that by TAXI..

1. What transportation is available.

2. What time restraint are we on?

Thanks for answering, I realize your times in port may be different.

Thanks,

June

[West Coast]

Lynne/Beth,

 

When we were on the Dawn last week, there was a new show, "Piano Man" that was done in the Princess Theatre. It was performwed on the last two nights - be sure to see it, if it's done on your ship, and let us know what you think!

 

Also, are they doing the wooden horse racing on your cruise? It's usually scheduled right before bingo.

 

Any more casino wins?

 

Enjoy your last few days...

[cinnamon]

So sorry to hear of another port missed. I am sure the locals in Kirkwall will miss the business too!

The weather here in southern England has cooled off from yesterday's record temperatures. About 16C or 61F max today and very windy.

Cinnamon

[Jabb5076]

Hello my wife and I just signed up for the cruise on the 21st. Looking forward to meeting new friends and seeing Europe.

 

Any suggestions accepted since this will be our first European cruise.

Flying out of Atlanta and on the Caribe deck.

 

Thanks

Jeff and Linda:)

[Lane40]

Who is Cruise Director?

 

Wrong, you need to watch Abbott and Costello because who is on first. lol

[britsbest]

:mad: WOOOOOOOOooosh right over my head. I was trying to help a poster above who had asked the question, thanks for your useful helpful comment:mad:

[tweetybird]

Thanks for all the info!:D Too bad the weather has been rough. Sorry to hear you are missing out on Kirkwall. We'll be on the June 21st sailing. Hi Jeff & Linda! Hope it warms up a bit by then.:confused:

 

Anyone know which ports are tendered?

 

Hope you keep updating us, it's fun reading about all your adventures.

 

Laura & Andrew

[cinnamon]

Tendered ports are:-

Holyhead in Wales

Kirkwall in the Orkneys

South Queensferry (for Edinburgh)

 

Cinnamon

[tweetybird]

Tendered ports are:-

Holyhead in Wales

Kirkwall in the Orkneys

South Queensferry (for Edinburgh)

Cinnamon

Thanks!!:)

[Lane40]

:mad: WOOOOOOOOooosh right over my head. I was trying to help a poster above who had asked the question, thanks for your useful helpful comment:mad:

 

Sorry about that.....was just posting a small joke...no harm meant.

[Jeffry]

Great Joke Lane40 I loved it!

 

Jeffry

[kmabsd]

My husband anf I will be on the July 21 sailing, so it has been most helpful to read all your updates.

 

One question. . .what is Bodine(sp?). I get seasick if the bathtub is full so I could use all the help out there.:D I have, for past cruises, used a prescription patch which for the most part works (except for a tender trip in Mexico that left me literally hanging over the side of the ship:eek: ) but I can always try something new. This will be out first trip to Europe and I do not want to spend the entire cruise staring at the ocean over the side of our balcony railing:o

[Elaine0138]

Looking forward to seeing you all on Monday, as you will be 'parked' just across from my house.

 

Fingers crossed for better weather, the Captain was right about the weather last night we had a bit of a blow here on the east coast, so it would have been worse on the west.

[Lindypc]

Good Morning everyone, Hopefully we are on the way to Edinburgh. We are rocking and rolling with very high seas. The ship is moaning and groaning. Thank Heavens I don't get sea sick but even I get butterflies when it gets too rough--don't want to make the evening news about us perishing at sea;) . The cruise director has been absent from everything I've gone to. Saw on the tv this morning that his name is Paul and he is an older guy with grey hair. I see his assistant everywhere though. Now we don't play bingo and have only been to a few shows but did not see him there. There was an excellent folkloric show from Dublin that was a lot of fun--ya'll need to go to that (complete with the Irish dancers (youngsters). Our tour in Glasgow was cold, windy and very rainy. It was not a good day because at times we couldn't even take pictures out of the bus. Some of you need to take Beth's train trip to their castle--the 3 late 20's couples went and had a blast. I am so happy that there is cruise critic because our son and his wife have fast friends with Beth & J and their friends and they don't have to hang around us middle-agers! They will tour Edinburgh tomorrow while a group of us try Sue's tour. At least if we have to be at sea, DH can get the French Open day and night which is better than in the states! There is not too much on television either and one thing I have been disappointed in is the fact that they have only taken pictures in Dublin and didn't even have a back drop--we just held up the Princess life preserver. Even at embarkation there was a picture against the blank wall. Maybe they will do better by the time ya'll get here.

Hi Todd & Jeff, I did get your emails and I wrote you back this morning on this slow internet. Give me some hints about Alaska!

[lkmamom]

Ooooo Lynn, "moaning and groaning", do not like the souonds of that but I have heard that sound before. I really hope that things clear up for all of you and that you enjoy Edinburgh. Thanks for keeping in touch:)

Linda

[shellyc]

We are also on the rocking & rollin Golden. I am paying $.35 per minutes. Husband is sleeping AGAIN. That is all he is doing. Dramimine works good.

We are a little board today. Too many sea days.

We did have a very good first sea day. I won $500 on the open slot tournament. That is why I am on internet today. Got to spend that money.

We are having a very good time despite missing 2 ports, and we also missed our tour in Dublin. We will not do that again.

I have some nice photos of the cruise critic group from the party and will give to Sue when I find her.

So long.

Michele & Milton

[calikak]

Hi all! The captain said earlier that he thought things would smooth out this afternoon, but it's 2:10 PM now and we're still having very rough seas. DH finally got seasick late last night and is now sleeping in our room. We just discovered Bonine this cruise and it's helped him a lot (I'm not sure what the generic name is, but my SIL said it was an anti-dizziness medication), but not enough to overcome today's rough seas, so he's also taking Dramamine, which means he's asleep and probably will be until dinner, if he even makes it to dinner. I've met several people today who have at least one travelling companion who is a little green. I'm so glad I don't get seasick! But Lynne's right about the ship shaking quite a lot. I sat down in the lobby bar for a while and watching the waves was very exciting. One little girl and her father came by and the girl said she thought the ship was sinking! Our cabin steward told us that it was like this the whole way across the Atlantic, although he might have just been saying that to make DH feel like it's not so bad today.

 

FYI, last night was lobster/Beff Wellington night, delicious as always. The chocolate mousse duet was great too, but the passion fruit souffle was only so-so.

 

I haven't seen the cruise director either other than on his morning TV show, which isn't worth watching. He's not particularly funny or entertaining.

 

Last night was the Captain's Circle reception. Most cruise passenger had I think 600+ days at sea, very impressive! The captain didn't attend, probably because he was trying to navigate us through the rough seas.

 

Lots of folks onboard are very grumpy about the two missed ports, and will probably throw a fit if we also miss Edinburgh. I would imagine they'll be demanding some sort of refund or onboard credit or something. I haven't bothered going to the purser's desk to ask if they're refunding our port fees-I figure they've got enough to deal with right now!

 

My dad has been playing bridge every sea day, so he's happy as a clam. He doesn't get seasick either, so he and I had breakfast this morning in the buffet. It's been the same food up there pretty much every day, with the exception of the egg dishes. They've had eggs bennedict a couple of times, and different kinds of omlets. They've also had all the standard favorites (scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast, pancakes, hash browns, corned beef hash, grits, oatmeal, cereal, fruit, toast, baked beans, etc.) so I don't mind so much that it hasn't changed, because there's quite a bit of different things to choose from. We also had breakfast in the dining room one morning, DH didn't like the eggs benedict (he's so picky about eggs benedict, you wouldn't believe it), but I did. :)

 

We saw Piano Man last year on the Diamond, but haven't seen it advertised yet on this sailing. Tonight is Caribbean Caliente, and the commedian is Kevin Hughes. Haven't been to see him yet, but heard he's OK. There's also a passenger talent show that will be going on tonight, could be very interesting!

 

My parents went to a lecture this morning by a guy who works on another Princess ship but is vacationing on this ship, so they asked him to give a lecture. It was entitled "Ships: Where are they now?" The guy who gave the lecture (Richard Joseph) was on the (I have no idea how to spell this) Aquille Lauro when it was hijacked, and they said it was a very interesting lecture, I'm sad I missed it. I'm hoping they'll show it on the stateroom TV at some point.

 

I haven't seen any wooden horse racing advertised, sorry!

 

OK, more on Dublin: we were told by the ship that the reason you couldn't take a taxi back to the ship was because of port security in Dublin. We were docked in a container ship area, so I guess that's why it was secured? I just know that there weren't any taxis around when we got off the ship. The ship was in port from the wee hours of the morning until 11:30 PM, so all aboard was at 11. The last Princess shuttle from town was at 9:45 PM. The captain mentioned that because Dublin is on a tidal river, that affected when we could sail in/out of there, so your port times may be different depending on the tide.

 

I'm going to head off to do some more knitting--my mom got me some yarn when her tour stopped at a woolen mill, and she also found some raw wool for my SIL who wanted something that smells like a sheep. :)

[lkmamom]

Beth,

 

I hope that your DH feels better, what a terrible feeling to be seasick. You should go see Kevin Hughes. We saw him on the Sapphire last summer and he was very funny, we really enjoyed him.He is a really nice man too.

 

I feel really badly for all of you but I guess there is just no predicting what the weather may bring. We heard on the news last evening that Big Ben stopped running for 90 min I think. They said that they were not sure why, they were stumped because Big Ben has run through some major battles. They are thinking that it is the record 90 degree heat in London.

 

Thanks again for the updates. Please say hi to all. Hope Edinburgh works out for all of you.

 

Oh, where did your Mom find the woolen yarn, I would love to do some knitting while onboard, great idea! Thanks

Linda

[cinnamon]

I'm disappointed to hear that the CD is notable by his absence. On the Sapphire in January, the CD, Alistair Greener, and his assistant, Frankie, were both excellent. They contributed enormously to a great cruise. I loved their morning TV show but I understand their wacky sense of humour was not to everyone's taste.

 

God bless for smoother seas and clearer skies for the rest of the cruise, although I saw the 5 day forecast this morning and it looked like rain in Edinburgh on Monday.

 

Cinnamon