Live From - 5/12/13 British Isles Caribbean Princess

[Darcy15]

Thank you for taking the time to post this :)

 

I'm booked on this cruise next May - a bit strange maybe as I live in the UK, but I wanted the simplicity of no flying, an hours drive to Southampton, no changing currency, and a chance to see my own country from a different perspective :D

 

Really looking forward to your take on the ports :)

 

Sorry the weather is not being kind. Even for us, this is a desperate May - snow?? :eek:

 

I've put the heating back on and am sitting here wrapped in a blanket :(

 

Enjoy your visit to this side of the pond :)

[jpj39]

Hi

I am so enjoying your live reports.

I am sailing on July 11

I purchased the cruise a few days ago. The price for single was excellent.:cool:

British Isles were never high on my bucket list, mainly the weather,it always rains in Ireland and Scotland.

I am especially interested in the tours you are taking. It was difficult to choose.

I opted for Normandy rather than Paris. I had been toParis years and years ago.

It will be a challenge packing for this trip with the heavy layers and rain gear as it was challenge packing last Feb for the Cape Horn & Magellan Strait. I bought a lot of winter clothing ,the cruise turned out to be the best of the season, seas were as calm as glass

I look forward to all your reports

Judy

[sleehan]

I am enjoying your cruise through your posts. We do this cruise in August. When I dined at the restaurant up in the Eiffel Tower, my husband's credit card would not work in their card reader. Our hotel was just a couple of blocks from the Eiffel Tower so he ran back to get a different card. They held me as collateral while he was gone. Best hostage situation ever! I was given a couple of glasses of champagne as I got to watch the sunset over Paris. We had been unable to get reservations for sunset time so I was thrilled! When the husband returned, they also gave him a free glass and we sat there together as the lights came on!

 

I am looking forward to more of your posts!

[suejoe]

Has anyone run into maitre d' Ivan Panic?

 

I would love to know about Ivan too. We had him as our waiter in October for our Hurrricane Sandy cruise to Bermuda that went to Boston. He was one of our best waiters ever! So glad to hear he is now maitre'd :)

Susan

[ccrain]

On the transatlantic, we did the Normandy excursion and then the Paris excursion on the second stop. here is the log from that excursion:

 

05-11-2013 – Le Havre (Versailles and Normandy)

 

Another hour lost, another early day, another full day of excursioning. We docked at 0700, and got on the bus and out the gate at 0800. Paul and I did the full day of Normandy tours and wouldn’t get back to the ship until 630PM. Judy left on a full day tour of Versailles with Elizabeth and Mom and wouldn’t get back until 645PM, after scaring the living bejesus out of me…but more about that later.

 

It was about a 2 hour drive to Point du Hoc, the southernmost point of our trip. We took the motorway most of the way, but we did do a little detour for the guide, Jeffery – an Australian ExPat who know lives in France and works as a full time tour guide, to show us a full sized real hedgerow. (Most hedgerows are now gone.) Hedgerows were an important topographic and military feature of the Normandy and subsequent Operation Cobra battles.

 

It was windy and cold at Point du Hoc and it looked a lot like the scenes in the Longest Day. Bomb craters, shell craters, disintegrating concrete of the fortifications, some directly hit by the bombardment. The cliffs, oh the cliffs. The movie is most accurate showing the trenches at the top of the cliffs, the barbed wire, the pebble beaches at the bottom, you could easily see the German troops throwing potato masher grenades down the cliff while the rangers climbed the cliffs under fire. Over 200 started, less than 80 were combat effective 48 hours later. And yes, the installed “guns” were nothing more than telephone poles, but the real guns were back about 300 yards in an orchard.

 

We then went up the coast along Omaha beach. Up along the beach where the men crawled 300-400 yards fully exposed on the sand beach at low tide. We arrived at high tide, so while we couldn’t see the beaches, we could look up onto the hills and see the bunkers, the machine gun posts, the mortar pits. The German troops had the high ground. The movie is again accurate in portraying the situation as grave and desperate. The US troops were fighting for 5 draws, valleys if you will, that form pathways up past the cliffs and hills. These pathways were necessary to ensure truck and tank transport up into the interior and had to be taken, and defended, at all cost. We did a photostop on Omaha just up the coast from Point du Hoc at St,-Laurent/Mer.

 

From there we went to the most poignant visit of the tour, the American Cemetery on Omaha Beach at Colleville-Sur-Mer. Words simply cannot describe the feelings that run through you when you walk past grave after grave, reading the names, the dates, the units. And after a dozen or so the tears start to blur your vision and you look up, blinking them away, only to see row after row after row of perfectly aligned white headstones, crosses, stars of david, each representing a life given – and there are 9,387 of them in the cemetery. The chapel, the inscriptions, the memorial and of course the wall of the missing – those 1,557 that were never recovered, forever lost on foreign shores. The whole site overlooks Omaha beach and is adjacent to one of those hotly contested valleys. Magnificent pine tree are scattered through the site as are perfectly pruned oak trees along the exit walkway. It is simply one of the most touching and moving war memorials I’ve ever seen.

 

After the cemetery we went to the Omaha beach country club for a late lunch. Salad, chicken and a tart of some kind with wine. It was actually pretty good. From lunch we went to the Musee Du DeBarquement in Arromanches to see the remains of the British Mulberry harbor. Even though I consider myself well versed in WWII, I never quite understood the scale of the Mulberry Harbor until you actually see the ring of Phoenix cassions in the water. All of the floating docks and roadways are gone, but about ½ of the ring of Phoenix blocks are still there. The dioramas inside the museum provide a more complete picture of what they looked like when they were in place. The scale of the effort and the audacity of the design is quite incredible.

 

It was in Arromanches that I get a call, on my cell phone, from Elizabeth, who is calling me on Judy’s cell phone and her first words are – ‘we have a problem…’. So let me get this straight, a friend of ours is calling me on my wife’s cell phone saying we have a problem. Does anyone have any idea how many scenarios of bad things one can have go through your head in just the time it takes between a period and the start of a new sentence? Elizabeth then relays to me that they have ‘missed the bus’, ‘can’t find the bus’, and that ‘the bus is gone and we are still in Versailles’, and ‘oh, by the way, the cell phone battery is almost dead’. Unfortunately both my paperwork on phone number and Judy’s paperwork on phone numbers is still on both of our respective busses. So Paul and I begin a frantic search for our guide, somewhere in Arromanches, to get phone numbers from him. 10 minutes later we can’t find him, so I try to call Judy back and tell her to grab a cab and go back to the ship. (That is one expensive option…). But I can’t reach her, the phone isn’t connecting, the signal is getting lost, I’m getting her voice mail, etc., etc., etc.

 

Finally after 15 minutes of #$#*ing around Arromanches she calls me back and simply says ‘found the tour guide, everything’s fine, cell’s about dead, love you, bye’…Paul starts laughing, I don’t know if I want to laugh, cry or just hit something. Needless to say, we won’t be going on separate excursions again for a real long time. All’s well that ends well? Only after 3 whiskey sours…

 

So after the little ‘incident’ in Arromanches, we continued up the coast past Sword, Juno and Gold beach, only slowing down for a few photos here and there at Douvres-la-Delivrande, the German radar site, the Canadian cemetery at Cintheux and a whole host of various memorials, both public and private, alongside the road to various units or persons. It seems like each and every little town along the beaches had their own memorial to a specific unit, such as the 1st Infantry Division. It was quite moving to read some of the various plaques, signs and memorials thanking the soldiers for their sacrifice to French Liberte.

 

Once we reached Caen, we hit the Motorway to head back to Le Havre arriving around 630PM. Judy walked into the cabin 15 minutes later having thoroughly enjoyed her day in Versailles, in spite of the little incident, and was, of course, hungry.

 

Since this is landfall night, we all went to anytime dining. Elizabeth got her Elite pin as tomorrow starts her 16th cruise. Dinner was a Princess dinner menu reminiscent of the old Landfall menu. Judy had the meatloaf, Paul the mussels, Elizabeth and Mom the turkey. I, after 3 whiskey sours, had the mussels, which I think were pretty good, but then after 3 drinks, who cares?

 

Nothing is going on tonight until after 10 and we are all beat. So its off the bed, looking at, and somewhat gloating, over the fact that we don’t have to pack tonight! Such is one of the biggest perks for a B2B.

[ccrain]

05-15-2013 – Edinburgh, Scotland

 

This is what we like about cruising – seeing places and peoples that we have only read about or seen on TV – because no TV show or book or movie can even come close to actually experiencing it in person, live. Edinburgh invoked in us the same reaction that Rome did – the desire to come back and spend more time here. The architecture, the streets, the people, the art – very unique and extremely proud.

 

The ship anchored outside the railway bridge between North and South Queensferry (the story as to how to two got their name is another one of those interesting pieces of history unique to the region). The railway bridge itself is an extremely interesting piece of architecture and engineering to tender under. The people greeting us extremely friendly and welcoming. (BTW, there was a private, not Princess, shuttle to Edinburgh, 10# each way per person, and a line of taxis, so you can do Edinburgh on your own quite reasonably.)

 

Our guide’s name completely escapes both of us because she immediately whisked us off on a memorable tour pointing out all along the roads, the bridges, interesting little tidbits of information, from Dr Lister’s home (of Listerine fame) to Sean Connery’s favorite hotel, to legends like Mary Queen of Scots bath place – of which she partook once a year – and once a year more than the then reigning Queen of England, to the confirmed legends of the two year siege of Edinburgh castle and on to the wintry night seizure of the castle by 120 men! I don’t think she stopped, except for the hour of free time at the castle, for the entire trip, never repeated herself, never talked down to us, never lectured us and was one of the most entertaining guides we’ve ever had.

 

We took the Edinburgh Castle and City Drive excursion. A half day excursion. Now keep in mind that none of these excursions, ever on a cruise, will substitute for spending 3 days or more at the destination. We treat them as a sampler, a quick once over, an appetizer or taste treat. Keeping that in mind, this excursion did exactly that – it excited our appetite to come back for more. The consistency of stonework and building architecture around Edinburgh was absolutely stunning – forgiving for a moment the new Scottish parliament building – the Scottish people got ripped off! In fact one of my first comments was, how can Le Havre get a UNESCO Heritage city designation for concrete construction and Edinburgh not, but then our guide pointed out that Edinburgh did indeed have such a designation – and in my opinion, much more rightly so than Le Havre.

 

The tour took us around parts of the city and then up to castle where we walked up the steps and into the portcullis gate, up and around into the citadel itself and the chapel – and of course the whiskey, shop, the gift shop – and the Scotts regiment museum along with the POW museum.

 

From a distance the castle is imposing, up close impressive. We were only there for an hour, but you could easily spend all day there. In fact, knowing what I know now, if we ever return on a cruise, we are immediately getting a shuttle or a cab and heading for the castle and the Royal Mile, and spending the entire day in the area. We did not get to see the Crown Jewels or the War Memorial or the ballroom, but we did take in the views from the ramparts through the canon ports and from on top of the various scaffolds. We saw the Soldier’s Pet Cemetery and was able to look across to Arthur’s Seat (NO relation to King Arthur we were told).

 

I’m not a big fan of riding around in a bus on tour, but this one was an exception. We got to see so many different sights, some only a glimpse, some long enough to photograph – from Bobby’s little statue to Maxwell’s statue to the empty school on the hill overlooking Holyrood palace, there were interesting sites down every lane. For a half day tour we saw an awful lot of different sights.

 

We got back to the pier about 130pm. We were going to get lunch on shore, but a tender was just filling up so we went back to the ship and had a light snack in the IC with Elizabeth and Mom. Tonight would be Crown Grill for all 7 of us, so eating light in preparation for that meal was important.

 

Crown Grill was great. The food was typical Crown Grill, the lamb in fact was so tasty neither Judy nor I required any mint sauce or separate sauce at all. It was perfectly cooked. Everyone around the table went gaga over the garlic fries as the waiter brought side dish after side dish. We ran out of table space. In order to fulfill my role in making sure I accurately report in this blog, I made sure I tasted every side dish. The creamed corn and creamed spinach were excellent, the lobster, yes lobster as a side dish, very good, the mashed potatoes good, the garlic fries addictive and the grilled asparagus fresh and delicious.

 

We decided not to invest in Chef’s table on this cruise and instead go with the gang to Crown Grill, and it was really nice to sit and talk with a bunch of friends for 3 hours. If Judy and I had gone to Crown Grill on our own, we would have been out in a hour and a half, two hours tops, but with the 7 of us, talking, laughing, sharing stories, we spent over 3 hours having a blast.

 

The bottom line – yesterday was one of those great days cruising.

 

05-16-2013 – Inverness and Loch Ness

 

Today is an all day excursion to Loch Ness. Urqhuart Castle and a cruise on Loch Ness. We leave about 0915 and don’t get back until just before sailing. We sure hope we get a good guide like yesterday.

 

On the ship, for those staying on board or for half day tours, there is a brunchtime trivia at 1130, but that’s about the only organized thing this morning. In the afternoon, there is Jenga, Monopoly, Basketball, Afternoon Trivia and Goofy Golf – probably Wii or xbox.

 

We will miss the Invergordon Music and Dance Show at 515 this evening. Wii@Sea is table tennis at 600pm, all aboard is at 630PM. The Bourne Legacy is on MUTS, music and dancing starts at 7 in Explorer’s with S Sounds, Nat is having a ballroom class for Cha Cha at 715 and CJS starts in the wheelhouse at 730PM. Showtime is a cabaret act with Hayden Smith, an Australian vocalist. The evening gameshow is Who Am I at 915PM.

 

Dinner in the HC is a Bavarian Buffet. Not sure if that is the same as the German sausage fest we had last cruise, but we will definitely try this out when we get back.

 

We will probably miss most, if not all, of the nightly entertainment. But we shall see.

 

Off to Lock Ness and Nessie!

[Steph27]

I am enjoying the wonderful "Live" reports during your British Isles cruise. Your moment of agony when you received the call about your cruise mate saying they had a problem was well told and quite amusing. Probably was not the case for you "in the moment". I am glad they found the guide and made it back to the ship.

 

We enjoyed seeing Normandy and the towns of Bayeux, Deauville and Honfleur last Spring. Your descriptions of Omaha Beach and the cemetary bring back some the same feeling we experienced. Our weather in late May was actually quite balmy.

 

We are booked in August on the Ocean Princess in the British Isles for some of the same ports you are now visiting. We have too full days in Edinburgh which was one of the selling points of the itinerary. Can you provide some additional info on the private shuttle? Is it from Rosyth to the Castle? That would be much easier than taking the train from Inverkeithing.

 

Look forward to the rest of your terrific report! Glad you are enjoying the voyage.

[ShakaRamFan]

Did u hear anyone mention what the taxis charge to go into Edinburgh? Do you know the max. Number of passengers they usually take? thanks for all your posts. the info will be very helpful for those of us on later cruises. sherry

[Victorious8]

This review has been great especially since I am so far booked on the 3 tours you have mentioned! It was hard to choose Normandy over Paris (I've never been) but I decided to because I love WWII history. I'm wait listed in that Edinburgh tour because my families time slot is full and if I can't get on with them ill just explore with my other siblings. I'm also doing the same excursion in Inverness with the cruise and all! Eek! Thank you for this and please please please post patters!

 

Also how easy are the classes? My sister and I are only 22 and 24 but we are really excited about taking them. We both have good rhythm but do not know any of the classic dances :)

[ccrain]

I am enjoying the wonderful "Live" reports during your British Isles cruise. Your moment of agony when you received the call about your cruise mate saying they had a problem was well told and quite amusing. Probably was not the case for you "in the moment". I am glad they found the guide and made it back to the ship.

 

We enjoyed seeing Normandy and the towns of Bayeux, Deauville and Honfleur last Spring. Your descriptions of Omaha Beach and the cemetary bring back some the same feeling we experienced. Our weather in late May was actually quite balmy.

 

We are booked in August on the Ocean Princess in the British Isles for some of the same ports you are now visiting. We have too full days in Edinburgh which was one of the selling points of the itinerary. Can you provide some additional info on the private shuttle? Is it from Rosyth to the Castle? That would be much easier than taking the train from Inverkeithing.

 

Look forward to the rest of your terrific report! Glad you are enjoying the voyage.

 

The shuttle sign said to the Castle. It was a small bus/van. Didn't know what the drop off point or schedule was.

[ccrain]

Did u hear anyone mention what the taxis charge to go into Edinburgh? Do you know the max. Number of passengers they usually take? thanks for all your posts. the info will be very helpful for those of us on later cruises. sherry

 

I will ask around to see if anyone knows...

[ccrain]

This review has been great especially since I am so far booked on the 3 tours you have mentioned! It was hard to choose Normandy over Paris (I've never been) but I decided to because I love WWII history. I'm wait listed in that Edinburgh tour because my families time slot is full and if I can't get on with them ill just explore with my other siblings. I'm also doing the same excursion in Inverness with the cruise and all! Eek! Thank you for this and please please please post patters!

 

Also how easy are the classes? My sister and I are only 22 and 24 but we are really excited about taking them. We both have good rhythm but do not know any of the classic dances :)

 

I will try and scan the patters the week we get back and email them to whomever wants a set.

 

The dance classes are very easy and geared to first timers. For this cruise, Nat doesn't get past the basic class. I suspect he will have a Cha-Cha, Merengue, Bolero, Samba and Rhumba class. For those classes you will learn the basic step, an underarm turn and one or two other steps. Very basic and simple, but lots of fun.

 

Don't miss the theme nights - 70's, 50's and 60's, Country Western. They have great organized dancing with the cruise staff, so if you don't have a partner grab one of them.

 

Zumba can be as intense or easy as you like. You set the pace, more intensity, jump higher, lift arms higher, swing harder, less intense, march in place, move arms less. It's pretty easy to follow Nat after the first class or two.

[ccrain]

05-17-2013 – Kirkwall

 

From several consecutive days at sea to a port intensive itinerary with early morning wake up calls can be tiring. Yesterday was one of those ‘do I have to get up’ mornings, but thanks to 5 hour energy and a couple of latte’s we were good to go.

 

The port of Invergordon is really small, as in barely fit the ship in small, but quaint and wow so scenic. Green hills and springs blossoms. Yes, a late winter has delayed spring here and the trees and flowers have just barely started to bloom. The lambs are in the field with their mothers, but the cattle has just now been started to be let out of the winter barns. The grass and wheat, rather than being 6-10” high, has just barely started to sprout. Snow is still on the peaks. The air is so crisp and clear. Amazingly long views for a sea level altitude. We are used to being able to see 80-90 miles in Colorado, but not many other places.

 

Our guide, Sandy, ex-police officer and prosecutor turned tour guide, was friendly and nice, but her legal background probably hampered her ability to spin the tales together. It wasn’t quite ‘just the facts’ Joe Friday, when she talked about her farm upbringing and her family, the stories came alive.

 

We drove from Invergordon to Inverness and then to the Culloden battlefield. We spent about 1.5 hours there, walking through the exhibits, visiting the battlefield proper. The highlights were the café, we skipped breakfast on the ship, the immersive theater, the demonstration by one of the historical personnel and the overhead animated battle map. The immersive theater is four screens on all four walls with different perspectives that are time tied to show the battle as if you are in the middle of the two opposing forces. It’s not quite a simulator, but it is interesting. It does personalize the conflict. The demonstration was really, really good. He demonstrated the use of the Brown Bess musket (.75 caliber), the bayonet, discussed the tactics, the strategies and what went right and what went wrong. The overhead animated battle map, showed the battle in about a 10 to 1 time scale, the actual fighting was over with in about an hour, with individual cannons, horseman and infantryman on a 5 x10 foot LCD screen. You watched the regiments march into formation, the Jacobite charge, the cannon fire that ripped them apart, then the coup de grace of the massed infantry musket fire. It was a slaughter that demonstrated once and for all, the killing power of gunpowder weapons wielded by well trained and disciplined troops.

 

Well worth the visit.

 

After the battle field tour we went to lunch at a local hotel and we had local Salmon, not Chicken! Well prepared, tasty, seasoned well, with a goat cheese salad as an appetizer, accompanied by local green beans and mashed potatoes. Desert seemed to be a deconstructed take on a cheesecake. Unsweetened whipped cream with a cinnamon tweal, a pudding in a pastry cup and a sharp and tart berry sauce. That sauce made the dish for sure. So far so good on excursion meals. No duds in the bunch!

 

After lunch we went for our visit to Loch Ness. We stopped at the large hotel, the Clansman I think, at the head of the lake and got on the Jacobite cruise catamaran for the trip to Urqhuart castle. Although it had been threatening rain all day, the sky was mostly cloudy with some blue and some sunshine. It was not that cold. We were struck by the color of the water. It looks tannic stained, translucent brown, not muddy brown, in the wake. The cruise down was about 30 minutes and we got great views of the castle. All of us unloaded at the castle where we wandered around looking in the various nooks and crannies, using up the last of our batteries – until we found the whiskey tasting area. Score! And there we promptly drained our credit lines, as well as their sample glasses. The two items were a cream whiskey and a sweet honey whiskey aperitif. They were both fantastic, so we purchased some of both and actually got it back on the ship. We are planning a dessert with ice cream and the cream whiskey very soon.

 

We left the castle around 5PM local for a rural drive back to the ship. The countryside is absolutely beautiful and rural. Like Maine or upper New York. More rural than you would ever expect a country that has been inhabited for thousands of years. When we arrived at the ship, we were treated to a pipe and drum corps demonstration on the docks prior to our leaving. Bagpipes may sound like a wounded cat, but together in a corps with drums, they really provide a stirring musicality. Makes you want to march! No wonder they worked so well as a rallying point during war.

 

Wish I could tell you about the ship’s night life, but after a very light snack in the IC, we crashed. Finally a good night’s sleep.

 

BTW – We are in the long days up here. Sunsets are 930PM, sunrises are 0430 and there are only about 4 hours of absolute darkness. Weather wise we survived with rain shells, although it never rained, but they served as wind breakers quite nicely. Judy had her typical tank, T and sweatshirt layered under her rain coat, I just had a simple fishing shirt under my rain shell.

 

We are in Kirkwall today, in fact we are approaching the island right now. We have the ring of brodgar, or something like, that tour for a couple of hours. Judy has a nail appointment at 2 this afternoon, so we have to be back by then.

 

Tonights entertainment is actually better than last night, so we picked a good night to crash. Dancing starts at 515 in the wheelhouse with CJS. That’s nice. S-Sounds is in the Piazza at 645 and then headlines the 70’s party at 915. Caliente is on at 7, 815 and 10. Hayden Smith is repeating in Explorer’s at 815 and MUTS is The Guilt Trip.

 

For those who stay on board, or who are back early, there is trivia at 1130 and 415. Nat has a Zumba class at 430, Princess Pop Choir is rehearsing at 430 as well, and there is a Rum tasting event in Explorer’s at 530.

 

That’s it for now…more later…

[Chloe1500]

Thank you for such interesting posts with all the detail. I'm really enjoying hearing about your cruise excursions in particular. We are leaving Monday for London and trying to pack for this cruise. Looking forward to your next update about your time in Kirkwall.

[High C's]

05-17-2013

After lunch we went for our visit to Loch Ness. We stopped at the large hotel, the Clansman I think, at the head of the lake and got on the Jacobite cruise catamaran for the trip to Urqhuart castle. Although it had been threatening rain all day, the sky was mostly cloudy with some blue and some sunshine. It was not that cold. We were struck by the color of the water. It looks tannic stained, translucent brown, not muddy brown, in the wake. The cruise down was about 30 minutes and we got great views of the castle. All of us unloaded at the castle where we wandered around looking in the various nooks and crannies, using up the last of our batteries – until we found the whiskey tasting area. Score! And there we promptly drained our credit lines, as well as their sample glasses. The two items were a cream whiskey and a sweet honey whiskey aperitif. They were both fantastic, so we purchased some of both and actually got it back on the ship. We are planning a dessert with ice cream and the cream whiskey very soon.

 

When you have a moment, would you be kind enough to post the names of both of these.

PS - thoroughly enjoying your thread. Thanks so much for taking us all along! :)

[Woobstr112G]

05-17-2013 – Kirkwall

 

From several consecutive days at sea to a port intensive itinerary with early morning wake up calls can be tiring. Yesterday was one of those ‘do I have to get up’ mornings, but thanks to 5 hour energy and a couple of latte’s we were good to go.

 

The port of Invergordon is really small, as in barely fit the ship in small, but quaint and wow so scenic. Green hills and springs blossoms. Yes, a late winter has delayed spring here and the trees and flowers have just barely started to bloom. The lambs are in the field with their mothers, but the cattle has just now been started to be let out of the winter barns. The grass and wheat, rather than being 6-10” high, has just barely started to sprout. Snow is still on the peaks. The air is so crisp and clear. Amazingly long views for a sea level altitude. We are used to being able to see 80-90 miles in Colorado, but not many other places.

 

Our guide, Sandy, ex-police officer and prosecutor turned tour guide, was friendly and nice, but her legal background probably hampered her ability to spin the tales together. It wasn’t quite ‘just the facts’ Joe Friday, when she talked about her farm upbringing and her family, the stories came alive.

 

We drove from Invergordon to Inverness and then to the Culloden battlefield. We spent about 1.5 hours there, walking through the exhibits, visiting the battlefield proper. The highlights were the café, we skipped breakfast on the ship, the immersive theater, the demonstration by one of the historical personnel and the overhead animated battle map. The immersive theater is four screens on all four walls with different perspectives that are time tied to show the battle as if you are in the middle of the two opposing forces. It’s not quite a simulator, but it is interesting. It does personalize the conflict. The demonstration was really, really good. He demonstrated the use of the Brown Bess musket (.75 caliber), the bayonet, discussed the tactics, the strategies and what went right and what went wrong. The overhead animated battle map, showed the battle in about a 10 to 1 time scale, the actual fighting was over with in about an hour, with individual cannons, horseman and infantryman on a 5 x10 foot LCD screen. You watched the regiments march into formation, the Jacobite charge, the cannon fire that ripped them apart, then the coup de grace of the massed infantry musket fire. It was a slaughter that demonstrated once and for all, the killing power of gunpowder weapons wielded by well trained and disciplined troops.

 

Well worth the visit.

 

After the battle field tour we went to lunch at a local hotel and we had local Salmon, not Chicken! Well prepared, tasty, seasoned well, with a goat cheese salad as an appetizer, accompanied by local green beans and mashed potatoes. Desert seemed to be a deconstructed take on a cheesecake. Unsweetened whipped cream with a cinnamon tweal, a pudding in a pastry cup and a sharp and tart berry sauce. That sauce made the dish for sure. So far so good on excursion meals. No duds in the bunch!

 

After lunch we went for our visit to Loch Ness. We stopped at the large hotel, the Clansman I think, at the head of the lake and got on the Jacobite cruise catamaran for the trip to Urqhuart castle. Although it had been threatening rain all day, the sky was mostly cloudy with some blue and some sunshine. It was not that cold. We were struck by the color of the water. It looks tannic stained, translucent brown, not muddy brown, in the wake. The cruise down was about 30 minutes and we got great views of the castle. All of us unloaded at the castle where we wandered around looking in the various nooks and crannies, using up the last of our batteries – until we found the whiskey tasting area. Score! And there we promptly drained our credit lines, as well as their sample glasses. The two items were a cream whiskey and a sweet honey whiskey aperitif. They were both fantastic, so we purchased some of both and actually got it back on the ship. We are planning a dessert with ice cream and the cream whiskey very soon.

 

We left the castle around 5PM local for a rural drive back to the ship. The countryside is absolutely beautiful and rural. Like Maine or upper New York. More rural than you would ever expect a country that has been inhabited for thousands of years. When we arrived at the ship, we were treated to a pipe and drum corps demonstration on the docks prior to our leaving. Bagpipes may sound like a wounded cat, but together in a corps with drums, they really provide a stirring musicality. Makes you want to march! No wonder they worked so well as a rallying point during war.

 

Wish I could tell you about the ship’s night life, but after a very light snack in the IC, we crashed. Finally a good night’s sleep.

 

BTW – We are in the long days up here. Sunsets are 930PM, sunrises are 0430 and there are only about 4 hours of absolute darkness. Weather wise we survived with rain shells, although it never rained, but they served as wind breakers quite nicely. Judy had her typical tank, T and sweatshirt layered under her rain coat, I just had a simple fishing shirt under my rain shell.

 

We are in Kirkwall today, in fact we are approaching the island right now. We have the ring of brodgar, or something like, that tour for a couple of hours. Judy has a nail appointment at 2 this afternoon, so we have to be back by then.

 

Tonights entertainment is actually better than last night, so we picked a good night to crash. Dancing starts at 515 in the wheelhouse with CJS. That’s nice. S-Sounds is in the Piazza at 645 and then headlines the 70’s party at 915. Caliente is on at 7, 815 and 10. Hayden Smith is repeating in Explorer’s at 815 and MUTS is The Guilt Trip.

 

For those who stay on board, or who are back early, there is trivia at 1130 and 415. Nat has a Zumba class at 430, Princess Pop Choir is rehearsing at 430 as well, and there is a Rum tasting event in Explorer’s at 530.

 

That’s it for now…more later…

 

Sounds like another perfect day. Thanks for checking in.....:):):)

Bob

[CRUISIN LINDA]

We did this cruise two years ago on the Crown Princess and thoroughly enjoyed it. We Brits were in the minority and some though we were odd to be going round out own country, but we had never been to Scotland or Ireland :eek: before. Lucky you in Orkney. We spent the morning in Kirkwall and went on a trip to Scapa Flow, the Italian chapel etc in the afternoon.

 

We did the trip the other way round to you, finishing at Le Havre and visiting Anglesey instead of Cobh.

 

Really enjoying reading your reports :)

[ccrain]

When you have a moment' date=' would you be kind enough to post the names of both of these. [/size']

PS - thoroughly enjoying your thread. Thanks so much for taking us all along! :)

 

Columba Cream Scottish Liqueur

 

the other is Bruadar

 

We also picked up some Scag's Breath in Edinburgh.

[Wandering_star]

Thank you so much for your updates!

 

My soon to be husband and I are on the June 5th cruise as part of our honeymoon and we were wondering how you rate the current cruise director staff? Are they engaging and interactive?

 

Can't wait for the next update!

[ccrain]

Columba Cream Scottish Liqueur

 

the other is Bruadar

 

We also picked up some Scag's Breath in Edinburgh.

 

Blew a letter in spelling...

[ccrain]

Thank you so much for your updates!

 

My soon to be husband and I are on the June 5th cruise as part of our honeymoon and we were wondering how you rate the current cruise director staff? Are they engaging and interactive?

 

Can't wait for the next update!

 

Chris, Deputy, and Nat, ballroom/Zumba/Brazillian line dance, are the ones we've had the most interaction with. Nat more than anyone else. He is extremely personable, engaging and energetic. Chris is a typical deputy, he gets all the gopher jobs and hosts the 'end of the ship' shows and games.

 

Neil is not a hands on CD like Gavin Chandler or Kelvin Joy or Tim, he is more like Richard Joseph in that he works primarily behind the scenes and lets his staff have their head. CDs are mainly managers and organizers. Those that can do both are some of our favorites.

 

We have had cruise staffs that we've had more fun with, and there have been cruise staff we've interacted with much less. The problem is that our last cruise was 35 days and we got to know each and every staff member personally. (That was a Kelvin Joy cruise.) That's a hard comparison to make.

[ccrain]

05-18-2013 – At Sea To Glasgow

 

Yesterday was really interesting to go out and see the henge of Brodgar. It must have been very impressive in its time. So why did the ancient Britons – neothilics – build over 800 identified henges across mainly Britain and some in northern France, but no where else in the world? No one really knows. But it’s a lot of work invested for something that must have been consistent between all the Neolithic Britons. Puzzles like that really interest me and so the tours today were a treat as they presented a puzzle to ponder, a mystery, a conundrum. It’s one of those little things that just put icing on the cake of traveling to strange new places.

 

We, the Caribbean Princess, were apparently the first large ship to dock at the new dock in Kirkwall – and we almost didn’t leave! It’s a beautiful dock and beats the heck out of tendering. After some coffee in the morning we got on the bus and went just a few miles to the Stones of Stennis, Maeshowe House (a very well preserved burial mound) and the ring of Brodgar – a large stone Henge. The tours were all well done, with historical society guides, but since it was only a 4 hour tour, we only got a smattering of information. The island itself if beautiful, but hard to believe it’s been inhabited for over 5000 years and that it has such a reasonable climate. As it turns out the temperature varies between 5 and 15C – that’s about it. The island is at the tail end of the Gulf Stream and is the same latitude as Juneau and St. Petersburg, but doesn’t see the same climate extremes. Cattle, sheep and farming are the main economies, along with alternative wind and tidal energy industries, fishing and tourism.

 

There was a free shuttle (continuous set of busses back and forth) to the center of town from the dock area, but you could walk to town if you were ambitious. Probably took at least 20-30 minutes as it appeared to be a couple of miles. Private tours were in abundance and the people who took them were pleased as most of the Princess tours are ½ day, while the private tours can be full day. We heard nothing but nice things about the people, the tours, the shops. It’s a really nice little island and a really fun stop. No traffic, no hurries, no worries. No rain in the morning, just a chilly wind and clouds.

 

Departure was the most challenging we’ve ever seen in dozens of ports. A on-shore breeze (probably 30-40mph gusting to 50) was blowing the ship up against the dock and the captain spent almost an hour getting us away from the dock with the thrusters and positioned to use the main engines to head into the wind. There for a while I thought we were going to stay put for a while as it appeared the thrusters did not have the power to get us off the dock and keep us there as the props in the thrusters would start cavitating and lose thrust – and then the wind would start blowing us back into the dock. Several people saw the mud being kicked up by the thrusters and the mains and thought we were stuck in the mud. Nope, we weren’t stuck in the mud, just stuck by the wind.

 

BTW – The casino closed sometime before Edinburgh and will not reopen until 1030 PM after Belfast.

 

Dinner was an American buffet in the HC. Prime rib and a couple of really good cold salads – that were unfortunately full of mayonnaise so Judy could not partake, but I enjoyed. Some pasta’s, braised cabbage and a Panini of grilled vegetables.

 

So let’s look at the schedule for our last day at sea before Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Cobh and Guernsey – all consecutive port days. We did cancel our excursion in Belfast to the Giant’s Causeway. Four hours on a bus was just too much after all the bus riding to date. We are going to go into Belfast on our own to pub hop and sight see for a while. Weather this morning is foggy, rainy, not too stormy, but all the open decks are wet and the weather is chilly.

 

So this we have Zumba at 0930, the cooking show at 1030, we are going to make this one as it is the comedy cooking show, particular to Mario Propato the matre de. Trivia at 1030 and 430. There is an English style pub lunch in Crown Grill. The ‘on deck for the cure’ is today at noon. The outlet sale is on at 1000 this morning. Nat has Brazilian line dance at 1230, the egg drop challenge sign up is at 1 with the dropping of the eggs at 2, ice carving at noon, the ever present next to last art auction at 2. The afternoon movie at 215 is Gangster Squad. Ballroom class is Tango at 230, the grapevine wine tasting at 3. The port talks for all of the upcoming ports are today as well.

 

Tonight is formal night, the last one of the cruise. MUTS is ‘Trouble With the Curve’, although given the weather, I really doubt anyone will be watching outside. Dancing in the wheelhouse with CJS pretty much all night. Nat is doing a ballroom dance session in Fusion at 830. The marriage gameshow is on at 915. The show for tonight is a variety show with ‘Violin Virtuoso’ Michael Bacala and Vocalist Hayden Smith.

 

The cruise so far has been great with good ports, good excursions, good food and really good service. The service has been exemplary. From the girls in the IC in the morning, to the HC servers, to the bar staff all over the ship, service has been quick, efficient, delivered with a smile.

[melody hounddog]

Thanks for the updates!

 

We have this trip planned for 2014. We are taking our teenagers along as well so we need two cabins. In your opinion, is a balcony worth the splurge on such a busy itinerary? We love balconies but I'm not sure how much you get to use them on this trip with the weather and all the time off ship.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

Thanks.

[marylizcat]

It seemed extremely windy when we were in Kirkwall last summer. The guide said it was always at least as windy as it was that day and usually worse! That was why no trees grow there. So does that mean that every ship will have the same problem leaving the dock? Seems a bit ominous to me....

[luvs2travl]

DH and I are so enjoying your posts - in particular, the one detailing your Normandy excursion. We will be on the same cruise leaving July 10 and hubby is so thrilled to be able to visit Normandy. He read your post with tears in his eyes.

 

Hoping the weather will improve a bit by July - at least maybe be a bit less windy! I sincerely hope you can make Guernsey. It is a port that is frequently missed due to high winds & seas. We did the Underground Tunnels tour when we were there and it was just awesome. We did basically this same cruise 2 years ago on HAL but that itinerary did not incude Le Havre (Normandy) so when we saw a flash sale on our e-mail from Princess - we grabbed it right away. We were fortunate enough to be in Edinburgh for the Scottish Tatoo which was stunning!

 

Can't wait for your next "Live from..." and may you all continue to enjoy your fabulous trip (....and keep those cell phones charged up! ;)).

 

Thanks again,

 

The Landrys

Louisiana