Ocean Princess British Isles Cruise Review -Disney Sheep Go Rogue

[Gallivanting Souls]

Thank you for your great trip report! Makes me think that some day my family might try to make such a trip!

[ontheweb]

Yvonne, what dates were you aboard? We were on the cruise that left Dover on the 11th, returning the 19th. I know you could not have been after us because the next cruise missed the Tattoo. (It ended a day before the ship had its overnight in Edinburg.) I'm wondering if we were on the same voyage, or you guys were the week preceding us.

 

Jeff, also known as ontheweb

[Disney Sheep]

Thank you for your great trip report! Makes me think that some day my family might try to make such a trip!

 

Thank you for your kind comments. I can highly recommend a British Isles cruise such as this trip. We really enjoyed the smaller ship, but part of me would love to do one of the larger ships for the more varied itinerary. That said, this trip fit our travel needs for the summer perfectly.

[Disney Sheep]

Yvonne, what dates were you aboard? We were on the cruise that left Dover on the 11th, returning the 19th. I know you could not have been after us because the next cruise missed the Tattoo. (It ended a day before the ship had its overnight in Edinburg.) I'm wondering if we were on the same voyage, or you guys were the week preceding us.

 

Jeff, also known as ontheweb

 

Hey there, we were indeed on the same cruise. I always find it intriguing how different people can experience the same cruise in completely different ways.

 

And I have a confession to make - I think DH and DS might have (potentially) been guilty of splashing your wife in the pool one afternoon. At least that was my first thought when you mentioned that your DW liked to swim, and so few people did take advantage of the pool on this trip.

 

On the afternoon of Dublin we were initially alone in the pool/hot tub, when my boys poked their noses over the top of the hot tub to tease me and I made them hold on for a minute while I got a picture of them. When they let go and landed back in the pool, they were surprised to discover that they splashed a woman who from their perspective suddenly appeared and was swimming there. They did apologize and they definitely felt bad about it, but I do believe it was a minor infraction overall.

 

If that was your wife, then it truly is a small world after all - and sorry again about the splashing!

Edited November 23, 2014 by Disney Sheep

[Disney Sheep]

On disembarkation morning we managed to get up early, despite DS having obvious symptoms of coming down with a bad cold. Although the Panorama Buffet was busy, we easily found a table and enjoyed our usual breakfast. Back to the cabin to pack up our final odds and ends into our backpack, we finally spotted our steward Luis this morning to take our leave of him.

 

Heading down to the Casino Lounge we arrived just as our number had been called and we headed off the ship and into the terminal where we rapidly found our luggage and then walked straight out of the terminal and onto the waiting Princess bus for our transfer to LHR. No customs were necessary. The bus ride was smooth, and without delays, unlike our transfer to Dover! This time, it was DS who slept for most of the bus ride - we think that he was simply exhausted from his cold.

 

Although there were electronic road signs that indicated there would be a slow down on the road to the airport, it fortunately, did not materialize. I even managed to score a rogue picture of three sheep from the bus window as the bus was still moving! Woo hoo, it was kind of serendipitous, as in it was only three of us Disney Sheep on this trip :). All's well that ends well.

 

 

Departing the bus in Heathrow at Terminal 2 we wheeled our luggage inside and waited in a very short line up for the boarding pass machines, only to turn around and discover a very long luggage drop off line. Very long indeed. Note to self: next time divide and conquer. Leave DH at the ticket machine and take the kid(s) and the luggage and get in the much longer luggage drop off line.

 

Realistically, although the luggage line took a while, it was not totally unreasonable - especially since we were not in a rush :). Although I cannot remember the specifics of the timings, I believe that we had a 7:30 am disembarkation time and I think we were at LHR by 10 am at the latest. Heading to the security line we realized that DS had a can of pop in his backpack which he quickly guzzled.

 

Another note to self: next time put all electronic devices in one backpack when going through security. Again, although we did not really have any issues, because we had our iPads, phones, connecting cords etc in our own backpacks, we were all directed to the long thorough search line. Even this would have resulted in only a minor additional wait, except that the security guard chose to change places with another security guard in between DH's backpack and mine - so we all had to wait at that point.

[Disney Sheep]

Once we were finally through security, we found ourselves in a large area with lots of stores and restaurants around the perimeter and seats in the middle. There was even a neon orange wire taxi in the middle of the waiting area.

 

 

True to form DS managed to pull a face on just about every single picture that we took - luckily I do have some photos that other people took for us which is about the only time he did behave!

 

After a quick forage through a couple of the stores for some munchies, we settled ourselves in to check out Facebook and some favourite blogs during the limited free internet time available to us. One way or another we managed to amuse ourselves (I almost found my teapot that I had passed on in St Helier, but they did not have my preferred flower print design, much to my husband's chagrin - where is the sarcasm emoticon?) until our boarding gate was called and we moved over to find seats in that area.

 

Boarding our plane went very smoothly, and the flight home although long was a smooth direct flight. DS introduced me to an episode of Modern Family and since I was trapped in an airplane seat for several hours I ended up watching several episodes and I realized that I liked this program - who knew? Side note: the fact that I had 4 seasons of un-watched Modern family episodes available to me on DVD was a very good thing since DS also introduced me to his cold!

 

Canadian customs went smoothly and as is our custom, we headed directly for the Tim Hortons line up to get our fix :).

 

 

We were very happy to be home in our own comfy beds with our very comfy pillows and able to be in regular contact with DD again.

 

And then happily, just a couple of days later we joined the excited group of family and friends who gathered to welcome back our weary travellers! DS was very happy to have his sister home again, as were we all.

[ontheweb]

Hey there, we were indeed on the same cruise. I always find it intriguing how different people can experience the same cruise in completely different ways.

 

And I have a confession to make - I think DH and DS might have (potentially) been guilty of splashing your wife in the pool one afternoon. At least that was my first thought when you mentioned that your DW liked to swim, and so few people did take advantage of the pool on this trip.

 

On the afternoon of Dublin we were initially alone in the pool/hot tub, when my boys poked their noses over the top of the hot tub to tease me and I made them hold on for a minute while I got a picture of them. When they let go and landed back in the pool, they were surprised to discover that they splashed a woman who from their perspective suddenly appeared and was swimming there. They did apologize and they definitely felt bad about it, but I do believe it was a minor infraction overall.

 

If that was your wife, then it truly is a small world after all - and sorry again about the splashing!

 

I suspected that we might have been on the same cruise. I believe they only sailed that itinerary three times, and you could not have been on the one after us because the Tattoo was no longer in Edinburgh by the time they reached that port. You had also mentioned the remnants of hurricane Bertha, which we also experienced.

 

It's too bad, you did not join our active roll call, or we very well could have met in person. One of the folks on the roll call wrote a review in the Princess review section. It's under the cruisecritic name Cole. (There were actually 2 couples named Cole. The men were brothers, and that made the women sisters in law (or is it sister in laws?). Their experiences were much different than either of ours. They came for the men to golf while the women shopped.

 

Given how few people were in the pool, that had to be my wife swimming laps who your guys splashed. If they remember at all what she looked like, she is very thin and has short blond hair.

 

In another post, you mentioned wondering about larger ships. This was our the 10th cruise we have taken, and of course the smallest ship. The largest ship we were on was the NCL Epic, IIRC 5000+ passengers. It was by far the unfriendliest ship we have ever sailed. The entertainment was great including the Blue Man Group and a Cirque de Soleil dinner theater (for an extra charge), and many other entertainment venues around the ship. The smallest before this was the NCL Crown (since sold) at somewhere I think about 1200 passengers. One reason it was sold was that at its size it was not really set up for freestyle. There were also problems with the way it handled rough seas on the way to Bermuda. The entertainment was superb, that seems a strength of NCL.

 

Our other voyages were in the 2500-3500 range including 2 Princess sailings. the Star Princess in the Baltics and the Golden Princess in Alaska. Both very good cruises with more onboard activities than we had, but not the intimacy of the Ocean Princess. On the deck with the most activities, there were little corridors off the deck, and I was often lost. (Less on the Golden as it was essentially the same ship that we had sailed it previously.) If I had to rate our cruises, I think I would put the sailing on the Star Princess as our best. The ports in the Baltic are just incredible, and Princess is a very good product. I would put this last sailing as possibly second best (though part of this may be that it is nearest in memory, and you just had me relive it through your wonderful pictures.) I did truly enjoy the intimacy of a small ship, and how you really got to know the passengers and crew you met as you ran into them so often as opposed to the much larger ships.

 

Again, I'm sorry we did not meet in person. Through all your posts, I feel like we did meet. Thank you for all you shared.

[ontheweb]

Hey there, we were indeed on the same cruise. I always find it intriguing how different people can experience the same cruise in completely different ways.

 

And I have a confession to make - I think DH and DS might have (potentially) been guilty of splashing your wife in the pool one afternoon. At least that was my first thought when you mentioned that your DW liked to swim, and so few people did take advantage of the pool on this trip.

 

On the afternoon of Dublin we were initially alone in the pool/hot tub, when my boys poked their noses over the top of the hot tub to tease me and I made them hold on for a minute while I got a picture of them. When they let go and landed back in the pool, they were surprised to discover that they splashed a woman who from their perspective suddenly appeared and was swimming there. They did apologize and they definitely felt bad about it, but I do believe it was a minor infraction overall.

 

If that was your wife, then it truly is a small world after all - and sorry again about the splashing!

 

One of the beauties of cruises is that there is much to do, and folks with different tastes can find things to choose. For instance, I do trivia, and DW would never do that.

 

But, there was much in common. We may have been the only two families to regularly use the pool. DW says she does not remember being splashed, but that was probably her. There were so few people swimming, and she does laps, so she would have just appeared.

 

On the first day in Scotland, we both did the Royal Tattoo and the fringe festival. If we had not explored the Royal Mile previously, I'm sure we would have this time.

 

As for things you saw and we did not and vice versa---that gives both families an excuse to do this itinerary again.<G>

 

One thing we did that you did not that I would highly recommend for any future cruise is to check out and join the roll call.

[Disney Sheep]

I suspected that we might have been on the same cruise. I believe they only sailed that itinerary three times, and you could not have been on the one after us because the Tattoo was no longer in Edinburgh by the time they reached that port. You had also mentioned the remnants of hurricane Bertha, which we also experienced.

 

It's too bad, you did not join our active roll call, or we very well could have met in person. One of the folks on the roll call wrote a review in the Princess review section. It's under the cruisecritic name Cole. (There were actually 2 couples named Cole. The men were brothers, and that made the women sisters in law (or is it sister in laws?). Their experiences were much different than either of ours. They came for the men to golf while the women shopped.

 

Given how few people were in the pool, that had to be my wife swimming laps who your guys splashed. If they remember at all what she looked like, she is very thin and has short blond hair.

 

In another post, you mentioned wondering about larger ships. This was our the 10th cruise we have taken, and of course the smallest ship. The largest ship we were on was the NCL Epic, IIRC 5000+ passengers. It was by far the unfriendliest ship we have ever sailed. The entertainment was great including the Blue Man Group and a Cirque de Soleil dinner theater (for an extra charge), and many other entertainment venues around the ship. The smallest before this was the NCL Crown (since sold) at somewhere I think about 1200 passengers. One reason it was sold was that at its size it was not really set up for freestyle. There were also problems with the way it handled rough seas on the way to Bermuda. The entertainment was superb, that seems a strength of NCL.

 

Our other voyages were in the 2500-3500 range including 2 Princess sailings. the Star Princess in the Baltics and the Golden Princess in Alaska. Both very good cruises with more onboard activities than we had, but not the intimacy of the Ocean Princess. On the deck with the most activities, there were little corridors off the deck, and I was often lost. (Less on the Golden as it was essentially the same ship that we had sailed it previously.) If I had to rate our cruises, I think I would put the sailing on the Star Princess as our best. The ports in the Baltic are just incredible, and Princess is a very good product. I would put this last sailing as possibly second best (though part of this may be that it is nearest in memory, and you just had me relive it through your wonderful pictures.) I did truly enjoy the intimacy of a small ship, and how you really got to know the passengers and crew you met as you ran into them so often as opposed to the much larger ships.

 

Again, I'm sorry we did not meet in person. Through all your posts, I feel like we did meet. Thank you for all you shared.

 

I agree that it would have been neat if we had met - and my DH says that the description you gave did fit the lady in the pool ... well, except that the lady was mostly under water, so he wasn't really sure about size :).

 

With respect to the roll call, we only bought our tickets in June, and I am not even sure if I was a member of Cruise Critic at that time! Maybe next cruise we will sign up.

[Disney Sheep]

Booking with Princess. When we first booked our summer British Isles cruise (June 2014), we placed two ocean view cabins on a courtesy hold while we organized vacation time at work. When we called to finalize the booking (within the courtesy hold period) however, we were informed that only one cabin was actually available for us to book and that the other was simply wait listed. At this point we were more than a little unhappy, especially when the Princess representative on the phone initially told us that she was sorry about the mistake but that there was nothing that she could do. At that point we insisted on speaking with a supervisor and within 20-30 minutes they offered us two balcony rooms at the same price as the two ocean view rooms we had initially placed on hold. Overall we were not happy with the mix up, but we appreciated that they did manage to sort this out without it costing us more than we were originally willing to pay, especially since this cruise was pretty much fully booked. Although they probably expected up to be impressed with the 'upgrade', this is not a cruise that we would have willingly paid extra for a balcony.

 

Balcony or no balcony. Although we appreciated having the large window that our cabin balcony provided us, realistically it was too windy and too cool to use the balcony during this trip. In Dover we started a 'mini-tornado' in our cabin when we accidentally opened the balcony door and the cabin door at the same time and all of the papers in the room flew everywhere, including out the balcony door, along with the curtains! Further, the balcony door/window was very difficult to move in either direction, period. The one port where temperatures and weather conditions were actually reasonable and we did go out on the balcony was in St Helier, but we did not stay out for more than 5 minutes. Realistically most of the ports were very industrial and combined with temperatures/weather/ wind, not really conducive to encouraging balcony use.

 

Clock/Alarm clock. Our cabins did not include clocks, although you could easily use the room phone to set a wake up call as required. Luckily for us we always travel with Eddie Bauer travel flashlights that include digital clocks with alarms as well, such as temperature gauges. I was comfortable with keeping my flashlight clock on my night table, but I did miss having a neon digital clock on display at all times. Just something to think about, especially if you are in a cabin without a window. Note, Princess sold similar 'flashlight clocks' in the gift shop, but I did not notice the price.

 

Princess robes. Although we are lowly Gold members of the Captains Circle, there were basic Princess robes hanging on the bathroom door in both of our cabins and the tag read 'one size fits all'. I am not sure who 'all' is, but unless 'all' is a size 2 vertically challenged individual, I would not count on the Princess robes fitting everyone.

 

Jackets/Coats. When you make wardrobe decisions make sure that the jackets/coats that you bring with you look really really good on you in photos - and make sure that you like them! Although I brought one windbreaker and two lightweight 'jackets' as well as three sweaters/ cardigans, my Lululemon jacket became my go-to jacket and essentially turned up in every picture! It was the right 'weight' and it had pockets - to carry my Seapass and iPhone etc. And with the zippered front it was easier to control my internal temperature - i.e. sun behind clouds vs sun out, windy vs in the lee of a building etc - weather and temperature really does fluctuate a lot within an hour in the UK, let alone within one day! Looking back at the photos of our trip it looks as if my blue Lululemon jacket was the only jacket I brought!

 

Photography/Lack of Photo Packages on Princess. Unlike Disney or RCI, Princess does not have (IMHO) reasonably priced photos/photo packages. As a result, on this trip I have way more photos taken with my own camera off the ship than on the ship (well as long as you don't count hot tub photos - but I wasn't wearing a jacket in those anyway). The 8 x 10 photos are either $19.99 (restaurant photos or port arrival photos etc) or else they are $25 for posed photos. Either way they are way way too expensive, so although I wore my cardigans with my dresses etc around the ship, I did not purchase those photos. IMHO Princess needs to get with the 21st century and offer photo packages. As an example, I bought only two photos this trip (and I was able to use coupons, so they weren't full price) - and I am a scrapbooker who usually buys the digital package on the other ships!

 

Cabin Maintenance. If you think there is a problem in your cabin report it ASAP! The first couple of nights when the ship was really moving fast we thought we were hearing a foghorn in our cabin (6082). Really. It was always somewhere between 2am to 3 am. But it was a cyclical/inconsistent sound in relatively short bursts at first. And, we were so so so tired that we attributed it to something passing by outside or else wind whistling through the balcony windows or else just our imaginations - however that 'imagination' caused us to lose sleep. By the night before Ireland things in the ventilation system had degraded to us being awake from 2-3 am to a sound so loud and for such an extended period that guest services could hear it over our phone. And it was still going when the night supervisor and company arrived 10 mins later. It turned out that part of the problem was a broken baffle (flap). When they replaced it the next day we did not hear the loud foghorn sound any more. That said, at the same time the next night the ventilation system still went through its cycle and although it did not get anywhere near foghorn levels, it still woke me up (not DH though). When I reported it (after losing a couple of hours of sleep since I couldn't get back to sleep(!), I was met with skepticism by the maintenance staff. Trust me, I did not appreciate the attitude and was just glad we only had one night left to the cruise by that point. And in case you are wondering, I went against my natural instincts and took a Tylenol nighttime to help me sleep on the last night - I was desperate for sleep at that point.

 

Pool/Hot Tub Use. If you are normally a pool and/or hot tub kind of person, make sure you enjoy these facilities while on the Ocean Princess. Potentially thanks to the older demographic on Princess combined with the cooler temperatures in the northern Atlantic waters, both the pool and the hot tubs were under used. This worked out to our advantage as the water temperature of these facilities was heated, although not hot in either case. Still, we enjoyed family hot tub time every day with mocktails - we took the approach of the US postal service motto (mis-quoted of course) neither wind nor cloud cover nor dark of night shall keep us from our appointed hot tub rounds :). Luckily for us, there were no periods of rain when we wanted to soak, although that probably would not have stopped us.

 

Afternoon Tea. We are a family that enjoys drinking tea. Although it is not a make or break thing for a cruise for us, quality of tea on a cruise is an integral part of the experience for us - maybe why we enjoy the British Isles so much??

The tea bags that are available on the Ocean Princess are the Twinings variety, so not bad, but not my preferred Tetley or Red Rose.

 

However, during afternoon tea, held each day in the main dining room on deck 5 from 3:30-4:30 pm (or in Sabatinis if there is a wine tasting scheduled in the main dining room) the tea is properly steeped. They also provide a wide variety of sandwiches, squares, cookies and scones - all of which contain gluten, which my son and I cannot eat because we are Celiacs - the tea however is still worth going for!

 

On our first afternoon the staff provided us with some kind of jellied dessert, which was edible and ok in a pinch. Before I left the dining room, I approached the staff member who appeared to be in charge and mentioned that I intended to attend tea each day and that I would appreciate it if he could find us something 'crunchy' to eat - and that gluten-free scones would be ideal! Although I clearly threw him just a little, he promised that he would bring my request to the chef, but he could make me no guarantees. I am very happy to report that on our next visit to afternoon tea, the staff were pretty much waiting for us, and for the rest of the cruise we had warm scones with whipped cream and jam available each day. They also offered to have sandwiches or other goodies made, but we were happy with the scones since they were such a treat and delicious as well.

 

Dublin Taxi Driver. Not all Irish taxi drivers are nice. Although it was still before 10 am when we got off the ship (docked), there was only one taxi waiting. All of my research had indicated that a taxi from the dock to Trinity College (approx 3 miles distance I.e. 4km walking route and 6 km taxi driving route), should cost around 10€ roughly. I was even prepared for inflation and I had factored 15€ in my cost estimate. However when we asked the taxi driver told us it would be 6€ each or 18€ for the 3 mile trip!!! If I hadn't been so tired (from the middle of the night personal foghorn in our cabin) I would have balked and convinced DH that we should find another way. Instead since we were later than planned DH just agreed. We did grab a taxi at the end of the day - he quoted us 15€ as the expected cost for the trip and then read the meter at 11€. DH gave him 15€ and told him to keep the change - it wasn't the money for the first taxi driver, it was the principle that bugged me.

 

Later in the hot tub, another passenger told us that about a mile from where we were docked there was a bicycle rental station that they had used, the kind where you swipe your Visa (I think) to unlock and rent your bike - if only we had known! Seriously, a mile walk would have been a breeze (15 minutes max) and then it was another 2 miles roughly to downtown Dublin. We love biking around. If we ever find ourselves in a similar situation, this is definitely an option to explore.

[ontheweb]

I agree that it would have been neat if we had met - and my DH says that the description you gave did fit the lady in the pool ... well, except that the lady was mostly under water, so he wasn't really sure about size :).

 

With respect to the roll call, we only bought our tickets in June, and I am not even sure if I was a member of Cruise Critic at that time! Maybe next cruise we will sign up.

 

It must have been my wife who was splashed; after all who else was in the pool. Tell them she does not remember being splashed. Being in the water (mostly underwater according to your husband's description), she was already wet.

 

You could have joined cruisecritic back in June when you booked. It's really a good way to meet fellow passengers. On one of our cruises we found out that another couple who would be on our cruise lived one town away from DW's mother. We ended up meeting them before the cruise. On the same cruise (Baltic on the Star Princess) an excursion was set up in St. Petersburg. Setting up private excursions often happens on the roll calls, but they can also be used just to meet other cruisers.

 

The only thing that had me thinking we could have been on the ship at different times was you quoted temperatures a few degrees higher than I remembered. I have come up with two possible explanations. The first is DW really likes to swim early on cruises. (One of the great things on this cruise was the pool was never drained and covered until disembarkation day.) Maybe we were looking at temperatures at 6 AM or even a little earlier, while you were looking at later temperatures. The other (and probably more likely explanation) is that the formula for converting temperature is 9/5 C +32 =F. It is often approximated as 2C +32 =F. I may have been computing exact while you were approximated. This would explain the few degrees more that you cited compared to me.

[phabric]

We bought our Tattoo tickets on line. After we left the ship, we bought round trip tickets back for the train. We were advised that it would be too busy at the station to buy the return ticket. We then would have had to pay another 10 pounds (plus a tip) for a cab back.

 

It turned out that we had no chance of catching the train back. The cab ride back was now 40 pounds (+ a larger tip). It was still much less expensive than using one of the Princess excursions. And we could be off all day in Edinburgh, not having to be on ship to catch the excursion.

 

Note the taxi needed cash, would not accept credit cards. (That is not to say that all cabs do not accept credit cards.)

 

How did you get from Rosyth to Edinburgh?

 

Was is hard to find a taxi after the Tattoo to take you back to the ship?

[ontheweb]

How did you get from Rosyth to Edinburgh?

 

Was is hard to find a taxi after the Tattoo to take you back to the ship?

 

First there was a free shuttle that you had to take because of the construction going on at the port. Neither of us remember if that took us to the train or we had to take another shuttle to the train station.

 

When we got out of the train station after discovering the last train back had departed, we asked someone on the street where we could get a cab. His reply was we were by the cab stand.

 

Our cab driver was going to take us right to the ship, but then we saw the shuttle was coming in. (I doubt that they would have let us in the construction area, but until we saw the shuttle neither the driver or either of us realized that the shuttle was still running so late.)

[ontheweb]

First there was a free shuttle that you had to take because of the construction going on at the port. Neither of us remember if that took us to the train or we had to take another shuttle to the train station.

 

When we got out of the train station after discovering the last train back had departed, we asked someone on the street where we could get a cab. His reply was we were by the cab stand.

 

Our cab driver was going to take us right to the ship, but then we saw the shuttle was coming in. (I doubt that they would have let us in the construction area, but until we saw the shuttle neither the driver or either of us realized that the shuttle was still running so late.)

 

I now have a more specific memory after thinking about it overnight.

 

First there was a free shuttle that was required because the dock area was under construction. Then there was a Princess shuttle that we only bought one way tickets because it was not going to be running by the time we got back. We were told you would need a cab from the train station which would be 10 pounds (before a tip).

 

And from then on, you can read my original post (quoted above) to answer your question).

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for a memorable and thorough review of your cruise.

 

I sailed on the Ocean P in September. Beautiful ship.

 

Norris

[Kewz1]

I had to pop back in to once again than you for posting your trip report.

 

You've made me even more excited for my own British Isles cruise this summer.

 

I certainly appreciate all the helpful hints!

 

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

 

Kristen

[Disney Sheep]

Thanks for a memorable and thorough review of your cruise.

 

I sailed on the Ocean P in September. Beautiful ship.

 

Norris

 

Just back from an unexpected business trip and am checking back in. Thank you for reading along too :).

[Disney Sheep]

It must have been my wife who was splashed; after all who else was in the pool. Tell them she does not remember being splashed. Being in the water (mostly underwater according to your husband's description), she was already wet.

 

You could have joined cruisecritic back in June when you booked. It's really a good way to meet fellow passengers. On one of our cruises we found out that another couple who would be on our cruise lived one town away from DW's mother. We ended up meeting them before the cruise. On the same cruise (Baltic on the Star Princess) an excursion was set up in St. Petersburg. Setting up private excursions often happens on the roll calls, but they can also be used just to meet other cruisers.

 

The only thing that had me thinking we could have been on the ship at different times was you quoted temperatures a few degrees higher than I remembered. I have come up with two possible explanations. The first is DW really likes to swim early on cruises. (One of the great things on this cruise was the pool was never drained and covered until disembarkation day.) Maybe we were looking at temperatures at 6 AM or even a little earlier, while you were looking at later temperatures. The other (and probably more likely explanation) is that the formula for converting temperature is 9/5 C +32 =F. It is often approximated as 2C +32 =F. I may have been computing exact while you were approximated. This would explain the few degrees more that you cited compared to me.

 

Glad to have had you along for this review, it was enjoyable to see the same cruise from a different perspective. As for the difference in temperatures, perhaps we Canadians don't feel the cold!:rolleyes:. Actually, in the Patter, the temperatures were listed as 17 or 18 degrees on most days - and the days they were supposed to be 17 degrees were the days we found it to be warmer! Then again, we did wear jeans and light jackets most days, as per the pictures :D.

[Disney Sheep]

I had to pop back in to once again than you for posting your trip report.

 

You've made me even more excited for my own British Isles cruise this summer.

 

I certainly appreciate all the helpful hints!

 

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

 

Kristen

 

Glad to have had you reading along.i hope you really enjoy your British Isles trip. Honestly, I keep telling DH that I we need to put another British Isles cruise on our 'some day' list since we enjoyed it so much!

[Disney Sheep]

Train - Edinburgh. Inverkeithing to/from Waverley Stn. Tickets for passengers under 16 years of age are free, which meant our return tickets for off peak hours (on day 2), cost us only £11 for all three of us. That said, the train was late and we did not get in to Edinburgh until well after 10 am that day. Discussion we overheard on the train platform indicated that this had also happened the day before, so we were really glad that we had taken the taxi the first day and got ahead of the crowd.

 

When we got back to Waverley Stn to return to Inverkeithing, the monitors did not include Inverkeithing as a destination - after asking an attendant in an information booth, we discovered that we needed the train to Glenrothe (I.e. The final destination), which also stopped at Inverkeithing. Note, it actually left from the same platform that we had arrived on. Fortunately we had allowed ourselves a few minutes grace time at the station, which allowed us to find our platform on time.

 

Tenders. For ports where we had to tender, we lost at least an hour on arrival and an hour (or more) on departure - as in it was a greatly shortened port day. Although we were fortunate enough to dock in Rosyth (Edinburgh) and Dublin, we had to tender at Milford Haven and at St Helier. The process at Milford Haven was fairly simple and there was no issue getting the tender for the short trip to shore. Departure time at Milford Haven I.e. Last tender, was identified as being 2 hours before the scheduled sail away, but it wasn't too big of a deal since we had a reasonably full day in port 9 am to 4 pm, which became 2 pm.

 

At St Helier we were only scheduled to be in port from 9 am until 2 pm. The reality with tendering was that the first tenders were filled with those passengers on Princess excursions and maybe 20 other passengers. We managed to be on the next tender, but since it was about a 20 minute boat trip each way plus loading and unloading, it was after 1030 hrs before we arrived on the dock. And then the 'last tender' time was scheduled for 1 pm. So, realistically just over 2 hours available to us in this port. There were a whole lot of unhappy passengers. As well, luckily we were in line before 1 pm, since the excursion buses arrived back after we got in line, and they appeared to be waiting a couple of tenders after we got back! The sad part was that St Helier was one port that had so much potential that we would have loved a really long day there to explore it!

 

Ports on our Own. Since we chose to do all of the ports on our own, it was very important to build in time to relax as well as time to explore. In Edinburgh, Dublin and St Helier we enjoyed a quick stop at Marks & Spencer's food court/grocery store to buy gluten free cookies and pop for a quick refreshing break - and in each of the places we stopped in a local 'green space' for a break and our refreshments, in Edinburgh there is Princes St Gardens as well as Arthur's Seat, in Dublin there is St Stephens Green as well as Merrion Park, and in St Helier there is the Queen Victoria Park, which happens to be right across from a long stretch of beach, all of these places are great options for a break from sight seeing and/or shopping.

 

Money in St Helier and Scotland. Although both St Helier and Scotland accept Great Britain Pounds (GBP) as currency in stores and restaurants etc, they each have their own regional currency. The problem that arises is that the Jersey pounds and Scottish pounds are not accepted as tender outside of their specific regional boundaries.

 

Fortunately we easily spent all of the Scottish pounds that we received as change in local stores while we were still in Scotland. In St Helier however, we used a 20 GBP bill to pay for our coffee (desperately needed after the ventilation gremlins in our cabin woke me up and kept me awake for a good part of the previous night). The change we received was in Jersey currency. This did not concern us as there was lots and lots of shopping available in St Helier. Somehow or other, even after a stop at Marks & Spencer for the last package of gluten free shortbread cookies they had, we still had 10 Jersey pounds in our pocket as we headed for the tender. At that point DH and DS were not interested in any more shopping and just wanted to get back to the ship. Happily for me, we passed by the same coffee shop we had been in before, and I simply asked the cashier (who had served me) to exchange our money for GBPs, and she did without hesitation. I was very happy about this, and even more so when I read in a later review that the reviewer's bank at home would not exchange the Jersey money for her.

 

Phone signal on the ship. Prior to leaving Canada, and recognizing that we would need/want to contact DD while we were travelling, we purchased International texting plans with our carrier, Bell. For $30 for each phone ($60 total) we were able to receive all of the texts we wanted without any other additional cost, and we could each send 200 texts. Not inexpensive, but a reasonable price for peace of mind. Everything worked well with our plans and we were able to contact each other and to get together in Edinburgh without any issues. Unfortunately on the sea day after Edinburgh, just as we headed around the northern tip of Scotland, my phone indicated No Service. Although we were a bit surprised, given the location we accepted that we were perhaps in too remote an area for signal. Our table mates who used Verizon informed us that the same thing happened to them. What really threw us however was that after we reached Dublin we still had no signal and by Milford Haven we recognized that it did not appear that phone service was going to return on its own.

 

In Milford Haven we enjoyed tea at a small cafe that was open (one of the very few stores open on a Sunday, or even that was available at all, but I digress) and we were able to connect with DD by using the free WiFi available. On the morning at St Helier when I had to go to the Guest Services desk to report the continued issues with noise from the ventilation system, I explained to the officer in charge about the issue I was having with No Service on my phone. Her answer (since she had an iPhone too and had experienced this herself) - a hard boot! As in, hold the off button down on the phone until it shut down completely, not just turned off, wait 30 seconds or so and then hold the button down again until the phone came back on. That was it, 'magically' (or so it seemed to me), my phone suddenly started to receive texts again. Woo hoo.

 

Our table mates however had to contact Verizon's help desk to receive direction on the steps to put their phone through I.e. changing settings etc, before they got their service back. On the positive side, since they had also asked for assistance at Guest Services, the helpful crew member had allowed them to call from the desk and therefore there were no additional costs for them to figure this process out.

[Shogun]

Hi

 

Money

 

Jersey has its own pound not accepted anywhere outside the island including coins Same with Guernsey.

 

Northern Ireland bank notes not accepted on the main land.

 

Scotland produces its own notes these are accepted in England the main issue these days is the number of non British folks working in shops have not got a clue what to do with a Scottish bank notes, no issues with coins.

 

However if you are England or Scotland stop of at any bank and they will swap the notes over for you no charge for this.

 

If you go to Gibraltar you can use Scottish bank notes there.

 

Banks printing notes in Scotland are

Royal Bank of Scotland

Bank of Scotland

Clydesdale Bank

 

 

 

Yours Shogun

 

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Forums mobile app

[ontheweb]

Glad to have had you along for this review, it was enjoyable to see the same cruise from a different perspective. As for the difference in temperatures, perhaps we Canadians don't feel the cold!:rolleyes:. Actually, in the Patter, the temperatures were listed as 17 or 18 degrees on most days - and the days they were supposed to be 17 degrees were the days we found it to be warmer! Then again, we did wear jeans and light jackets most days, as per the pictures :D.

 

I only wish we had actually met. (Your guys splashing my wife does not really count.)

 

I hope in the future, you seriously consider joining the roll call. We booked and joined it way back in October, but you do not have to join so early. We had a very nice conversation with a couple at the roll call who I had not remembered their postings at all. When I looked back, they had only booked the cruise late, and had only posted once.

[ontheweb]

Glad to have had you reading along.i hope you really enjoy your British Isles trip. Honestly, I keep telling DH that I we need to put another British Isles cruise on our 'some day' list since we enjoyed it so much!

 

We would also consider going on this cruise again. There will only be limited opportunities on the Ocean Princess since the ship has been sold, and will be an Oceana ship in 2016.

 

A few things we learned:

 

Senior discounts start at 60 in the British Isles. (so, DW got them as well as me.)

 

Don't hang your camera while in the ladies room! Next time I'll hold her camera, and we will not go to the bathrooms at the same times.

 

Cab drivers can be awful anywhere. We had a bad one at JFK. (But, most are probably honest and good at what they do.)

 

Small ships are GREAT.

[ontheweb]

I decided to relive our cruise once more before the year turned to 2015 by rereading this thread; thank you for the wonderful pictures, Yvonne. It was especially wonderful looking at the Tattoo pictures since we will have none of them due to the dropped camera.

 

I was hoping that my wife might show up in one of your poolside pictures since she spent so much time there, but alas she did not.

 

I can't believe I missed an early post of yours (I think it was on page 2 either right before or right after I first posted) in which you gave the dates you were on the cruise. We would have known 10 pages earlier that we were on the same cruise.

 

DW has now been able to wear the sweater she purchased in Dublin. And her mother got her Christmas gift sweater from the same shop. It's good that it fit.

 

We're considering a cruise for next summer that is mostly in your country, Canada. It would be either Boston to Montreal or vice versa with a day before or after in Montreal. Which date we pick would depend on which date gets picked for my (50th) high school reunion. We would have to work out the logistics of a cruise with a different starting and ending point, though at the moment it looks like flying to and from Newark might work best. It would be on Holland America. We have sailed once on that line Rome to Rome on an Eastern Caribbean cruise. Or we could do something entirely different.

[Disney Sheep]

I decided to relive our cruise once more before the year turned to 2015 by rereading this thread; thank you for the wonderful pictures, Yvonne. It was especially wonderful looking at the Tattoo pictures since we will have none of them due to the dropped camera.

 

I was hoping that my wife might show up in one of your poolside pictures since she spent so much time there, but alas she did not.

 

I can't believe I missed an early post of yours (I think it was on page 2 either right before or right after I first posted) in which you gave the dates you were on the cruise. We would have known 10 pages earlier that we were on the same cruise.

 

DW has now been able to wear the sweater she purchased in Dublin. And her mother got her Christmas gift sweater from the same shop. It's good that it fit.

 

We're considering a cruise for next summer that is mostly in your country, Canada. It would be either Boston to Montreal or vice versa with a day before or after in Montreal. Which date we pick would depend on which date gets picked for my (50th) high school reunion. We would have to work out the logistics of a cruise with a different starting and ending point, though at the moment it looks like flying to and from Newark might work best. It would be on Holland America. We have sailed once on that line Rome to Rome on an Eastern Caribbean cruise. Or we could do something entirely different.

 

Hello again! I am glad that you enjoyed this report, it was neat to be able to share this trip report with someone who was actually on the same trip - even if I wasn't sure of this at first :). I have to admit that I have re-read my own trip report in December when I was writing our annual family Christmas letter - just because it was fun to re-live it. This trip truly was enjoyable and we have lots of great memories. We also have the Christmas decoration that I picked up at Edinburgh castle on our tree, which brings back nice memories each time we see it :).

 

I am glad that your wife (and her Mother) are now enjoying their sweaters from Dublin. We have a cruise booked with Disney this summer and I am deciding whether to knit sweaters before hand or buy them in Norway!

 

Here is wishing everyone a Happy New Year - especially since I was amused to find out that 2015 will be the year of the Sheep... hopefully that includes Disney Sheep :D