British Isles aboard Regal Princess 7/26, several questions

[smilesntravels]

Hi all,  I haven't posted in cruise critic for a long while as our last two vacations have been at all-inclusives.  I work in education (special -ed.) and unfortunately the only good time to travel is during the summer.  My dream cruise is to go to the British Isles, among a few others (Canary Islands, Transatlantic, South Pacific, etc.)  I have a couple of dilemmas and am not the best decision maker, so would appreciate any advice.

 

Except for my very first cruise, which was a window cabin, all have been balconies and I loved them.  For this cruise, it will be a little out of our budget to get a balcony as it's a 12- night cruise to the British Isles.  There aren't any window cabins, ughh.  So it's either a small box w/o a window for 12 days, or a balcony.  Since the cruise is starting the exact same day as the Olympics, I won't be wasting the days away staring at the sea or reading books out on the balcony.  Just about every free minute I'll have in the room, I'll be wanting to watch NBC.  Since it's a port intensive cruise and I'll be trying to watch a lot of the Olympics (since I never miss them and can't possibly record 100 hours of tv and have time to watch them before school starts again,) can any of you that cruise often say if it's miserable having an inside cabin and for 12 days?

 

I'm also debating on whether to get either a balcony or the princess plus pacakage.  They end up being approximately the same extra charge.  To get a balcony for 12-night cruise for hubby and I, it would be about 1450 more.  For the plus package it would be approximately the same.  The last two cruises we did, had the beverage package included and I got spoiled (for cocktails, the occasional soda and specialty coffees.)  I have to remind myself though, that if we don't get the package that doesn't mean we can't drink!  If you have a recommendation on which to pick- balcony or package, that would be great.

 

I've been to Ireland, England (London), and France (Paris.)  So, it will by my first time seeing Scotland and Wales.  These are the five countries the cruise will visit. It will be husbands' first time to Europe.  Yes, we could do a shorter cruise to the Caribbean or to even the Med.  All my previous cruises have been to the Caribbean and Bermuda, and I don't have a ton of interest in the Med.  I'm dying to see Scotland/Lockness, Stonehenge, Normandy beaches and the parts of Ireland I haven't seen yet. Portland, England I'll probably designate as another sea day, to relax, enjoy the ship and watch Olympics. I am wondering how the scenery from a balcony will be on this type of cruise.  I realize sea days will be mostly open water, but when we get close to land if it will be disappointing not having a balcony.

 

If any of you have any tips on port excursions, those are welcome too!  I have been looking and do have ideas, but always debate between ship and non- ship excurions: Cork, Dublin, Glasgow, Invergorden, Edinburgh, Holyhead, Portland, and Le Havre.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

 

Edited May 26 by smilesntravels

[memoak]

The question about plus package just comes down to what will you use ?  Wi-Fi and crew appreciation for most is a no brainer. The rest comes down to drinks   Will you have say 2-3 cocktails a day every day plus some coffees. ?  If you will do this regardless of having the package the I would get the package and you will ave money. Most of the drinks I have run from $10-$12 per drink. I would have them with or without the package so I get the package. 
I don’t understand taking a port intensive cruise and watch TV all the time. Also are you expecting to have NBC on ship ?  It is not a channel on their TV’s. They do have 2 sports channels but no guarantee on what they will show. Most of the time we see soccer and rugby on those stations 

[smilesntravels]

This is the only good time to take this cruise.  There is another one leaving around Aug.5, but I'll have to fly back from London and start school the following morning.  Also, it doesn't include a stop at Invergorden.  That's the most important stop for us, so we can go to Lockness.

 

I don't want to watch tv all the time, just a lot of times when in the cabin and maybe while on deck.  I talked to someone from Princess and she said they will have the Olympics on.  She didn't say if they have NBC or not, but said they would be on. I would think they could skip showing soccer a little bit as it is played year round, while the Olympics are only once every four years (two years if you count the winter ones.)

 

 

Edited May 26 by smilesntravels

[azbirdmom]

Full disclosure:  I have never sailed in an inside cabin.  We love having a balcony and fresh air.  On sea days I love sitting out there reading, sometimes with a glass of wine to enhance the experience.  That said we also did a 12 day British Isles cruise last summer and barely used the balcony.  It is one of the most port intensive cruises that Princess does.  And at least for us the weather was miserable in late June / early July so even when we did have downtime the balcony wasn't that pleasant.  If you absolutely don't need a balcony and will use WiFi / have a couple of drinks a day it probably makes more sense to buy Plus.

 

As for the Olympics, Princess will have them on one or more of their sports channels.  It's anyone's guess whether they will get a US or UK feed but it's popular enough that you should be able to watch some of it.  If you are someone who watches the Olympics 24 X 7 I would agree that you should probably move your cruise to another time.  There's so much to see in each of the ports so I think you will miss a decent amount of the TV coverage on this itinerary.

[VaCruzers]

We've sailed inside, oceanview and balcony. We are sailing the British Isles cruise departing 8/29 for 14 nights in an interior cabin. Because it's such a port intensive cruise, we'd not even have the time to spend on the balcony, so for us it was a no brainer to put the difference in cabin category rates toward 5 days in London precruise. We always get the plus package. It's an indulgence we enjoy and, for us, it's cost effective. Just my two cents. 

[qoap24]

I have never stayed in an inside cabin so I cannot speak on that, but last year we did this cruise and rarely used the balcony and I LOVE TO BE ON MY BALCONY. 

[PacnGoNow]

That is a dilemma.  It sounds as though you would benefit more from the package than a balcony, but remember, port intensive means you won’t be on the ship as much either to drink! 🥴

All kidding aside…I might book an inside, convenient to the promenade or outside areas and then put in a bid, if offered, on a balcony.  You may get a reasonable bid offer, usually 5 days after final payment or later.

 

 

[karatemom2]

We absolutely loved our British Isles cruise with Princess - one of our best ever cruises! We did have a balcony and definitely enjoyed it. Although it’s a port intensive cruise, you do hug the coast quite a bit so having the balcony, especially heading in and out of ports was nice. We had a beautiful view of the White Cliffs of Dover on the sail by.

That being said, given how port intensive this cruise is, we did use our balcony less than on some other cruises. We don’t really drink much alcohol at all and don’t drink coffee, so for us Plus just isn’t of interest. We just buy what we want when we want ala carte onboard, pay our gratuities in advance, and get 1/2 off our WiFi because we are elite. That works great for us, but if you enjoy a few cocktails each day or specialty coffees and like the casual dining restaurants, Plus might be nice for you. It definitely gives that all inclusive feel. Personally I would pick the balcony, but you might get a better experience with Plus depending on how much time you think you would spend on your balcony. 
 

The ports are amazing. We primarily did private excursions so I’m happy to share what we did:

 

 

Guernsey: (private guide Jackie Ward)

Castle Cornet

WWII Sites and Museum

 

Cobh: (Princess tour)

Rock of Cashel

 

Dublin: (Princess tour)

Glendalough Monastic City

Avoca Woolen Mill

Christchurch Cathedral

 

Belfast: (Odyssey Tours)

Giants Causeway

Dunluce Castle

Titanic Museum

 

Liverpool (tour to Wales) : (Busy Bus tours)

Conwy Castle

Snowdonia Park

Pontcysylite Aqueduct

 

Invergordon: (private tour Dougie MacLeod)

Dunrobin Castle

Cairn Liath

Falls of Shin

Dornoch Cathedral

 

Glasgow: (Discover Scotland tours)

Sterling Castle

Doune Castle 

Village of Luss

Loch Lomond   
Trossachs National Park

 

Edinburgh: (on our own with Uber)

Edinburgh Castle

Royal Mile

St. Giles Cathedral

Royal Yacht Brittania

                 

Le Havre: (Overlord Tours)

Omaha Beach

American Cemetery

Bayeux - for Cathedral and Bayeux Tapestry

Honfkeur

 

Hope this provides some inspiration - you will love this cruise!

 

Edited to add: We ended up cruising during the last summer Olympics and to be honest, you don’t get much of it. NBC is not one of the channels offered and mostly you will be able to grab highlights via MSNBC news. If that is a super big priority for you, you may want to look at alternate dates. My DH is a big Olympic fan and he was very disappointed to miss a great deal of the coverage on our cruise. 

Edited May 26 by karatemom2

[Rick&Jeannie]

As far as the Olympics are concerned, it's almost a sure thing that they will be running it on the big screen MUTS on the pool deck. As others have said, you will find it on a channel in your cabin but probably not full time coverage. 

Personally, I would go with the balcony and just pay as you go on drinks...but that's just my opinion. 

You've already expressed a desire for Loch Ness; that was one of our favorite excursions when we did this itinerary. We were traveling with a group of family & friends who are all Beatles fans. There was a *lot* of Beatles-influenced tours in Liverpool and other ports.

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Re the weather. As a Brit I felt I needed to say something and, well, we love talking about the weather 😂 

 

so, end of July the weather *should* be lovely. At least most of the time. the difference in temperature between Portland on English S coast and the Scottish highlands can be 10C/18F. Expect every type of weather except snow!

 

can’t speak about how pretty or not most of the ports are as I’ve not sailed around the UK, just been to many of the places on the itinerary. 

 

Invergorden is pretty industrial. Often Oil rigs ‘parked’ up in the area waiting to go elsewhere. But yes it’s a great port to get to Loch Ness 1hr away

 

anyway I thought you might find these pictures interesting. This is the Regal Princess last year leaving Invergorden, travelling past the suitors (the two hills either side of the passage) as she made her way out to the Moray firth. I have family on the Moray firth. Beautiful area, you won’t regret it. It’s possible to see dolphins in the moray firth too. Not big pods. But there are regular small pods of bottlenose that travel the area. No guarantees of course but I’ve seen them a lot around there.

 

its a very deep channel and she really is close to the shore. It was amazing to see her sail past us 😊 

 

[smilesntravels]

50 minutes ago, azbirdmom said:

Full disclosure:  I have never sailed in an inside cabin.  We love having a balcony and fresh air.  On sea days I love sitting out there reading, sometimes with a glass of wine to enhance the experience.  That said we also did a 12 day British Isles cruise last summer and barely used the balcony.  It is one of the most port intensive cruises that Princess does.  And at least for us the weather was miserable in late June / early July so even when we did have downtime the balcony wasn't that pleasant.  If you absolutely don't need a balcony and will use WiFi / have a couple of drinks a day it probably makes more sense to buy Plus.

 

As for the Olympics, Princess will have them on one or more of their sports channels.  It's anyone's guess whether they will get a US or UK feed but it's popular enough that you should be able to watch some of it.  If you are someone who watches the Olympics 24 X 7 I would agree that you should probably move your cruise to another time.  There's so much to see in each of the ports so I think you will miss a decent amount of the TV coverage on this itinerary.

Thanks so much for your input.  I might just have to bite the bullet and miss a lot of the Olympics, lol.  I never miss them since I've been a teenager.  I know some could care less about them.

 

What did you mean about the weather being miserable when you went last June?  I wish we could have gone in April or May when it would be a little cooler.  I think it late July/early August it might be a bit warmer.  I would love some cool air, while being away from the hot/humid Virginia summer.

[smilesntravels]

51 minutes ago, VaCruzers said:

We've sailed inside, oceanview and balcony. We are sailing the British Isles cruise departing 8/29 for 14 nights in an interior cabin. Because it's such a port intensive cruise, we'd not even have the time to spend on the balcony, so for us it was a no brainer to put the difference in cabin category rates toward 5 days in London precruise. We always get the plus package. It's an indulgence we enjoy and, for us, it's cost effective. Just my two cents. 

I know, there are lots of options when it comes to deciding on ways to spend money.  That sounds great doing five nights in London!  I know it's a treat going on this cruise in the first place.  We'll probably do just one night pre-cruise.  Nothing is booked yet!  We always do it last minute because it's so hard to get my hubby to agree to anything vacation wise.  I agree about it being port intensive, but wonder if I'll be depressed not being able to feel the ocean air in the morning or at night before going to sleep.  

[azbirdmom]

5 minutes ago, smilesntravels said:

What did you mean about the weather being miserable when you went last June?

I meant it was cool and rainy almost every day.  We did have warm, sunny days in Southampton pre-cruise as well as in Dublin and Le Havre.  The rest of the ports were 50's and rainy, sometimes torrential.  We got completely drenched on more than one occasion.  The cruise before our's had very pleasant weather as did the one after us, it was just bad luck / timing for us.  Still we had a fantastic time.  This is one of the better itineraries that Princess runs.

[smilesntravels]

27 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

As far as the Olympics are concerned, it's almost a sure thing that they will be running it on the big screen MUTS on the pool deck. As others have said, you will find it on a channel in your cabin but probably not full time coverage. 

Personally, I would go with the balcony and just pay as you go on drinks...but that's just my opinion. 

You've already expressed a desire for Loch Ness; that was one of our favorite excursions when we did this itinerary. We were traveling with a group of family & friends who are all Beatles fans. There was a *lot* of Beatles-influenced tours in Liverpool and other ports.

Thank you Rick for your input!  That might be a good idea, get the balcony and just pay as we go for drinks.  Nice that Lock Ness was one of your favorites!  My husband and I would love to see it, and do the quick cruise on it.  He's younger than me (and they were before my time) and is a huge fan of the Beatles.  I could care less, lol.  Too bad for him that our itinerary doesn't have a Liverpool port 🙂 .

That would be interesting if they have some of the games on the big Muts screen.  Hopefully if we stop at a pub somewhere on excursion days we'll get to see a little of the games.

[smilesntravels]

27 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

Re the weather. As a Brit I felt I needed to say something and, well, we love talking about the weather 😂 

 

so, end of July the weather *should* be lovely. At least most of the time. the difference in temperature between Portland on English S coast and the Scottish highlands can be 10C/18F. Expect every type of weather except snow!

 

can’t speak about how pretty or not most of the ports are as I’ve not sailed around the UK, just been to many of the places on the itinerary. 

 

Invergorden is pretty industrial. Often Oil rigs ‘parked’ up in the area waiting to go elsewhere. But yes it’s a great port to get to Loch Ness 1hr away

 

anyway I thought you might find these pictures interesting. This is the Regal Princess last year leaving Invergorden, travelling past the suitors (the two hills either side of the passage) as she made her way out to the Moray firth. I have family on the Moray firth. Beautiful area, you won’t regret it. It’s possible to see dolphins in the moray firth too. Not big pods. But there are regular small pods of bottlenose that travel the area. No guarantees of course but I’ve seen them a lot around there.

 

its a very deep channel and she really is close to the shore. It was amazing to see her sail past us 😊 

 

Thanks so much for your pictures and information!  This bottom picture is interesting.  It looks like the ship is so close to the shallow shore.  I'm sure some of the ports aren't that pretty, but once you get away from them that is where the scenery is.  I don't think I've heard of Moray Firth, but I'm not from Scotland or the UK.

 

I've looked at the monthly temperatures for the ports we'll be stopping at.  Too bad we can't go in May when it seems like it will be a little cooler.  Anyway, as long as it's not hot and humid that's a good thing!

[smilesntravels]

43 minutes ago, karatemom2 said:

We absolutely loved our British Isles cruise with Princess - one of our best ever cruises! We did have a balcony and definitely enjoyed it. Although it’s a port intensive cruise, you do hug the coast quite a bit so having the balcony, especially heading in and out of ports was nice. We had a beautiful view of the White Cliff’s of Dover on the sail by.

That being said, given how port intensive this cruise is, we did use our balcony less than on some other cruises. We don’t really drink much alcohol at all and don’t drink coffee, so for us Plus just isn’t of interest. We just buy what we want when we want ala carte onboard, pay our gratuities in advance, and get 1/2 off our WiFi because we are elite. That works great for us, but if you enjoy a few cocktails each day or specialty coffees and like the casual dining restaurants, Plus might be nice for you. It definitely gives that all inclusive feel. Personally I would pick the balcony, but you might get a better experience with Plus depending on how much time you think you would spend on your balcony. 
 

The ports are amazing. We primarily did private excursions so I’m happy to share what we did:

 

 

 

Guernsey: (private guide Jackie Ward)

Castle Cornet

WWII Sites and Museum

 

Cobh: (Princess tour)

Rock of Cashel

 

Dublin: (Princess tour)

Glendalough Monastic City

Avoca Woolen Mill

Christchurch Cathedral

 

Belfast: (Odyssey Tours)

Giants Causeway

Dunluce Castle

Titanic Museum

 

Liverpool (tour to Wales) : (Busy Bus tours)

Conwy Castle

Snowdonia Park

Pontcysylite Aqueduct

 

Invergordon: (private tour Dougie MacLeod)

Dunrobin Castle

Cairn Liath

Falls of Shin

Dornoch Cathedral

 

Glasgow: (Discover Scotland tours)

Sterling Castle

Doune Castle 

Village of Luss

Loch Lomond   
Trossachs National Park

 

Edinburgh: (on our own with Uber)

Edinburgh Castle

Royal Mile

St. Giles Cathedral

Royal Yacht Brittania

                 

Le Havre: (Overlord Tours)

Omaha Beach

American Cemetery

Bayeux - for Cathedral and Bayeux Tapestry

Honfkeur

 

Hope this provides some inspiration - you will love this cruise!

Thank you for your detailed information!  This is such a great itinerary.  When I saw it, I thought it was perfect.  We still haven't booked, as we plan all vacations last minute.  Every single port is one that I want to visit, except for Portland.  Nothing against that port, but I figure we can use it as a fourth sea day, relax, etc.

 

I have looked into private tours for some of the ports.  I saw good reviews for Busy Bus on their tour in Holyhead.  Thanks again for listing them.  I think maybe we should splurge for the balcony and at the end of cruise, then pay for the drinks etc.  BTW, I'm from southern CA also.  But VA has been my home for the last 20 years.

[Ellipooh]

My very favorite cruise, one I’ll repeat some day. 
 

As for excursions, I have just one thing to say: Giant’s Causeway.

[Mark_K]

2 hours ago, smilesntravels said:

Just about every free minute I'll have in the room, I'll be wanting to watch NBC. 

From what I read, Olympics coverage will be from Sports24. You’ll probably want to get a vpn set up, if you want to watch NBC or other US oriented coverage.

[Ellipooh]

2 hours ago, smilesntravels said:

  To get a balcony for 12-night cruise for hubby and I, it would be about 1450 more.

 

Are you sure that math is right? When I looked, it said Interior from 1399/pp and Balcony from 1699/pp

[pompeii]

I'm also on that cruise, jumping over to the Regal after 21 days on the Island from NYC.  Have you checked out the roll call yet?  

Also, I see interiors starting at $1399 and balconies starting at $1699, so the price between the two should be much less than $1450 for the two of you.  

Edited May 26 by pompeii

[karatemom2]

19 minutes ago, smilesntravels said:

Thank you for your detailed information!  This is such a great itinerary.  When I saw it, I thought it was perfect.  We still haven't booked, as we plan all vacations last minute.  Every single port is one that I want to visit, except for Portland.  Nothing against that port, but I figure we can use it as a fourth sea day, relax, etc.

 

I have looked into private tours for some of the ports.  I saw good reviews for Busy Bus on their tour in Holyhead.  Thanks again for listing them.  I think maybe we should splurge for the balcony and at the end of cruise, then pay for the drinks etc.  BTW, I'm from southern CA also.  But VA has been my home for the last 20 years.

 
If you decide on a balcony, try to choose one on the Starboard side. That’s the land facing side for most of the cruise. We were blessed with great weather on our cruise with just one day of rain on our last precruise day in London and a bit of rain in Edinburgh - which only added to the ambiance! We enjoyed really lovely sailaways on our balcony with some nice castle spotting opportunities. Be sure to bring a pair of good binoculars. 
 

My son just finished up three years of law school in VA last year and we enjoyed visiting him while he was there. It’s a beautiful state. 

[Justpackingmybags]

If you really want to watch full coverage of the Olympics, why not put save up and do the UK cruise next year?  Maybe the extra savings will pay for the balcony and the Plus package. There’s so much to see in our part of the world, it’d be so sad to spend it trying to find screens showing the sport. I often take holidays to avoid sporting events 😆

[akswimmom]

Hi, I’m not sure you are going to have a conflict. The Olympics are this year in Paris, 2024. The next summer Olympics are in 2028 in LA.

The only Olympics in 2026 are the Winter Olympics in Italy and that’s in February.

 

Jenny

[karatemom2]

2 minutes ago, akswimmom said:

Hi, I’m not sure you are going to have a conflict. The Olympics are this year in Paris, 2024. The next summer Olympics are in 2028 in LA.

The only Olympics in 2026 are the Winter Olympics in Italy and that’s in February.

 

Jenny

The cruise referenced here is 7/26/24 - not July of 2026. I could see how you might get that from the title. But it will be during the Paris Olympics. 

[smilesntravels]

2 hours ago, Ellipooh said:

Are you sure that math is right? When I looked, it said Interior from 1399/pp and Balcony from 1699/pp

You're right.  It's my graduation cruise for doing all of the Princess training for new travel advisors.  I decided to be a TA on the side from teaching.  It's $720 more per person to get a balcony.