KarmaCruisers

Good morning Cobh! getting breakfast at the buffet, as usual. I was happy this morning, because they had Chicken Adobo with rice; i was tired of just bland eggs/potatoe/sausage.

So after our nap; we went to the Lecture about the next five ports (Cork, Dublin, Liverpool, Belfast, and Glasgow) by Ken Broadhurst. Then we headed to Horizon Court buffet to get some dinner. It was Italian night, so I got every pasta they offered, plus a salad and a nectarine. After dinner my wife decided to donate some more into the Princess C-staff fund (Aka: casino). Another $500 loss at Heads Up Hold’Em. Now we’re in bed..tommorow is only mildly early with a 9am docking. We’re going on the PaddyWagon excursion to Blarney Castle and Kinsale. ALSO; I just want to add..it seems to me that folks on this ship who don’t speak English are RUDE! Either that or have odd elevator etiquette…there’ll be already like 6 people in an elevator..doesn’t matter, these folks will PUSH IN! like WHAT*!? We’re fat Americans! We need a little breathing room! We don’t need to ride nuts-to-butts while we’re on vacation!

To be honest; for Kris and I, the £10 each day-pass wasn’t worth it..and this is why.. - We live 90 mintutes away from California beaches (so the beach here wasn’t no thing) - Fruit..well…see above; California is known for its agri-abundance. - Wife doesn’t eat seafood so stopping off at one of the little restaurants along the bus route wasn’t an option. Now; if you live someplace where there is no ocean..or good fruit, or you like seafood..a day-pass may absolutely be for you. the single ride pass for £1.25 would have served us better, because we just rode the 91 around the island and never got off. we ended up giving our day passes to a couple who was getting off the ship when we were in line to get on (paid it forward)

lol, no blue?

Whew! What a day! took the 91 bus around the island; which took 90 minutes. then we caught the NoonDay Gun cannon fire from Castle Cornet; which we toured afterwards. now we’re waiting on a tender back to the ship to get some lunch and take a rest until 7:15; when there’s a lecture about the next few Irish ports.

Thanks for this tip! We just used it. little convenience store next to the bus station for us some interesting candy and crisps and some Gatorade. Now we’re waiting on the 92 bus that’ll come in 20 minutes; to ride around the island. We definitely want to see the Canon’s fire off at Castle Cornet at noon

No waiting on the tender 🙂 Away we go to Guernsey

Hello from Guernsey! Today is an early/short port…7-3 only. we’re grabbing breakfast and then catching a tender

Ohhh I also learn a funny thing! So, if you look at this picture attached, it says “enhanced whiskey menu!” for Churchills Cigar Bar.. WELL, on that menu, is Blantons whiskey (which is a $100 bottle of booze) and it’s only $14 per shot. So I figured, SURELY if it shows that PROMOTING whiskey they’ve GOT to have it (hint: no other Royal class ships have had it; all stating they do on the TV menus) so I went to Bar6 (because the TV menu says they ALSO have it) and the bartender was just opening and there was another guy there too; so I looked at the bottles on the bar rack (if you know Blantons, you know it’s a VERY distinct bottle) and the bartender asked me “what are you looking for? If I don’t have it I can tell you where it’s at, this is the beverage manager for the entire ship” (as he points to the other guy) So,I asked them if Churchills had Blantons; because it said “enhanced whiskey menu” on the TV, and it says they have it; the Beverage manager laughed and said, “Churchills doesn’t even have a bar; that’s only on the Grand Class ships. The people who make the programming, make them for the entire fleet, not for individual ships or even classes of ships.” I actually laughed at that comment; but it makes sense because look how bad the Medallion App code is written? (From a UX perspective, you’d have to never have been on a cruise ship; nor actually use the the app on a mobile phone, to think it was a good design) So for future reference..all that stuff that your in room TV says about dining and bars..completely ignore it..hell, you’re probably better off not even turning on the TV during your cruise. sad too because you know they paid a pretty penny to a larger company, to offshore this work to dev’s who probably got pennys for it…

So last I left y’all we were leaving dinner. went to the room and unpacked some more; then my wife felt like donating to the good folks of Santa Clarita. (Aka we went to the casino) I couldn’t hit a damn thing and I was in $700, then finally got a few decent slot hits to cash out only $300 down funny side story..I play $5 a spin on slots and so hitting $250 isn’t really a “big win”..so I hit $250 and the lady next to me was like “ohh wow nice!!!” And I’m like “yeah it’s not bad” and then she proceeds to talk ***** about me in portuegsa, lol it’s funny how many different languages I’ve heard on this boat..im used to california cruises where you only hear Spanish and maybe some mandarin. so all in all I think wife lost $300 playing Heads Up Hold’Em.

And the coup de gras New York Chizzzzcake

The soup

StarLink doesn’t want you to see potato soup for some reason

Baked potato soup and bearing seafood stewing

Piroshky to start

Dinner time

Castle

It’s cooled down good and we’re cruising past the Isle of Wight

We’d be waving but it’s a warm 83*F outside..so we’re in the cabin watching the boat traverse the inlet, out to Isle of Wight.

Buffet list for the next 12 days

Captain Tim Stringer just came on the speaker and talked for a solid 10 minutes about saillaway haha Honestly never heard a captain say so much..then again, never sailed with a captain who was English-first-language.

First meal