KarmaCruisers

Good LORD this casino has our number..quite literally we don’t bet more than $5 a spin on the machines and my wife will play just above minimim on the Heads up Hold’Em table ($5 min; she plays $10) and we’ve lost $500 a piece each night! That’s absurd as we’re pretty regular gamblers and it’s not uncommon to have a few losing sessions..but six nights of BOTH OF US going busto…verrrrry sus. I mean literally never putting in the $500 going up $200 or $300 (we’ve had some hits but none to get us actually ABOVE $500 for a day) I guess on the other side of that coin; we’ve earned 9000 points between us (wife probably has some “hidden” points because she plays some tables and they don’t accrue “visible” points) i seen some single players with 10-12k points..only betting like $1.25-$2.50 a spin! That means they’re literally in the casino each night from opening-closing…someone ought to tell these people..believe me, Vegas will treat you better! So on the gambling front, that’s enough butt kicking for one trip! The next six days will be no casino-ing

Forgot! Also we can see “Samson” and “Goliath” (two largest cranes in the world) from our balcony

Whew! What a day! Busy busy busy! I had no idea Giants Causeway was so close to Bushmills Distillery! The stone formations were pretty cool, although if you’re not fleet of foot, you won’t be able to really go see them good. (It’s like a real-life Qbert gameboard!, Haha) after that we loaded up and went to take a photo of the rope bridge (it’s helllla far down that cliff!!) Next, we stopped at The Dark Hedges..which apparently is a thing from Game Of Thrones..(never watched it)..it reminded me a bit of Oak Alley in Louisiana. Finally, we were on our way to the Titanic Experience. Which was pretty neat to see. They had some artifacts from it (first class lunch menu, and recreations of 1st/2nd/3rd class cabins) It’s hard to think that just 100 years ago, the PINNACLE of ship building, and largest, was just about the size of the former Pacific Princess! We ONLY did 9600 steps today, haha. Were just relaxing in the cabin until dinner at 8:30. I’d post some pictures..but the WiFi at only 3Mbps can barely do it.

Had a good nights sleep; and got up for our tour of Belfast (Giants Causeway & Titanic Experience) via Finn McCool’s. Cool, dreary Irish day here in Belfast. Sitting on the bus waiting on the other bunch of passengers

so because of some issues (I forgot what Capt Tim said) we didn’t actually shove-off from Liverpool until 7:45 (planned was 6)

So we got off in Liverpool and walked up to the Liverpool museum. Pretty cool inside (it’s free); took pictures of the Liver Birds on top of the government building, then leisurely walked back to the ship. picture of the titanic memorial

Thanks. Doing a little bit better, drinking lots of water, for sure. Yeah, that’s one thing I noticed..and I run hot always..the ship is definitely cooool.

Huh..maybe then..the last time I got food poisoning (bad enough to go to hospital) the ER doc said usually it’s between 4-8 hours after you eat something…so maybe it was my dinner at the buffet…but man that ramen was BANGIN

So; I had a helluva night..I ordered some room service (chicken fingers and a Chef Salad)..Kris and I shared the chicken fingers and fries but I alone ate some of the Chef Salad..apparently (and I think it was a piece of the Turkey) something was "bad"..so i layed curled up against the toilet for an hour or so; TRYING to puke it out (to no avail; just couldn't do it) so i went and laid down.jesus i was in misery! i went to lay down at probably 2am; and we slept until NOON! I’m feeling a LITTLE bit better today, but not 100% for sure. We’re going to get off the ship and walk over to the Titanic Memorial, then probably walk back. (BoB is 5:30) On another note, lol, I actually looked back at my iPhone and days I WFH (Tue/Wed/Fri) and weekends..I actually DO only do about 800 steps in a day. So it just may be, my body is deteriorating with all this exercise, haha…and there’s still SEVEN MORE DAYS OF IT!!!

My pleasure!

SUPER easy; just go here: and order a LEAP 24-hour visitor pass (good on DART, Luas, and Bus’s) https://about.leapcard.ie/leap-visitor-card you just tell them what day it’s for; when you order it then the station is like a few hundred feet from the cruise port; just tap-in with your LEAP card, and board a westbound train

Tara Street Station, is the closest DART station. literally 3 blocks away

So last I left you; we were heading into Dublin on DART…man those are nice trains compared to the utter trash that it BART, haha. We got to Dublin and hit the ground running… Walked down to Trinity College and took photos. We skipped the Library and Book Of Kells; frankly because the line was too long and we had so much other stuff we wanted to do. We pressed on and walked down to take a photo with the Molly Malone Statue, on the way to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. MAN; for €9 a piece it’s WORTH it to go inside and explore. We didn’t think we had enough time..only spending 45 minutes inside (we hadn’t originally planned on going inside) but we’re glad we did! Some of the stained glass in there is AMAZING! One even has JOAN OF ARC on it! Also; they provide you a good audio tour that is self-guided. After St. Patrick’s, we walked to Guinness Storehouse and took the “Express Tour”. Pretty cool and we got to sample Guinness and have a pint on the 7th floor (what they call the “Gravity Bar”) We also enjoyed lunch on the 5th floor for a very reasonable price (I got a Guinness Irish Stew) After that, we hustled over to the closest Luas train stop and caught it up to Smithfield stop (Jameson Distillery is only a block away from there) Popped into Jameson to get my boss a personalized bottle of Distillery Edition Jameson. Headed back out to Luas and caught it up to Connolly Station where we walked over to the Tara St DART station. crazy story..we got on the train at 5:30..no problem for a 6:30 last tender right???…. Maybe NOT! apparently a car had struck a DART crossing and was causing a delay..I guess…fortunately(???) there was about 30 other cruisers on our train all sweating the same sweat. (So I figured they wouldn’t leave a TON of people behind) with the delays; we made it to the dock at 6:20, with tenders ending up running until 7, actually. We did freakin 14,500 steps today!! We’re resting in the cabin until were going to get the buffet at 8:30 (tonight is Asian street food theme, until 9) On another note; I think like Princess the best because it’s buffet is literally open from 7am-10pm; and all they do is change from Breakfast to Lunch to Dinner..on Carnival, the buffet entirely closes DOWN, so there’s almost NO place to eat at specific times..

Honestly if you’re an American Citizen; it couldn’t have been easier! literally just que up on your own and place your passport in a kiosk..it scans it, take a picture of you; then the kiosk gate opens and you walk through. Easy peasy the longest part is the WALK from gate to underground tube platform at Heathrow..like 15 minutes walk! Haha they literally have traffic lights for walkways at LHR, it’s THAT big, haha.

They’re still blue; the pattern is just reverse (instead of blue background with White Sea Witch; it’s a white background with a blue sea witch)

So we got up today at 8:30; got cleaned up and had breakfast in the buffet. While we were eating, Capt Tim came on the loudspeaker and said because we were in a pretty good storm cell, water tenders would be paused until it passed. (Fine for us because we had just sat down to eat) so now, about 45 minutes later, he came back on the loudspeaker and announced that the cell had passed and the sun was back out and tenders were re-commencing. So we’re going to go down and head into Dublin via the DART train. Our plans include: Trinity College, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Jameson Distillery, Guiness StoreHouse, and maybe a lunch somewhere (I’d like to try some real authentic Irish Stew) On another note; we got a note today that they completely changed our Edinburgh tour. Originally it was Royal Mile, Hollyrood, and the Castle…but this morning it was changed to Royal Mile and National Musuem (which we have no interest in) so I requested a refund, and booked Edinburgh Castle tickets on my own (£15.50 each; because the crown jewel room is closed on 4 July). Well catch the X99 from Queensferry to Edinburgh for £1.25 each, then walk the Royal Mile up to the castle. The princess tour was £90 each.

Ahh ok; maybe my eyes deceive me then and what I’m thinking are different colors are just blue sea witch’s…

That can’t be right; because I’ve seen different color sea witch’s on them (blue, red, and black)

I wish it were leg cramps..amazingly my legs never cramp up..it’s my midsection, almost feels like someone is sliding a knife in my side.

So after we got back from our excursion; at 5:45, we took a nap, which we just got up from, haha. So it was really interesting, the Irish history lesson our bus driver gave us. He told us about the history all the way back from Brian Boru, until todays Sinn Fein Party. It’s crazy that even TODAY, there’s a “peace wall” in Belfast! I never knew just how bad in conflict Ireland has been! From the sounds of it; come the new general election in 2024; they may have an all out Civil War! Now it really makes us wish we would have taken the “Black Taxi Tour” in Belfast; to continue this “education”… But on a LIGHTER note; we’re going to get some food at the buffet at 9:30’ish (it’s open until 10!) We had RSVP at the MDR for 8pm; but having ate such a big meal in Kinsale, we’re were hungry quite yet. Weve tracked our steps and have been walking an average of 2.5 miles for the last few days! This is coming from someone who literally walks maybe 500 FEET in a day! (Yes I’m a lazy lout, literal jello-human; And this exercise is making me cramp like a mofo!)

As “Blue” cruisers; it makes me wonder..more apt that these people are the ones who spend a grip for their first roll and then end up bashing on princess. I always start our small and grow into things; because if I’m not impressed, it means I might be at the next level…if you start out at the top (full suite) and aren’t impressed then you’ve got nowhere to go but down

Fish & Chips from Dino’s plus their crazy take-away menu

So we’re in Kinsale now; eating at Dino’s; although their take-away menu is a lot more crazy than their sit-down is. (We chose to sit down because there wasn’t anywhere really to sit outside)

Kinda yeah…but there are places you can’t get to without joining the que, unfortunately