DeloreanGirl

On 6/8/2021 at 4:11 AM, forgotmyCCname said:

Bring your own medicine for diarrhea (i.e. Imodium) as this type of medicine is not sold on board unless you see the doctor/practitioner in the medical unit. If you present with diarrhea the medical officer may quarantine you if they suspect noro.

 

 

 

Yep! This!  My dad has celiac and he ate something that had gluten in it and wanted some Pepto from the gift shop.  They dont sell it there because they want you to go to the ship doc if you have those symptoms.  He had to quarantine for 24 hrs in his stateroom.  Lesson learned!  Definitely bring your own Pepto/Immodium/Bonine/Dramamine....basically allllll the meds.  They're double the price onboard usually.  It's always better to have it and not need it.

This is more than 8 years old.

Just passed the 6 year mark. And nobody is more surprised than myself!

We communicated on here a few years ago before and after our BI cruise in 2014 ! Each time I get an email notice I go back and see if I missed any thing so now wondering if you Emily returned to BI with your son this year ! We would love to return to all the itinerary again but next year we're going to sweden to see where my maternalgrandparents

Lived before they sailed to America in the 1880s - I was their youngest grandchild born in 1942.

Hi! How are you!? Oh man do I wish I could go back to my FAVORITE itinerary, the British Isles! We'll get there! My son is almost 5 and just started kindergarten yesterday. He's been on two 3-night Disney cruises out of San Diego, a 7-night Pacific Coastal on Ruby Princess, and we have a 8-night western caribbean with friends scheduled for January on Adventure of the Seas/RCCL. Can't wait! Unfortunately he got Noro on the last day of the Disney cruise (that was a fun drive home!)

I will 100% do the British Isles cruise again, though! Maybe 2020! NCL has a great itinerary that includes a little bit of Norway and Iceland and England. Will absolutely post an update on here if we book through Princess again. Still to this day, 13 cruises later, my favorite vacation! I recently enlarged a photo of a lighthouse I took from top deck sailing away from Cobh and framed it in my bathroom. And I still have Union Jack pillows all over the house. Anglophile at heart!!!

Gosh what a great read! We're sailing the British Isles this summer on the Royal and this is one of the best reviews. Emily will you and your new family be joining us? Thanks for taking the time to share your vacation experience and tips!

Boy do I wish! We have two 3-night cruises coming up this year and a 8-night in January of next year with friends. The British Isles cruise remains, to this day, the BEST vacation of our lives and we would love to re-create it someday with our son! I'm so envious that you get to sail on Royal! What a gorgeous ship!

The steward pulled it down for our 4 year old.

 

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Thank you! After talking to a few more RC reps on the phone, it was explained that there are different types of Pullmans. In our particular room, it wont come out of the ceiling. It either comes out of the wall or is some sort of trundle. Who knows, just glad its safe and am excited to sail!

Our kids were only 3 and 5 and slept fine in the beds. They were above ours but it was absolutely fine. They had a rail on the side but even if they'd fallen out they'd have only fallen on to us!

I'm about to book a balcony room for myself, husband, and 5-yo son and I've heard conflicting reports. One Royal rep said they wont pull down the pullman for any kid under 6. Another Royal rep said "it's at your discretion". Has anyone had an issue with room stewards refusing to pull down the Pullman for a 4-5yo?

On Princess this past April the room steward would not pull down the Pullman for our son who was 3yo at the time.

Can't wait for the next chapter. Good review!

We were thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to putting down a deposit for the 2018 British Isles sailing. But, yesterday, we disembarked Ruby Princess after a 7-day Coastal with our 3-year-old and realized how difficult it is to sail with a toddler. We're exhausted! I'm keeping a sliver of hope alive that by 4.5 years old (spring/summer of next year) he'll be manageable enough to attempt a long cruise again. If so, I'm definitely eyeing British Isles again! The 50% price drop in February for it was severely tempting!!

Only posting this here because I know I'll need these links in the future to the "chapters" and it's easier than scrolling through 33 (wow!) pages to find each day:

Introduction: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34145061&postcount=1

Packing & Prepping: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34145821&postcount=5

Room, Ship, Food: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34152891&postcount=32

Guernsey: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34161015&postcount=49

Cobh: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34165678&postcount=62

Dublin: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34173025&postcount=69

Liverpool: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34173025&postcount=69

Belfast: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34184664&postcount=111

Greenock: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34185163&postcount=115

Inverness/Loch Ness: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34187442&postcount=120

Edinburgh: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34199591&postcount=130

LeHavre: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34210574&postcount=150

Disembarkation & London: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34213025&postcount=154

Did a UK cruise a couple of years ago,her description of Cobh was spot on, also their visit to Titanic quarter was so familiar, as we also went everywhere they went, surprised that when visiting Invergordon never mentioned all the murals on the ends of the buildings, overall a brilliant description of their travels.

Thank you so much! Still kicking myself for not taking the train into Cork. It's on my to-do list for the next attempt!

Didn't see much of Invergordon since we took the Princess coach straight into Inverness (beautiful scenery along the way!) to catch the Jacobite tour for Loch Ness.

Thanks for the reply. It is eerie to hear how you do the Google maps thing because I do exactly the same thing. It is so neat that in most cases you can actually "drive or walk" your entire route so it almost seems when you get there you've been there before.

 

Anyway, have a great cruise with your family.

 

thanks again

Exactly right! I virtual-walked through the streets with Google street view before going on the U.K. Cruise. Huge, huge help!

Hoping to visit the Future Cruise Sales desk when we board Ruby Princess tomorrow. If they can offer a decent deal, we may try to make British Isles 2018 happen with our 4-year old (yikes!)

As everyone else has said "Great Review". My wife and I are going on the same cruise in May (this year) sans Liverpool but with two days in Dublin. I would love to take the same Loch Ness tour you did with the Jacobite tours but am a little about getting to the bus station for "city center" (as the description of the Princess bus drop off place is listed).

 

I know you said it was tight but did you have any help in locating the bus station. I have my iPhone and may be able to get a cheap sim card locally for gps but not sure if that is needed.

 

thanks again for the lovely review.

 

Mike Bible

Hi Mike!

Thanks! I did not have a difficult time finding the Jacobite shuttle bus station. (This was before I bought an iPhone too!) The folks at Jacobite were excellent with their communication and gave me the exact cross-streets and store where the shuttle would be parked and waiting. I can't remember if there was a sign for the shuttle or not. There are two places where Jacobite will pick up in Inverness. I chose the "Strothers" pickup stop next to the TK Maxx store (which is the store Jacobite said it would be parked next to). I simply went on Google Maps at home on my desktop computer and printed out a zoomed-in overview of Inverness. I used Cruise Critic messageboards to find out where the Princess Cruise Line bus would drop us all off (separate "excursion" fee needed). I believe it was Bank Street?? Then, I highlighted the sidestreets between the Princess bus dropoff and where the TK Maxx store was.

Just checked Google Maps.... I remember the Princess bus parking alongside the river just below Inverness Castle (or something that looked similar to a castle and was also near a McDonalds) and the Jacobite pickup was on Strothers Lane next to the TK Maxx store. It's probably a 2-3 block walk from bus to shuttle. Took about 10 minutes or so? Google says 0.5 miles.

The Jacobite Loch Ness 3-hour tour was amazing. I would do it again! Enjoy!!

I think your son will have lots of choices in the MDR, before you think you have to go the buffet and fill him up, try the MDR and see how he likes it.

Thanks! I think we might try MDR with him on one or more of the nights. My worry was more about him trying to stay put and sit still for an hour. We sailed Disney last May with him when he was 2.5 and he made it through those dinners only because they were themed and/or with characters. I'm sure once we get on Ruby, we'll have a mish-mash of dinner types between MDR/Lido/etc with him. :)

Thank you all so, so much!! These answers are perfect!!! (y):D:D

There were 2 formal nights when we were on Caribbean Princess for British Isles in May 2012. I believe we ate in the buffet those nights. I didn't see any tuxedos. Many trousers with simple jackets and ladies with knee and ankle length dresses. Enjoy your upcoming cruise! It's an amazing itinerary!

Hi all!

My husband and our 3-year-old son will be sailing in a few weeks on Ruby. I've searched the net for kids menus on Princess to no avail. Do these exist? Or is the buffet in order for him? He's in that toddler/picky eating stage. Our plan was to feed him dinner at the buffet and then have him play in the kids club while we at in the main dining room if the MDR didn't have simplistic kid foods. Any tips/tricks/pics are appreciated. Thanks!

Sounds like you need to stick with Carnival and be seated in a timely manner.

Got off Carnival Imagination in January. Our group had Anytime Dining as well and it was a 40-minute wait one night with a pager. I was shocked. I'm really hoping to avoid this with Ruby Princess next month. I suppose we'll go to the dining room before we actually become hungry. :(

We stayed at the Park Plaza Victoria in London and loved it! It was walking distance (1 block?) from Victoria Station where the Princess Cruise Line bus dropped us off after coming back from Southampton. We walked from the hotel to Westminster Abbey, parliament, Buckingham Palace and Trafalgar! Took the HoHo bus which had a stop down the road from it too. Highly recommended!

I have a large framed photo I took of a beautiful lighthouse on a misty green cliff that I took from my balcony sailing out of Cobh! I loved the sail away from Cobh! Another stunning sail away was out of Greenock. Lots of beautiful green hills. However, a few minutes after sailing away from Southampton, I spotted a castle on a hillside. I'd say those were my three favorites. Oh, and the ship did a complete 360 spin near the bridge coming out of South Queensferry.

Hi! I wrote a trip report after our British Isles cruise that may answer some of your questions. It's linked down below in my signature under "Trip Report" in green. Hope this helps! You'll have an amazing time!

Hi there! This is probably a stretch, but does anyone have a scanned Princess Patter from a 3-day Ensenada cruise? Perhaps on Crown? I was just wondering what sorts of shows would be in the theater (if any) amongst other activities onboard. Thanks!

This is brilliant! My husband and I binged all of Twin Peaks earlier this year and instantly Google'd the hotel. This is a must on a future Seattle trip for us! Love all your pics! I bet you guys are excited for the "new" season to start in 2017. Get your coffee mugs ready. :)

Wednesday, June 1

We got up way too early...had a 5:30am flight out of Milwaukee on Southwest Airlines to Seattle, connecting at Dallas Love Field. The flight got into Seattle at 11:30am which allowed us to maximize our sightseeing starting on day 1.

 

Now I could say that my partner and I booked a night at Salish Lodge and Spa in Snoqualmie, Washington because it's a great hotel. Yes, it's true...it is. But it also happens to be one of the filming locations of our all-time favorite TV show "Twin Peaks" (you remember it? The now cult classic show only aired from 1990-1991).

 

Many of the exterior filming locations are centered just outside of Seattle in Snoqualmie and North Bend.

 

So after landing at Sea-Tac, we rented a car and drove the 40 minutes to Salish Lodge and Spa for our first night.

 

...And that's when we started geeking out. #sorrynotsorry

 

First up, the Salish Lodge and Spa, majestically perched at the top of Snoqualmie Falls. It functioned as the "Great Northern Hotel" on "Twin Peaks." Here's a pano shot with the hotel on the left side of the falls.

 

Here's me with a closer shot of Salish Lodge and the falls.

 

 

Then it was off to North Bend to have a "damn fine cup of coffee" and a slice of cherry pie at Twede's Cafe (on "Twin Peaks," this was the Double R diner).

 

 

Did some hiking at Snoqualmie Point Park (featured as the "picnic spot" scene on "Twin Peaks").

 

 

Found the exact spot on the road that's used in the opening credits to "Twin Peaks." For the record, my partner liked "Twin Peaks" first and then I became a convert!

 

 

Did some more hiking around the falls (smell that fresh air!) and had a great dinner and cocktails back at the Salish Lodge.

 

 

We did the "Twin Peaks" package at the hotel (of course!) and it included a map of all of the local filming locations. By the way, the show has been resurrected. Look for it on Showtime in 2017.

I use an Olympus EPL-7 camera with an Olympus M. Zuiko 12mm f/2.0 Lens.

I also use a GoPro - a couple photos from this were in my review else mostly the Olympus :)

 

The Olympus is newer and I am loving it!

I was about to ask the same question! Your pictures are MINDBLOWING! Loved each one. Wow.

I enjoyed your travel review; very nice and thanks for taking the time to do this. Although this trip was four years ago; I am now just reading it. I also want to thank everyone who posted on this thread. There were some great tips about overall cruising that I have learned.

Have you checked out the British Isles/Western Europe thread here on Cruise Critic? Heaps of information! Happy cruising!

HUH?

 

You live in Santa Clarita and have never been to Santa Barbara or San Francisco? :eek:

 

OK, I can almost forgive you for missing San Francisco since it's up north, but you are only about 2 hours from Santa Barbara.

 

Yup, you need to do the California Coastal, just to visit your own home state!!! ;):D

 

EDIT: I just realized this review is a few years old now (I got so interested in your story, I totally missed the 2012 reference at the beginning).

I hope that by now you've done the CA Coastal or at least made it to SB or San Francisco! :)

 

BTW,

 

Your review is GREAT! Thanks for all the work. It's a great read. :)

I know! Wasn't that embarrassing?! I did finally visit Frisco in May of 2013 on a Coastal cruise with my mom, and I have driven to Santa Barbara twice (once for a wedding, once for the zoo). I booked another Coastal through Princess for next April to take our son on who will be 3 at the time and it will hit those two stops again. I'd love to do a road trip up the coast to Monterey as well. It's crazy that I haven't discovered the northern top of my own home state!

OMG ~ I can't even begin to say how much I have enjoyed your travel thesis ~ we are going on our first cruise ever in August ~ obviously we have chosen the perfect cruise with the British Isles ~ we have been going to Europe for 16 years & love having our own car & the freedom that brings, but you have convinced me that we are ready for cruising ~ what a talent you have. I fly for Southwest Airlines & am proud to say I know a great joy of travel & having a sense of humor ~ you are awesome [emoji177]

 

 

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Thank you! I have a huge respect for female pilots (having 2 in my family -- both aunts!) You will have quite the exciting trip via cruise ship, I promise! Someday I'd love to visit the UK or even Western Europe by car. Happy planning and thanks for the kind words!