rindiar

What is the best way to transfer from the port of Le Harve to GDG airport if you can't use the ship's transfer?

Part I: Introduction

 

It’s funny, I’ve been mentally "writing" this trip report in my head over the last few weeks. I’ve daydreamed about how I would point out helpful little details and small snippets of advice for future cruisers. And today I finally sat down at the computer, coffee in hand, three days after arriving home with post-cruise-dizziness, and I am blankly staring at my white computer screen. There’s so much to digest after coming off a two-week "trip of a lifetime." The sights, the smells, the sounds, the people, the weather, the experiences – it’s so wonderfully overwhelming that all I can do is try my best to put it into words and photos.

 

I have to warn you, my trip reports are long. As in, you’d better go turn off the phones and pop some popcorn long. I thrive off of trying to help people with minute details, and I hope some of what I type will be able to help you or someone you know plan and enjoy a successful British Isles vacation. Prior trip reports I have written (especially for the DIS Disney Cruise Line boards) are in story format instead of "liked/didn’t like" format. Reading "I hated the coffee but loved Cork" in others trip reports didn’t help me at all, so I figured I’d go big or go home.

 

Do you want the short version? Here it is:

1.) The ship was great.

2.) The ports were great.

3.) The vacation was incredible.

4.) Yes, I have scanned Patters

 

Do you want the long version? Do you have a cup of tea? Are you comfy?

 

Here goes . . .

 

My husband and I had agreed years and years ago that, if we could spin a globe and put our finger on one area to visit, it would be Ireland and Scotland. Having sailed with Princess before nearly 10 years ago (and hating it and swearing we’d never cruise again -- boy did that change) we received a packet in the mail with their current destinations. I don’t work for Princess (but I do live in Santa Clarita and would love to) and I must say that Princess is truly the only cruise line that will give you a 100% British Isles experience. I commend them for their amazing UK itinerary that other lines have yet to touch.

 

I did a lot of research on land-based vacations while making this decision but we aren’t the type that like being stuck on buses or forced to take a certain route or to stay in a place we’re not familiar with alongside people we’re not familiar with. We’ve been on five cruises with various lines and absolutely love the element of cruising and the ability to visit various ports in one swoop. Friends of ours who had visited Scotland and London were incredibly helpful and I ended up with a small stack of books from them covering the countries as well as Tube maps, castle & pub recommendations and even their leftover British pounds to spend. Christmas morning brought rain jackets, sweaters, and souvenir picture frames from my parents for the upcoming voyage. Every person we talked to gave us great bits of advice, all which came in very handy when we ended up in each country.

 

Having been a fan of CruiseCritic.com and using it for years with prior cruises, I hopped onto the Caribbean Princess Roll Call to see if some equally obsessed early planner like myself had started a thread 13 months prior to sailing. Luckily, there wasn’t one, so I joyfully created the May 26th board (all in caps, which they converted to lower caps, grrrr...) and waited to see who would join us on this exciting voyage!

 

As the months rolled by, people trickled onto the message board. Summer was mostly quiet, as was the Fall, but once the holidays came and went, our little group grew and grew. I had the pleasure of having other members help with the responsibilities of the Meet & Greet and soon enough we had an eagerly excited team of cruisers ready to distribute name tags, introduce everyone, and coordinate private tours and transportation when the time came to meet face-to-face. I expected 40, maybe 50, people to join the Roll Call. When all was said and done, we ended up having nearly 170 people! It was amazing!

 

When January rolled around, it became very real.

"Oh crap, I’ve been planning this trip and now it’s 2012 and I actually have to go on it..."

I always get cold feet before big trips. I get so giddy over planning them that I completely forget that I have to hop on a plane and actually travel to them. On top of that, this trip was so huge that I completely let it take over my life for those months by planning every detail of every port day. From taxis to trains to excursions to currency to buses to hotels to walking routes. Which castles, monuments, cities, roads, and streets to visit? What gear to take, the language barriers, the hotel ratings, the food menus and time difference.

 

In the months before leaving for the trip, it felt like there was a slew of "things going wrong". First, a British Airways flight to London had the emergency "we are going to crash" warning mistakenly go off mid-flight. Then the American Airlines (our airline) pilot went crazy. Then the Heathrow Customs & Immigration debacle made headlines and everyone was freaking out over the 3-hour waiting time at Customs. I had no idea about the Queen’s Jubliee until the last moment and feared that London crowds would be overwhelming. And then the left rear propulsion engine broke on Caribbean Princess, leaving two weeks of cruises in the dust and passengers losing their minds. A Brit told me that the seas in the UK are rough and to prepare myself for motion sickness. A friend of mine so eloquently stated, "Things are all going wrong now so that, by the time you get there, they will all be resolved and perfect."

 

Did all this obsessive planning help me? Sure.

Did I take a day off from work to hide under the covers second-guessing my insane reasoning for traveling this far? Yep.

Did it all work out in the long run? Absolutely.

My husband, God bless him, knows that I am a plan-a-holic and was nice enough to step back and let me be a whirling dervish for months on end. The chap simply stepped on the plane and "showed up".

 

It was the trip of a lifetime, and I can assure you that no question on the Princess or British Isles message board is too silly, too repetitive, or not important enough. The folks on these boards are helpful beyond all belief (I’m looking at you, John Bull, TowncarT, Mrs. Moho and Shogun) and I couldn’t have had such a successful vacation without everyone’s input. :D

 

Next chapter: Packing, Prepping & Perspiring

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Had to cancel our booking due to medical reason. How long does it usually take to receive a credit for deposit made on our credit card?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Forums mobile app

Have 2 days post cruise in Vancouver. Planning one day to go to Victoria for tour(Vancouver Tour Co.) and one day for site seeing around Vancouver including Stanley Park. Our B&B is a couple of blocks from the park (West End Guest House). Is this duable in time allocated? Any suggestions would be appreciated! Thanks, Ron and Lin:)