InPR

HI there. Almost here. When do you leave?

Bryan

We're flying out this Saturday for London. Then on to Rye for a night at the Mermaid Inn.

I'm in cabin R702.

Bryan

D201 here.

I thought I had responded to this. Firstly, I'm a widower. So it's just the 3 of us.

I have a friend on board now and am awaiting her report about the new things. When I was on in Feb, the hotel manager, Peter, was telling me all about them. I can't wait. Sounds great.

I agree, the Yanks know about CC the most. One good way of finding who is on board, I go and look at the photos taken on embarkation day. They can be very telling. lol.

Soon come. When do you get in?

Bryan

My apologies. I didn't know. It's nice to know you'll be aboard nonetheless. Well you'll have to fill us in on your experience aboard this redesigned ship. I've been on this ship before but it was years ago and I didn't have fond memories. I'm optimistic that both the passengers and the ship will be of a better caliber this time around. We will arrive in London on the 4th and stay the night in Rye with our friend (he's from Watford , just outside London) in a very old hotel. Old in a good way. Looking forward to that as much as anything. The 5th has us staying the night at a Hilton there in Southampton.

LOL. ok. not so lonely any more.

Bryan

We four shall be the only gays aboard I think. In truth, I suspect there's a large contingent of passengers aboard who will be ignorant of cruise critic. This site attracts all comers but is largely American. I think this cruise might have a lot of locals and Europeans aboad who didn't not know about these message boards. And with FODs becoming a thing of the past, we might have to ferret them out the old fashioned way: earrings in the left ear, hankie codes, etc. 😂

Just us huh? Ok. We'll have fun. :D

Bryan

Aww thanks! Finally after months of no one, I finally get a reply. This little thread was feeling lonely.

This site may be of interest: http://irisharchaeology.ie/2011/05/dublin-the-prehistoric-city/

Thanks! That's rather fascinating. I saw another site that showed examples of standing stones smack in the middle of a housing estate.

Hello,

 

We recently returned from a Celebrity British Isles cruise and stopped in Dublin on August 10. Our ship was in port 0630-1845. We took a cab with drop off at Trinity College, where we had time to see the long room and the Book of Kells, right when it opened. We shopped for souvenirs, then walked to our pick-up point for our bus tour to Newgrange. We went to Newgrange on the Mary Gibbons tour. I'm a huge lover of old stones and I just had to see this place. We also went to the Hill of Tara. It was a great tour and I was so glad we were able to make it happen. After the tour we returned to Dublin and wallked around for a bit, stopping at Temple Bar for a Guinness. Then we took a cab back to the ship. Our day was complete! :)

I had read mixed reviews about the Mary Gibbons tour, but you liked it? I wish there were a Celebrity ship doing the British Isles like this Princess we're booking (or the Norwegian we're contemplating switching over to). They're both British Isles intensive. The Celebrity I found online didn't do nearly enough British Isles / Ireland but did Amsterdam and Zeebrugge (which I've already done). If it had done solely Ireland, Scotland, and England, I would have booked in a heartbeat. We have Elite/Diamond on Celebrity/RC so that would have been great. I should send them feed back on their itinerary (LOL as if they'd listen).

As I've already written, Newgrange isn't as well known as Stonehenge, so you'll have to do a bit more marketing when you make your pitch on your Roll Call. I thought the experience was marvelous. There's a model that gets visitors ready for the experience in the tomb itself and, there's the marvelous recreation of the Winter Solstice phenomena using artificial light.

 

Gentle recommendation: When you want to reply to a specific person's comment, consider clicking on the blue lozenge in the lower right hand corner of that person's post. It reads, "Quote."

 

This will open a reply form for you that copies the text. If you're careful to preserve the information in square brackets at the beginning and end of that person's post, you can even edit out some of the text that isn't related to your reply.

Thanks for the information. I don't often post in these boards. I'll see if I can drum up recruits from my own ranks and if that fails, I'll look to pitching it to those in the Roll Call. Your help has been invaluable. You've directed me to companies I wasn't finding in just Google searches. I kept seeing that Mary Somebody tour company, which was getting a lot of mixed reviews on tripadvisor and the like.

I'm also looking at a company called Over The Top that seems to be just a minibus that takes you from point A to point B. But guaranteed entrance is a compelling selling point for the two other companies linked within this thread.

I'm being pessimistic, assuming there won't be others to split the cost with. So, it seems like the best option thus far IF I can wrangle some others to join in. We are still far out enough that I'm hoping I can get others to join us on this trip.

It would probably just be the two of us, but you're right: If I can wrangle some others from the roll call....LOL.

Woah! The first link is $300 and the second is nearly $400!! Yikes! Definitely want to avoid that. Really just looking for reliable transport at this point. It's only 6 euro to get in, so if I can just find a way to get there and back. They say you can take a taxi to the site, but it's problematic finding one back. They say you can take this bus to this other bus that will take you out there, but being a regular bus (with all its timetables and stops) time might get eaten up waiting around. Also, you're not guaranteed entrance once you do get there. These prices. Yeesh!

Thanks for the info! I'm going to check out that company. I like the quick turnaround. Some of the other companies had you visiting 4 different sites over 8 hours or so. With Newgrange only being an hour from Dublin, I was hoping for something more along the lines of 4 or 5 hrs, so this might work much better (assuming we get ashore in time).

I've booked a cruise that will include a stop in Dublin, which I was excited about not only for the city but the prospect of visiting nearby Newgrange/Tara. However, I noted that it wasn't an excursion offered by the cruise and, after doing some research, I've come to realize that several factors contributed to making such a visit problematic at best: the limited number of visitors allowed per day, coupled with a first come / first serve ticketing strategy, and local tours that would run longer than would be comfortable without fear of missing the ship. I'm beginning to think it's an excursion best postponed for a separate land-based visit. That being said, I still wonder if I can't experience a bit of the Neolithic/megalithic Ireland within the more immediate confines of Dublin. Anyone have any experience with this? It would be nice if, like the ruins of ancient Greece or Rome, there were hidden little gems nestled in the midst of a city park or just off a bustling high street. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!

Thanks for the information. I'll be doing a similar run on the princess this June. I've been on the ship once before in the Caribbean and wasn't much impressed (I hope it's been spruced up somewhat since) but the itinerary was just too good to pass up. I may well be doing far more DIY excursions than on any cruise previously since Princess' excursion prices are rather high given what they are offering (being more used to Celebrity where I might only pay 35 to 50 dollars for an on-you-own tour which amounts to the cost of transportation, I was surprised that Princess would charge 100 pp to just be shuttled 20 minutes into a city and picked up several hours later). I do have one question you might be able to answer: I have realized that given the man constraints on visiting Newgrange/Tara that it's simply not practical on a short one day stay in port, so I'm now wondering if there aren't wonderful little gems hidden away in and around Dublin that also give you that Neolithic/megalithic experience. Did you hear about any lesser sites that might be easier to get to given the time constraints? Again, thanks for your wonderful breakdown on those alternative tours.

My husband and I just booked this cruise this week and now I'm working my way through the excursions. Lots of research to do. I've only been on Princess once before (this same ship in fact) and would normally do a Celebrity or Royal Caribbean, but the itinerary for this was close to being unique (barring a Norwegian that was almost identical). Hard to find really comprehensive British Isle cruises, which is a shame. It looks to be a great trip.

Looking forward to it. Need a vacation desperately.

I wasn't sure any other cruise critic members were taking this ship. My husband and I have had this trip booked for a surprisingly long time--May 2014!! LOL

Two months out!! Anyone else going on this trip?

I used to live in PR (hence the name) and I can tell you, if you want proximity to what little gay life there is to be found, then Condado is your area. It's a nice area, too. I'd eschew the "gay" hotel (Atlantic Beach Hotel was once a dive catering solely to gay clientele, but I believe it got renovated a couple years ago and now is more mixed clientele) for the trendy Concha or the Hilton (which will include both swimming on the beach and a neat little sheltered cove with showers to rinse of the sand, a rare find in PR). There is a gay spot on the beach by the Atlantic Beach Hotel, but you'll find better eye candy down the road at Ocean Park. Isla Verde has all the familiar chain hotels, a good beach, and will feel very touristy.

Don't know if you've chucked the baby out with the bathwater, but if you're not dead set on Pied Piper, there is an Istanbul to Istanbul on Celebrity Constellation sailing Sept 30th 2015. We'll be on it, in fact. It's a great itinerary.

Hi everyone. I'm new here, planning on taking my 1st ever cruise and doing it solo. I'm a 41 male, live in Dallas, TX tend to enjoy an older crowd, looking to book with Pied Piper. I do 90% of my land travel solo, it's my preferred way to travel unless I have a partner which I don't at the time. Any thoughts, tips, advice?

Hey, Dallas! Fort Worth here. I've never booked with anything like Pied Piper (my husband has an almost fetishistic knack for getting deals; he's like my own travel agent) but we've sailed plenty of times on Celebrity, which we really like. We like the atmosphere: mature crowd, enriching activities, great ports of call, etc. We're headed to Istanbul, Greece, and Croatia later this year on Celebrity. Celebrity usually does a GLBT/FOD sort of thing in a bar, which can be a great way to meet fellow travelers. Made many friends over the years that way.

Been a while since I was on CC and they had changed up just enough that I wasn't sure if I simply couldn't find a roll call for this or if I was the first. So, I figure... I'll start it up. If there's an established thread I have missed, please let me know. Otherwise... HELLO! :)

There are less well known lines (to us in the US) that have tempting itineraries. Go to http://www.cruisetimetables.com and choose a port in Ireland that you would like to visit from the second port list. Swan Hellenic's Minerva has a nice itinerary leaving Portsmouth on 24 May. Saga Sapphire has one from Dover on 9 June, but you must be over 50 to sail Saga. there are lots of other cruises that visit three ports in Ireland. EM

I'll be sure to check those out. The over 55 is out for me, but I'll look into the rest. Thanks!

Check Princess. They have offered a circular route around the British Isles.

 

You are correct. The best way to see Ireland is a land tour. The country isn't that large, it is easy to drive.

That may end up being the case. Logistically, a cruise affords many perks, which is why I was looking for one. However, too many do one or two cities and then visit 6 other countries.