British Isles Cruise Review 6/5-6/17

[RRFPresident]

Background info: Our two person traveling group consisted of my Dad (Al, 66) and me, Danielle who is 33. Dad used to travel all over the world for work but I’d never been outside of North America. We’ve cruised together four times now including this trip but this was only my second time on Princess, Dad’s third. We sailed on the Caribbean Princess a couple years back out of New York to New England and Canada so we were already familiar with the ship layout and our favorite cabin choice.

 

Back when we decided to travel so far just to get to the embarkation port (Baltimore (BWI) to London (Heathrow)) we decided to make a big production of sorts out of it more than just flying in the day before to give us that cushion. With our sail date of June 5th, we left for London on a 9:30PM flight on British Airways on Saturday June 1st. Given the flight length and 5 hours ahead time difference, we arrived in London around 9AM London time. Took some time in the airport to exchange US dollars for British pounds.

 

To help avoid jet lag as even in business class, it’s not easy to sleep on the plane, and to kill time before our hotel would let us check in, we combined our need for compressed sightseeing, something to keep us awake and busy, and a ride from the airport to our hotel into a taxi tour. Before the trip, we had been in e-mail contact with Martin from London Tours by Taxi. Martin picked us up in a van version of the black taxi cab so it was quite roomy for the two of us and our luggage which sat on the floor where the opposite three seats for more passengers were. During the three hour private tour, Martin provided lots of information and local tidbits as he routinely pulled over at various places to give us the chance to get out and take pictures. At one point he joked that anytime there’s some official government news to share on TV, reporters like to use Parliament as the backdrop and sure enough, a camera crew was set up in the courtyard waiting while we were there. We smiled each time we saw a shot of Parliament while watching the news back in our hotel.

Given that we arrived on a Sunday, the road leading up to Buckingham Palace was closed to traffic. We were able to park up the road and walk down to the Palace.

 

We also stopped on the way to see Clarence House as it afforded a great close up view of a guard already at his post. I recognized it as the place that The Original London Sightseeing Tour takes their walking tour participants to see since Buckingham Palace itself would be too crowded.

 

Once we reached the main gates to the palace, the guards started forcing people onto each sidewalk and out of the street. We had randomly arrived just in time to view a changing of the guard ceremony. Thanks to some help from our guide, we managed to move strategically through the crowd to follow the procession to the guard change and stayed there until the procession had turned back.

[paul929207]

Thanks for the review & the great pictures

[RRFPresident]

We had originally scheduled the above mentioned walk (free along with a Rock n Roll walk and a Jack the Ripper walk with the purchase of a HOHO bus ticket) for Monday morning but now chose to change our plans and enjoy the chance to sleep in. Continuing back in the taxi, we stopped at iconic places like Westminster Abbey, Tower Bridge, and the Tower of London (from a hill top across the street). I was surprised to see how accessible all these grand landmarks were. I kept watching in amazement as people hustled past Big Ben as if it was the local supermarket.

Martin explaining the sundial sculpture showcasing London's history:

These road markings throughout the city were quite helpful:

The new "Shard" building:

[RRFPresident]

After the tour, Martin drove us right up in front of our hotel, the Grosvenor Victoria. We picked this hotel for its location to all the tourist things we’d planned to do. Our thoughts were that you can’t get much better than a hotel on Buckingham Palace Road. This hotel sure puts on a swanky appearance with the grand architecture and doorman. We arrived around 2:30PM and the lobby was full of people’s bags because they wouldn’t let anyone to their rooms until 3PM. We had picked up cold drinks at our last tour stop and couldn’t find a trash can at the hotel to dispose of the empty containers. Finally had to ask the concierge and he pointed out the tiny trash can tucked away under his podium, touting how they can’t possibly have a trash can sitting obvious out in the open. We were able to at least check in sans room key and had to bounce back and forth between reception and concierge podium to get a ticket for our bags to be stowed until our room was available. We asked about using a bathroom and were directed to a door off the lobby which led to a mix of long corridors and various size stairwells before finally splitting off into male and female restrooms. It became a running joke with us that we had to go down into the bowels of the hotel just to empty our bowels. I never did figure out where the gym was, probably in the next county.

 

Given that the lobby had all of 4 chairs for patrons to sit and wait and a throng of luggage and people milling about, we decided to walk up the street to Victoria Station to kill time and find some lunch.

I would best describe Victoria Station as an American mall that just so happens to have a train running through the middle of it and thus you dodge harried people and their luggage as you wander about. The place is designed as you would expect, a stop for travelers who are killing time in between trains. There were the usual fast food eateries as well as sit down restaurants. A few shops here and there and loads of food/trinket stands. It was tough to find something that appeased the both of us so we ended up grabbing some cookies from a bakery stand and taking them back to the hotel. (We noticed later in the trip that the hotel’s room service menu forbids no outside food to be brought in but no one said a word each time we walked in toting take out containers.) We were finally allowed to our room which was quite different than the lobby portrayed. Granted, we had selected the two bed standard room but it was cramped. Our room was in an added on part of the hotel so each time we came back and forth from the room, we had to go down the hall, through an open stairwell landing, up a carpeted ramp, down another hallway to the elevators in a sort of zig zag pattern. In the room’s bathroom you had to lock the door just to keep it closed and it had to be closed just to have room to sit and use the bathroom. The sink would gurgle as the water would head down the pipes after use and our bathtub shower took as long as to warm up as it did to drain. I love my long showers but I was close to overflowing the tub with backed up water by the end. We mentioned the tub drain to reception and it did seem to get better but not perfect by the end of our stay. Our desk was so close to the front of the bed that you had to push the chair to the side each time you wanted to pass to the door. If someone was sitting at the desk, you might as well stay put on the other side of the room until they were done. Except for the train station, which we found out near the end of our time featured a stairwell right up into the hotel lobby cutting off the need to walk a block or two of crowded sidewalk, we either bussed or took a taxi to each activity so in retrospect a simpler hotel would have been better.

 

The view from our room:

 

Went back to Victoria Station and picked Garfunkel’s to have dinner. I would describe it as a Friendly’s or Applebee’s would be here in the USA. Ordered this chicken club with layers of spinach and hard boiled egg slices. Turns out the chicken part was an overcooked filet and mostly inedible. We were also surprised to get charged the full price of another drink when we asked for soda refills.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Wow, that is interesting about the Grosvenor's rooms! For such a posh hotel, you'd think they'd be a lot nicer. The marble banister in the picture looks perfect for sliding down though!

 

Thanks for the "tour" of London - probably my most favorite city in the world! I never get tired of it. Had to laugh at Garfunkel's. On our second trip, we ended up eating there way too often but it appealed to the kids. Looking forward to more, as my British Isles cruise was truly incredible and I love re-living the ports!

[ricki]

Wonderful photos! I'm eager to read the rest of your review since we board Ocean Princess on July 29 for a British Isles cruise.

 

Thanks for posting!

 

Ricki

[RRFPresident]

Monday morning – we took advantage of the hotel’s breakfast buffet just about every day despite the lack of choices for our tastes. You give your room number/name to get seated and the wait staff is right there to offer coffee and/or toast. Then you are free to go pick what you want from the buffet and your toast would be on the table waiting. Each table had coffee fixings and a tray of butter and jam packs to choose from but anything else like juice came from the buffet. The plane ride over was our first introduction to what we now refer to as British bacon since breakfast on the plane was a fried bacon sandwich. Dad would routinely go for bacon when he’d see it on a menu and then be reminded upon its arrival that it’s not the bacon he’s used to.

 

Given that we decided to skip the changing of the guard walk this morning that would have meant trekking to the Original London Tour Visitor Centre a few blocks behind our hotel for a 10:30AM walking tour that would bring us back past our hotel, we were able to take our time seeking out the nearest HOHO bus stop. It turns out that the HOHO bus companies (Original London, Big Bus, and Golden) have people stationed all throughout the routes ready to sell you tickets or answer questions so it was really easy to get directed on where to pick up the next bus. We chose the Original London Sightseeing Tour and rode on the Yellow Line which features an English speaking guide and visits the major landmarks.

 

Not the greatest picture of me but here I am on our first HOHO bus. Ours happened to be open top but there were others that were closed on top.

 

Also in the above picture is a great tip we read about on here. We printed out receipts, vouchers, tickets, contact info, and confirmations for each planned event from the flight over to the flight home. We typed out a schedule by day and put that on the front of a small binder. Inside the binder we put each printout in order of occurrence during our trip inside sheet protectors. Then we took out the sheet protector for each activity disposing of them when the day was done.

 

A restaurant/bar that used to be a brothel, hence the design on the glass to block out the view of any children walking by outside:

 

Possibly my favorite picture of the whole trip:

 

I thought this was funny. Not just a convenience store but "the" convenience store:

 

Love plays on words:

 

Eye carumba!

[RRFPresident]

Given that we planned to take the free Thames cruise that also came with the HOHO bus ticket purchase we had already decided to ride the HOHO bus until it got to the Tower of London. The tower was a stop we had only seen from afar the day before and the river cruise departs from the Tower at this end of its route. We had bought tickets specifically for the Tower online before seeing that the HOHO bus offers discounts for buying the bus ticket and admission to various places together. Either way you buy them, buying online first is a huge time saver as we were able to bypass huge lines and cash in our printed out voucher.

 

The Tower of London itself is a huge place and to see every last inch would take at least all day and a lot of patience and stamina. We had originally planned to take a beefeater tour but by default, we didn’t encounter where to get one until we came upon a group tour and joined them for the last few minutes of their tour.

 

The only place they don’t allow pictures is inside the Crown Jewels exhibit itself. We went inside and saw all the various crowns, props, and regalia used by the royal family. A video of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation was played in a loop on a giant screen in one area of the exhibit. Once you got to the cases of crowns and jeweled items themselves, they were on display in the middle of a moving walkway that ran down each side. Excellent design for keeping crowds moving and reducing the clump of people who like to crowd around and block the view of others.

 

Inside the gift shop:

 

There are benches, a refreshment stand, a café, and a couple gift shops on the grounds so there are places to rest in between walking and climbing over the massive grounds. We chose to climb up one of the towers where there are many exhibits set up of guard life and battle equipment and you can take pictures in there. It can get confusing though as you move around inside the individual towers and we saw many people popping out of random entryways looking confused. We ended up walking all the way up and across just to be able to find our way to walk down and out again.

 

[Julia’s Journey’s]

Enjoying your review, we will be in London again for one night before heading to Venice and I still need to book hotel, was also considering near Vic station but need to decide besides meeting family what we want to see again and get something close by. Your Taxi tour sounds good:)

[RRFPresident]

Enjoying your review, we will be in London again for one night before heading to Venice and I still need to book hotel, was also considering near Vic station but need to decide besides meeting family what we want to see again and get something close by. Your Taxi tour sounds good:)

 

Here's the website for all of the tours offered by this company: http://www.londontoursbytaxi.com/index.html

 

We did the one called London Highlights. We also did an evening ghost/jack the ripper tour with Martin later in the trip but the highlight of that outing was driving through the city and seeing everything lit up as we made our way back to the hotel.

[RRFPresident]

It turns out they called the kids program and a kids themed gift shop “The Ravens” so us Baltimoreans got a good chuckle out of that. They did have a few costumed re-enactors on the grounds staging an argument about Isaac Newton’s theories featuring one heckler style guy who refuted Newton’s claims and tried to encourage the gathered crowd to follow him away from the actor portraying Newton. Was funny watching the crowd looking back and forth trying to figure out if they should really follow the other guy.

 

Traitor's gate:

 

When we exhausted ourselves of walking the hills and cobblestone courtyard of the Tower we walked over to Tower Millennium Pier. They kept the gates closed while the Tower did their cannon firing demonstration. From in front of the gate, the sound was jarring and you could see the smoke from the blanks wafting over the water. Once the gates were open we were led into a separate waiting line as HOHO bus ticket holders and chose seats at open back but lower level of the boat. Shortly after boarding however, an announcement was made that a boat crew member had taken ill and we were all ushered off to board another boat. This time we ended up on the center end of a full row on the open top of the boat.

 

During the ride back to the dock by Big Ben, the boat’s captain provided great colorful humorous commentary of the sights. People were given the chance to get off once we reached the dock. Dad and I stayed on board as we planned to catch the HOHO bus again outside of the Tower. We were able to move down to the outside end of our row for the ride back but unfortunately had the top filled with a rowdy group of Parisian high schoolers. Chatted up one of the boys who spoke English and he explained where they were from before rejoining his loud group of friends who spent the ride (now with recorded commentary) loudly joking around in French.

 

According to our boat guide, it's not allowed to have your company name on the building so the OXO company got around that rule by constructing the windows in the shape of their logo:

[RRFPresident]

Other great shots taken during the boat tour:

 

This is the other end of the route where you have the chance to get off or stay on for the ride back to the tower:

 

HMS Belfast:

 

Tower bridge perspective from the water:

 

Tower bridge perspective while on Tower of London grounds:

 

Traitor's Gate from on the water outside the tower grounds:

[RRFPresident]

After catching the bus again outside the Tower, we ended up being the only ones on the lower level. This driver was super helpful when we asked about the Sherlock Holmes Pub stop and not only pointed out where to get off but he pulled the bus over shortly after driving off to redirect us when we’d started down the wrong side of the street. We walked into the Pub and seeing as it was only about 3:30PM, there was only a few people at the small tables. We asked about seating ourselves and the bartender said that to eat we had to go upstairs to the restaurant area. Turns out the restaurant area is this one woman sitting behind a bar with a computer register and a dumbwaiter. There was only one other pair dining and they soon left. Along with pictures and Sherlock Holmes mementos adorning the walls, the upstairs restaurant portion of the pub features a replica of Holmes’ den encased in glass. There is a window on the other side of the display so any visitors to the pub can peek in but our waitress turned a bar patron away when he tried to come into the restaurant to view the display from the open floor to ceiling glass side.

 

Dad outside the pub:

 

 

Being in England, I decided to go authentic and have a true fish and chips pub lunch.

 

Dad ordered the bacon cheeseburger. The waitress offered to bring onion rings for us to share. A short while later, the waitress removes our plates from the dumbwaiter and delivers our food. Dad opens up his burger to put on ketchup (which was delivered in a little silver bowl after we requested it) and sees this thin fillet thinking this was the weirdest looking burger he’d ever seen. Dad chalks it up to what the British must consider a burger and slabs on the ketchup.

 

A moment later, the bar phone rings and we hear the waitress telling the staff downstairs that she’d already delivered our food and seems very baffled. The waitress opens up the dumbwaiter and pulls out a burger by itself on a little plate and brings it over to us. We all had a big laugh over not only the kitchen’s mistake of sending it up before the burger was ready but also the fact that we didn’t notice the difference.

My fish and the onion rings however were so crispy and hard that I jokingly described my fish as hard shell crab. I literally had to crack open the breading and scoop out the fish from inside. We mentioned the overly crispiness to the waitress and she said that’s the common way to fry things in London. She graciously offered to take the onion rings off our bill.

[Big Chippy]

Enjoying your review we will be on Caribbean Princess in a couple of weeks, looking forward to your next instalment :)

[tequilasunrise]

Thanks for doing a picture review. I look forward to reading the rest as well! :)

[phabric]

Enjoyed your review with pictures. We will be on the Caribbean Princess August 16.

[melody hounddog]

Fantastic review! Thanks so much for posting.

 

Go Ravens!

[RRFPresident]

After riding the HOHO bus back to the stop nearest our hotel, we had a short while to rest before we had arranged for Martin to come back and give us a Ghosts of London/Jack the Ripper private tour that evening. We thought this would be better than choosing between the two “spooky” evening walks the competing HOHO bus companies were offering. While some stops along the tour were interesting history and architecture wise (i.e. a woman who had bought an abandoned elevator shaft that sits in front of a community flower garden and converted it into her home) this tour was not the sort of true ghost experience I expected. The best part of the night was the drive around town and back toward the hotel as it had become dark and we got to see the city in lights as a great end cap to the evening.

 

Tuesday – Had a semi early start as we had to be up the road to this other station/shopping area to board the shuttle bus (organized online through Golden Tours) to the Harry Potter experience at Warner Bros Studio. The fully enclosed double decker bus was decked out in full Harry Potter movie regalia. It takes about 2 hours to get from central London to the studio. I think this is where my napping on tour buses habit started for this trip. I’d always remember getting on the bus and thinking okay..a long drive ahead of us and then next thing I notice is that we’re at our destination. I think on a trip this busy, my body decided to take advantage wherever it could and what better place than in a bus while someone else takes you to a fun place.

 

Several shuttle buses arrived at the studio at once and each tour time you pick has a scheduled meet back at the bus time giving you 3 ½ hours at the studio. Everyone is ushered into the studio lobby where you have the chance to visit the restrooms or the gift shop (the tour itself ends in the back side of the gift shop so depending on how long it takes you to walk through the exhibits, you have time at the end to shop as well). The lobby has huge ceilings and the walls are adorned all around with pictures from the movies and of the flying car suspended by the gift shop entrance.

[RRFPresident]

While buying the shuttle bus ticket also includes tour admission, the studio’s website itself offers the chance to buy an audio guide and/or a souvenir book. We declined on the extra cost. For two people who read every book and saw every movie at least once, we were knowledgeable enough to recognize things. I also took pictures of the signs accompanying each exhibit so I could recall what was what when I looked back at the photos. Once you get in the winding line to enter the tour itself, you are greeted by a mockup of Harry’s under the stairs bedroom and various pictures and quotes about how J.K. Rowling came to write Harry Potter.

 

Once the doors open, you are led into a large theater room where they have everyone sit and watch a short film featuring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint as they show some behind the scenes footage and talk about what it was like to grow up during this film series. After the movie is over, the screen lifts up into the ceiling, the lights come up and it is revealed that behind the screen was the large double doors leading into the great hall at Hogwarts. The guide called for everyone to come down onto the stage and had any birthday people in the crowd come collectively have the honor of pulling open the doors.

 

From there we all were ushered into the great hall where the absence of a ceiling was pointed out explaining how they added animation later to show the changing roof in the movies. The tables along the edges were lined with various props and replicated setups of great feasts from the stories. Each corner of the room had mannequins displaying the uniforms for each house. At the front of the hall are mannequins displaying the costumes of key staff members like Snape, Hagrid, and Dumbeldore. Doors open to the side from there and you are sent along your way to walk among the exhibits at your leisure. While no pictures were allowed during the film, they were encouraged everywhere else.

[RRFPresident]

Some prop storage was behind gates and the sets were roped off but you could still get close. One of the tour highlights was a mirror that coached you on how to do wand spells (overseen by a guide) and a green room area (also not allowing photos) where you could get in a queue to get your picture taken on the flying broomstick. The staff warned that the queue takes up a lot of time depending on the wait so be mindful of how much time you want to devote to that particular experience.

[RRFPresident]

At one point, the tour dumps you outside in this back courtyard where the giant chess pieces and other statues line the perimeter. There are two booths set up in one corner and many tables. One booth sells basic street fare/ballpark type stuff like sandwiches and hot dogs and the other sells the famous butterbeer from the movie/books. I unfortunately did not have enough cash on me but you have the option of buying a small plastic cup worth, a souvenir plastic cup that has the logo of the tour, or for even more you can buy a solid souvenir mug worth of the famed drink. I had only a little more than the cost of the small cup in change on me but once I tried the drink, that little cup was more than enough. I would describe it as a overly sweet shot of caramel like syrup added to cream soda.

 

The tables area was covered and in the shade but you had full view and full access to all of the other huge props from the movie. There was another flying car that you could crawl into and pose behind the wheel. You could climb onto Hagrid’s motorcycle and also onto this long windy bridge. You could also view the giant purple Knight’s bus and the fronts of buildings like the Potters’ cottage.

Edited June 28, 2013 by RRFPresident

[RRFPresident]

The only downside during this tour was the British school group (I’d estimate 5th-7th graders) who were running around as they pleased hanging on items and blocking access to people who were trying to take pictures. We had to forcefully demand that the kids back off various exhibit pieces long enough for us to have a chance at a picture like everyone else when politely asking ceased to work. By about the third time I had to speak up, I heard one of the children mutter “Oh stupid Americans!”

 

 

This area of the tour was designed so that all food products could be contained outside of the main sets areas. Once you enter the other side of the inside tour area, you can no longer have food or drink with you. The rest of the tour featured more of a focus on the characters themselves with wax like figures, masks and prosthetics, and displays on how the animatronics were used to give life to inanimate objects.

Edited June 28, 2013 by RRFPresident

[RRFPresident]

 

One secret they reveal during the tour involved Hagrid the Giant:

 

You could push buttons on cases to make the animatronic creatures inside move:

 

My favorite character from the books/movies:

 

Aragog:

[RRFPresident]

Floor to ceiling storefronts from Diagon Alley:

 

The hand touching the guy's hat was animated and he'd tip his hat:

 

This guy was part of the Weasley's joke shop and the vomit ran back and forth from his mouth like a fountain:

[melody hounddog]

Oh my gosh!!! Love love love your Harry Potter photos!!!