British Isles Cruise Review 6/5-6/17

[RRFPresident]

In the past, if there has been an issue of an excursion not living up to par, Princess would refund the 50% of the excursion cost that would have gone to the tour company they’ve contracted to run the tour. They did this back when weather conditions left a whale watching boat ride in Bar Harbor with a ship full of seasick passengers. Seeing as we didn’t get back on board this day until the shore excursion desk had closed, we couldn’t voice our concerns to them right then. We tried to visit the desk on the following day, the first sea day, but the line snaked through the room and down the hall. Finally lucked out with us not having an excursion to get to and no line at the desk a couple days later. When we started to talk about the excursion, the staff member at the desk (white uniform so an officer of some sort?) insisted we fill out a form with our complaints. We did so and brought it back to him asking to now be able to share our feelings and concerns. All this man did was scan our form, say that he can already see the points we’ve made in writing, and would pass our comments on to the tour operator. A few days pass and we hear nothing back. Dad returns to the shore excursion desk and gets the attention of a manager who was not happy to be made to come out of his office. He did admit to Dad that they were inundated with excursion complaints from passengers but didn’t outright say how many or if any were from our excursion. The manager maintains that they had yet to hear back from the tour company and would give our cabin a call in a couple days with some version of a solution. Later that day, the manager called to check in just to tell us he was still waiting to hear back from the tour company. Near the end of the cruise, we got a letter delivered to the cabin that said it was customary to send all complaints to the tour company running the tour itself and leave them to address any concerns but as a goodwill gesture, Princess was refunding 20% of the excursion cost.

[RRFPresident]

Once back on board, we decided to check out the anytime dining room which was in Island. Asking for a table for two got us a trusty pager. We took the pager to the nearby bar. After about 20 minutes of waiting our pager went off. We reported back to the dining room bypassing the line and discovered that a waitress had paged us and 2 other couples at the same time. She announced that it would be another 30 minutes more wait unless we agreed to follow her to the other dining room. She took off about as fast as our Paris tour guide and we had to rush to keep up with her. Across the ship we went, then in an elevator, and finally to the small stairwell leading down into the Palm restaurant. Only then did she ask if anyone had mobility issues but none of us did. We all followed her down the stairs and she insisted to the host there that he find 3 tables for 2 for each of us. The host was hesitant but finally agreed. We ended up at one of those 2 person tables where 1 of each pair is sitting on this long bench seat and a chair opposite them. These tables for 2 might as well have been a table for 6 given how much they are like grade school gym class when the teacher says to spread out and find a space that’s arm’s length away from someone else. The couple to the right was older and were not very happy to see us plop down next to them. The kind of reaction where you’re tempted to ask how it smells up there because they’ve stuck their nose so high in the air. The couple on the left were younger and at least greeted us with a smile and hello before spending the rest of the meal checking out each other’s trip photos. Unfortunately since we were dumped in an already overworked waiter’s section, it took a very long time to get the basics like water and our order taken. Each step of the meal was delayed in delivery and not only our water glasses but those of our nearby table were left empty for half the meal. One of the managerial wait staff came over to do his table by table check in and we voiced our displeasure at the upheaval and consequently lack of service. The manager apologized but after such a long stressful day I was not in the mood to sit around waiting for someone to even ask about a dessert order. The manager did come back before we left and asked for our cabin number so as he put it, “they can make a record of the complaint.”

 

We drowned our sorrows by donating more of our wallets to the cause known as the ship casino. I gave a healthy amount to the slot machines while Dad attended the Texas Hold ’Em School. The evening ended on a fun note so to speak as we attended the Cabaret Showtime show in the theater starring comedy vocalist Diane Cousins. She’s from Wales and made many jokes about having to translate or dumb down references for the Americans in the audience. While as an American I probably should have taken offense but I found myself jokingly referencing later in the cruise as we walked in port how she’d translate pavement to mean sidewalk for the Americans.

[Psychedout]

Thanks for the great review and pictures:D

 

Hugh:)

[wegiekat]

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

 

Oh I do to. I did the tour last August. The tour was worth every penny.:D

[melody hounddog]

Oh I do to. I did the tour last August. The tour was worth every penny.:D

 

Thanks! Can't wait to take my kids there. They grew up reading the books.

[TITISSA]

I love you review and pictures. Thank you :D

[RRFPresident]

Our first chance since we left home to just be. No where to rush to, no plane, bus, or boat to catch. One of the more disorienting things as we moved further north as the cruise went on was how long the days became. I’d wake naturally to sunlight and be shocked when the clock said 4AM. Or be walking on the deck enjoying the quiet and sunshine only to look at my watch and see that it said 10:45PM. I now see on today’s Patter that we did stay on Paris time until we went back an hour overnight Friday into Saturday. Another good tip is that since the UK operates on military time and uses Celsius when describing the high temperatures, so did the ship. Always had to do a little mental math when I’d glance over at the clock on our cabin phones. My ipod also picked up on the UK signal and displayed military time.

 

Side note: While pretty much all my cruises have featured the purell station by eateries and notes of using a paper towel to open the outgoing public bathroom door, this was the first cruise I’ve seen that they were really enforcing disease prevention protocol. The Patters routinely advised seeking out your personal cabin bathroom rather than using public restrooms. One of the first times we stopped at the Horizon Court buffet, a crew member stood at the entrance insisting use of the Purell stand before she’d hand over cutlery and a plate. Over time, we noticed that there was almost always somebody manning the entrance to strongly encourage the use of Purell even after they’d taken to leaving napkins and cutlery out at each table setting. Another new experience was having wait staff appear within moments of you finding a table to offer to retrieve drinks from the self serve fountains for you. Every so often we’d end up with a more attentive person who’d appear to fill my cup before I could even finishing drinking what I had. You could always tell when managerial staff was checking in because the wait staff would nearly trip over each other to tend to your drink retrieval. One evening I was asked about 3 times in the time it took the first young woman to get our water glasses.

 

Second side note: One thing I didn’t realize about cabin stewards is that even if your room deadbolt is on, they can still use their key to get in. I neglected to put the privacy sign out since we were only going to hang out for a little while in the cabin but instinctively locked the door once inside. Was curled up watching TV on the couch when Rico knocked and it took me a moment to get up from the sunken couch. In that moment, Rico used his key to walk right in. He was apologetic and had only come to drop something off but it was still surprising. Glad I wasn’t doing anything more than watching TV.

 

After indulging in breakfast at Sabatinnis, we decided to participate in the Adults Ping Pong tournament. The ping pong table is just past the ice cream stand (which btw I was pleasantly surprised to see now offers ice cream in a bowl. Last time they refused insisting it had to be cone or milkshake.) and sits unevenly between the shape of the deck and the not so perfect condition of the table itself. Dad had gotten into ping pong playing over the past several months at our local senior center and ended up buying a table for the house. We play just about every evening and can hold our own to a point. I knew there were trivia fanatics on cruises but I never knew there were ping pong fanatics as well. One guy showed up to the tournament in a professional competition outfit and had this amazing fancy serve. Several other men who showed up had brought their own personal paddles and argued with cruise staff member Fab when he told them they couldn’t use their own paddles for the tournament. Fab finally agreed to let them use their paddles only when playing against someone who also had their own paddle. When it came time for Dad or I to play, Fab insisted that the other player use the ship’s paddle and they all balked. I ended up winning my round against an older gentleman despite his great ability to spin the ball. Halfway through the game, one of the other guy’s wives came to join their group and the guy insisted his wife be added to the tournament. Seeing as she made the teams uneven, my second round was playing against her. The guys balked once again about having to use the ship’s paddles and I was tired of hearing the complaints. I told Fab to let my opponent use their own paddle so we can get on with the game. Things were going pretty decently as we started playing. As the game progressed, I noticed the woman’s husband had moved up to watch from behind her and off to the side. Every time the ball would go off the table on her side and she’d go running after it, her husband would retrieve the ball and use the time passing it to her to offer what I can only guess was coaching tips as it was done in their native language. I ended up losing that match with an apologetic smile and thank you from Fab. As we walked away, we heard the other guys making plans with each other to meet back the next morning to play together. Being competitive is one thing but this really soured both Dad and I on the enjoyment of the game or getting to play with other passengers.

 

Later on in the afternoon we participated in the slots tournament and I made it to the final round. Our casino host gave everyone Princess tshirts (except for me who got a hat because she didn’t think the shirts would be big enough for me) that made it into the finals but the guy who was in the #1 spot in the first round ended up winning the final round and $500 as well despite our scores starting over from scratch. I only made it into the final round because I used our buy 1 get 1 free tournament entry coupon from the cabin coupon booklet and got a big score on the 2nd try.

 

After hitting up the afternoon trivia, we headed back to our cabin to relax and get ready for dinner as tonight was our first formal night. Before the trip, Dad had arranged with Princess’ formal wear rental company to rent a tux so he didn’t have to pack anything. A few days before we left, we got a call from the company that said that they’d lost the cargo shipment that included half his outfit. We tried to get them to replace it or do some expedited shipping and they refused. Dad had to go up the channels of the company only to have no choice but to cancel the order and demand to be credited back. Nothing was credited before we left so we wondered what we might find in the cabin when we arrived. Nothing was ever delivered and we finally got credited back about 3 weeks after the call. Instead Dad packed a dress shirt, dark pants, a suit jacket, and tie.

 

We went around to various picture taking backdrops and it was funny to see photographer’s reactions when we revealed that we were not a married couple and thus would not be posing romantically. Since this was the first formal night, the Champagne Waterfall was set up on the main floor of the piazza. On one end of the two staircases leading down to the center of the piazza, a photographer was set up to take pictures on the stairs. We stood in a line of about 3 couples waiting our turn as this was the pose Dad and my brother shared on a past cruise that turned out really well and we hoped to recreate it. Once it was our turn, I had just stepped up to cross to the stairs when two women who didn’t or wouldn’t speak much English walked in front of me so that the one woman’s friend could take her picture in front of the champagne waterfall set up. The photographer tried to explain to them that they couldn’t take pictures right now because he was using the area for formal pictures and they needed to come back later in the evening. The woman who was trying to have her picture taken started gesturing and saying something to the photographer as she tried to get her friend to hurry up and take the picture anyway. The photographer stepped in between the women and stood in the way of their picture as he ushered me to walk between them to get to the stairs. I hesitantly did so as I fully expected these women to escalate the situation. Once I was in place on the stairs, the photographer turned to the side to give me posing advice. The rest of the women’s group caught up with them and she was more than happy to share how horribly she was treated. Once she started angrily making that fingers rubbing together gesture for payment at the photographer (I’m guessing her foreign language argument was something to the effect of ‘we pay you so we can do what we want’ or perhaps it meant something demeaning in her language), the rest of her group rushed her up the other stairwell and away from the scene. We ended up purchasing one 8x10 of us together and one of just me on the stairwell.

 

Learning from our previous dining room experience we called the Dine Line ahead of time and made our first 7PM reservation. I forgot exactly how the woman on the phone worded it but she gave us specific instructions on where to enter the dining room so that we wouldn’t have to fight against the people in line. The host looked up our reservation when we arrived and even though he seemed unable to find it, he still seated us at our requested table for two. We had one of the most attentive waiters who even had enough downtime to chat with us for the longest time. Night and day compared to the hassle of the night before. Reservations are definitely the way to go as we passed this long snaking line on the way out of people still waiting to get in.

 

Dad chose to stay in his formal wear to go play Texas Hold ‘Em and I stopped off to change before donating more to the slots. After my nightly allotment went to the cause, I wandered the ship in search of non monetary entertainment. Joined the masses crowding the railings overlooking the piazza to catch some of Lubo and Lucy’s balancing act. The act would have been more aptly named the Lubo balances stuff that Lucy hands him act. Lubo was good at his craft and the basket of eggs gag was funny. Dad mistakenly assumed the balancing act was more like when acrobats dangle from ribbons attached to the ceiling so he was disappointed when we caught the show in passing later in the cruise.

 

 

The egg basket and the poor woman on the end in the red dress who was the "victim" of the gag.

 

It became a nightly staple by the end of the cruise to stop off right before bed either at the buffet or the International Café and pick up a snack or treat to take back to the cabin.

 

Our view as we got ready for bed this night:

[melody hounddog]

Can't wait to hear more!!! No rush. I'm just enjoying this review so much!

[RRFPresident]

Can't wait to hear more!!! No rush. I'm just enjoying this review so much!

 

Thank you! I'm so glad my ramblings are bringing help and enjoyment to fellow cruisers.

[Mom33]

Thanks for your pictures and review. We did this trip last year and it's nice to hear the experiences of others. Looking forward to more.:)

[Avalon35]

I am so enjoying your review. You also seem to handle all of the off moments very well and just seem to let it go. It makes me smile everytime one of these "issues" come up , you mention it and then move on. I am pretty convinced now we need to do this cruise as well. I had thought of it and you have made it quite real. Thanks for your great review.

[Margarita Jane]

Enjoying your review - we are on 7/23 sailing.

 

~ Jane

[Woobstr112G]

OP;

I just had a chance to look at all of your wonderful pictures while reading your review. Thanks for taking the time to post them.....:):):)

 

Bob

[RRFPresident]

This was our first tender port as the ship technically arrives in South Queensferry and anchors off shore. As suite passengers, we did have priority tender tickets but these are only good for leaving the ship, not bypassing the line to board a tender to return to the ship. Since we had booked the Princess excursion Edinburgh Castle, Royal Yacht, & Princes Street, we had a predetermined meeting place on board and boarded a tender as a group. The dismount off the tender and the walk up the pier was a little slippery as we had arrived during low tide and the tender could only go so far as the lower platform that is normally under water in high tide.

View from our balcony this morning:

As we tendered under the bridge:

Lovely bagpipers either greeted or played us off as we left each port:

[RRFPresident]

Once along the road we boarded our bus with a very nice guide. There were several buses doing various versions of this basic tour. It was a relief to see a guide once we reached the Edinburgh castle who not only urged everyone to gather around (or as he put it, “I need to do 3 more tours today so I need to save my voice”) but frequently he would move to other corners of the group when we were ready to move so that it was easy for everyone to follow him. The guide walked us through the castle grounds explaining the highlights like the Scottish Crown Jewels and the One o’clock Gun. The one o’clock gun was an ancient battle gun that they would set off just about every day at 1PM. Our guide joked that you could tell the locals from the tourists on the street because when the gun goes off, all the locals look at their watch and all the tourists duck for cover.

 

After some free time left to explore the castle grounds on our own, our guide stood midway between where he left us and the exit to help people find their way back to the bus.

View from the top of the castle:

Had to take a moment to rest and reflect when I saw this area:

[RRFPresident]

After the castle trip we drove to a local hotel where all the groups met up to have lunch together. Ironically, we ended up dining with a couple whose traditional dining tablemates were the fellow Baltimoreans from our roll call! Wonder if they ever mentioned us at dinner that night. Lunch itself was a bit more appetizing than Paris though chicken was once again the main dish. I think this was one of the places where they offered you a choice of beer, water, or soda upon entry to take to your table. We were free to leave lunch at our leisure to explore Princes Street and its shopping district. The guide gave us instructions on how to return to the top of the strip to find where the bus would be waiting and a time to meet back up. One of the highlights of the street was a tall several hundred step structure that gave out certificates to anyone who actually made it to the top and back.

 

Given that none of the shops we passed looked interesting enough to go inside, we crossed the street to this park just outside of the mall on Princes Street (the official name escapes me) and relaxed on a bench doing some people watching. A sole bagpiper played for tips by the entrance to the park.

From across the street of the mall:

 

The doorman for the Balmoral hotel near where we boarded our bus again:

 

Once everyone was back on board the bus, we headed to see the Royal Yacht. It turns out that this floating museum is actually housed in the local mall. I felt so confused when we started snaking our way through the mall only to discover that the museum was built into a store space that led to the outside where you could walk right on to the boat. After tickets were sorted out, we were led into a long line that was moving very slow because the Royal Yacht staff member guarding the entrance to where you picked up the tour commentary devices was making groups stop and listen to his explanation of how to use the interactive tour pieces. Just as Dad and I approached, the staff member asked a non English speaking woman in front of us if everyone knew how to use the device. She said no out of confusion and he quickly closed off the entrance to start his explanation. We spoke up before he could start and explained that we all knew how to use it so he opened up the entrance again and let us through. Each electronic tour guide was organized by what language it gave the tour in so you could request whichever you felt more comfortable to listen. There were elevators and stairs within the building and alongside the docked yacht so that you ended up covering many floors before finishing the tour. Most of the rooms on the yacht were encased in glass for preservation. Outside each room there was a number posted for you to plug in on the tour guide device to hear that particular room’s explanation.

[RRFPresident]

Once on the ship we saw the bridge, the royal family’s living quarters, the crew rooms, the mail room, and the on board medical center. The tour concluded with the boiler room and a view of the Royal Barge and Escort boats. We were able to do the tour of the boat on our own with a pre-arranged meeting time back at the bus parked outside the mall.

Here's Dad posing on the bridge while listening to the commentary:

 

You could stop for tea on board in the dining room:

 

Royal family common areas:

 

Bedrooms:

[RRFPresident]

Showing how you stepped out from the mall area itself onto the ship:

 

Anteroom (plus example of how each area displayed what # to choose for commentary):

 

Living room:

 

Crew sleeping quarters:

 

Royal barge:

 

Mail room:

[RRFPresident]

Medical Center:

 

Laundry:

 

Pose with a sailor:

 

Engine/boiler room:

[RRFPresident]

With time to spare after we were done with the tour, Dad and I stopped off at Ben and Jerry’s to get some ice cream that was part of a movie theater’s concession stand and a bottle of water. Dad tried to pay in Euros at first not realizing that we were back in the UK and therefore back to using pounds. We had taken the time beforehand to request credit cards with chips inside so we ended up charging our snack. We walked the mall for a couple minutes looking for a place to sit down and finally found open seating outside of Starbucks. We took the opportunity to use Starbucks wi-fi as we ate. Loved the irony of coming all the way to Scotland to eat Ben and Jerry’s in front of Starbucks.

 

We ended up boarding the very last tender back to the boat and the ride was very choppy as a storm was on the horizon. We had once again made 7PM dinner reservations and this time a very prim and proper hostess met us at the door. When we mentioned the reservation she stepped away to question whether it was all right. We watched her come back toward us with Maitre d’Hotel Mario Propato but once he saw us, he nodded his approval to the hostess, turned on his heel and went back from where he came. This time we not only ended up at a four top table to ourselves but a manager for this section came over to introduce himself and chat before and after our dining service. It may have just been that the manager was nearby but the wait staff this night was amazing! We took time as we were leaving to make sure the manager knew how impressed we were.

 

After dinner we caught comedian Tom Briscoe’s show and headed back to our cabin with some sweet and savory treats from the International Café.

 

View of the storm clouds as we sailed away:

[cruisenovice]

Danielle,

 

Thanks for your amazing review. We sail in 29 days, but on the reverse itinerary, so I can't wait for your next segments. I'm taking notes on each port. PrincessAir put us on a UA code share flight with Air Canada. I grumbled until I checked the AC website and noted an upgrade from Biz to Exec first. I emailed my TA that this was a dream from college days; 9 hours of self service open bar with a comfy place to sleep. Anyway, I know we'll have as much fun as you and your Dad did. Thanks again.

[melody hounddog]

Danielle,

 

Thanks for your amazing review. We sail in 29 days, but on the reverse itinerary, so I can't wait for your next segments. I'm taking notes on each port. PrincessAir put us on a UA code share flight with Air Canada. I grumbled until I checked the AC website and noted an upgrade from Biz to Exec first. I emailed my TA that this was a dream from college days; 9 hours of self service open bar with a comfy place to sleep. Anyway, I know we'll have as much fun as you and your Dad did. Thanks again.

 

We are doing this trip next summer. Do you mind me asking what you thought of PrincessAir? How were the prices compared to doing it yourself? When did you book the flights? We are coming from CA as well and I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about it.

Thanks!

 

PS My dad lives in Livermore and he keeps complaining about how hot it is lately. Hope it cools down for you guys!

Edited July 7, 2013 by melody hounddog

[silverbird]

The monument in the park in Edinburgh is the Sir Walter Scott Memorial situated in Princes Street Gardens. Your comments brought back the memories of the lone piper in the park. We were there two years ago and it was an elderly gentleman attired in his full regalia and kilt. We were fortunate enough to attend the Royal Military Tattoo at the castle and it truly was an awesome evening.

 

I am enjoying re-living the trip through your eyes. You write extremely well and your stories are quite entertaining. Keep up the good work!!

 

Thank you for taking the time to "take us along".

[DrivesLikeMario]

Really enjoying your thread! I missed much of Edinburgh, so it was fun to see it through your experience.

 

The ocean water level really varies in So. Queensferry. We had a tender get stuck on the mud because the tide changed so quickly. They tried everything - wiggling it, moving passengers around, tugging it off with ropes from other tenders, pushing it off, etc. - and it refused to budge. The poor passengers had to wait almost 3 hrs. until the tides changed again. They ended up missing a good portion of their ship-sponsored tour. All I could think about was what if I was stuck on that tender and had to go to the bathroom?!! :eek:

[lovesandiego]

 

LIKE! That would be me. :eek: