MSC Magnifica picture heavy fun review -- 12 days British Isles incl. DIY port trips

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Pasta of the day with Bolognese sauce

 

Risotto ai Quattro formaggi

 

Saithe fillet in Marinara sauce

 

Butter roasted salmon fillet

 

Duck breast with currants in Merlot wine sauce

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Veal mille-feuille

 

Lol -- Anonymous desert number one

 

And anonymous desert number two

 

 

 

 

Stay tuned!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Evening entertainment

Lol – the most entertaining for me personally was to see this ferry zip past us.

This would have been one of my many “emergency” options to get to our next port stop the next day, being Greenock, Scotland. Not to have needed it and leasurly sipping on a BBC while watching it go past, made me feel like a cat, who has just eaten a potful of cream. Life was good again.

Tonight’s show:

Lol – I know – Tanja looks a bit afraid. But we stayed to watch the beginning anyway.

A ship on the trailer

A ship as background

And wildly dressed artists dancing furiously …

I’m sure the show was interesting, but the stress of the day got to us afterall … we were more than tired … we felt like we could fall asleep standing up. Too bad for the show, but we had to retreat to sleep right away. After all, tomorrow, we’d be back in Scotland for one more glorious day … and we planned to drive and hike quite a bit … so we would need to be rested. Good night everyone!

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Bimmer09]

Stef, thanks for your generous account of your shore excursion to the Giant's Causeway. I was born in Northern Ireland and so it is always interesting to see how others react to it. People have often said it is beautiful even though it is usually cloudy and threatening to rain. It isn't always like that-we have sunny days, er, actually we have 1 sunny day usually in July. Come back then!

 

The winding drive up the Antrim Coast Road is indeed a great one for scenery but of course drivers have to watch out for sheep or cows on the road being led by a farmer. Agriculturally a very rich country with a mild climate- I was born 20 miles south of Belfast on the coast and there are palm trees growing in some gardens there (not more than 10 ft tall though so don't confuse it with Bora Bora).

 

Great review!

 

Tchuss!

 

Norris in Chicago

Edited November 24, 2014 by Bimmer09
spelling

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

welcome to the review Bimmer 09, I love locals (even if it's former locals) reading my review. If they like what I write about their native land.... even better! Glad you enjoyed our trip description to the Causeway!

 

 

Lol -- Bora Bora sounds real good after a British Isles cruise ... I must admit that. The only thing we were missing to complete bliss were a bit more sun and a bit (well, okay .. a lot) more heat.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Day seven -- Greenock, Scotland

 

Dailies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[denisey]

Oh, the Sofisticats are back on this night's program. Hopefully the seas are not to rough for the cats this day! (see we read the dailys too!)

 

And for those in the US curious about the Guinness crisps, you can get them on Amazon in the convenient 20 piece package! For only $42.99! I'm going to go look for them at the British shop we have nearby.

[Jules.]

I've never seen Guinness crisps here in England :o

[bridgetjonesni]

It's so funny that the Guinness crisps are such a hit with everyone - they're pretty new and when they first started appearing in shops here, all of the locals starting tutting and saying Guinness should stick to beer never mind all this snack food malarkey! Although to be fair I haven't tried them yet, and you've encouraged me now!

[papcx]

I've never seen Guinness crisps here in England :o

 

 

We sell them at work. Don't go too well to be honest.

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Greenock, Scotland

 

 

 

 

these were the MSC tours offered on our port day here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

and here were our plans:

 

 

 

We'd be picked up by enterprise rent a car to be brought to their office at Glasgow airport in Paisley. From here, we'd be driving to the Trossachs particularly to Loch Achray, park there and hike up a mountain called Ben A'an to give us stunning views of Loch Katrin from high above. Later on we'd have lunch in the Larne Inn, close to the woolen mill, where we intended to do some serious souvenir shopping and see Hamish, the most photographed Highland-bull in all of Scotland (and probably the planet). From here, we'd head back on the highway, past Stirling castle through Glasgow back to the airport, were we would drop off our car and get a ride back to the ship docked in Greenock. So far, so good. Let's get off the boat to start a new port adventure, okay?

 

The people here were amazing. The folks at Greenock harbour do a fantastic job at welcoming guests. Lol, they even had free drams of Whisky for everyone ... don't know how it tasted ...

a. it was 8:00 in the morning and b. we just don't do Whisky.

 

But they also had all kinds of Scottish (some admittedly cheesy) gadgets around... like this:

 

 

but of course we had a ton of fun with it anyway :-)

 

 

to get to the rental car pick up person prooved a wee bit difficult. We were told to go to the car park.... well... when you get out of this terminal building, you pretty much are surrounded by a gigantic parking lot.

 

 

Is this were we're supposed to wait? Nobody around besides taxi drivers and tour bus drivers... mhhh. After waiting for a couple of minutes we asked one of the port staff people. He told us, where we had to go.

 

It's simple... you follow that walk way between the yellow rails until you get to a street. Cross that street and enter the parking lot right on the other side... walk all the way to the middle of the lot and you'll be seen and picked up. Our pick up person parked on the very left, way in the back. Once she saw us approach, she welcomed us and off we took to the airport office. It's a beautiful drive along the Firth of Clyde...and we enjoyed our chat with our nice (and not to mention very pretty) host.

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[wnycruisefam66]

Hi Stef: I'm still following along and enjoying your review! Sorry about the family tensions at your last port stop. Every family vacation we take has at least 1 of those days! You are not alone! After our Med cruise this summer my husband vowed never to travel with our 13yr old son again, but after a few months to let the bad memories fade we're planning our 2015 vacation.

 

Tina

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Driving (post one of two)

In the office at Glasgow airport.

Happy to get our rental car in a few minutes.

Tadahh! Tanja, once again ready to drive on the wrong (lol, for us anyway) side of the road.

 

Starting on the freeway, heading towards the Clyde tunnel.

 

I hate to drive through large tunnels and or long bridges … it’s an Earthquake thing. I was in the Northridge quake in California and ever since that cop died falling down with the collapsing bridge over the I-5 only a few miles away from our house at the time … nope, I just don’t like to be in a vehicle that might get smashed or might fly into an abyss. Just me.

Gulp, so here’s the Clyde tunnel:

Yay, we’re still alive!

I was so glad, that I didn’t have to drive through the outskirts of Glasgow myself. There seemed to be a thousand construction zones.

Tanja was –once again – my hero. She was calm and relaxed, while I was already panicky just being on the passenger seat.

To get to the Trossachs (a beautiful mountain range with an impressive National forest and pittoresque lochs)is actually quite easy … just follow the signs to Aberfoyle.

Cough, we managed to take a wrong turn twice though…they have the wildest round about structures I have ever seen. You would imagine to be the center to be --- well, round. One of these was as round as a 6 month old kid would draw a circle. Miraculously the ends met, but in between there were lots of crooked directions. To end up on the right street out of this maze was quite a task … we only got it right after doing an extra involuntary drive through a -- very pretty—Scottish neighborhood.

But finally, we left the urban setting behind us and were once again surrounded by the beautiful Scottish landscape.

Ahhhh, I must say I had missed it already. Weird – maybe I have some Scottish ancestors I know nothing about. Gotta have a word with my parents :-).

 

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hi Stef: I'm still following along and enjoying your review! Sorry about the family tensions at your last port stop. Every family vacation we take has at least 1 of those days! You are not alone! After our Med cruise this summer my husband vowed never to travel with our 13yr old son again, but after a few months to let the bad memories fade we're planning our 2015 vacation.

 

Tina

 

Lol Tina, I know how you feel. Good for you, that you managed to succeed in easing the tensions for an upcoming vacation. Have fun with the planning! And hopefully, the trip will be less stressfull for you, your husband and your son in 2015.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Driving (last post)

The closer you got to the Trossachs, the more spectacular the views. The roads get narrower and narrower as you drive towards Loch Achray. In Aberfoyle you have to take a sudden right turn. Sigh, we missed it at first and ended up in a street with the worst speed bumps ever. But this way we got to see a beautiful ancient school, with lots of tiny children in uniforms, getting ready to head back inside. That was worth the little detour I guess.

Whoohooo, reached the Ben A’an parking lot, which is situated right at the shore of Loch Achray.

I’ll tell you more about that hike in the next post.

The drive from Loch Achray onto Callander is in my opinion the most scenic part.

The roads do seem to shrink continuously though.

This is Loch Venachar to the right.

After leaving the Trossachs, you get spit out at a T-section. Right before it is a place called Lade Inn.

We had lunch here. It’s a pretty place, but I think it tends more to bus hordes than individual tourists. We loved the setting and the interior…but the food was just okay (not bad, but not outstanding either) considering the insanely long time it took them to prepare it.

At the T-section, you take a right to drive back to Glasgow … after a few seconds, you’ll reach the Woolen mill and Hamish coming up on your left side.

More on that later.

If you would have loads of time left at the time you reach this T-section, I’d have another little sight I’d suggest you look at. Take a left turn and drive for about a mile. On the left hand side there should be a little parking lot , leading to the Leny Falls. They’re pretty much right beside the road. Not humongous…but I think definitely worth the little detour up north. Sadly, we didn’t have the time to do that ourselves anymore. Bummer – I LOVE waterfalls.

On the way back to Glasgow we experienced some heavy showers … to the degree, that parts of the road got flooded! Tanja was not stressed out in the slightest and maneuvered our little car right through the spontaneous streams.

Later on we got into heavy traffic in Glasgow… and we were late…very late! I really didn’t think we’d make it. Tanja was the fastest car around (on the few stretches, where this was possible). How do they handle speeding tickets in Scotland? Don’t know and we were extremely lucky not to find out. We rushed onto the rental place parking lot … with a completely empty tank. Yes, we were supposed to fill it up … but THEN we would definitely not have made it on time.

The rental people were extremely friendly and helpful. We were able to zip through our credit card for the missed refueling and they organized an alternative car (lol –with at least a minimum amount of gas in it) to drive us back to the ship within seconds. The guy driving us was a real pleasure to chat to, while we benefitted from his local expertise on how to avoid the traffic jams. I’m so annoyed at myself, that I forgot to ask his name. We made it to the ship exactly 6 minutes before the all aboard time. Whew – close call. Thank you enterprise rental car agency in Paisley … without your quick and helpful handling of the situation, we definitely would have missed our ship!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So now that you know, we made it back okay, you can relax and enjoy the ride. We’ll start with our hike of Ben A’an.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[AnnMR]

I used to live near Aberfoyle - it certainly is a beautiful part of the world.

I'm impressed with how much you pack into your day trips, but would be too scared of missing the boat. I've either done pottering around on my own or the ship excursions.

[blackpoolbelle]

Hi

loving your mega-post. We are thinking of taking an MSC cruise this winter/spring so I'm finding it really interesting to find out about life onboard. The ports of call look amazing too.

Thanks

BPB

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I'm impressed with how much you pack into your day trips, but would be too scared of missing the boat. I've either done pottering around on my own or the ship excursions.

 

Well, we`ve made it back to the port in Greenock on time... so my last port, where I thought we could run into troubles was over.

 

Lol -- we are well aware of the possibility to miss the ship on these very packed days... however, even on days that you think are safe and easy, stuff can go wrong... so unless you solely rely on ship excursions ... you gamble each time. I love the freedom and independence on our trips so much however, that I am willing to accept this little spicy hazard.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Hi

loving your mega-post. We are thinking of taking an MSC cruise this winter/spring so I'm finding it really interesting to find out about life onboard. The ports of call look amazing too.

Thanks

BPB

 

Welcome to the review!

 

lol- I like the term "mega-post". Hope I can give you a first impression of their ships.

 

:p You're welcome -- glad you like it ... just like you said ... this post is getting insanely long ... I'm so happy (and in awe) people keep reading it over such a long time frame ... thanks to all the patient and loyal readers out there.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Ben A’an (post one of four)

This hike was proclaimed as an “easy” hike.

Note – this was said by Scots.

We have come to the firm believe, that all Scots must be some genetically wondrous mix, somehow involving a mountain goat. THEY wrote this hike shouldn’t take more than an hour to the summit and approximately half an hour going back down. Two small steep stretches, one at the very beginning and one at the very end … the rest easy peasy … according to THEM.

Up on top of the rim, you were supposed to be rewarded with stunning views of Loch Katrin … remember … I had read the “Lady of the Lake” and it's describing exactly THAT lake in the poem and I was desperate to lay my eyes on it.

Lol – let’s see how three wimpy Germans got along.

First of all you have to buy a parking ticket. Problem: It only takes coins … exact change!

We didn’t have enough of the right coins …ahhhh!

But a Scottish lady already came back down the mountain (wait .. they actually call it a mere “hill”) with her dog happily beside her.

Mhhh, why does that dog look like he was just dipped in mud?

Oh well, never mind for now. The very fit, not at all worn down looking lady came up to us to give us her ticket, since she was getting ready to leave. Yay – parking problem solved. I love Scots.Of course we returned the favor later on for new visitors ... since nobody was around, we just stuck the ticket to the front of the machine for the next one willing to purchase one.

But let’s start our hike:

To get to the beginning of the trail, you cross the street by the parking lot.

Tadahhh!

At first the trail is made up of a gazillion roots.

Yes, it was quite steep, but since the returned lady still appeared to be full of energy at the parking lot, we thought it couldn’t last much longer, till the easy path would begin. To strengthen this believe, a female ranger came skipping! down the path with the roots. She smiled at us broadly and told us not to worry, it would get better soon. We thought she meant more even, or simpler to walk on … or something like that.

Sigh, anyway, the path was absolutely beautiful. I really liked the old hollow trees

the abundance of fern and big rocks.

Tarik liked it too.

I know it’s a miracle, but he really adores to hike through nature … so very much unlike his age group.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

:(sorry guys, I'm on emergency call this weekend ... no time for postings. I'll be back on monday.

 

Stef

[Jules.]

No worries, we'll be waiting :)

[windjamming]

:(sorry guys, I'm on emergency call this weekend ... no time for postings. I'll be back on monday.

 

Stef

 

 

Thanks Stef. Just wanted to let you know I'm still here, too, reading and enjoying every post. Your pictures are stunning of the drives and hikes in N. Ireland and Scotland. It's obvious how much amazing planning you did for this trip, and Tanja is an absolute driving superstar! (I'm the one who looks both ways at least three times when just crossing a street in London!)

 

I hope you have a quiet day on call. You are a real hero! I had an emergency situation with my German Shepherd in the middle of the night once, and I was so thankful for the on call vet's experience, reassurance, and calmness.

 

So thank you for both the review and for what you do!

 

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

The weekend was pure stress -- somehow countless dogs decided it was a great weekend to get into dogfights and rip up their hides real good...thank God I had enough suture material. Anyway, I needed yesterday to recover somewhat... but no serious casualties ... so all is good. I'm busy writing the next post.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

 

So thank you for both the review and for what you do!

 

 

 

:p you're welcome. I love my job -- and writing the review of course as well.

 

So actually I should be the one being grateful for being in a position to do both.

 

Lol -- although this weekend I felt more like a plumber, fixing leaks:D.