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

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

I was born in Scotland 60 yrs. ago and have been back many times. Have been on 43 cruises and the British Isles was one of the best. Wish you could have gone in the summer when the weather was better. Great people and many old pubs where you would be very welcome. Thanks for the memories.

 

Hi Maggie,

 

Lol -- sad thing is -- we DID go in the summer:D! But seriously, I think the weather could have been much worse. We saw blue skies quite frequently ... we were amazed at the speed the weather changed back and forth in a matter of minutes.

 

:)Wow -- 43 cruises...Yealous! Me tooo, me tooo! to think of all the reviews I could write! Sigh, I hate not having a cruise to look forward to for 2015. Bohoo:(.

 

We were sad not to have experienced an old Scottish pub ... too bad. But to be honest, after our weird experience in Beauly I think I'm too intimidated to try to stumble into another one.

 

:pGlad to share memories and to evoke yours for ya, you're welcome!

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

it continues to be fantastic. And when you make us wait too long for the next instalment, I pass the time by reading yr. other reviews tho. I try to resist as one day, there'll be nothing to read for the first time.(sad face - can't do the icon)

 

Lol -- I don't think I'm making you wait too long! But I'm happy to hear you're reading my other reviews. Since my reviews tend to get longer each time, they're not as extensive yet ... but boy, just imagine the size of the future review after this one one day...

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Found a link to your report on the Celebrity Board, yesterday and I just finished reading it. You did an amazing job of making me feel like I was right there with you. Now I'm reading your other 2 reviews. By the time I'm finished you will be like family.

Thanks, so much, for sharing your adventures in such great detail.

Toni

 

Hi Toni,

 

welcome to the review! lol, family can never be big enough! Welcome!

 

lol -- and since we're ready to start with our report on Dublin now ... the true adventure is just beginning to unfold:rolleyes:.

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Dinner day seven

Sometimes we didn’t have enough organizational skills left at the end of an exciting portday… on those days you only get the picture of

one

side of the menu posted in the glas case in front of the restaurant, because we simply forgot to take one of the real one at the table. Today was just such a day:

Our tablemates reminded us to take pictures of the food though, so you luckily don’t loose out on those.

Latium-style fried salt cod

Italian antipasto

Lettuce, carrots and sweetcorn salad

Tortiglioni alla Boscaiola

Risotto al radicchio di Chioggia

 

 

 

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

oops, let's try this again.

Edited December 8, 2014 by Kreuzfahrtneuling

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Pasta of the day

Grilled salmon fillet

Beef pot roast in Prosecco di Conegliano wine

Well – and three anonymous deserts:

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Tonight’s show:

I have a confession to make. Tanja and I didn’t go see the Cat-show…

We were just too overwhelmed with all the impressions of the day and didn’t want to get entertained. We retreated to our favorite bar, the l’Ametista lounge and wanted to end the evening chilling out.

Tarik however did go to the theatre, and he was nice enough to take some pictures for you guys… so here they are:

He liked it.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[davidcraig2003]

Wow -- thank you so much! Can't believe that now I have a picture of the ship, with us actually in it at the moment! Very, very cool!

 

..and I'm so sorry, I forgot to report about the pipe band! We didn't really value them to the extent they would have deserved, since we got to the ship sooo late. We pretty much ran past em. Lol, did you see us zipping past?

 

But one thing is certain ... the folks at Greenock sure go out of their way to welcome cruise passengers. I've read, that they even supply several free:eek: bus tours of the area, which are supposed to be very good!

 

:):):)Thank you again for those fabulous pictures!!!!!

 

 

Stef

 

 

Didn't see you zipping past I'm afraid. Having read your previous two reviews, had you ran past I might even have recognised you.

 

The inverclyde tourist group is a volunteer group, mainly retired individuals who give up their time to welcome and chat to incoming tourists off ships for advice etc. they also offer a choice of 3 free tours, which run multiple times a day. One around Greenock, one to Gourock (my town) and another to Port Glasgow. Tours are free, there is no charge/scam!

 

http://www.inverclydetouristgroup.co.uk/

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Didn't see you zipping past I'm afraid. Having read your previous two reviews, had you ran past I might even have recognised you.

 

The inverclyde tourist group is a volunteer group, mainly retired individuals who give up their time to welcome and chat to incoming tourists off ships for advice etc. they also offer a choice of 3 free tours, which run multiple times a day. One around Greenock, one to Gourock (my town) and another to Port Glasgow. Tours are free, there is no charge/scam!

 

http://www.inverclydetouristgroup.co.uk/

 

Lol ... too bad. It would have been a hoot if somebody would have called out to us to say hello, even if we only had a few minutes left to board.

 

:) Maybe next time!

 

Thanks for sharing the info of the inverclydetouristgroup. They rock!

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Evening entertainment (besides the show)

Well, the evening in the l’Ametista lounge ended up a bit more active and crazy, than we had anticipated … but it was also very fun and we had lots of laughs.

First of all the stage was occupied by one of the entertainment staff-members, who tried to teach passengers how to dance the Chachacha (aehm, do you spell it like that? Lol – well I believe you can decipher which dance I mean).

Our tablemates Yvonne and Ingo showed up, together with Tarik, who had all enjoyed the theatre show.

And now Yvonne convinced Tanja to go and join the dancing lesson… wait a minute -- how come

she

succeeds in that and whenever

I

wanna dance, honey doesn’t want to? Sigh! Well, Ingo was just as bad as Tanja usually is … he wasn’t to be convinced to join the dancing.

Yay, Yvonne --- can’t believe you got her up there! A miracle!

Lol – but Tanja remains to stay a little off from all the others.

She tried the moves though. But after a while when the twirling and stuff was added … she quit.(Sigh, can you believe we really were able to dance this a decade ago without any difficulties? Sigh, I really need to get her to take a refreshment class with me.)

I on the other hand couldn’t sit still anymore … so I took her place and ended up dancing with Yvonne… I think we rocked!

Thanks Yvonne for the wonderful dance! Ingo and Tanja were happy not to be forced to and our Chacha was just great fun.

In one of our dancing-breaks, Ingo spotted another cruise ship, heading the other direction. I got very excited … I know that ship.

That’s the Ruby Princess! I was sort of hijacking their roll call before the cruise, because the one for our MSC cruise was so dead.

They were doing the British Isles Itinerary also, just clockwise. I knew we’d pass them between Greenock and Dublin, but I didn’t think we would actually get a chance to see them. And so I was able to wave like a maniac, like I had promised to all the CC roll call members on that ship in case I should see them go past. Whoohoo! I saw the Ruby! I was stoked!

After a while, the entertainment team started to go wild. Everybody in the bar got dressed up like this:

Lol – and with this group picture I’ll leave the rest of our party night up to your imagination… It was long, involved quite a bunch of drinks and furious wild dancing … or better hopping around like to the "Time warp" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Our chill-out evening had turned into a furious party --- and we loved every second of it.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Day 8 -- Dublin

 

Dailies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[lorrdean]

Whooo hoooooo At last Dublin.......com'on Stef....what happened!!!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Whooo hoooooo At last Dublin.......com'on Stef....what happened!!!

 

:D:D:D will it really annoy you, if I tell you to be patient until pretty much the end of the Dublin day? Because the first part of the day was spiffy and I have pretty much a gazillion history posts to write before I come to ....the event:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:.

 

Almost there!

 

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

The MSC tours offered for Dublin

 

 

 

 

 

 

and that's what we had planned to see (DIY of course) that day:

 

 

 

 

stay tuned!

 

Stef

[oreosmile]

just back from our 2 week Caribbean cruise on the Divina and now all caught up on yours!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

just back from our 2 week Caribbean cruise on the Divina and now all caught up on yours!

 

 

:)welcome back!

 

How was your cruise?

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Dublin, just like Edinburgh, proved difficult to plan, simply because there were sooo many possible sights to explore. You definitely would need a week to see em all. Sigh, so we started cutting out stuff… aargh, how I hate that.

Gone with the wind went the Kilmanhaim gaol, the ST. James Brewery together with the Guinness storehouse, the Warren Beatty Museum, the Trinity College with the famous Book of Kells, the pretty paths along the Grand Canal, the whole James Joyce deal and Leo Burdock’s fish and chips.

There are still many more sights, but those were the ones we were favoring next to the ones we actually picked to see.

But let’s start with the port.

Port of Dublin (post one of two)

MSC offered shuttle busses, which would drop you off at Trinity College. I think they cost 15 Euros per person … no matter if adult or child. We thought that’s too much, plus we knew where to go, so we just started to walk.

Once you get off the boat you’re welcomed by this band playing Irish tunes.

Neat.

The walk to the tram station (Luas red line – station “the point”) takes about 10 – 15 minutes. Here – I drew you a map of the route:

and here’s us, starting our journey of the day, still happy and self-conscious, that this would be an easy and enjoyable day of sightseeing. Heck, all the “difficult” ports were done with and I had taken all my Dublin Info along. We didn’t plan to venture outside the city limits. Whatever could go wrong?

But let’s get back to the port description.

This is the view looking back to the ship.

There are signs everywhere, leading the way. You simply can’t miss it.

stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Port of Dublin (post two)

It’s not a pretty walk, but its safe.

Here we noticed the first little charming oddity of the locals handling work-matters.

This fellow’s job is to stand and wait for the rare event that an official car comes by, just to step forward and let him pass into the opening to the right, where the tram tracks run. We thought that was oh so funny. Wouldn’t a sign have sufficed saying this way only for employees, or something like that? And the guy didn’t even look bored… the job seemed to be just fine for him.

Holy Mary with a prayer together with a memorial sign for a Mr. Conalty (couldn’t find out who he was – sorry) with beautiful celtic symbols … proof: Yep, we arrived in Ireland.

But who on Earth would dump his trash underneath a Holy Mary statue???

Anyway, after you pass the port gate (which should stand right open), turn left and cross the street at the next signal. Continue on to the river until you reach the tram station a little off to the right. If you’ve walked all the way down to these (really nightmare conjuring) guys...

...You’ve walked too far.

But we intended to walk alongside the Liffey, so we were right on our way here. Whohoo, look – it’s the Seacloud II.

Oddly we have seen this ship on all of our cruises so far. That just must be a sign to go sail on her one day… sigh … I wish I had that kind of money.

But let’s continue with our stroll along the Liffey.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

here's a picture taken at the tram station, looking towards the port.

 

 

You can see the Magnifica in the back ... this way you get a feeling for the distance.

 

 

 

Stef

[spinnaker2]

Oh the foreshadowing ....I just sense the doom...

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Oh the foreshadowing ....I just sense the doom...

 

:DLol -- any psychics in your family? You're so right:o! But psssstttt;).

 

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Walking along the Liffey (post one of two)

The path along the Liffey to O’Connell Street takes about 30 minutes. From here you have the choice to either turn right to check out the street itself with its sights, or turn left and cross the river to get to the city center and main touristy place, the Temple Bar.

Some impressions from our walk:

They had these neat sea life motive glass spots in the pavement for the entire stretch.

Uhoh … What crashed into these poles? Must have been pretty big. Glad we don’t have a rental car today.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow – look at the size of this bench.

This is the first bridge to come up.

It’s called Samuel Beckett Bridge and it’s meant to look like an Irish Harp. It sure does and I think this bridge is not only practical (it’s a drawbridge – lol, otherwise the Jeanie Johnston -- amongst others, couldn’t pass to the sea anymore – and that would be a real shame), but also is a beauty in itself.

Tadah – proof – I was there. Notice how optimistic about the weather I was today? No jacket…just my new “Scotland souvenir” pullover and a vest above it. We took one umbrella for all today, just to be on the safe side.

 

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Walking along the Liffey (last post)

After passing the Samuel Beckett Bridge (not crossing it), you see a pretty sail boat docked at the side of the river.

The Jeanie Johnston ship

This is a replica of the “real” Jeanie Johnston ship, which sailed between Ireland and the new world 16 times between 1848 to 1852. It carried up to 254 emigrants per trip.

How cool -- You’re able to tour the ship! Hey, that’s as close to being on a real sail boat as I’ll be in a long time…I want to, I want to, I want to!

Well, the hut to enter for tours was closed with a sign up front, saying “be back in 5 min”.

Sigh, let’s just say Irish 5 minutes seem to differ greatly from German 5 minutes. After 15 or so minutes we decided to leave afterall… without the tour…bummer! I wonder how long the “5” minutes were after all … but I guess I’ll never know.

Shortly after the ship, you get to the Famine Memorial ( I’ll tell you all about that in the next posts) and a little further to the pretty Custom House.

What shocked us where the numerous signs of homeless dwellings.

Even right in front of the Custom House, there were various sleeping bags and a really bad smell of urine and vomit (sorry about that, but I believe you want the whole picture). Two more streets further along the Liffey you have finally reached O’Connell Street.

You can’t miss it, it is gigantically big. It’s actually the widest street in all of Europe, did you know that?

In case you don’t feel like walking such a long distance, there is always the possibility to just take the tram. Here’s a map with the walkway between the tram stop for O’Connell Street and our Bus stop, which would bring us to Glasnevin cemetery.

Very pretty, I thought, were these street lights, which were found throughout the city.

Stay tuned!

Stef

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Famine Memorial (Post one of three)

In between the Jeany Johnston and the Custom House, we experienced the Famine memorial … I don’t want to say we just saw it … it was more of a multisensual encounter. Picture goosebumbs … big lumps in our throats and history coming alive in our minds while walking slowly around the single statues.

This was erected to remind about one of the most haunting events for the Irish, and I just have to add some detailed posts about it …our pictures of the memorial will follow after our (extensive) history break.

If you’re not up to an intense lump in your throat, better skip the remaining and the two following posts.

Okay – I guess everybody still reading this post now is up for a new history class… hold on, since it will be the longest and most detailed yet. Here we go:

The potato famine

It all started in 1845, when a mysterious fog drifted over the fields of Ireland.

Shortly after that, all the leaves of the potato plants started to turn black, curl up and wither. When the people saw that, they hastily dug out the potatoes - they first looked normal, but they also started to rot within a day. What was happening? Lot’s of unscientific theories were roaming around.

Now we know that it was an airborne fungus, brought to Ireland aboard a ship from America.

Anyway, failed crops weren’t new to Ireland. Between 1800 and 1845 there had been 16 instances of food shortage. New was however, that this time it involved the whole nation at once … not only individual regions. Well, the food shortages before rarely resulted in more than a couple of deaths and there had

never

been an incident of two failed crops right after another. So although things looked gloomy (a little more than half of all the potatoes in the whole nation rotted), people were positive that next year’s harvest would solve the problem.

All there seemed to be left to do, was to survive until then. A relief commission was founded and the program was basically designed to raise money to buy food. The landlords were supposed to donate a certain amount and the British government would then double that amount.

Sigh, since some of the local committees in charge of getting that money from the landlords---let’s put this politely --- were not optimally functioning – a lot of landlords didn’t pay a dime. Even if there was money to buy food, it was difficult to come by -- since there was a legal problem with getting corn from England.

The Prime minister himself (Sir Robert Peel) secretly ordered two shiploads of maize from America without telling his own government to at least smuggle

some

food to the suffering people.

Ireland was a nation of potato eaters however. The maize had to be ground --- and not hardly enough mills were around to do so. The people hated the maize. It was sold for one penny, but poor peasants still ran out of money pretty fast (that's if they had any money to begin with). The people who ate it, soon suffered from Scurvy and Diarrhea – and they felt like they starved nonetheless, since they were missing the belly-filling feeling of their accustomed potatoes.

But it was all there was --- so they kept eating it. Until June 1846 – because that’s when the supplies were used up.

During all that time, there was no food aid from England, and what’s even more shocking is that the export of Irish barley, wheat and oats to England continued, while the local population starved.

Poor farmers sold their last grains to get some cash in order not to be evicted. Some took up huge loans, some sold their lifestock and some pawned their few posessions.

But hardly anybody died that winter … hungered, yes, but barely managed to survive … and surely the next good harvest would end this catastrophe, right?

Oh how wrong they were.

…to be continued!

[Kreuzfahrtneuling]

Famine memorial (Post two of three)

On June 29th, 1846 Prime Minister Peel had to resign. His successor was Charles Trevelyan, who was the guy in sole charge of the relief commission.

He believed that it was necessary to prevent the Irish becoming “habitually dependent” on the British Government … and so one of the first things he did, was make the already underway ship with new maize turn around and close all the remaining governmentally supported food depots:mad::eek:.

He insisted that the Irish be fed by the local Irish market. Well – yay…if there would have

been

any trade left, this might have worked (if you neglect the fact that many poor tenants didn’t have any money to begin with)…but this not being the case, it was a death sentence, should the new harvest fail.

And guess what?

It did just that. The fungus spread over the remaining potato plants and ruined them all. Entirely! … probably not a single edible potato left in Ireland.

By September starvation struck. Riots started to form as shiploads of oats were loaded on ships to be brought to foreign shores. The English sent troops instead of food and so the starving peasants had to watch guarded boats with grain pass them.

Wherever possible, the Irish lived off blackberries, seaweed, roots, turnips, nettles, old cabbage leaves and even green gras. They sold all their remaining lifestock and pawned even the clothes on their backs in a desperate attempt not to be evicted.

But it got worse.

Usually Irish winters are mild. You don’t always get snow. This particular winter however became the worst in living memory as one blizzard followed the next, leaving Ireland covered in snow and ice.

Hundreds of thousands of desperate Irish took up work on public work relief projects. They mainly built stone roads leading from nowhere to nowhere with the result of their bodies spending their last reserves. Many fainted or even dropped dead on the spot.

To be able to keep on working at all, many parents had to stop feeding their children…just to stay strong enough to at least get a little more desperately needed cash. Of course the children showed that neglect.

An English Quaker named William Forster described the children of Ireland "like skeletons, their features sharpened with hunger and their limbs wasted, so that little was left but bones, their hands and arms, in particular, being much emaciated, and the happy expression of infancy gone from their faces, leaving behind the anxious look of premature old age."

... to be continued.