Review of the Silhouette - British Isles Sailing August 11, 2017

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Here is my lengthy review (in parts by port) of our recent voyage on Silhouette with the highlight being the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo! It was a fabulous trip, first time for us in the UK and we can’t wait to go back! This was only our 2nd cruise with X.

 

A little about us: We were traveling with a group of six people from the USA – 3 adult couples – all family. We are all in our mid 60’s to early 70’s , several with breathing and mobility issues, so we traveled a little slower on some days than we would have if it were just the two of us. I am 65, slightly overweight and not in the best physical shape but we walked our butts off and it was sooooo worth it – 12 days on a cruise ship and no weight gain – woo-hoo! I will upload in segments – any questions please ask away…. I love to pay it forward from all the advice I have received on these forums!

 

 

Amsterdam – Pre-Cruise

We arrived in AMS at 5:30 am (11:30 pm to our body clocks) and headed to our hotel to drop off our luggage and refresh. Small snafu – my sister booked private transportation for us through Viator with Marcus Executive Car Service – 6 adults with one large case and one carry-on each. When we found our driver she said “I can’t take all that luggage – we need another car”! Since my sister had booked through Viator she had a confirmation in hand that stated what we ordered, but we had no phone number to call to complain and found we were “stuck” – at least they gave us a flat rate to the hotel for the second car but my sister will have to figure it out with Viator now that we are home. We stayed at the NH Amsterdam Centre which is located near Vondell Park and the Museum district. This hotel was moderately priced and very clean however the room thermostat did not work and our room was constantly 24 C which was way too hot for us Americans (75 F). The hotel offers a buffet breakfast at €30 per person so we skipped that and ate out! This hotel was a great location for exploring and there is a lot to see and do just across the canal in the Leidseplein Area.

 

Arrival Day: We had pre-booked a tour with “That Dam Guide”- Country, Windmills and Wine – Mark was our guide for the day and provided an excellent tour for us and kept us busy and awake till check-in time. He picked us up promptly at 9:15 at our hotel on the day of our arrival and we were joined by another couple who were also booked on the cruise. It was a fabulous day in the country! We visited a small fishing village, a working farm, a working windmill and had a delightful picnic provided by Mark with commentary on the cheeses and wine. After the tour, we checked in to our rooms around 3:30 pm and collapsed (it was only 10:30 am to us but we had not slept yet!). A few of us wanted to stay awake to get on the right time schedule so we set out for a walk and found a nice little “Pancake House” for dinner.

 

The next day was spent wandering the city after a visit to Anne Frank’s house – we had pre-purchased tickets on line for 10:00 am thankfully and skipped the very long lines waiting to get in. We cabbed to the house and hoped to find a place to grab a bite. We found a great little Restaurant -"Pancakes Amsterdam" next door that was scrumptious. Just enough time to eat before our tour time. Very humbling experience and physically can be a challenge - you climb 3 floors so mobility is a must. From there we wandered into Dam Square and watched some street vendors. We made our way through the city stopping in several areas and of course through the "Red Light District" and finally back to our hotel for a nap before heading out for our Dinner cruise with Lover’s Cruises. Disappointing – the food was so-so, table was cramped and the commentary just okay – would have done better with the hop on hop off system during the day! Breakfast the last day was out in Leidseplein square and very good.

 

The ship:

Embarkation: Our assigned time was 1:00 pm so we left the hotel at 12:00 pm (check out time) which gave us time to go out for a morning stroll and get some breakfast. We had pre-booked the same transportation with Viator again and had to pay for an extra car the second time as well. We arrived a little early at 12:40 pm at the pier. We were sent to a seated waiting area and then moved into the line at 1:00 pm. The line moved fairly quickly and we were on board by 1:30 pm. Dropped our carry-on in our cabins and headed to the buffet for lunch. Love the different stations with all kinds of ethnic foods and breads, burgers and even pizza. Great set-up!

 

 

Silhouette is a beautiful, well maintained vessel and we loved our stay on this ship. We were in cabin 8260 – veranda, starboard/aft. Plenty of storage areas, suitcases fit well under the bed. The overhead shelves above the bed could be a bit tricky getting clothes in and out, but large enough for everything. We have the same kind of storage in our RV so it was routine for us but for anyone with mobility issues it could have been tough.

 

Services: Our room steward was good, our dining staff great, but bar services were not the best and often times a waiter would disappear with our sea pass for more than 20 minutes to get out beverages. We were late for dinner one night because we couldn’t find the waiter who took our order and cards…frustrating!

 

Entertainment is always subject to personal tastes but we found it dull for this cruise. With the exception of one show, we mostly did not attend, or left after a few minutes if we did. We went to a “Beatles Review” and we felt they totally missed the mark - maybe it was just so long ago we forgot what they sounded like??

 

I am not going into depth on food in this review as I find that food is very subjective to the tastes of the reviewer. I am not a "foodie" and we tend to eat very basic at home so I am typically happy just to have someone else cook for me and wait on me - and an opportunity to try things I might not order if I had to pay by the meal. I tried a few new things, but mostly stayed with things I knew like veal cordon bleu, sirloin steak, and some fishes. The prime rib on the first night was excellent as were the lobster tails on the last night. Escargot was good as well - Ceasar salad often had too much dressing but seemed fresh enough - everything else was good but not "memorable".

 

 

Up next - the ports!

Edited August 27, 2017 by cinbol
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[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Inverness/Invergordon: A little overcast but warm enough for light layers today. We had pre-booked a private customized tour with Duncan MacLean – The Taxi Tour experience. We got off the ship as soon as possible for an 8:00 am tour. We walked out of the gated area and up a small incline and met Duncan at his permanent booth. We waited about 15 minutes for our driver George and then we were in our 8 passenger van and on our way. We had invited 2 others from our CC forum to join us. We headed out of the city towards Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness (no Nessie!) and it started to sprinkle very lightly. We stopped only for photo ops as none of our group was inclined to walk down to the Castle knowing we were going to Cawdor later on. From there we traveled thru Inverness to get some views of the city and on towards Culloden Battlefields where we had a short time to explore. We stopped at a local pub for lunch (which was a disaster – over an hour and a half for a quick bite!) and then on to Cawdor Castle and gardens. It was starting to rain but only lasted about 10 minutes and then beautiful sunshine. It’s a beautiful estate but we did not have enough time to walk the maze and gardens!

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Edinburgh:

Day One and the Tattoo: We were ready for any weather in this port as we had researched and decided to go with layers as suggested. The weather was overcast but warm (high 60’s) when we left the ship.

Tender Process: We arrived in New Haven approx. 9:00 and the tenders started running about 9:30 am - this was earlier than expected, however there was some issue with the company contracted to run the bigger "ferry" boats (150-200 ppl) and they didn’t show up so the ship had to use the life boats (85 ppl) as tenders which made for an extremely slow process. We had not planned to disembark until noon time so we thought the "crowd" would be gone. We set a meeting point for our group of 16 on the ship and planned to all get a tender together. We had hired a private transport to take us to and from Edinburgh on the first day so we had transportation all set to pick us up at 1:30 pm and return us after the Tattoo. We waited until our group of 16 was together to get our tender tickets. The process is set up so that when you are ready to go ashore, if you are not on an excursion with the ship you must go get a number. Lesson learned - get your tender numbers early – little did we know, one of us could have gotten them for the whole group before our meet up time and not been left waiting so long (about an hour from the time we got our tickets).

Once in the dock area, we were directed by some wonderful volunteer locals to find our driver. We boarded and we were off. He dropped us off on Fourth Bridge (above Central train station) and that was our pick up point after the Tattoo. We were just at the start of the Fringe as we walked uphill towards the castle. We had pre-purchased timed entry tickets for the castle and we were allowed in later than our appointed time. It took us a while to get to the top of the mile as some in our group have mobility issues and it is uphill all the way and very crowded as well with Fringe goers. The castle is so much more than just a building - it is a complex of buildings as I imagined from historical books I have read and we covered every inch of it! After touring the Castle, we had reservations at the Witchery for 6:00 pm - it was close to the castle so we weren’t traveling up and down the hill but I personally felt it was overpriced, with a very limited menu and way too crowded. We were a party of 6 crammed into a small table with not much elbow room and our chairs just about hit the chairs of the people behind us making it very difficult for wait staff to get thru. It was hard to enjoy the ambiance of this beautiful little restaurant. The food was good but we were so uncomfortable. Just my opinion. I would rather have gone to a pub and there were plenty of choices! As we left dinner we were right in the thick of the crowd moving towards the tattoo so it was very convenient not having to start at the bottom of the line.

We were “dry” all day until the Tattoo. We located our seats in section 5 which is along the right side of the Castle looking towards the castle but near the end (more expensive seats)- Row S is a long way up! We decided to put on our poncho’s right away. The announcer said rain was definitely expected so we wanted to be ready and we were glad we did - The rain started about ½ way through the performance. The seats were excellent – allowed us a great view of the various formations taking place. What a fabulous show, and it was so special to have a US General be the guest of honor! Getting out of the stadium after the event was a bit of a mess (people just have a tendency to push forward like on an airplane not waiting for those in rows in front of them), but once out we were just swept along with the crowd down towards our pick up point. Once we were all on board, we headed straight out of the city ahead of many of the big tour buses thankfully! The very wet part of the evening came when we got back to the fiasco at the tenders – we arrived at the docks about 11:30pm -we waited over an hour in line in the pouring rain to get back to the ship. It was not a pretty sight but the ship’s crew members were doing the best with what they had. Apparently by that time they got at least one of the much larger "ferry" boats to start taking passengers but the water was extremely choppy by midnight so it was a slow process. We were some of the luckier ones – we were back on board about 12:45 am – we heard others didn’t get back till almost 3:00 am! Celebrity really needs to work on this for the future – the Captain apologized profusely the next night before the entertainment, but it left a lot of people very unhappy – especially those on the ships excursion to the Tattoo – they were the last groups getting back! Maybe they should have kept people on the nice dry and warm buses until they could get on the tenders. Very poor planning for this event – not their first rodeo so not sure what happened – rumors all around from a broken contact for the larger vessels to just poor management on X’s side…we will never know....

 

 

Day Two: We were off the ship just after 9:00 am by the time we got tickets our number was #43 and they were only calling #8 but we asked the attendant at the end of the line what number they were on and they just sent us on! Never hurts to ask! The tender port had some wonderful people waiting for us to direct us to where we needed to go. They were very helpful with our plans for that day. We took the public bus #16 to Princes Street ( £1.60 each for a single ticket and we bought from a nice lady right on the pier so didn't have to worry about exact change). We wanted to wander around the festival and take in some sights along the way. We hiked up to the Royal Mile from Princes St. which runs parallel but it is far below The Royal Mile (found out afterwards we could have gone into the National Gallery and gone up to the top floor and out another door and been street level to the Royal Mile!) As it was we came out of a “close” just below the Castle and started at St Giles and worked our way down the mile all the way to the Holyrood Palace. Several things we wanted to see were not open - The Peoples Story at the Canongate Tollbooth for one, but we found several surprises along the way; a neat little "flea market" that had various vendors selling their wares and the best bread ever! We did stop in at Canongate Kirk which is the church the Queen attends when she is in “residence”. We visited the Palace and then took the #35 public buses back to Ocean Terminal which is where the Yacht is. We had not pre-purchased our tickets and the line looked very long so we just headed back to Newhaven. We could have walked from there (about 10 minutes) but met up with two older ladies who were very confused and lost so we hopped in a cab together to help them get back to the ship.

[bigbeergut]

Edinburgh:

Day One and the Tattoo: .... It was not a pretty sight but the ship’s crew members were doing the best with what they had. Apparently by that time they got at least one of the much larger "ferry" boats to start taking passengers but the water was extremely choppy by midnight so it was a slow process. We were some of the luckier ones – we were back on board about 12:45 am – we heard others didn’t get back till almost 3:00 am! Celebrity really needs to work on this for the future – .....

 

We were on the Tattoo cruise last year and Celebrity had the exact same situation (however we were dry and the weather was perfect) with tendering. Celebrity used several of the lifeboats for tendering and it took forever to get off the ship and forever and a day to get back to the ship after the Tattoo. The last passenger did not get on the ship until 2:30 am. Since this issue has happened for at least the last two years, I doubt Celebrity really has a plan to improve the situation. The Tattoo was great evening however if I were to do it again, I would get a hotel for the evening in Edinburgh. This would avoid the late night frustration and avoid the morning tendering so we could start the second day earlier without the issue of a morning tender ride.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[easyboy]

Enjoying your review.

[Phamer55]

Great review! I did the British Open cruise last month on it was awesome!

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Liverpool

This stop was a very pleasant surprise! We had read some reviews that indicated there was “not much to do” at this port, yet we felt we didn’t have enough time there! We were off the ship just after 9:00 am. We got tickets for one of the HOHO buses that included admissions to the Cathedral Tower and a “Ferry on the Mersey” tour. It was early so we decided to do a loop on the bus first and then it would be time for the Ferry tours at 10:00 am. Saw all the things that we decided we would go back to, and got to the ferry in time for the first tour setting out. This was not my favorite part – it was just a ride on a ferry that made several stops. The commentary was very hard to hear and in hindsight, I would have skipped this to be able to do other things like the Beatles Story or a Beatles tour. We had some lunch at one of the vendors in the port area (greasy fish and chips but it was the experience that counted!) and then boarded the HOHO bus back to the Liverpool Cathedral to climb the tower – amazing views and history about the hand embroidered vestments used in the church. From there we headed back to the waterfront but had a long wait for the HOHO. We left there with the intent of going to the Beatles Story but we by the time we got there the line was a bit long and we didn’t want to rush through it – it was only about a 15 minute walk from this area which had many shops and places to eat so we took our time, did a little shopping and went to the Liverpool Museum on our way back to the ship – they had a nice little display of Beatles memorabilia, a short video documentary and some interesting historical displays as well – it was free and worth a visit. There was so much more to see and do here….back on the ship about 4:30 pm

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Belfast

We had pre-booked with Odyssey Tours on a smaller bus “with more leg room” for 19 people. We were off the ship by 7:30 am as we were supposed to depart 30 minutes after docking but due to lack of communication from the ship or port master, the private vendors weren’t expecting us until 8:00 am so there was a bit of confusion at the docks looking for our driver.

 

 

Once everyone was on-board, we headed straight to Carrick-a-Rede Bridge via the “motorway” to try to beat the big busses. A headcount was taken for those who wanted to try the bridge so our driver Jim could call ahead and reserve them – this allowed us to skip the long line waiting to buy tickets and that was great! The walk down to the bridge is an easy 20 minute walk, with two different sets of stone steps but by the second set I was already thinking about coming back up…ugggh! We got to the bridge and had to wait a while as they can only let so many go at a time, and there was traffic coming from the other direction. It was amazing! A little wobbly but exciting and secure. After crossing to the “island” there is another area to go up to for the best views. After relaxing a bit and taking pictures it was time to head back to the bus. That easy 20 minute walk down was now a monumental climb back up. I am a healthy 65 year old woman, and I love to walk but those stairs back up were killers! I took my time, stopped several times along the way, laughed at the young boy who “ran” past me, and finally made it to the paved path without having a heart attack – maybe 30 minutes coming back up but seemed like hours! But it was sooooooo worth it!

 

 

The next stop was a “photo op” at Dunluce Castle. We did not go to tour it because the large vans and buses can’t get to the parking area, but we had some great shots and learned the history of this castle that literally broke and fell into the sea below taking many servants with it. The lady of the castle was so distraught that the family moved out and no one ever lived there again. Back on the bus heading to Giants Causeway. We by-passed the welcome center (which has a cost) and walked down the long roadway to the Causeway. There is a shuttle bus to take you down and up again at a cost of £1 per person each way. It was about a 10 minute walk to get to the bottom and amazing views of the area. We walked around a bit, and waited in the long line for the shuttle to go back up. We were at our pick up point in plenty of time, and it started to sprinkle – by the time we got on our bus, it was raining harder but we were nice and dry!

 

 

Next we visited the small village of Ballycastle and a nice little tavern – O’Connors – where we had lunch. Huge servings, great food! We chose to eat so didn’t have time to walk around the village but it looked inviting with shops and cafes. Back on the bus again and we headed down the Antrim coast through several small villages and along the shore – amazing views again and great commentary by Jim. He told us that it is believed there are more sheep than people in Ireland but they don’t know for sure….”every time they send someone to count them, they fall asleep!” (sorry – he was full of these!) Back in Belfast we had a tour of the city from the van and explanation of “The Troubles” and our driver’s opinion of it all. This was to be expected – there are very definite lines still to this day about the troubles and the cause, and depending on your driver you may hear an entirely different story but this is what we expected – we wanted to hear from someone who lived thru it all. Saw the Peace Wall and some murals and headed back to the ship arriving back about an hour before sail-away.

Edited August 29, 2017 by cinbol
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[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Dublin

This port is another industrial port not what you typically see coming off a ship, but another amazingly walk-able city once you get there. We were off the ship about 9:00 am and took the shuttles into the city to explore. They were waiting right at the bottom of the ramp to the dock. I don’t remember the cost but it was a small fee – maybe €6 each round trip? The ride was about 20 minutes.

 

We were dropped off on the North Side of Merrion Square and proceeded to walk up Clare Street towards Trinity College. We did not pre-order tickets here but the line was not very long (20 minutes or so) so we decided to go in. The Book of Kells is hard to see – it’s in an enclosure that requires you to look down into the case (with about 50 other people trying to do the same thing) with patience you can finally get to a spot where you can view the books. There are several rooms set up for viewing the history of the books downstairs and then we went up to the largest library I have ever seen – it was amazing to see the architecture and rows and rows of books as well as a harp that is believed to be the oldest surviving one in Ireland.

 

From there we headed towards Grafton St and the Molly Malone Statue, down to Dublin Castle and then St Patrick’s Cathedral which is breathtaking. Again there was a small line to get in but so worth it - and the grounds are just beautiful, a nice little oasis!

We then worked our way to St Stephen’s Green where we met our tour guide from STROLL for a walking tour/history of Irish Dance – after some confusion about the meeting place, it was a lot of fun, 90 minutes of walking and listening, and we learned a few steps along the way.

 

We ended at the oldest Pub in Dublin – O’Donaghue’s. Headed back to Merrion Square after picking up some small souvenirs along the way (and some delicious snacks) and shuttle back to the ship – back on board about 4:30 pm

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Cobh/Cork

The most scenic port so far… a beautiful little town sits just below the docks and the back drop was fabulous! We had pre-booked a tour with Paddywagon Tours (our only big bus experience).

 

Off the ship at 9:00 am to meet up with our driver Jerry and we were on the road by 9:30 am. Headed straight to Blarney Castle and today we started our trip with rain (we had been expecting rain for the entire trip so no complaints here!). We were given about 90 minutes at this stop and told to “hustle” up to the castle if we were going to climb. Tickets to “kiss the stone” were pre-purchased allowing us to skip the queue but several buses beat us there and the wait was about 20 minutes to get into the castle then an hour to get up the stairs to the stone. We chose not to lay on the wet ground and kiss the stone but blew it a kiss on the way by – but the climb was so worth it, and because the line moved so slowly it was a fairly easy climb ( compared to that bridge!) and on the way down there are several “rooms” that branch off to look at – this is exactly what we expected a castle to look like. Uninhabited and untouched.

 

We did not have time to look around the Woolen mills or other shops ( we were allowed 2 hours here) or the beautiful gardens (it was still raining).

 

Back on the bus we drove through Cork and had some commentary about the city but did not stop there. Too me it looked like most any other city - lots of "big name" stores ( some we even recognized from home!).

We stopped for a photo op at Charles Fort and views of Kinsale from above the town. Then we headed to into Kinsale – for time to walk around and grab a bite to eat. We found The Cosy Café and had delicious pastries for lunch. We had about 2 hours here and it was perfect – the rain stopped and we were able to roam about dry and without ponchos. Many stores were closed because it was Sunday but enough were open to allow us to finish our souvenir shopping.

From Kinsale it was a leisurely drive back to the port of Cobh and with plenty of time before the "all aboard" to roam about this quaint little village commemorating the last stop of the Titanic. I think there was a museum or exhibition there but we did not go in.

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

and finally..... Zeebrugges/Brugges

Another industrial port requiring transportation to and from the “city”. This time we pre-booked with Express Bus for €20 each return (round trip). The ship had shuttle buses waiting at the dock ramp, but we heard that cost $45 each.

 

There was a little red shuttle bus (free) to take us out to the gates of the port where we walked a short distance to find our Express Bus (and where all the private tours pick up). We were a little late (not getting off the ship till after 9:00 am) so we were delayed getting into the city by a lot of traffic. Once on the shuttle we drove for about 40 minutes to a drop off parking area (the same place as the “ships” shuttles) We were given maps to follow to find our way to the city center – over a bridge and through a beautiful park to find such a beautiful sight – many old buildings like you would expect to see – and shops – Chocolate, Lace, Chocolate, Lace, trinkets, Chocolate… you get the idea!

Our target for this day was to climb the Belfort Tower in the Center of Brugge so we tried to walk fast with “blinders” on to get there. We arrived at the base of the tower about 10:50 and it was just over an hour wait to get up the stairs to the payment booth. Once paid, you have to wait for someone to come down before the next person goes up – very nice little system as the circular staircase is narrow and hard to pass each other in some spots. The actual climb takes about 30 minutes total (up and down depending on how much time you spend viewing from the top!). The climb is not bad (worse than Blarney but not as bad as the bridge!), but long (366 steps) Most of the way the steps are made of stone till you get to the bell tower and they are wood and steeper, but the views from the top are just amazing and again well worth it (remember I didn’t gain weight on this cruise!). When we came back down, we walked around Market Square and then into the next square Burg – we window shopped until we found the best looking and smelling Waffles on a little street connecting the two squares – just the best at Chez Albert! Warm just cooked waffles smothered with cherry sauce and whipped cream – we shared one which was a good idea! We wandered back towards the bus depot taking our time and buying lace and chocolate, and more chocolate (we thought of bringing it home but didn’t want it to melt LOL! After taking a wrong turn somewhere, we figured out how to get back to the correct area to cross over and get our bus. We were back on the 3:00 bus in plenty of time for sail-away – the last shuttle was at 3:30 and we didn’t want to wait for the inevitable crowd that would be there so we timed it a little earlier. Back to the ship in plenty of time for all aboard.

 

Note: Most often we were let off and on the ship from Deck 4 next to the Martini Bar - very convenient for getting a beverage and heading to our balcony to unwind :p

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Disembarkation and wrap up:

Our flight was not until 2:45 pm so we opted for the last possible time slot to get off the ship. We put our large bags out the night before and each kept a carry-on for last minute things. We left our cabins at 8:00 am and headed to the buffet for our last breakfast. Hung out there as long as we could, and then it was time to collect our luggage – by then most had cleared the area so it was very easy to spot and collect. We had not pre-booked cabs to the airport (it would have been cheaper to do so with a flat rate!) so we got in line with a lot of other people but it moved fast. We were not in any hurry. We were a party of 6 with 12 bags so knew we would not fit in a standard cab – we met another CC couple in line and opted to go 4 and 4. That worked great until our driver told us (after we left the port) he could only take cash – he forgot his credit card machine - We had asked the line manager at the airport before we got in and we were told they all took Credit Cards – they are trying to be a cashless society – go figure! – We had almost enough Euro left for our share but the other couple was counting on using CC so we offered him American for the balance (by now we are in heavy traffic and the meter is climbing). He told them he could wait until they went to an ATM inside, but we persuaded him to take American money – I looked up the exchange rate for that day and he finally gave in – what else could we do? The final cost of the cab ride was €76 (euros which he tried to push up to €80) so each couple paid €38 or $45 American or a combination of both. Of course just that little time to look up the rate made me go over my pre-paid data allowance by just a fraction so that cab actually cost me another $25 more! But we learned a great lesson (ask before you get in!).

 

Getting through security and immigration were not hard – the lines were long but moved very fast – first time in all my years of traveling I got a very thorough pat down – nope just me inside that bra! But we laughed about it – it is what it is, and for safety it doesn’t bother me at all. They have these neat automated machines for luggage drop of – was fun to see them work or spit out the cases that were overweight (causing one large ethnic group to try to repackage all their luggage right in the way of everyone else). Once thru all of that we headed off to wait in our gate area for a few hours. We went where we were directed only to find out they had changed the immigration gate to another wing – we were in E and had to go back to D – not a major problem but hard for our family who have trouble walking long distances and then back again to E for our departure gate just in time. Flights were on time and uneventful.

This trip was a bucket list event for me – first time to any of these countries in the UK and Netherlands, and to see the Royal Tattoo live and in person (even in the rain) was a dream come true! This was only our 2nd cruise on Celebrity and while it won’t be our last it has not yet made it to the top of our preferred cruise line list – Princess still has my vote.

If I missed anything ask away… I’ll try to answer all questions on this forum and hope some of my information will be helpful to future BI travelers!

[chemmo]

Cinbol, thanks for your review....we tend to stick with Celebrity but may need to look a little wider the year after next to find a West Coast or Hawaii tour to tie in with meeting up with friends....

 

In what areas would you say Princess exceeds Celebrity? I believe the lines are quite similar generally....We are not particularly 'show' people but we enjoy live music, nice social bars, good food and usually book a suite room.

[floridaag]

Thanks for the review. We were on this cruise and it was fun to re-live it through your review. Disembarkation was a breeze.

 

We loved our day in Northern Ireland as well and hit most of the same spots you did - in addition to the ruins of Kinbane castle which was an amazing if tiring walk.

[Hartsfreeway]

Great review of the cruise! Thanks a lot to share your story.

 

The busses at Zeebrugge on the pier were €20 per person roundtrip. The "offical" excursion from X was about 49 or 59$.

The trip into town was quick and the drop off place was a 15-20 minute walk into the city.

The shuttle to the trainstation was €10 roundtrip plus train fare. As from what i read direct trains were each hour only, but there were other options but these were time consuming.

 

 

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[floridaag]

We had a private car reserved roundtrip for 8 from Zeebrugge to Bruges. 50 Euros each way - so worked out to slightly over 8 euros a person

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Cinbol, thanks for your review....we tend to stick with Celebrity but may need to look a little wider the year after next to find a West Coast or Hawaii tour to tie in with meeting up with friends....

 

In what areas would you say Princess exceeds Celebrity? I believe the lines are quite similar generally....We are not particularly 'show' people but we enjoy live music, nice social bars, good food and usually book a suite room.

 

I don't necessarily think Princess "exceeds" Celebrity - We are just more comfortable there - like you, I think they are very similar in most areas - food and services are about the same on both. I think the entertainment area is what makes the difference for us. What we missed was the smaller venues for entertainment like the Explorer Lounge or Wheelhouse Bar on some of the Princess ships we've been on, and Crooner's Bar where you could just sit and listen to a piano or guitar player and enjoy a glass of wine or cocktail. Game show type activities like The Not so Newlywed Game and the Yes/No Game were often held in this type of venue - not in a small lobby with hardly any seating. We also like to see those smaller venues for dance bands, etc. We did see similar small venues on Summitt two years ago, so maybe it was just Silhouette. It seemed that there were no entertainment areas other than the Theater. and the Atrium which didn't "do it" for me. The only "party dancing" didn't start until 10:00 pm or later and up in the Sky Lounge - with this port intensive itinerary we were heading to the cabin most nights by that time ( I guess we ARE getting old!) JMHO... everyone has different tastes which is why there are so many great choices to be had out there and there is something for everyone's tastes.

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

We had a private car reserved roundtrip for 8 from Zeebrugge to Bruges. 50 Euros each way - so worked out to slightly over 8 euros a person

 

For my group of 6 this would have been better - did they take you right to Market Square?

[Luv Cruising Land or Sea]

Great review of the cruise! Thanks a lot to share your story.

 

The busses at Zeebrugge on the pier were €20 per person roundtrip. The "offical" excursion from X was about 49 or 59$.

The trip into town was quick and the drop off place was a 15-20 minute walk into the city.

The shuttle to the trainstation was €10 roundtrip plus train fare. As from what i read direct trains were each hour only, but there were other options but these were time consuming. Gesendet von iPhone mit Forums

 

So the cost was the same as the Express Bus and more convenient although they dropped off in the same place otherwise - that's good info for anyone with mobility issues. I thought those buses were only the excursion buses. Thanks!

[Swampduck]

Belfast

We had pre-booked with Odyssey Tours on a smaller bus “with more leg room” for 19 people. We were off the ship by 7:30 am as we were supposed to depart 30 minutes after docking but due to lack of communication from the ship or port master, the private vendors weren’t expecting us until 8:00 am so there was a bit of confusion at the docks looking for our driver.

 

 

Once everyone was on-board, we headed straight to Carrick-a-Rede Bridge via the “motorway” to try to beat the big busses. A headcount was taken for those who wanted to try the bridge so our driver Jim could call ahead and reserve them – this allowed us to skip the long line waiting to buy tickets and that was great! The walk down to the bridge is an easy 20 minute walk, with two different sets of stone steps but by the second set I was already thinking about coming back up…ugggh! We got to the bridge and had to wait a while as they can only let so many go at a time, and there was traffic coming from the other direction. It was amazing! A little wobbly but exciting and secure. After crossing to the “island” there is another area to go up to for the best views. After relaxing a bit and taking pictures it was time to head back to the bus. That easy 20 minute walk down was now a monumental climb back up. I am a healthy 65 year old woman, and I love to walk but those stairs back up were killers! I took my time, stopped several times along the way, laughed at the young boy who “ran” past me, and finally made it to the paved path without having a heart attack – maybe 30 minutes coming back up but seemed like hours! But it was sooooooo worth it!

 

 

The next stop was a “photo op” at Dunluce Castle. We did not go to tour it because the large vans and buses can’t get to the parking area, but we had some great shots and learned the history of this castle that literally broke and fell into the sea below taking many servants with it. The lady of the castle was so distraught that the family moved out and no one ever lived there again. Back on the bus heading to Giants Causeway. We by-passed the welcome center (which has a cost) and walked down the long roadway to the Causeway. There is a shuttle bus to take you down and up again at a cost of £1 per person each way. It was about a 10 minute walk to get to the bottom and amazing views of the area. We walked around a bit, and waited in the long line for the shuttle to go back up. We were at our pick up point in plenty of time, and it started to sprinkle – by the time we got on our bus, it was raining harder but we were nice and dry!

 

 

Next we visited the small village of Ballycastle and a nice little tavern – O’Connors – where we had lunch. Huge servings, great food! We chose to eat so didn’t have time to walk around the village but it looked inviting with shops and cafes. Back on the bus again and we headed down the Antrim coast through several small villages and along the shore – amazing views again and great commentary by Jim. He told us that it is believed there are more sheep than people in Ireland but they don’t know for sure….”every time they send someone to count them, they fall asleep!” (sorry – he was full of these!) Back in Belfast we had a tour of the city from the van and explanation of “The Troubles” and our driver’s opinion of it all. This was to be expected – there are very definite lines still to this day about the troubles and the cause, and depending on your driver you may hear an entirely different story but this is what we expected – we wanted to hear from someone who lived thru it all. Saw the Peace Wall and some murals and headed back to the ship arriving back about an hour before sail-away.

 

Well it sounds like you had a good day in N.I. on the Co. Antrim Coast & I'm glad you enjoyed it. :)

You were right to by pass the Welcome Centre at the Giants Causeway, there is no need to pay to see the view.

You got both things we are good at... Rainy weather (that's why the fields are so green) & a history with 2 sides, after all, there is 3 sides to every story. :halo:

Hope you make it back again soon and see some more of what we have to offer.

BTW, thanks for a great review of your whole holiday..

[Clarea]

Thanks much for the very detailed review.

[floridaag]

For my group of 6 this would have been better - did they take you right to Market Square?

 

Sorry never saw this question. Our drop point was 2 blocks from Market Square