British Isles Cruise Photo Heavy Review

[Kevin's girl]

Did you book directly with Princess, or go through a travel agent?

I booked through the Princess website. I like to tweek my cruises too much to use a travel agent. I prefer to add features as I want to add them or take advantage of specials as they come up. Princess was great on the phone while I was planning.

[Cindy]

Cindy' date=' Glenariff forest park was so beautiful.It was our first stop and Michael had said we went there first to beat the crowds. I would think they would do the same for your group. They will tell you there is a path you can walk where you can see all the way down the glen and across to Scotland. Take the path, he will wait for you to explore. I wish I would have walked further and taken just a bit more time. It is so beautiful. The Wee cottage is a wonderful stop and in my opinion a must do. The chicken salad sandwich is great and the atmosphere so warm and welcoming.

 

[img']http://i66.tinypic.com/sn022p.jpg[/img]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That’s beautiful! I hope we have a day like that!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Walt fan]

Thank you for taking the time to reply! You are too kind; your comments were so helpful. I am a huge fan of Rick Steves, yet I only have one of his books. I also like Samantha Brown, but like you said, she is a bit dated. Some of her DVD's are pretty cheap on ebay. I might invest in a few. I also love Fodors, Frommers and TA. I have never heard of Globe Trekker and Rudy Maxa. I will be sure and add them to my list. You have really added to my bucket list notebook from different notes I made through your review. Have you ever rented a car in Europe? And, did you buy trip insurance? I bought insurance on only one of my Caribbean cruises, due to some issues that made me worried about a cancellation, but I think I would for such a long cruise as yours.

 

I am going to look at some of your other reviews. I absolutely love your pictures. Do you have other reviews on Europe?

 

My one Princess cruise was an Alaskan cruise. I will tell you one of my complete fails for this cruise was the laundry. I would roam each floor of the laundry areas at various times of the day. All washers and dryers were always full. I managed to do a couple of loads around 1:00 in the morning with my husband's help.

 

I really, really hope my Celebrity cruise I am dreaming about is offered again, maybe in 2019 or 2020. We will see.

 

Thank you again!!

[Kevin's girl]

Thank you for taking the time to reply! You are too kind; your comments were so helpful. I am a huge fan of Rick Steves, yet I only have one of his books. I also like Samantha Brown, but like you said, she is a bit dated. Some of her DVD's are pretty cheap on ebay. I might invest in a few. I also love Fodors, Frommers and TA. I have never heard of Globe Trekker and Rudy Maxa. I will be sure and add them to my list. You have really added to my bucket list notebook from different notes I made through your review. Have you ever rented a car in Europe? And, did you buy trip insurance? I bought insurance on only one of my Caribbean cruises, due to some issues that made me worried about a cancellation, but I think I would for such a long cruise as yours.

 

I am going to look at some of your other reviews. I absolutely love your pictures. Do you have other reviews on Europe?

 

My one Princess cruise was an Alaskan cruise. I will tell you one of my complete fails for this cruise was the laundry. I would roam each floor of the laundry areas at various times of the day. All washers and dryers were always full. I managed to do a couple of loads around 1:00 in the morning with my husband's help.

 

I really, really hope my Celebrity cruise I am dreaming about is offered again, maybe in 2019 or 2020. We will see.

 

Thank you again!!

If you are an Amazon member you can buy by the episode of Samantha Brown. The Great Weekend shows are 0.99 per episodes and the Passport to Europe are $1.99 per episode. Right Now Rudy Maxa are free for Prime members. Globe Trekker was a PBS show and episodes are also available through Amazon, most are free streaming for Prime members if you happen to be one.

I do buy trip insurance. I have in the past bought it through the cruise line. We have also bought the insurance due to having elderly parents and possible need to cancel, and always aware they anything can happen on vacation. All it would take is a turned ankle or trip on the stairs and you could find yourself off the ship needing medical care. I know that there are changes happening in the travel and ship sponsored insurance policies. Some are now only covering the cruise portion so I am still looking at what needs could be for our Alaskan cruise. AAA covers evacuation in the US. My regular health will also cover me in Alaska, so I think the changes would be less concerning for me. That being said if I were booking another cruise like this one in the BI, I would likely look very closely at the cruise line insurance vs private, but yes I would definitely buy it from somewhere.

I have done one other cruise review. It was in 2014 following our Baltic and Scandinavian cruise.Here is the link:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2095403

It is great that Princess provides the laundry room service. I can see where not being able to find a machine at any hour would be frustrating. I can also imagine roaming the floors trying to find any machine when you have tokens and supplies in hand. By 2/3 through our cruise you could have any machine you wanted because there were no tokens to make them work and Princess staff would not refill the token machines.

One other book I really enjoyed and helped me pass the time while waiting for our cruise was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer. It’s a story that takes place during the WWII German occupation of the Channel Islands. It is a girley story.

I do hope your dream cruise is offered.

[Walt fan]

Good morning! I wanted to pop in again since I did my homework:) I read your Brilliance of the Seas review and re-read your British Isles review. I found you by your words "photo heavy" as I love to see a story told through photos. Your Brilliance review, wow, the cathedrals in Russia are so opulent. The Church of Our Savior gave me chills and misty eyes. That was so incredible, thank you so much for sharing. I took more notes when I re-read this review; and I am going to watch Samantha Brown in Scotland, Ireland and London as I found a used DVD extremely cheap. My Sunday is going to be spent reading more sites and such.

 

I see you have been on the Serenade and the Explorer as well. Do you remember all of your ships and adventures? I love to read CC poster's tags and see what ships they have been on and where. Did your Norway cruise include Iceland? Did Tahiti include Hawaii?

 

We have been on the Brilliance, Enchantment, Oasis and Voyager for our Caribbean trips, and the Rhapsody for Alaska, and the Princess Star for Alaska. I absolutely loved the Brilliance.

 

We have tried our best to do private tours wherever we go, as we do not like the big bus hurry it along ship excursions. Sometimes though you have to, and when we did it was always never enough time to see things we were interested in. We absolutely loved our private tour in Skagway, and did it again when we went back. Both times it was so personal and felt like you were among friends.

 

I love youe gnome travelling with you and finding his own adventures. I have this thing about gnomes and would love to have some in my front garden area. I think the Travelocity gnome was genius.

 

You and your husband make the cutest couple. I love your church and beer give and take.

 

Would love to see more of your photo heavy reviews! Thank you for taking the time to share. Take care.

[Kevin's girl]

Good morning! I wanted to pop in again since I did my homework:) I read your Brilliance of the Seas review and re-read your British Isles review. I found you by your words "photo heavy" as I love to see a story told through photos. Your Brilliance review, wow, the cathedrals in Russia are so opulent. The Church of Our Savior gave me chills and misty eyes. That was so incredible, thank you so much for sharing. I took more notes when I re-read this review; and I am going to watch Samantha Brown in Scotland, Ireland and London as I found a used DVD extremely cheap. My Sunday is going to be spent reading more sites and such.

 

I see you have been on the Serenade and the Explorer as well. Do you remember all of your ships and adventures? I love to read CC poster's tags and see what ships they have been on and where. Did your Norway cruise include Iceland? Did Tahiti include Hawaii?

 

We have been on the Brilliance, Enchantment, Oasis and Voyager for our Caribbean trips, and the Rhapsody for Alaska, and the Princess Star for Alaska. I absolutely loved the Brilliance.

 

We have tried our best to do private tours wherever we go, as we do not like the big bus hurry it along ship excursions. Sometimes though you have to, and when we did it was always never enough time to see things we were interested in. We absolutely loved our private tour in Skagway, and did it again when we went back. Both times it was so personal and felt like you were among friends.

 

I love youe gnome travelling with you and finding his own adventures. I have this thing about gnomes and would love to have some in my front garden area. I think the Travelocity gnome was genius.

 

You and your husband make the cutest couple. I love your church and beer give and take.

 

Would love to see more of your photo heavy reviews! Thank you for taking the time to share. Take care.

I really like the photo reviews here on CC. They not only help with planning but to pass the time while waiting for my own adventure to begin. The Church of Our Savior was very beautiful. Our entire experience in Russia was amazing. I have to give TJ Travel all of the credit for this. They made it so personal and gave us all the time we needed to take it all in.

Norway was just Norway and Tahiti was just Tahiti, the Society Islands and Rarotonga.

I hope you found Samantha Brown as helpful as I did. I wish she and Rick Steves did Alaska. We are branching out a bit and booking more private tours. I tried to book the helicopter dog sledding direct through one of the companies in Juneau and Skagway, but the season ends on September 7th and we will be there the following week. I was able to book through Celebrity so a mushing we will go. Any suggestions you may have for Alaska would be appreciated seeing that you have been twice.

I do remember most of our cruise experiences. I tend to take a ridiculous amount of photos when we go, so if memories fail I just look back through those. I had done a couple of other reviews a while back but the hosting website closed and the posted pics were lost.

We did cruise on the Brilliance as well as the Serenade. I think I actually prefer the Brilliance, and yes I do remember all of the ships we have sailed on. They are very much a part of the cruise experience.

Our son and daughter in law gave Kevin the gnome for his birthday shortly after Travelocity came out with theirs. I agree he (theirs) is brilliant. Our gnome has been everywhere with us. I have had to curtail some of his adventures though. It seems that swimming on Prickly Pear Island in Antigua was too much for him and he took on water. It took a couple of days for him to dry out. We will see how he likes dog sledding.

I will do my best to do another photo heavy review following Alaska. Thanks everyone for tuning in and hope to see you all back in September :)

[Walt fan]

We did Prickly Pear Island as well on a St. Martin port stop; it was amazing; maybe beyond amazing.

 

I do like my private tours, and we did many in Alaska. If you want an amazing time in Skagway, I would recommend Beyond Skagway Tours. Becky is the owner and such a delight. We had her as our tour guide the first time, and we Tom the second time. You can go on their web site and see what they have to offer and also tell her what you would like to see/do and she can customize it. Worth every, single penny. And the Skagway Brewing Company will be right up your husband's alley for a stop before getting onto the ship. Yum. I am not sure if you have a stop in Ketchikan, but we did something out of our comfort zone and wondering if we booked the right excursion. Well, it turned out to be amazing. Southeast Sea Kayaks. You will experience the true beauty of Alaska. Our tour in Juneau came highly recommended by many sites, Harv and Marv's, but we a little underwhelmed, mainly due to the guide. She spoke very little and acted very bored. But, the whale watching was really nice. If you have a stop in Victoria BC the Butchart Gardens are beyond beautiful.

 

That is all I remember for now. If you have any questions, let me know!!!! The first cruise was Seattle round trip and the second cruise was Vancouver to Anchorage. Wow.

[Kevin's girl]

We did Prickly Pear Island as well on a St. Martin port stop; it was amazing; maybe beyond amazing.

 

I do like my private tours, and we did many in Alaska. If you want an amazing time in Skagway, I would recommend Beyond Skagway Tours. Becky is the owner and such a delight. We had her as our tour guide the first time, and we Tom the second time. You can go on their web site and see what they have to offer and also tell her what you would like to see/do and she can customize it. Worth every, single penny. And the Skagway Brewing Company will be right up your husband's alley for a stop before getting onto the ship. Yum. I am not sure if you have a stop in Ketchikan, but we did something out of our comfort zone and wondering if we booked the right excursion. Well, it turned out to be amazing. Southeast Sea Kayaks. You will experience the true beauty of Alaska. Our tour in Juneau came highly recommended by many sites, Harv and Marv's, but we a little underwhelmed, mainly due to the guide. She spoke very little and acted very bored. But, the whale watching was really nice. If you have a stop in Victoria BC the Butchart Gardens are beyond beautiful.

 

That is all I remember for now. If you have any questions, let me know!!!! The first cruise was Seattle round trip and the second cruise was Vancouver to Anchorage. Wow.

Thanks for the ideas, I'll start my homework and visit the websites :)

[cruise kitty]

Thanks so much for your wonder review & photos! I just glance through, but plan on taking some time to read it in depth. Just lovely!

[Kevin's girl]

Thanks so much for your wonder review & photos! I just glance through, but plan on taking some time to read it in depth. Just lovely!

Thank you :)

[2curious]

I have some questions for Kevin's Girl or anyone who has taken the Princess excursion to "Powerscourt Garden and city of Dublin", since I am also considering this for my upcoming BI Cruise in June. Since our cruise has 2 days in Dublin, I plan to spend Day 1 in the city, and then would like to visit Powerscourt Garden on Day 2:

1. I believe the entrance fee to the garden is not included, is this correct? Just want to validate this.

2. How much time you spent in the garden? How much time you spent in the city?

Thank you,

 

 

 

 

 

Hello again. I do really want to get this review done. We just got home from a short family getaway to Orlando to play with Harry Potter. But that’s not why any of you are looking at this thread' date=' so I’ll get back to it.[/font']

 

I see I still needed to finish up our wonderful dinner to the Crown Grill dinner. Just a little food porn

 

 

 

Following dinner, we took a walk on the promenade deck and enjoyed the moonlight.

 

 

Up early the next morning, we were read for our day in Dublin. I had booked another tour through Princess for the day. It was Powerscourt Estate and Dublin on your own. I really wanted to see the gardens at Powerscourt but didn’t want to miss out on Dublin and The Temple Bar area. This tour got it all in for us at a price I could deal with.

 

 

We both got a kick our of our tour admission tickets. This was our very first “Senior Admission” to an attraction (we are both in our mid 50’s).

 

[Kevin's girl]

I have some questions for Kevin's Girl or anyone who has taken the Princess excursion to "Powerscourt Garden and city of Dublin", since I am also considering this for my upcoming BI Cruise in June. Since our cruise has 2 days in Dublin, I plan to spend Day 1 in the city, and then would like to visit Powerscourt Garden on Day 2:

1. I believe the entrance fee to the garden is not included, is this correct? Just want to validate this.

2. How much time you spent in the garden? How much time you spent in the city?

Thank you,

2curious, The price of the garden was included in the tour. The entire bus load of people received a "Senior Admission" ticket (and I did not argue). The only thing that was not included was the waterfall. We arrived early in the morning if memory serves it was around 9:30 and stayed until 12/12:30. We had plenty of time to wander the gardens on our own, have tea and shop a little. It was wonderful. We then arrived in the city around 1:00 and met back at the bus around 4:30.

This is the tour info:

POWERSCOURT ESTATE & DUBLIN ON YOUR OWN

 

DUB-180 | Dublin, Ireland

09:00am - 05:00pm

Your tour begins as you board your motorcoach for a narrated drive through the outskirts of Dublin to Powerscourt in the Wicklow Mountains. You will drive through County Wicklow, famed as the "Garden of Ireland," and encounter the wild heather-covered glens and tranquil landscapes for which the Irish countryside is famous. Soon you will be traveling into the green and uncrowded Wicklow Mountains with their rounded summits and lush valleys.

Upon arriving at Powerscourt, you will marvel at the superbly landscaped formal Italian and Japanese gardens. The gardens, originally begun by Richard Wingfield, the Viscount Powerscourt, in the 1740s, are set against the background of the Wicklow Hills, a truly breathtaking venue.

You will enter the estate along an avenue lined with 200-year-old beech trees. Here, you are free to explore the gardens and view a video on the history of the estate. As the 18th-century house incorporates an array of specialty shops selling high-quality linens, woolens, crafts and souvenirs, you're welcome to browse and shop, and purchase refreshments in the terrace restaurant.

Your tour continues with a panoramic drive to Dublin where bustling shops invite you to shop 'til you drop. You can stroll to Grafton Street and smaller side streets that specialize in crafts and gifts, and venture across the bridge into O'Connell Street to view the stores on the adjacent streets. Don't miss Temple Bar, a trendy part of the city, offering eclectic shopping in its many boutiques and music stores. Along the way, feel free to stop in a local pub for lunch and a pint of Guinness.

After a delightful day on your own in Powerscourt and Dublin, you will enjoy a relaxing drive back to the pier.

Currency accepted:EUR

Two days in Dublin would be great. The drop off point for the bus was at the backside of Trinity College. It would be so easy to spend a bit of time there if you wanted. Kevin just wasn't interested.

Have a great cruise :)

[2curious]

Thanks Kevin’s Girl for your quick response. Great to hear that entrance to the Gardens is even included with this tour. The time 2.5-3 hrs allowed is plenty to visit the gardens leisurely (some tours only allow 1.5-2 hrs). There is plenty free time allowed in the city too. This tour fits our requirement well so I will most likely reserve this Princess excursion for my group. Thanks for your feedback. P.S. the pictures you posted are so beautiful!

[itsanita]

Your review was incredible. Thanks so much. We are doing a similar itinerary in August with Celebrity. When were you there? I don't remember if you mentioned the dates you traveled. Packing is always a challenge, with all the weight restrictions.

[Kevin's girl]

Your review was incredible. Thanks so much. We are doing a similar itinerary in August with Celebrity. When were you there? I don't remember if you mentioned the dates you traveled. Packing is always a challenge, with all the weight restrictions.

Thank you, and we left home on August 24th and returned on Sept 14th. Happy packing, hope this helps.

[cleobella]

Really looking forward to reading the rest of your review! We are doing the British Isles in September and I'm the family planner so the research has started. Would you be able to tell me what you paid for Smith's Transfers. I am looking for Heathrow to Hotel in London, London to Southampton, Southampton to Heathrow. I emailed a few weeks ago but they said it was too early to get any info.

Thanks!

[georgiacat]

Smith's will give you a quote 6 months ahead, and not before. So if early September, they should be able to give you a quote; if late September, wait until April and email them again.

[Kevin's girl]

Really looking forward to reading the rest of your review! We are doing the British Isles in September and I'm the family planner so the research has started. Would you be able to tell me what you paid for Smith's Transfers. I am looking for Heathrow to Hotel in London, London to Southampton, Southampton to Heathrow. I emailed a few weeks ago but they said it was too early to get any info.

Thanks!

cleobella, the trip with Smith's from Heathrow to our London hotel was 70 GBP, and from our London hotel to Southampton was 110 GBP. Even with this being our second cruise from Southampton, we have not returned from the cruise port to Heathrow. We prefer to take a couple of days after all of our cruises to stretch out the vacation. Especially in England. I hope this helps. Happy planning!

[cleobella]

Thanks so much..That is very helpful. Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Cindy]

Really looking forward to reading the rest of your review! We are doing the British Isles in September and I'm the family planner so the research has started. Would you be able to tell me what you paid for Smith's Transfers. I am looking for Heathrow to Hotel in London, London to Southampton, Southampton to Heathrow. I emailed a few weeks ago but they said it was too early to get any info.

Thanks!

 

 

 

I contacted Smiths for our LHR —> London hotel transfer in June, and I found their price for that service to be considerably higher than others. Here’s what Smiths quoted me:

 

“Hi, the cost would be £90 plus £8 parking and £11.50 congestion charge. Please let me know if you wish to make a booking.”

 

[emoji15][emoji15][emoji15][emoji15][emoji15]

 

I ended up booking with Blackberry cars for a total of £44 — less than half of Smith’s, for the same size car (Estate Vehicle). Smith’s has a great reputation, but there are other good companies and I couldn’t justify paying more than double.

 

We’re using Woodford Cars/Cruise Connections for London to the port (with 2 sightseeing stops) and the port to LHR. Those trips will have 3 couples in a larger vehicle for £310 on the way to Southampton and £160 from the port to the airport.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[Cotswold Eagle]

I contacted Smiths for our LHR —> London hotel transfer in June, and I found their price for that service to be considerably higher than others.]

 

 

Time for another reminder that Smiths are based in the South West of England (and are therefore a local operator for Southampton) [emoji846]

 

No reason to expect them to be competitive for a Heathrow to London hotel transfer, it’s way off their patch.

[Kevin's girl]

Time for another reminder that Smiths are based in the South West of England (and are therefore a local operator for Southampton) [emoji846]

 

No reason to expect them to be competitive for a Heathrow to London hotel transfer, it’s way off their patch.

 

Very true. For us, the majority of our transfers involved the southwest or west part of England so Smith's makes good sense. I like to keep all of our transfers to be booked with just one company. We had six transfers this trip this was very easy for us.

 

We had tried BA Transfers a couple of years ago. They were much cheaper. The service was frightening and rude. Kevin always says you get what you pay for and Smith's has made our multiple pre and post cruise adventures much more comfortable.

[Canuckjammer]

Thanks so much for this wonderful photo review of BI cruise! I just booked Royal Princess 12 day BI cruise with Dublin overnight for mid May. Your review has been most helpful in some ideas of what to do at each port.

[Kevin's girl]

Thanks so much for this wonderful photo review of BI cruise! I just booked Royal Princess 12 day BI cruise with Dublin overnight for mid May. Your review has been most helpful in some ideas of what to do at each port.

I'm so glad you enjoyed it and found it helpful.

[happycruizer]

Thank you for the details. We are looking at this cruise departing August 29 and your review is very helpful. Will be referring for London hotel and transfer options.