British Isles Cruise Photo Heavy Review

[cricketts]

There is much' date=' much more. I am so sorry for the delay. Work is a killer and trying to sell a house in at the start of the holiday season has me a little tied up. Next up is Inverness, I promise. Until I can get it all written here is a little sunset as we saw it after Orkney.

 

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We’ll patiently await [emoji3] Best wishes on selling your house! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

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[Kevin's girl]

Terri, loving your review and all the beautiful pictures. Thanks so much for doing this review.

 

We are heading to many of the ports next June with Celebrity.

 

Sue

So glad you are enjoying the review. We have really enjoyed our Celebrity cruises. I'm sure you will have a great BI cruise with them.

[Kevin's girl]

We’ll patiently await [emoji3] Best wishes on selling your house! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

 

 

 

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Thank you for being so patient. Our Thanksgiving was very nice, I hope yours was too. Making progress on the house.

[Kevin's girl]

A warning to all who have been waiting for me to finally get on with things. I absolutely fell in love with Inverness and took nearly 400 photos while here. I have found it difficult to choose which to share, so this port may take you a while to get through. No - I am not posting all 400, but…

 

When planning our stop in Invergordon. I read and reread the CC reviews. I watched Samantha Brown and Rick Steves, and read all of my travel/ports of call books. Our youngest son and daughter in law did a road trip through this area about the same time last year and I had their input also. I considered the boat trip on Loch Ness, touring Urquhart Castle and wandering Culloden. Then Kevin put in his two cents, no crowded boat ride and no mythical sea monster. Okay, that then also left out Urquhart Castle. I needed to figure out just what sort of day we wanted to have. I looked at the prior days plans and decided it would be nice to have a relaxing day on our own. Princess offered an excursion that allowed for just that. We booked Inverness On Your Own. I used Samantha Brown’s day there as a basic plan of things to see in town and we had a great day.

I did book the HOHO bus in advance. I thought this would give us a chance to get around without getting soaked to the bone if the weather was bad.

 

We were up early, off the ship and on our way into Inverness. I was so hoping I had made the right decision for our day, and with the rather chilly wet morning I was very happy I had bought those HOHO tickets.

 

 

 

The drive was beautiful.

[Kevin's girl]

Once in Inverness, our meeting point was here at the Inverness Cathedral. I of course needed to go in and check it out.

 

 

 

 

The HOHO bus stop was right outside the cathedral so we decided to do that first to get the lay of the land. Despite the chill in the air and the prior rain, we wanted to ride up top outside to get the best view.

 

Who said chivalry is dead? My wonderful husband dried off my seat before we got started.

Before we set out, before we knew that this bus was set to go out onto the motorway (sort of highway).

[Kevin's girl]

On our way:

I really wanted tp see a Highland Cow. You know the scruffy long haired variety. This was the best I could do. LOL

The locks on the river Ness

Inverness from the HOHO bus

[dogs4fun]

Nice photos!

[Kevin's girl]

Nice photos!

Thank you :)

[Kevin's girl]

By the time we finished we had covered all we could and were in need of a warm up.

 

We hit the streets looking for some hot tea and scones and a warmer hat for me.

 

 

Score!!

[cricketts]

Glad you're back :D

[Kevin's girl]

Following our little warm up we were off to the Victoria Market. It was a bit smaller than I thought it would be, but a neat stop.

 

 

 

 

A bit of Haggis anyone?

 

As we walked the outside of the market we ran into a fresh meat delivery. Not a sight I’ve seen here at home :)

[Kevin's girl]

Next wearing my new very warm hat, we were on to check out the Ness Walk and the castle.

[Kevin's girl]

We saw a few guys out fly fishing along the river

[Kevin's girl]

Not much to say, just bringing you all along on our way around The Ness Walk.

 

 

As we made our way up the hill to the castle, the clouds cleared and the sun started to peek out.

 

 

 

 

[Kevin's girl]

With a little time to kill before our meeting the bus back to the ship we stopped at the Palace Hotel and found a Starbucks. A warmer feel here than at any we’ve been into here at home.

Our “guide” who came with to and from the the port told us all about the area and things to look for on the way. She swore there were seals here in the water about this time of day, but apparently not today.

[Kevin's girl]

Time to return to our ship.

We did take a drive through town to see some of Invergordon’s murals.

Then back to the Caribbean Princess

[Kevin's girl]

There had been a quick little post here on CC that told of the wonderful send off that was received here in Invergordon. I was very excited to see what was planned for us.

They played with such heart. It was wonderful.

[Kevin's girl]

I don’t remember where we had dinner this night. With the mess we had in the dining room at the beginning of the cruise we had become more relaxed in our dinner arrangements. We were blessed with some beautiful views while leaving port and I think we may have grabbed a bite at The Salty Dog.

[cricketts]

Glad the sun came out... and what a fabulous send off!!

 

 

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[Kevin's girl]

Edinburgh was our next port of call. I knew we wanted to see the castle and walk the Royal Mile. I wanted to see Holyrood Palace but Kevin didn’t. Hmm, how could we make a compromise? I booked our tickets online well in advance and chose the entry time slot 9:00 - 11:00. I received a email later on that apologized for any inconvenience but the castle opening time was actually 9:30 and we would need to make adjustments. No big deal for us. I also booked an excursion through the cruise line - Edinburgh On Your Own. Remember this is a tender port. Cruise excursions get off first followed by all others on private tours. I know this was expensive, but for us worth every penny. Our excursion left the ship at 8:30 in the morning and we had time for breakfast in town before arriving at the castle just after 9:30 and before the maddening crowds.

It was a chilly, misty, rainy morning as we came into port. The weather traded between better and worse all day.

We boarded our tender and were greeted by the gentleman that had been our captain on the Falkirk Wheel. He had told us that he would be on board the Maid of the Mist tender when we were due in at Edinburgh. We said hello and it was nice to see him again. He was tickled that we remembered. This is him to the left as we took the tender ride over. The ride itself was not bad despite the pouring rain and great wind that spurred us along.

Once ashore, we found our bus to the city and were off. Our guide was a very nice gentleman who let us know about the best ways to get into the sites from our drop off/pick up spot and about a park way up the hill just to the side of our meeting point. Just enough info to be helpful and the rest on our own. I had bought a nice city map to help with the small streets, it stayed in my back pack the whole time. It’s very easy to get around. As I mentioned above we were early enough to grab a bite before heading up to the castle. It was also a chance to wait out the current monsoon.

[rocklinmom]

Hoping to do this cruise in 2019 so loving your review!

[trvlgirlmq]

Hoping to do this cruise in 2019 so loving your review!

 

We are also seriously looking at this itinerary or the Dublin overnight for 2019! I'll have 2 teens (and grandma) with me as well.

 

I've been loving your pictures.

[FishinChris]

We are also seriously looking at this itinerary or the Dublin overnight for 2019! I'll have 2 teens (and grandma) with me as well.

 

I've been loving your pictures.

 

Here's the link to our British Isle review with the Dublin overnight. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2539994 It was one of the best cruises we have taken. In fact we are going to spend 5 nights in London before our Norway cruise next summer. Cheers.

[cricketts]

Here's the link to our British Isle review with the Dublin overnight. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2539994 It was one of the best cruises we have taken. In fact we are going to spend 5 nights in London before our Norway cruise next summer. Cheers.

Thanks for the link :) Sharing!!

[Kevin's girl]

Hoping to do this cruise in 2019 so loving your review!

Thank you, all you need to do is book it. The planning is the best part.

We are also seriously looking at this itinerary or the Dublin overnight for 2019! I'll have 2 teens (and grandma) with me as well.

 

I've been loving your pictures.

Overnight in Dublin would be so much fun. I'm glad you like the pics.