Three Nickles take on the British Isles. And a little bit of France.

[cricketts]

Wow! I’m mesmerized by your reviews and so very anxious to board on the 30th!!

 

 

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[paintlady]

Thank you for your review! I am now beyond excited to board Royal on the 5th of August!

 

 

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[Lucky TGO]

Thanks for your review very nice.

Tony

[geoherb]

Thanks for your review. I enjoyed reliving my memories from our cruise last year vicariously.

[moresun]

Wonderful review, thanks for sharing your journey and so much of your self!

[Scorpio41]

I've been with you since you set sail. Your review has been informative and fun.

[jagsfan]

This has been a review and a diary. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it.

I am trying to get a picture if the average weather.

I have frozen in London in May, and been chilled in Scotland in August.

We’re y’all comfortable in short sleeves, or were you in long sleeved shirts?

Would lightweight jackets have been warm enough?

Sweaters too hot?

Planning for the Caribbean is easy, not so much Europe in the spring.

I look forward to your next cruise and hope Kate can go with you again.

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

 

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[Cruisen Elf]

Great Review! I am in the early planning stage for our British Isles cruise next year, and your review will really help. Hearing about all your wonderful experiences has ratcheted up my anticipation and excitement about 1000%! Many thanks!

[Campbell soup]

Thanks for this review of Dublin. You answered all my questions. Karen

 

 

 

England - Dublin

I am actually writing this the day after Dublin, and we are not halfway through the cruise yet, but I know that our day in Dublin will be my favorite. It was wonderful. I was ensorceled. Dublin is a vibrant, alive city straddling the river Liffey and teeming with fun, character, and Gaelic charm.

The plan: we had purchased tickets to visit Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, followed by a light lunch, a tour of the Guinness Storehouse, and wrapping up with dinner and a listen to some good Irish folk music at a pub. While we mainly stuck to the plan, it should be noted that all plans should be flexible, for many reasons.

We were up and at ‘em by 7:30, again enjoying breakfast at the Allegro sit down offering. Kate had an oatmeal laced with brown sugar and honey, and I just had some fruit and a croissant. Pretty sure Greg stuck with his eggs, bacon, and toast. But boy howdy does he love the orange marmalade.

So here’s a possible “Get it together, Princess” moment. Once again, where the Patter says that the ship docks at a specific time, they mean the ship docks in kind of a ten to twenty minute window of that time. So it said that in Dublin, we dock at 11:00, we actually were docked and cleared by 11:20. This caused cranky people syndrome. There is a shuttle service offered to Dublin. The information is provided by the ship, and reservations and ticket sales begin at the start of the cruise. Many people opt for Princess excursions, many opt for privately arranged excursions, and some people are DIY lunkheads like us, and just want to backpack their way through town like the obnoxious tourists they try to not be. We had decided to kind of go by faith that taxi service would be available at the dock. We had tickets to two attractions, and plans to scope out a pub and enjoy a brew. My leg was braced, my euros were flush, and with all the aplomb and self assurance of a 20 year old with a fake ID we planned to meet Dublin and make it our own.

What happened was this: we were herded to an area for people who had “independent plans” to travel, where we waited until 11:20 to disembark. The very efficient, very organized Princess officers and crew were motioning us out the door when we were stopped a few people ahead of us to allow people with Princess tours to get off the ship and get on their busses. Three tourists became incredibly belligerent, prompting an officer to show up to settle them down. I have no clue where they were from but it made me realize that the US doesn’t have the Ugly Tourist market cornered. It’s all over.

In any case, we trooped out, finally, and indeed, there were several taxis lined up, ready to serve. We got in line, grabbed out taxi, and had a delightful ride into Dublin (about 15 euros, which was less than we would have paid for a shuttle ride for the three of us) with Ian, a delightful, loquacious Dubliner taxi driver. He gave us a nice overview of Dublin and dropped us off in time to pop into Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. I had pre-purchased our Saint Patrick’s tickets online, and we skipped a longer line to hustle right in and get hooked up to our audio tours. It’s a beautiful cathedral, rife with history and atmosphere. I had no idea Jonathon Swift played such a starring role in it’s history. The audio tour takes 35 minutes, and, allowing a little wandering time and some time in the very nice gift shop, I would plan on an hour there.

From there, we popped across the street to the Cathedral Cafe, which had a very limited but delicious menu, and scarfed a sandwich. I had, and not making this up, a goat cheese, avocado, arugula, and peanut butter panini. I asked them to hold the peanut butter. She nodded like...”all the time, they hold the peanut butter. What’s up with that” but the sandwich was really good and in no time we were striding down the street (and this may have been my downfall. More on that later) towards the mecca of stout...that behemoth of beverage...the Guinness Storehouse Tour and Tasting Room. We walked it, and it was pretty much right at a mile. Be aware that you wander through some quiet neighborhoods, but you end up caught up in a frenzied crowd headed towards the same goal: quaffing all the Guinness they can in a short amount of time.

Again, I had pre-purchased our tickets, which included drought glasses etched with Greg’s name and with Kate’s name, and queuing up to print out our tickets and our drink voucher took no time at all. The tour is self-guided but well laid out. We learned the history of the Guinness family, and Arthur Guinness’ business savvy that resulted in leasing the land that the Guinness storehouse is on for 9,000 years. We learned all we ever wanted to know about hops. There are several opportunities to redeem your drink voucher; we chose to visit a pub on one floor and selected a flight of three half-pints each to test and savor. There is a floor devoted to the history of Guinness advertising, and a large and well stocked shop. It was fun, but super crazy crowded, and we never got full advantage of the top floor with the 360 degree view of Liverpool because....super crazy crowded.

We stumbled out of the Storehouse hot and happy to breathe fresh air, and decided to take a cab to the Temple Bar, where the plan was to find a pub featuring live Irish local music. Spoiler alert: that’s every single pub in Dublin, practically. The Temple Bar area was packed with locals, tourists, sketchy characters and any number of souls just enjoying the gorgeous weather. We wandered about a bit, and settled on The Old Storehouse, located right in the middle of the Temple Bar. It is a two story business, with the pub proper on the first floor and a restaurant on a decked second floor, overlooking the first. When we arrived, a musician was in the midst of his set, which, according to the waitress, lasts two hours (by law). Then, there’s a break and another musician or group plays for two hours. This starts about noon, and goes on all night till, literally, 4 or 5 in the morning. We heard some incredible Irish folk music, saw some local Irish dancing, enjoyed some Irish beef stew made with Guinness Stout, and had a perfectly wonderful time.

A nice thing about Dublin is that downtown, all over, there are taxi stands, with any number of taxis lined up ready to serve. We easily caught a cab and were taken promptly back to the pier, and were back on board ship by 8:15. I cannot tell you how much we loved Dublin. Enjoying our ale, listening to the Irish singer is a total delight I will never forget.

Note to the tardy: we were about a half an hour late sailing from Dublin, because some private tour was late getting back to port. I am sure there’s a story there. But be aware if you are the few people holding up the ship, there are people lined up on their balconies cheering and jeering as you scamper aboard.

All the heading up and downtown on foot caught up to me, and I spent some time icing then heating my knee before turning in for the night. What a great day.

 

[red4lisa]

I did a similar itinerary on another cruise line last August and reading your review brought back some good memories. I fell in love with Ireland and Scotland! Your review was a treat to read because of the way you described your families adventure. Thank you so much for sharing your experience!

[Campbell soup]

We have been to Sterling Castle and Loch Ness by car a few years ago. We are trying to decide if we should book the Discovery Scotland tour you mentioned and go to the same places again. Their other tours are sold out. What do you think about a repeat visit? Thanks, Karen

As far as castles, we loved Stirling Castle, we saw that from Greenock port. We used a company called Discover Scotland, would highly recommend! Smaller bus, excellent guide, great stops in addition to Stirling, and a fraction of ships tour price.

 

 

 

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[sunsetbeachgal]

We have been to Sterling Castle and Loch Ness by car a few years ago. We are trying to decide if we should book the Discovery Scotland tour you mentioned and go to the same places again. Their other tours are sold out. What do you think about a repeat visit? Thanks, Karen

 

 

 

We loved our day, I would do it again. But not sure what else is available from this port. Stirling castle also looked like it had lots of beautiful grounds that we didn’t have time to do, maybe that interests you? The little towns the tour stopped at were lovely, we enjoyed a very nice lunch at a little local place.

 

 

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[latebloomer56]

What a lovely review thank you so very much. We will be on the Crown so no Alferdo's but was a favorite of ours on the Regal as was a Enclave.

[bnickle]

What a great review. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for kind words! It was my pleasure to share it, and even more...my pleasure to live it!

[bnickle]

Your review is very special. Thank you. I was also on this cruise and after a lot of planning and anticipation, the cruise definitely exceeded my expectations. So much so that I commented to my husband, family and friend who were traveling with us that I would be interested in doing this same cruise again. We loved the ports and there is so much to see and do. And bring frequent Princess cruisers, we couldn’t wait to be back on the Royal again!

 

Thx again!

 

 

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You are very kind! We are already talking about doing this again, with a slightly different itinerary. The ports, each and every one, were wonderful. I am so glad you enjoyed yourself.

[bnickle]

Wow! I’m mesmerized by your reviews and so very anxious to board on the 30th!!

 

 

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...and the clock is ticking down! You are going to love it! Are you spending any time in London before or after?

[bnickle]

Thank you for your review! I am now beyond excited to board Royal on the 5th of August!

 

 

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You are going to have a blast! I’m officially jealous. I’m still slightly in exhaustion mode but I would hop on a plane and head back over in a heartbeat to get back on that ship!

[bnickle]

Thanks for your review very nice.

Tony

 

Thank you! It was a pleasure to live it to share!

[bnickle]

Thanks for your review. I enjoyed reliving my memories from our cruise last year vicariously.

 

I know you made memories to make you smile for a lifetime! We sure did. We’ve post-mortemed the trip quite a bit, and whatever minor annoyances have disappeared from our periphery to just leave some genuinely shining moments.

[bnickle]

Wonderful review, thanks for sharing your journey and so much of your self!

 

Thank you!

[bnickle]

I've been with you since you set sail. Your review has been informative and fun.

 

Then I did it right, because I wanted to let you know that more than anything else, it was fun! I hope if you’re planning a cruise soon you were able to take something away from what you read. So much of my own planning for our trip was aided immeasurably by the reports and info shared by others.

[MamaStite]

Wow! I’m mesmerized by your reviews and so very anxious to board on the 30th!!

 

 

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ME TOO! See you there!!!:hearteyes::hearteyes::hearteyes::hearteyes:

[MamaStite]

Thank you for your amazing review and the plethora of information. I finally read your last submission and I actually got tears in my eyes (I am a wuss). So glad you had a great trip and made memories for a lifetime..Hope to do the same next week! Thanks again for your witty, well-written, entertaining review. Thanks for taking us along! Karen

[bnickle]

This has been a review and a diary. I’ve enjoyed every bit of it.

I am trying to get a picture if the average weather.

I have frozen in London in May, and been chilled in Scotland in August.

We’re y’all comfortable in short sleeves, or were you in long sleeved shirts?

Would lightweight jackets have been warm enough?

Sweaters too hot?

Planning for the Caribbean is easy, not so much Europe in the spring.

I look forward to your next cruise and hope Kate can go with you again.

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

 

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Ok, so here’s the thing. I am not sure that “average weather” exists anymore. We had rain forecast for almost every single port visit and it NEVER RAINED, except for a 5 minute hard sprinkle in Edinborough. It was unseasonably warm, especially on days that we were in Geurnsey, Cork, and Liverpool. We hit both ports that have higher statistics of being canceled for weather and missed a port that never gets canceled because a storm with an actual name popped up unexpectedly.

 

Having said all of that, our plan of layering worked perfectly, because it was windy and cooler further northwards. I wore a lot of t-shirts or blouses with cardigans or sweatshirts, and carried a jacket in my backpack. Sweaters and sweatshirts came off or got topped with a jacket as needed, but for the most part, I would say it was in the high ‘50’s and low to mid ‘60’s for the greater part of the cruise. We were comfortable sitting out on the balcony when docked. I saw a lot of people (mostly teens) wandering around in shorts, but I am not sure I would think it was ever THAT warm. Layer, layer, layer.

[bnickle]

Great Review! I am in the early planning stage for our British Isles cruise next year, and your review will really help. Hearing about all your wonderful experiences has ratcheted up my anticipation and excitement about 1000%! Many thanks!

 

Yea! I hope it is wonderful and fun! I was worked up into a frenzy by the time we headed to the airport for England, and the entire trip entirely lived up to, and surpassed, what I wanted!