crazyman and Eileenover returned from Silhouette Ireland & Iceland

[crazyman3]

We've just returned from the 'Viking Raider' (as I call it) cruise on the Silhouette.

Greg (Groryjm) has produced a fab blog already but I just wanted to let you know about our experience.

 

We were in a CS (1110) a few doors along from Greg.  We have been in this particular suite twice before. We too had the fabulous Jacky as our butler and Bryan as our attendant. We felt that Jacky was the best that we've ever had.

 

Briton, the concierge in Michael's Club, was excellent. 

 

Edwin was our waiter in Luminae --- we'd had him before and as I have a severe nut allergy, he was obviously assigned to us. We cannot praise him too highly.

Carlos, the sommelier,  served us well throughout the cruise -----but we were drinking wine rather than cocktails. I understand Greg's point suggesting that waiters should be able to take non-wine orders. 

 

So our tours:

 

Guernsey: a ships tour about the German invasion of the island. A good tour with lots of sites & sights. Plenty of information.

 

Waterford: we caught the expensive shuttle into the town and met up for an independent tour that I had organised with the tourist office --- the Viking Triangle Tour. This was a walking tour of the centre and there were about 15 of us on it. Although I had pre-booked it, you can just turn up on the day. Price... mmm... about 15 euros each. Duration was about 80/90 minutes. I'd happily do recommend it for lovers of history.

 

Cobh (for Cork): I had booked us up for the Cobh Rebel Tour. Wow! Excellent! A walking tour from which we found out about the politics of 19th century Ireland through to the early 1920s. Kieran, our informative and impassioned guide, was dressed in early 20th century military costume. He took us to many areas of Cobh, explaining the significance of each

e.g. a place where a local policeman was ambushed and shot; he brought it alive by mentioning the name and age of the lookout, the source of the gun, the vehicle used...

An amazing tour from start to finish. 12 Euros each I seem to recall.

Also, we enjoyed the museum about the Titanic and Lusitania (plus others) located close to the ship.   

 

Dublin: another independent tour. We met a local professor of history outside Trinity College and he gave us an in-depth guide of Dublin, focusing on the history ---- of course! Lots of walking and talking! Sadly, someone near our group had her phone snatched by a cyclist. Beware!

 

Iceland Day 1: We took the ship's 4 x 4 tour. Wow! Fantastic! Awesome! Something special! Think Lunar lanscape... think Dr Who... think Star Trek... We'd do this again like a shot! It far excelled our 4 x 4 tours in other parts of the world.

 

Iceland Day 2: Whale Watching (ship's tour) was good fun. We saw some minke whales, dolphins and porpoises. The crew of the boat were young and knowledgeable. 

The hot chocolate on the boat is good! Be warned, wrap in lots of layers and no shorts!

 

Iceland Day 3: we spent a lot on this ship's tour to the island of Grimsey, about 30 minutes flight north of the mainland. A very interesting place with a pleasant guide to show us around.

No puffins (they'd flown a week or so ago) but a small shop selling woollen goods. Due to a taxation oddity, the fab sweaters etc. are much cheaper on Grimsey than on the mainland. The labels actually tell you who made them. Those in supermarkets on the mainland are often made in China!

 

Belfast: an independent tour of the city focusing on the politics, especially during 'The Troubles'. Lots of murals, the wall, grim stories, first hand accounts. We booked it through the Information Centre next to the shuttle drop-off point. Out guide was JFK!  That's John Fitzgerald Kennedy!

 

The music on board varied: we like staying in Ensemble Lounge most of the time; here we heard the amazing Charlie. We also enjoyed the music of the Wild Embers Duo and the modern string duo, Dina and Gulnara.

 

Let's hope this helps some of you out with future choices!     

 

 

[dani negreanu]

Thanks for taking the time to post. I've been on a similar cruise 2 months ago, and I'm still interested to see what others have done 😁

[groryjm]

18 minutes ago, crazyman3 said:

...... We too had the fabulous Jacky as our butler and Bryan as our attendant. We felt that Jacky was the best that we've ever had......

Big hand for Jacky 👏👏👏 the best butler we've had too. 

[crazyman3]

Yes, we do hope to have him again!

[Gordoncruickshank]

Is Sony still in Luminae? I suspect that he may be on vacation

[TeeRick]

23 hours ago, groryjm said:

Big hand for Jacky 👏👏👏 the best butler we've had too. 

We had a great butler on Solstice name Jacky (or Jackie?) in March 2018.  Same one?