Review Emerald Princess British Isles May 9-26, 2022, plus one week in London!

[ROWSE]

3 hours ago, durangokid said:

Adding our thanks for your wonderful, fact filled review.  Have made notes of which tours you did and are looking forward to booking some for our September 5, 2023 cruise.  Enjoyed reading this very much!!

 

Mary and Art

Thank you for reading and for letting me know it was helpful for your 2023 cruise!  Happy Sailing!

[cruisegal415]

On 6/22/2022 at 11:04 PM, geoherb said:

 

Be sure to look into taking a tour of Buckingham Palace. It's open only a few weeks each summer, from the end of July through early September. I highly recommend adding on the garden tour as well.

https://www.rct.uk/visit/buckingham-palace

Definitely plan to! Bought a membership to the Historic Palaces which includes that, Hampton Court and Kensington as well as the Tower of London.

[BlerkOne]

12 hours ago, cruisegal415 said:

Definitely plan to! Bought a membership to the Historic Palaces which includes that, Hampton Court and Kensington as well as the Tower of London.

I don't believe Historic Palaces includes Buckingham Palace.

 

• Tower of London
• Hampton Court Palace
• Banqueting House
• Kensington Palace
• Kew Palace
• Hillsborough Castle

 

Buckingham falls under the Royal Collection Trust

https://www.rct.uk/

[cruisegal415]

8 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I don't believe Historic Palaces includes Buckingham Palace.

 

• Tower of London
• Hampton Court Palace
• Banqueting House
• Kensington Palace
• Kew Palace
• Hillsborough Castle

 

Buckingham falls under the Royal Collection Trust

https://www.rct.uk/

You are correct.  Royal Collection is also the one that has the Beatles Childhood Homes, which we are also seeing.  All these places require pre-purchased tickets with a specific time which makes me nervous because it's tricky to plan on the timings if we are seeing more than one in any given day.

[amajaa]

On 6/13/2022 at 1:29 AM, ROWSE said:

We had a wonderful time with our Son, daughter-in-law, and grand babies, it filled up my

snuggle quota for awhile, but it is NEVER enough!  Love those little people!!!  Time to return to 

our next few days in London!!!

 

May 24, 2022, London Adventure

 

After a lovely breakfast, it was our goal for the first of the day to reach the Tower of London.  This was one of the places that opened earlier than 10 at 9:00a.m.  

We got on the tube at Paddington, went one stop and changed lines,  and in one of my searches it stated to get off at Algate station.  This was wrong, we wanted one more which was Tower Hill Station.  Our learning curve on this Tube was still a challenge.  Right back on and one more station took us to the Tower of London area.  

 

Wrong try again....  

 

 

Once at the ticket entrance to Tower of London we bought our tickets and joined the line

already going in that had pre-booked tickets.  We were told to head right to the Crown jewels

for a less crowded viewing time.   It was raining off and on today!  

 

The Crown Jewels were at a building a brief walk away, so took some pictures at the amazing

structures as we went.

 

 

 

 

 

We found the building and it was guarded on the outside by two guards.  There

was no line and found the advice given was right on.  There was a huge line up later.

 

 

 

This was the entrance of the building.  How interesting is that clock!

 

There is no photos once past the doors so I cannot show you that CROWN!!!  Oh

my!  If that truly is the real thing, the diamond on the front of it is as big as a silver dollar!!!

The other precious jewels were beautiful that were on the crown as well!  

 

We came back out and ventured back toward the front as we wanted to take a Yoeman's/Beefeater tour.

I had read this is a must and I couldn't agree more!  We learned so much!!!  

Some of our sites in the front as we waited for our tour.

The Tower Bridge 

 

They were decorating in the moat area for the June celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee

 

A view of the Shard 

 

Finally the Yoemen/Beefeater joined our group.

 

 This is the paragraph that describes this position from Wikipedia:

The Yeomen Warders of Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress the Tower of London, and Members of the Sovereign's Body Guard of the Yeoman Guard Extraordinary, popularly known as the Beefeaters, are ceremonial guardians of the Tower of London. In principle they are responsible for looking after any prisoners in the Tower and safeguarding the British crown jewels. They have also conducted guided tours of the Tower since the Victorian era.

All warders are retired from the British Armed Forces and must be former warrant officers with at least 22 years of service. They must also hold the Long Service and Good Conduct Medal.   The garrison consists of 32 (formerly 37) Yeomen Warders and one Chief Warder.

 

Our tour was with Scott Kelly or Beefeater 409.  We easily had the best!  We listened to other tours as we continued around the sites later and clearly we lucked out!  He was so funny which is hard to be when telling us about a ton of gory, murderous, but true stories of Henry the VIII and wives and going ons of the Tower of London.  We learned of Jane Gray the 9 hour Queen and how she was killed, along with Anne Boleyn who is the most famous of the be-headed group!  

 

 

 

After our tour we sat having a snack and saw some of the changing of the Crown Jewels guards.

 

 

 

 

 

This is some of the housing of the Yoeman.  They live on site with their families.  Our guide said

it was very nice when having teenage daughters as the gates closed at 10 so they were always in by then.

 

 

Some other sites we saw were a tower that housed some of the tortures of the time. 

 

 

I always wished I were taller, but I doubt if you survived this you would be appreciate of that fact.  

 

 

In one area where prisoners were housed, they had etched things into the wall.  This was quite eerie to see.  

 

 

 

 

There was a lovely chapel on the grounds called the Chapel Royal of St. Peter ad Vincula.

The building dates from 1520 although the church was established several centuries earlier.  

 

Tomorrow I will continue with more areas of the Tower of London.  

 

 

I don’t know if you can get this series anywhere in the States but we have been watching a Series called Inside the Tower of London which follows the Beefeaters working in the Tower and the Curators etc. You get to know about them and where they live and all sorts. There have been 4 seasons so far since 2018 and it’s really interesting. https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/inside-the-tower-of-london/#gs.4ppakm

There have been many other programs over the years called Inside the Tower of London so careful you don’t pick up the wrong one

 

[ROWSE]

7 hours ago, amajaa said:

I don’t know if you can get this series anywhere in the States but we have been watching a Series called Inside the Tower of London which follows the Beefeaters working in the Tower and the Curators etc. You get to know about them and where they live and all sorts. There have been 4 seasons so far since 2018 and it’s really interesting. https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/inside-the-tower-of-london/#gs.4ppakm

There have been many other programs over the years called Inside the Tower of London so careful you don’t pick up the wrong one

 

Thank you for the link!  The Beefeater tour was just fantastic on our visit! 

[bktraveler]

We are also cruising on the Emerald Princess in August.  We have our first ever balcony.  We have been on many cruises but this is our first Princess cruise.  Can you point me to the information about using the Abbott home binax test.  We will be in London for 3 days prior to the cruise so cannot do the test at home.  

I love your very comprehensive review.  

[ROWSE]

1 hour ago, bktraveler said:

We are also cruising on the Emerald Princess in August.  We have our first ever balcony.  We have been on many cruises but this is our first Princess cruise.  Can you point me to the information about using the Abbott home binax test.  We will be in London for 3 days prior to the cruise so cannot do the test at home.  

I love your very comprehensive review.  

We loved our cruise and glad you enjoyed our adventures!

I bought our tests in a pack of 6 from this site:  https://store.emed.com/s/category/covid19-athome-test-with-verified-lab-report-emed/0ZG8c000000LZXk?c__results_layout_state={}    

 Just be prepared for the massive shipping and handling on this product. They do come within a couple days!  Note:  I was able to turn this in to my medical insurance and got a bit of the price back.  

 

Hopefully your lodging will have good internet and then you just follow the directions. We signed up for the Navica Ap before we left the United States.  It was so convenient and worked perfectly in London.  We went online by typing the emed site (https://www.emed.com/)   and hitting "start test" as you are suppose to be able to scan your box and pull it all up but that did not work for us.  

 

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

[bktraveler]

4 hours ago, ROWSE said:

We loved our cruise and glad you enjoyed our adventures!

I bought our tests in a pack of 6 from this site:  https://store.emed.com/s/category/covid19-athome-test-with-verified-lab-report-emed/0ZG8c000000LZXk?c__results_layout_state={}    

 Just be prepared for the massive shipping and handling on this product. They do come within a couple days!  Note:  I was able to turn this in to my medical insurance and got a bit of the price back.  

 

Hopefully your lodging will have good internet and then you just follow the directions. We signed up for the Navica Ap before we left the United States.  It was so convenient and worked perfectly in London.  We went online by typing the emed site (https://www.emed.com/)   and hitting "start test" as you are suppose to be able to scan your box and pull it all up but that did not work for us.  

 

Hope you have a wonderful trip!

Thank you so much for getting back to my so quickly.  I admire your stamina as much as your wonderful trip detail.  My husband (83) is encountering some difficulty with walking and balance so we are doing mostly ship tours that are very easy.  He loves to travel so that should work out for him.  I am looking at Thistle tours because we have nothing booked there yet.  But we were on Loch Lomand in the late 70's when we did a driving trip in Scotland, so this will be a repeat visit.

Again, thanks so much.  I have looked all over cruise critic and the Princess website and could not come up with it.

[cruisegal415]

On 7/3/2022 at 3:55 PM, ROWSE said:

Thank you for the link!  The Beefeater tour was just fantastic on our visit! 

Looking forward to taking the Beefeater tour.  Do they accept/expect tips? How much?

[ROWSE]

17 hours ago, cruisegal415 said:

Looking forward to taking the Beefeater tour.  Do they accept/expect tips? How much?

It was a huge group around and following along with our beefeater.  So really didn’t feel like it was a tipping situation, but always up to the person.
That may be a question to ask on the port of call board.   
It was a great experience!

[andimark]

This has been fantastic - thank you! Where do you get the Thames cruise - and do you remember what it cost? Thanks again. Andrea.

[leck57]

17 minutes ago, andimark said:

This has been fantastic - thank you! Where do you get the Thames cruise - and do you remember what it cost? Thanks again. Andrea.

 

I know you are not asking me but just my 2 cents worth - we were also on this cruise. We purchased the London Pass as we were staying in London for some days after the cruise. In addition to entry at most of the main attractions (you also never have to queue to buy tickets at each site) the Pass included one day on the HOHO bus and a river cruise. We did the river cruise and went all the way to North Greenwich and back. Also has an option to go the other direction. You could get on and off as much as you liked. We got good value out of the London Pass and you can get it for as many days as you want. Just do the sums and see if it works for you. 

Edited July 22, 2022 by leck57

[ROWSE]

14 hours ago, andimark said:

This has been fantastic - thank you! Where do you get the Thames cruise - and do you remember what it cost? Thanks again. Andrea.

Andrea,

Thank you for reading along!  We caught it at the side of the Westminister Bridge and it was a two hour tour up to Greenwich and back , which we could have got off and back on later, but we stayed on.  We got a senior rate which started at 60, and was 12 Euro each.  
There are a few different companies that do these cruises.

It was fun to see the sites from the water!!!

[andimark]

21 hours ago, leck57 said:

 

I know you are not asking me but just my 2 cents worth - we were also on this cruise. We purchased the London Pass as we were staying in London for some days after the cruise. In addition to entry at most of the main attractions (you also never have to queue to buy tickets at each site) the Pass included one day on the HOHO bus and a river cruise. We did the river cruise and went all the way to North Greenwich and back. Also has an option to go the other direction. You could get on and off as much as you liked. We got good value out of the London Pass and you can get it for as many days as you want. Just do the sums and see if it works for you. 

Thanks, I'll look into it.

[fatcattravel]

Really appreciate your review! We are going in May! This helped me alot with research as it is nice to hear first hand about tour operators and what to do to maximize your time . We only have a day or 2 in London so the part on London also helped tremendously. Hope to see you around cruising!

 

[ROWSE]

On 12/24/2022 at 4:32 AM, fatcattravel said:

Really appreciate your review! We are going in May! This helped me alot with research as it is nice to hear first hand about tour operators and what to do to maximize your time . We only have a day or 2 in London so the part on London also helped tremendously. Hope to see you around cruising!

 

Thank you for the lovely compliment!  Happy cruising to you!  Wish I could go do it all again!  

[kilili]

@ROWSEI am curious about your tour with Thistle Excursions.  We booked the same tour as you.  In the confirmation email they mentioned they don't do a dedicated lunch stop, and suggest we bring food from the ship.  Is that what you did?

 

Thank you for your lovely review.

[ROWSE]

2 hours ago, kilili said:

@ROWSEI am curious about your tour with Thistle Excursions.  We booked the same tour as you.  In the confirmation email they mentioned they don't do a dedicated lunch stop, and suggest we bring food from the ship.  Is that what you did?

 

Thank you for your lovely review.

We did not bring food from the ship.  Dunrobin Castle had a cafeteria, and we purchased a sandwich there.  This picture shows me with our little lunch purchase in the sack.  We also brought packaged granola bars from home that we probably also had this day.  

Hope you have a wonderful time!  It was a fantastic day!  

 

[kilili]

@ROWSEThank you so much.  Enjoy your next adventure!

[MarKay525]

Hi - we're contemplating cruising the British Isles - so helpful to have this much detail - Thank you!!!

Edited August 10, 2023 by MarKay525