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

[ROWSE]

May 23, 2022, London adventures -Museums Day

 

We bring our bad habit of getting up before the sun, even though we moved time zones!  I do tend to love those early morning hours, though.  The fact that most museums and things here don't open till 10 made us find other things to pass our time.

One was a big breakfast.  Our hotel provided complimentary breakfast with our room.  It was a full on choice off there menu and then continental breakfast was also laid out in buffet style.  It was just fantastic!  A beverage (latte) is also included.

This is the front of our hotel.  

 

 

And at the top is our room...

 

 

DH chose the English breakfast today.

 

 

I had two eggs "sunny side up" is how we say it, over sourdough bread.  Amazing deal! 

 

 

Then we were off and we walked through the huge Hyde/Kensington Park

 

Surprising things happen like this..

 

 

This was just a beautiful walk.

 

 

Some friends that I found along the river.  I respect them and their space, they are huge! 

 

 

The bridge we will cross next. 

 

 

From the bridge I saw a bird made a nest right on the water. 

 

 

We take the direction to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, but it doesn't open till 10:00 also.

 

 

 

We crossed over into Kensington Park at this point as I need a bathroom and the sign pointed that way.  This bathroom was credit card only for 20 pence.  This came to 25 cents on my card.  

Started heading down toward the museums and there was the Prince Albert Memorial.  This was

over the top huge!  

 

 

 

We see the Royal Albert Hall

 

 

Then it was on to the Natural History Museum.  It is free but they ask for you to make reservations online which I had done.  Not sure they even looked at it and it was so packed later, I am sure they did not 

limit entry as the reservation stated they did.  

 

 

This entrance made our jaw drop!  

 

 

 

There were wonderful exhibits of the various segments of natural history and we grabbed

a bit to eat in here as well.  

The building itself was beautiful.  Again I felt like maybe part of Harry Potter was done here. 

 

 

Then it was time to see the Victoria and Albert Museum.  We enjoyed the Natural museum but 

hindsight we would have spent way more time in the V & A museum.  It was immense and wonderful.

The jewelry exhibit is not to be missed.  Wish I would have taken more pictures.  We didn't even see it all before we just were museumed out.   This museum was also free to enter. 

 

Entrance area...

 

 

Inner courtyard.  

 

 

 

 

There were so many things to see this is just a tiny bit.

 

Something from Ukraine!  

 

 

Huge displays of art. 

 

This little crown was worn over a hair bun on top of, I believe, Queen Victoria's head.  

 

There is a big room of statues and at one end is a way to go to the Kensington tube station.  Our minds just could not take in any more so it was time to call it a day.   We were so glad to find this entrance, as it had started raining.  It was a a long walk to the gates. 

 

 

After being back at the room for awhile and enjoying some tea, we decided to find some dinner.

Indian food is usually a must for us on any trip, if we can find it that is.  There happen to be 

one right by our hotel.  

This is the outside menu and the picture came out kind of fun.

 

 

 

Delicious!!  

 

Doesn't show, but DH had ordered way more Naan than this.  Is there anything better than a good garlic Naan???  We think not.  Another big wonderful day and we head to room for some needed rest!  

 

SO, it is time for us to leave to visit one of our son's and daughter-in-law who live 6 hours drive from us.

It has been too many weeks since I have snuggled those grand babies!  I have missed them so!

I am sure any grandparent out there would give me an absence excuse note, so I will continue with our London adventure on Monday!  Have a good weekend!  

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by ROWSE

[PescadoAmarillo]

Kitty, enjoy those twins and other grand babies!  I love getting the updates from you about them. “Mine” are heading off to college this summer…I’ve updated in my blog. The years are too short!

[RNRcruisers]

Planning a trip to London for September. Thank you for the great info!

 

[ROWSE]

9 hours ago, lindylooellalouise said:

Hi thank you for posting your review and I have enjoyed every minute you have amazingly packed in a huge amount of sightseeing we are on the emerald Princess  next week and unbelievably we are in the same cabin E702 our first cruise with Princess but have done British Isles a few times usually with Cunard looking forward to reading your next review.

Just remembered that for all our 12 days there was a slight cigarette smoke smell off the right side of bed’s nightstand (by wall not window side).  I tell room steward and he says no one was in our room prior cruise.  I even Clorox wiped it everywhere and would still get a whiff of the smell.  I hope you will not experience that.  Or that I just have an over sensitive nose!   
Maybe come back here and report if you can when you get back. 

Edited June 9, 2022 by ROWSE

[kml246]

Dear Kitty & Jim,

 

Thank you for sharing your excellent chronicle of your cruise. We were on Emerald Princess for fourteen days in the Caribbean a month before. It was our first Elite cruise and we enjoyed the free laundry! No tender ports so we'll wait to appreciated that perk. The captain and crew were wonderful, but the ship is a bit tired and in need of a drydock (scheduled for Oct 2022). The captain apologized for her condition. It did not detract from a great cruise.

 

We'll be in Southampton next month (our first UK trip) for a cruise to Iceland and Norway on Enchanted Princess. We appreciate your overview of your pre-cruise stay. We'll be spending two nights there before the cruise. We are also taking the same International Friends debarkation tour you took. After reading your review, looks like we made an excellent choice. Thank you for your tips. 

 

In August 2023 we're booked on Emerald Princess for the cruise you just completed, adding the six-day land tour in Ireland prior to the cruise. I've bookmarked this thread and will be referring to it as we book our excursions. A question about the Overlands Tour in France: you mentioned about the rude couple that didn't care about inconveniencing all the other participants. Do you think the tour company was wrong in not being more considerate of you and insisting the late couple get back on time, and certainly not allow the additional time to mail the postcards?

 

You seem like a lovely couple. I hope we have the good fortune of crossing paths on a future cruise.

 

All the best,

Kevin & Nan

[thehowlingroad]

Really interesting recap of your trip! We're going on the International Friends tour in August too, after our Iceland cruise, and I'm trying to carve out some time during our London stay for the V&A, since we didn't have time during our last trip. Looks like you had a blast.

[Mark_OH]

On 6/8/2022 at 5:27 PM, ROWSE said:

Can't remember if I did, but we got (GBP)Pounds and Euro's from the bank before we left as I never like to have to search that out once on a trip.

We very seldom used cash and some places were actually "no cash" venues.  We purposely used

up our cash.  We took too much.  I would now go with about 200 pounds maybe, and 100 Euro.  Unless of course you were paying for excursions with cash.   

Euro's were the currency in Cobh, Dublin, and LeHavre and GBP in all the others.

Thank you for the currency tips! It's really appreciated that you reply to everyone's questions.

[wowzz]

On 6/9/2022 at 4:51 PM, ROWSE said:

May 23, 2022, London adventures -Museums Day

 

We bring our bad habit of getting up before the sun, even though we moved time zones!  I do tend to love those early morning hours, though.  The fact that most museums and things here don't open till 10 made us find other things to pass our time.

One was a big breakfast.  Our hotel provided complimentary breakfast with our room.  It was a full on choice off there menu and then continental breakfast was also laid out in buffet style.  It was just fantastic!  A beverage (latte) is also included.

This is the front of our hotel.  

 

 

And at the top is our room...

 

 

DH chose the English breakfast today.

 

 

I had two eggs "sunny side up" is how we say it, over sourdough bread.  Amazing deal! 

 

 

Then we were off and we walked through the huge Hyde/Kensington Park

 

Surprising things happen like this..

 

 

IMG_3116.MOV 29.75 MB · 7 downloads

 

This was just a beautiful walk.

 

 

Some friends that I found along the river.  I respect them and their space, they are huge! 

 

 

The bridge we will cross next. 

 

 

From the bridge I saw a bird made a nest right on the water. 

 

 

We take the direction to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, but it doesn't open till 10:00 also.

 

 

 

We crossed over into Kensington Park at this point as I need a bathroom and the sign pointed that way.  This bathroom was credit card only for 20 pence.  This came to 25 cents on my card.  

Started heading down toward the museums and there was the Prince Albert Memorial.  This was

over the top huge!  

 

 

 

We see the Royal Albert Hall

 

 

Then it was on to the Natural History Museum.  It is free but they ask for you to make reservations online which I had done.  Not sure they even looked at it and it was so packed later, I am sure they did not 

limit entry as the reservation stated they did.  

 

 

This entrance made our jaw drop!  

 

 

 

There were wonderful exhibits of the various segments of natural history and we grabbed

a bit to eat in here as well.  

The building itself was beautiful.  Again I felt like maybe part of Harry Potter was done here. 

 

 

Then it was time to see the Victoria and Albert Museum.  We enjoyed the Natural museum but 

hindsight we would have spent way more time in the V & A museum.  It was immense and wonderful.

The jewelry exhibit is not to be missed.  Wish I would have taken more pictures.  We didn't even see it all before we just were museumed out.   This museum was also free to enter. 

 

Entrance area...

 

 

Inner courtyard.  

 

 

 

 

There were so many things to see this is just a tiny bit.

 

Something from Ukraine!  

 

 

Huge displays of art. 

 

This little crown was worn over a hair bun on top of, I believe, Queen Victoria's head.  

 

There is a big room of statues and at one end is a way to go to the Kensington tube station.  Our minds just could not take in any more so it was time to call it a day.   We were so glad to find this entrance, as it had started raining.  It was a a long walk to the gates. 

 

 

After being back at the room for awhile and enjoying some tea, we decided to find some dinner.

Indian food is usually a must for us on any trip, if we can find it that is.  There happen to be 

one right by our hotel.  

This is the outside menu and the picture came out kind of fun.

 

 

 

Delicious!!  

 

Doesn't show, but DH had ordered way more Naan than this.  Is there anything better than a good garlic Naan???  We think not.  Another big wonderful day and we head to room for some needed rest!  

 

SO, it is time for us to leave to visit one of our son's and daughter-in-law who live 6 hours drive from us.

It has been too many weeks since I have snuggled those grand babies!  I have missed them so!

I am sure any grandparent out there would give me an absence excuse note, so I will continue with our London adventure on Monday!  Have a good weekend!  

 

That looks like a half decent Indian meal !

Never found a good Indian  restaurant in the US - they all think that the "hotter" the flavour  is, the better,  which is nothing like true  Indian/Bangladeshi cuisine. 

(PS I'm sure there are plenty of good Indian restaurants in the US, but they are a lot less easy to find than in the UK ! )

[Mark_OH]

What are the expectations for the roughness of the water around the British Isles?  My wife had a bad experience on one cruise and is wondering if she should wear a motion sickness patch for this cruise.

[Blondilu]

54 minutes ago, Mark_OH said:

What are the expectations for the roughness of the water around the British Isles?  My wife had a bad experience on one cruise and is wondering if she should wear a motion sickness patch for this cruise.

I've done this itinerary twice and we only had a problem one day.  Well, one night actually.  It was really windy enroute to Dublin.  We skipped the port cuz the captain thought it was too windy to dock safely.  Of course weather is so variable who knows what it would be like on your cruise.  If I were her I would at least bring the patches.

[insidecabin]

8 hours ago, Mark_OH said:

What are the expectations for the roughness of the water around the British Isles?  My wife had a bad experience on one cruise and is wondering if she should wear a motion sickness patch for this cruise.

The biggest storm we have encountered was leaving Southampton other times you would not know you were at sea.

Going over the top can get rough sometimes as can the run down the north sea..

 

Wind is the issue for docking at some of the ports Dublin is particularly tight berth,  Dun L. which gets used as alternative is tender so that also effected by  the winds. 

 

 

 

[lindylooellalouise]

9 hours ago, Mark_OH said:

What are the expectations for the roughness of the water around the British Isles?  My wife had a bad experience on one cruise and is wondering if she should wear a motion sickness patch for this cruise.

Hi we’ve done this itinerary a few times and found the Irish Sea can be pretty rough, so definitely would take some kind of motion sickness medication.

[SomewhereGirl]

What a great review!  The part at the beginning, talking about the bus to Southampton and the pictures at Heathrow convinced me that I too could do it, so I will in August.  🙂

 

Did you use self-service laundry onboard?  The subject of laundry was brought up in another thread.  Do you recall or know if the laundry was open specific hours, or 24 hours? Sorry if I missed it in your review.

[ROWSE]

On 6/9/2022 at 10:41 AM, RNRcruisers said:

Planning a trip to London for September. Thank you for the great info!

 

Thank you for reading along!  September should be fantastic!  

[ROWSE]

On 6/9/2022 at 12:35 PM, kml246 said:

Dear Kitty & Jim,

 

Thank you for sharing your excellent chronicle of your cruise. We were on Emerald Princess for fourteen days in the Caribbean a month before. It was our first Elite cruise and we enjoyed the free laundry! No tender ports so we'll wait to appreciated that perk. The captain and crew were wonderful, but the ship is a bit tired and in need of a drydock (scheduled for Oct 2022). The captain apologized for her condition. It did not detract from a great cruise.

 

We'll be in Southampton next month (our first UK trip) for a cruise to Iceland and Norway on Enchanted Princess. We appreciate your overview of your pre-cruise stay. We'll be spending two nights there before the cruise. We are also taking the same International Friends debarkation tour you took. After reading your review, looks like we made an excellent choice. Thank you for your tips. 

 

In August 2023 we're booked on Emerald Princess for the cruise you just completed, adding the six-day land tour in Ireland prior to the cruise. I've bookmarked this thread and will be referring to it as we book our excursions. A question about the Overlands Tour in France: you mentioned about the rude couple that didn't care about inconveniencing all the other participants. Do you think the tour company was wrong in not being more considerate of you and insisting the late couple get back on time, and certainly not allow the additional time to mail the postcards?

 

You seem like a lovely couple. I hope we have the good fortune of crossing paths on a future cruise.

 

All the best,

Kevin & Nan

So happy to know you are reading along!  Iceland and Norway sound amazing!  Hope you have a wonderful trip and also a great experience on the one in August on Emerald!

 

Regarding your question about Overlord Tour:  First, it was a fantastic tour and the guide was the

nicest most knowledgeable man!  

I have never experienced in all our many cruises a couple doing this "late back to 

a tour over and over" as they did.  Maybe the tour guide was also new to experiencing this.  I only

think the last incident was the one he should have intervened, but maybe he could never had 

guessed they would have taken about 20 minutes to return.  

It is not that I wanted to get back to the port in a big hurry, it was just that we too would have loved that extra time in Honfleur.  I would hope the guide never has this situation again! 

I can only say Overlords were wonderful, and I would book them again despite this experience with these cruisers!  

Happy Cruising to you both!  

 

 

 

[ROWSE]

On 6/9/2022 at 3:25 PM, thehowlingroad said:

Really interesting recap of your trip! We're going on the International Friends tour in August too, after our Iceland cruise, and I'm trying to carve out some time during our London stay for the V&A, since we didn't have time during our last trip. Looks like you had a blast.

Thank you for chiming in!!!  International Friends tour was just wonderful!

I hope you will be able to see the V & A museum this trip.  I wish I could go back and see that third 

floor that we just could not get too.  The second floor with the jewelry display was just a not to miss thing!  Happy travels to you!  

[ROWSE]

On 6/10/2022 at 3:40 PM, wowzz said:

That looks like a half decent Indian meal !

Never found a good Indian  restaurant in the US - they all think that the "hotter" the flavour  is, the better,  which is nothing like true  Indian/Bangladeshi cuisine. 

(PS I'm sure there are plenty of good Indian restaurants in the US, but they are a lot less easy to find than in the UK ! )

Thank you for commenting!  It was a very good meal!  Not the best we have had, but very good.

There are so many we saw all over London, so you really do have a huge amount to pick from!

 

We have one particular place we love here in the US and it is 6 hours drive from us, where our 

daughter lives.  The flavors of there meals are just incredible!  It is called Karma in case you are

ever in the Seattle area in Puyallup, Washington.  I seriously doubt it, but just in case.  😂

[ROWSE]

22 hours ago, Mark_OH said:

What are the expectations for the roughness of the water around the British Isles?  My wife had a bad experience on one cruise and is wondering if she should wear a motion sickness patch for this cruise.

For our trip it was smooth sailing with just a tiny movement to let you know you are cruising at all.

I am sure it is different every cruise as the weather is variable at all times.  

[BuckeyeMark]

4 minutes ago, ROWSE said:

For our trip it was smooth sailing with just a tiny movement to let you know you are cruising at all.

I am sure it is different every cruise as the weather is variable at all times.  

We are now holding you 100% accountable for all weather and waves from this day forward ... LOL!

These are really great reviews.  You are doing a great job writing this up.  I think you should poll Cruise Critic and see where folks need some travel info and reviews and then book a cruise there.  Everyone would read it! 

[ROWSE]

4 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

What a great review!  The part at the beginning, talking about the bus to Southampton and the pictures at Heathrow convinced me that I too could do it, so I will in August.  🙂

 

Did you use self-service laundry onboard?  The subject of laundry was brought up in another thread.  Do you recall or know if the laundry was open specific hours, or 24 hours? Sorry if I missed it in your review.

Thank you for coming along on our adventure!  

I am sure you could do the bus!!!  It went pretty smoothly for us especially since our hotel was so very close to the bus drop off.

Regarding your laundry question, we are elite so we used that laundry service as it is free once you reach it.  Not free really when you consider all the money  we all spend that gets us to elite.😂

I am sorry to have not noticed the hours of the self-service laundry.  Hope someone else may answer that for you! 

[ROWSE]

4 minutes ago, BuckeyeMark said:

We are now holding you 100% accountable for all weather and waves from this day forward ... LOL!

These are really great reviews.  You are doing a great job writing this up.  I think you should poll Cruise Critic and see where folks need some travel info and reviews and then book a cruise there.  Everyone would read it! 

I blush over your compliment!  There are some amazing reviewers on the Cruise Critic site, and I too love to read their reviews.  Thank you for making me feel like one of them!  

[ROWSE]

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.  

 

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by ROWSE

[kml246]

2 hours ago, ROWSE said:

Regarding your question about Overlord Tour:  First, it was a fantastic tour and the guide was the

nicest most knowledgeable man!  

I have never experienced in all our many cruises a couple doing this "late back to 

a tour over and over" as they did.  Maybe the tour guide was also new to experiencing this.  I only

think the last incident was the one he should have intervened, but maybe he could never had 

guessed they would have taken about 20 minutes to return.  

It is not that I wanted to get back to the port in a big hurry, it was just that we too would have loved that extra time in Honfleur.  I would hope the guide never has this situation again! 

I can only say Overlords were wonderful, and I would book them again despite this experience with these cruisers!  

Happy Cruising to you both!  

 

Thank you for confirming your positive experience with Overlord Tours. We contacted them about next August (2023) and though they don't have booking set up for then, yet, they've added us to the waitlist for when they open. I've also posted information on the Roll Call for the cruise. 

 

I have saved this thread and will refer to it often! Thanks again!

 

Kevin

[leck57]

15 hours ago, SomewhereGirl said:

What a great review!  The part at the beginning, talking about the bus to Southampton and the pictures at Heathrow convinced me that I too could do it, so I will in August.  🙂

 

Did you use self-service laundry onboard?  The subject of laundry was brought up in another thread.  Do you recall or know if the laundry was open specific hours, or 24 hours? Sorry if I missed it in your review.

 

Hi. We were on the same cruise as @ROWSE

We used the self service laundry and the laundries are open certain hours. From memory it is about 6am to 10pm, or something like that. That is the sign on the doors but I don't know if a crew member does lock them. These are busiest on sea days, especially if sea days are late in the cruise. Boarding day is quiet and is when my wife likes to iron a few things that have crushed in suitcases the day we board. Cost is $3 per wash and $3 per dryer and tokens are available in each laundry. Laundry powder is about $2 for a small box. You present your Medallion to the reader on the dispenser and the cost is charged to your cabin.

[SomewhereGirl]

1 hour ago, leck57 said:

 

Hi. We were on the same cruise as @ROWSE

We used the self service laundry and the laundries are open certain hours. From memory it is about 6am to 10pm, or something like that. That is the sign on the doors but I don't know if a crew member does lock them. These are busiest on sea days, especially if sea days are late in the cruise. Boarding day is quiet and is when my wife likes to iron a few things that have crushed in suitcases the day we board. Cost is $3 per wash and $3 per dryer and tokens are available in each laundry. Laundry powder is about $2 for a small box. You present your Medallion to the reader on the dispenser and the cost is charged to your cabin.

 

Thank you!!  This is good to know.  My upcoming cruise on Emerald will be my longest to date and laundry will be necessary.