Live from the Dawn - British Isles Amsterdam-Southampton

[snorklinbarb]

4 hours ago, KeithJenner said:

Yes, Alain is the GM.

 

There was a meet and greet, but I missed it due to the change in itinerary. I ended up forgetting it when it happened.

 

Latitudes, there was the party on the first day and we also did the Wines Around The World tasting on Monday. The CruiseNext rep is keeps trying to talk me into the Mixology tasting, but I don't think that I could face that.

No behind the scenes tour though, or dinner with officers. Also no OBC offered.

NCL has officially ended the Behind the Scenes and Dinner w/Officers in the same announcement about the expanded dining options for the latitudes vouchers (a really great improvement, more options).

 

You should try the Sail & Sustain Mixology next time!  There was only 1 other guest and me on Joy plus 2 bartenders.  Interesting drinks!  A couple of refreshing ones and a couple of lip puckering!  I would do it again.

 

No more OBC on pretty much any ship now according to recent reports here since they pretty much resumed events (and dropped those 2 - at least for now).

 

Great photos of the ruins!  Thanks again for taking time to take us along!

 

 

[kattybiz]

@KeithJennerThank you for the pictures on Kirkwall!   We're taking the Dawn next year for a British Isles cruise and were just talking about going on this tour.    Looks great!

[KeithJenner]

On to Invergorden.

 

Again, we have done this port in the past and last time we hired a car and went to Loch Ness, Urauhart Castle and then Glenmorangie distillery. I would recommend all three, especially the distillery.

 

We had hired the car from a local garage, who apparently aren’t doing it this year, so instead we decided to make this a quiet day.

 

So instead we just walked into town for a while. It’s a small town, but not bad for a short wander around. There are a few murals on the side of buildings which are good.

 

If we had wanted to explore further without a car then we would have caught a train into Inverness. The station is about a 10 minute walk from the ship.

 

This is actually a great port with plenty to see nearby, so don’t be put off by us not doing much. We like to have a few off days on cruises, especially when we have done things previously, but with the Highlands scenery, Loch Ness and the Distillery’s and castles nearby it is easy to find things of interest.

 

We are in La Cucina in the evening. This is another place that I like despite the often less than glowing reports, but I have to say that it was not as good as usual. On our last cruise it was probably the best meal we had, but this time it was just ok.

 

After that we went to the Cellars just for a couple of drinks but ended up spending the whole evening there.

 

The sunrise was very nice in the morning.

 

Edited September 23, 2022 by KeithJenner

[graphicguy]

Love your pics.  Thanks!

[KeithJenner]

I bet you all thought I'd given up with this.

 

To be honest, I was struggling posting pictures, as cruise critic insists on posting them upside down when I post from my phone. I could post them correctly when using a different device, but that was a pain, so I gave up.

 

I'm back home now (got home in time for lunch yesterday 🙂 ) and am catching up with things now. I will try to get this finished in the next day or so.

[KeithJenner]

So, next port was Edinburgh.

 

After the mess with tendering in Dublin, many people were concerned about a similar problem in Edinburgh. However, I assume because excursions didn't need to head out as quickly, they let the first tender take independent people (there may have been more than one) and the whole process seemed to work very well. By the time we decided to get off there was no queue at all and we just walked straight on to a tender.

 

Edinburgh is an odd port for us, as we know it so well. I have visited many times over the years, including having a week there last year when we couldn't cruise due vaccine rules.

 

This year we decided to go to the Castle as we haven't been there for a few years and can get in free at the moment. Like the Guinness Storehouse, you can change your tickets online if your plans change, so the itinerary changes shouldn't have been a major problem to people who had paid for tickets.

 

You do need to reserve a space though, and people were being turned away who didn't have a ticket. I think there were places available at different times, but it is best to get your place.

 

Firstly, though, how to get there.

 

At the port there  is a hop on hop off bus stop which seemed to be the most popular for people who didn't have tours booked.

 

There is also a bus stop which is the cheapest way of getting into the city (well, you could walk, but it is a couple of miles). The bis runs regularly and costs £1.80 per journey, or £4.50 for unlimited journeys. If you use contactless to pay and just scan your card then it works similarly to the London Underground in that it tracks your journeys and just charges you the correct amount at the end of the day.

 

Lothian Bus have a website or app that you can use to find the best route to where you want to go. It is handy as it shows exactly where the stop you need is. That is handy as sometimes the place you catch the bus may not just be across the road from where you got off, it may be on a parallel road, for example. The Tenders leave from Fishmarket, so use that to plan your return trip.

 

Anyway, the journey is easy, if slow, and we got off at Princes Street and walked up to the Castle. After spending some time there, we did one of my favourite things which is just to walk around Edinburgh and enjoy being in such a fantastic city.

 

Whilst we didn't do them this time, I would recommend a walk up Arthurs Seat for the views, and we also enjoyed going round the Royal Yacht Britannia (which is at Ocean Terminal, not far from the tenders) last year. But mainly just enjoy the city.

 

Once back onboard we ate at Bamboo again (really enjoyed it once again). We had a very quiet night after that, which I think we both needed.

[KeithJenner]

Next port was Tyne (Newcastle).

 

This was the replacement for Portland due to the itinerary changes. It is not far from where we live and we visit regularly. In fact, we were there for a Rugby match the weekend before the cruise.We therefore didn't have any need to go anywhere particularly.

 

As arranged earlier in this thread, we instead met fabnfortysomething and her husband 6 at the nearby shopping centre for a coffee. Very enjoyable, but obviously coffee and a chat with a great couple is not something that is easily available for more people.

 

If you do find yourself in Newcastle on a cruise, it is actually a very good port. There is a shuttle that takes you to Tynemount, which is a nice little town with a castle. I saw tours going to Anwick, which has a nice castle that was used as Hogwarts in some Harry Potter scenes amongst many others. I believe that tours were also available to Durham, which is a lovely city and Newcastle itself is an interesting city. It is actually a great port of call.

 

A short while after sail away you pass Tynemouth on the port side before heading back into the North Sea, which is worth being on deck for.

 

In the evening we were back in Moderno for another excellent meal and also spent much of the evening back in Cellars.

 

As I don't have any pictures of Newcastle, here are a couple of Tynemouth and from sailing in the evening.

[fabnfortysomething]

really enjoyed meeting up with you at Starbucks!

[KeithJenner]

Final day was Zebrugge.

 

This was the real benefit from the changed itinerary. Due to the problems at the lock in Ijmuiden, this port has either been missed or visited for a short time in the evening on most cruises this year. Before the full rescheduling we were only planned to be in port in the evening, which would have made this a very disappointing port.

 

Instead, we got a fairly long day and both passengers and staff seemed to take advantage. I saw lots of staff out and about both around the port and in Brugge.

 

Last time we were in Brugge, I had planned a walk around the city and we really enjoyed it. This time I made no specific plans and just walked around at random, chasing the direction at every junction based on what direction looked nicest. That is a very hard decision in many places, as Brugge really is one of the most picturesque cities I have ever visited.

 

Firstly, how to get there. There are taxis and I think that NCL offered an "on your own" tour, but I went by train. It is very easy and relatively quick. After leaving the port you turn right and walk a short distance to Zebrugge Kerk tram stop. Last time we were here you had to buy a ticket from a shop (or listen to the driver complaining if he had to sell them to you), but now you can buy your ticket online, which I did, or even easier just use contactless. A journey costs €2.50 and you take the short journey to Blankenberge Station.

 

From there, the trains run every hour (this was a weekend, but I think it is the same during the week), so it is worth planning your journey to avoid hanging around too long. A return to Brugge was €5 as it was a weekend, but it was only slightly higher during the week. The journey takes less than 15 minutes and you are very close to the centre of Brugge.

 

The canal trips are popular (I've never done one), and there are lots of bars, waffle and chocolate shops. It really is a great city, one of my very favourites.

 

I spent a few hours in Brugge, just walking the streets, and then took the journey in reverse, being back at the port about 30 minutes after leaving Brugge.

 

As we had an early start the next morning, we had a fairly quiet night again, although we did go to the early eating at Teppanyaki, which was very good as usual.

 

Lots of pictures attached. There were many others that I could easily have included.

[KeithJenner]

It was really nice the next morning to not have to head to an airport as is usually the case.

 

Actually, that is a lie, as we had parked our car at Southampton Airport, which was a short taxi journey away and then we drove home and were back at about 11am. A very nice change to usual.

 

So, some final thoughts. This was our first cruise without our Son for many years, and it was quite different for us. We didn't play cards once, which was a real bonus, and we enjoyed being able to sit at the bar again. It was odd him not being around, but we will get used to it. We have one final family holiday planned next year (in Orlando), and then it will likely just be the two of us for a while at least. I'm sure we will get used to it.

 

We have previously sailed on the Star, which is a sister ship of the Dawn, so it was quite familiar. We like the Jewel class which is very similar and there are some pros and cons. We missed the Great Outdoors and Spinnaker, but o'Sheehans is nicer on the Dawn (more seats at the bar for example), and we really enjoyed Cellars. Overall I really like the ship.

 

For the second cruise in a row we managed to upgrade to a suite very cheaply, which was nice. As I have stated a few times on these boards, I see no particular benefit in the Haven, but we do like the larger room, and enjoy breakfast in Moderno, which we had most days. We also tried lunch in Moderno once, when we didn't have a meal planned in the evening. Three full meals a day is far too much for us, so we. prefer to just grab a snack for lunch. Lunch in Moderno was nice as a change, but I wouldn't go often.

 

We rarely use the concierge and butler. The main benefit we got from the concierge was getting on a tender quicker in Dublin, which got us ashore about an hour earlier than would otherwise have been the case, but otherwise we didn't make use of him at all. We needed to change a couple of meals and I found it much easier to speak to the reservation staff myself rather than involve a middle man.

 

Our butler was very friendly and kept the Nespresso machine stocked. He also brought snacks, which I generally could do without, to be honest. We left most of them, and those that we ate were really just because they were there.

 

We always find the staff on NCL to be very good (with the occasional frustration due to communication issues). Our room steward was excellent, and the bar staff in Cellars were exceptional. We had plenty of time to chat as it was often quiet there, and really enjoyed our time with them.

 

We made the most of the Premium Plus beverage package. I had at least one glass of champagne every day, and my wife was drinking it most of the week. We ordered a few bottles of time with meals and I enjoyed trying various red wines in Cellars. We also like sparkling water and got through quite a few bottles (I'd guess we averages three or four bottles a day between us. It is certainly worth it for us.

 

As for the itinerary, obviously my view on this will be different from the average passenger on this cruise, as we know much of it so well. It really is an excellent itinerary with the highlights for me being Dublin, Kirkwall, Edinburgh and Brugge. The rearrangement was unfortunate, especially with the impact on the Irish ports and we were disappointed not to get to Gia its Causeway, but overall I think that people enjoyed the trip. I didn't;t hear too many complaints, outside of the Dublin tendering issues. The weather was generally good, although many people were wrapped up well (at times I was wearing a t shirt whilst others were in scarves and coats). It is a very good way of seeing the British Isles.

 

I'll be happy to try to answer any questions if anyone has any.

[foodsvcmgr]

Thank you Keith for your excellent and informative review.

I am considering this itinerary in the next couple years and your suggestions will be very helpful in planning.