How different would a cruise of the British Isles be from a typical Carnival cruise in the Caribbean?

MisterOJ2 · January 23

So my wife and I have a pretty big anniversary coming up (our 25th) and we're thinking about doing a cruise of the British Isles. So far we've done 16 cruises, all in the Caribbean and mostly 7(ish)-day cruises on Carnival.

The cruise we're looking at would be August of 2025 on the Miracle. Which, we love the Spirit-class ships, so that's a plus for us. It's 9 days with stops in Cobh, Holyhead, Liverpool, Douglas on the Isle of Man, an overnight in Greenock and then one last stop in Belfast.

We've never been to England before at all and are just wondering how different this cruise would be from what we're used to. Will the food and activities on board be more or less the same? Or will we notice some big differences?

Also, if anyone has any insights to offer on those ports, I'd love to hear them. I literally have no idea what to expect from this cruise in any way.

Thanks!

Drazil65 · January 23

Posted last November on CC, you can just do a search on CC for British Isle cruise reviews to get others...

Joanne G. · January 23

I was on the Pride last summer back-to-back with a Baltic cruise first and then a British Isles cruise. Unfortunately, we missed one port on the first cruise and three ports on the 2nd cruise due to a maintenance issue that required a few days in Germany for repairs. But that's another story, well documented here LOL.

My experience was that the food and activities were pretty much the same as my Carnival Caribbean cruises. The cruise director and his Fun Squad were as busy as ever planning and organizing activities, and the onboard entertainment was similar to my Caribbean cruises. The only significant difference I remember is that it was too cool for me to use the pool. The Pride has a retractable cover over one of the pools, so probably the Miracle does, also, as it's the same class. But even with that almost completely closed, it just wasn't pool weather for me. But it was for others!

The sunny days were pleasantly warm. The rainy days - almost inevitable over 9 days in the UK and Ireland were . . .rainy! Be prepared for rain.

I highly recommend spending extra time in London before your cruise - partly to adjust to the time change but mostly to enjoy a great city. Carnival offers bus transportation between central London and the port (which I used) and between the airport and the port. There are also other public and private transportation options.

I chose Carnival excursions in all the ports due to the convenience. You can check out likely excursions even before committing to the cruise on Carnival's site - "Explore/Shore Excursions" and then pick the port. The times and some details may not be exactly what will be offered on your cruise, but that should give you a idea of what likely will be offered. Sometimes there are passengers' reviews. I enjoyed all my Carnival excursions, but I will say that they typically had an early start. If you like to sleep in on vacation, then you might be better off planning independent excursions. The Cruise Critic ports of call board for the British Isles is a good source of information.

If you are interested in Carnival excursions, I recommend booking them early. On my cruises, the prices went up significantly the closer to sailing date. If you change your mind, you can cancel for a refund.

On my cruises, most passengers appeared to be Americans, Canadians, or Brits. There were more kids than I expected but a lot fewer than on a summer Caribbean cruise.

Congratulations on your anniversary! Celebrating with a big cruise is a great idea. 😃

MisterOJ2 · January 23

10 minutes ago, Joanne G. said:

I was on the Pride last summer back-to-back with a Baltic cruise first and then a British Isles cruise. Unfortunately, we missed one port on the first cruise and three ports on the 2nd cruise due to a maintenance issue that required a few days in Germany for repairs. But that's another story, well documented here LOL.

My experience was that the food and activities were pretty much the same as my Carnival Caribbean cruises. The cruise director and his Fun Squad were as busy as ever planning and organizing activities, and the onboard entertainment was similar to my Caribbean cruises. The only significant difference I remember is that it was too cool for me to use the pool. The Pride has a retractable cover over one of the pools, so probably the Miracle does, also, as it's the same class. But even with that almost completely closed, it just wasn't pool weather for me. But it was for others!

The sunny days were pleasantly warm. The rainy days - almost inevitable over 9 days in the UK and Ireland were . . .rainy! Be prepared for rain.

I highly recommend spending extra time in London before your cruise - partly to adjust to the time change but mostly to enjoy a great city. Carnival offers bus transportation between central London and the port (which I used) and between the airport and the port. There are also other public and private transportation options.

I chose Carnival excursions in all the ports due to the convenience. You can check out likely excursions even before committing to the cruise on Carnival's site - "Explore/Shore Excursions" and then pick the port. The times and some details may not be exactly what will be offered on your cruise, but that should give you a idea of what likely will be offered. Sometimes there are passengers' reviews. I enjoyed all my Carnival excursions, but I will say that they typically had an early start. If you like to sleep in on vacation, then you might be better off planning independent excursions. The Cruise Critic ports of call board for the British Isles is a good source of information.

If you are interested in Carnival excursions, I recommend booking them early. On my cruises, the prices went up significantly the closer to sailing date. If you change your mind, you can cancel for a refund.

On my cruises, most passengers appeared to be Americans, Canadians, or Brits. There were more kids than I expected but a lot fewer than on a summer Caribbean cruise.

Congratulations on your anniversary! Celebrating with a big cruise is a great idea. 😃

Thank you so much for the thoughtful reply. It was exactly what I was hoping for when I posted!

Iamthesea · January 23

You will love it, and wonder why you have spent so much time in the Caribbean. So much to see and do in other countries. We have taken 13 European area cruises, but none on Carnival.

One of the only differences that we see when cruising from London/Southampton or in the British Isles is that the English (and most Europeans) dress nicer for the most part. We do too, but when I normally wear nice dressy slacks and tops, the English women, especially, wear dresses. I am taking Sunday dresses, not sun dresses. 😉

Another difference is that the food choices will include varieties for the English, Europeans, etc. Don't count on crispy bacon!!! 😁

BTW - We are going on a Britain, Scotland, And Ireland cruise in May. Our port stop in Belfast was taken off because of unrest issues. Luckily, we have already been there, but were looking forward to going back. Be prepared hat you may miss a port or two.

Edited January 23 by Iamthesea

MJSailors · January 23

@MisterOJ2

While you have taken many Carnival cruises to the Caribbean, I might suggest that you consider a Princess cruise to the

British Isles.

Princess has been doing such cruises for quite some time. They offer various itineraries to different ports. You could consider choosing a particular cruise depending on ports to be visited. For example, many Princess cruises offer the port of Liverpool. Many passengers may want to get to this port because of their interest in the Beatles or history connected to the Titanic.

Other itineraries offer the opportunity to view the Royal Tattoo in Scotland.

I am not certain how long Carnival has offered the British Isles cruises or their experience in offering ports/excursions.

Since both Carnival and Princess are under the Carnival Corp company, you may get a loyalty level match on Princess with the loyalty level you have on Carnival.
Whichever cruise line you choose, I think you realize that the British Isles cruise will be quite different than a Caribbean cruise.

Happy travels!

MJ

Joanne G. · January 23

For what it's worth, I did not find that my fellow passengers on Carnival dressed nicer than on cruises out of the U.S, as @Iamthesea observed on her non-Carnival cruises. Most people dressed casually and comfortably, as in the Caribbean but for a cooler climate. There were elegant nights, which many people participated in, but many did not. I sailed Princess in 2019 from Southampton to Scandanavian ports, and I would agree with her for that cruise.

We had crispy bacon on the Pride - but only every other day, which seems to be fleet-wide based on discussions on these boards. And American-style sausage. On that Princess cruise, we had those plus the type of bacon and sausages and other breakfast foods that are common in England.

My speculation is that Princess and other lines have a much bigger presence in Europe, and thus they attract more European passengers. Carnival recently has had only one ship in Europe, and on my 3 Carnival European itineraries last summer (the B2B I mentioned and another one from Dover to Rome), my unscientific analysis was that the majority of the passengers were American.

I felt there were ample choices for shore excursions, probably because Carnival can benefit from the experience of its sister lines. But it's always a good idea to check the other lines. I've noticed, for example, that Princess and NCL have more options for longer cruises around Great Britain that include more ports in Scotland and may also include Le Havre in France, Zeebrugge in Belgium and/or Amsterdam.

BlerkOne · January 24

I've done British Isles cruises on both Carnival and Princess and they are both fine with a lot of the same ports.

On one of the Carnival cruises, a North Sea storm forced a reversal of the itinerary and Carnival masterfully rescheduled everything without skipping a beat.

Iamthesea · January 24

You are correct, We were on Celebrity for most of the cruises, two on Holland America, one on RCCL and one AmaWaterways river cruise (which was more casual.) All but the last cruise (HAL) was before Covid.

As for the bacon, we find it hard to find crisp bacon on a cruise ship no matter where it sails out of. LOL

OP, whichever cruiseline you pick, I wish you a fabulous trip and a happy anniversary!

I just looked up my list of cruises and found that in 2004 my husband and I sailed the Hawaiian Islands with my parents. We were celebrating our 25th and 55th wedding anniversaries together. Sadly, my parents have passed on, but that cruise will always remain one of our top trips. We sailed with them a few others times, as well.

staceyglow · January 24

I am closing in on Diamond status. I went on a B2B last year that had nearly all of the ports you have listed, and except for the weather and very few children, found virtually no difference in the onboard experience, including the food.

We had a great time, BTW.

Edited January 24 by staceyglow

MisterOJ2 · January 24

Thanks for all the responses! We wound up booking last night - but we chose a different week with a slightly different itinerary. We're now going in June instead of August and will visit Dublin instead of the Isle of Man. We're super excited about this trip!

Joanne G. · January 24

1 hour ago, MisterOJ2 said:

Thanks for all the responses! We wound up booking last night - but we chose a different week with a slightly different itinerary. We're now going in June instead of August and will visit Dublin instead of the Isle of Man. We're super excited about this trip!

Have a great cruise! I don’t know anything about the Isle of Man, but I’ve been to Dublin on a land vacation, and you can find a lot to do there. Sounds like a good itinerary.

KKB · January 24

21 hours ago, Iamthesea said:

You will love it, and wonder why you have spent so much time in the Caribbean. So much to see and do in other countries. We have taken 13 European area cruises, but none on Carnival.

One of the only differences that we see when cruising from London/Southampton or in the British Isles is that the English (and most Europeans) dress nicer for the most part. We do too, but when I normally wear nice dressy slacks and tops, the English women, especially, wear dresses. I am taking Sunday dresses, not sun dresses. 😉

Another difference is that the food choices will include varieties for the English, Europeans, etc. Don't count on crispy bacon!!! 😁

BTW - We are going on a Britain, Scotland, And Ireland cruise in May. Our port stop in Belfast was taken off because of unrest issues. Luckily, we have already been there, but were looking forward to going back. Be prepared hat you may miss a port or two.

Interesting.

Did UK last May out of Hamburg (MSC--don't do it) & N Europe in Oct out of Southampton (Princess) after a few days in London.

Did not notice dresses AT ALL on either cruise or in Europe (or Amsterdam).

Both were cool, so most people were dressed WARM & relatively casually.

The lack of crisp bacon is true--they always had a separate tray of crisp I had to ask for at the buffet. If I ate in a restaurant, I had to ask for CRISP (or burnt on land!)

Edited January 24 by KKB

jsglow · January 24

1 hour ago, MisterOJ2 said:

Thanks for all the responses! We wound up booking last night - but we chose a different week with a slightly different itinerary. We're now going in June instead of August and will visit Dublin instead of the Isle of Man. We're super excited about this trip!

Dublin is great. Just know that the port at Dun Laoghaire is among the most challenging tender ports in the world, at least that I've been to. Set an alarm and get yourself in line at least 45 minutes before they begin handing out tender boarding position slips. And when you get there, you'll say a Thank You that your not on a 'Monstrosity of the Seas'.

MisterOJ2 · January 24

1 minute ago, jsglow said:

Dublin is great. Just know that the port at Dun Laoghaire is among the most challenging tender ports in the world, at least that I've been to. Set an alarm and get yourself in line at least 45 minutes before they begin handing out tender boarding position slips. And when you get there, you'll say a Thank You that your not on a 'Monstrosity of the Seas'.

Thanks for the heads up. For some reason, I was just assuming that there wouldn't be any tender ports on this trip. Now I'm wondering if any of the others are.

jsglow · January 24

5 minutes ago, MisterOJ2 said:

Thanks for the heads up. For some reason, I was just assuming that there wouldn't be any tender ports on this trip. Now I'm wondering if any of the others are.

Rattle off your ports and I can let you know.

MisterOJ2 · January 24

Just now, jsglow said:

Rattle off your ports and I can let you know.

The others are:

Cobh

Holyhead

Liverpool

Greenock

and Belfast

KKB · January 24

2 minutes ago, MisterOJ2 said:

The others are:

Cobh

Holyhead

Liverpool

Greenock

and Belfast

Cobh, Greenock & Belfast are NOT tenders

jsglow · January 24

Dun Laoghaire is the only one. You'll love the itinerary.

I particularly enjoyed Belfast. I'm a history buff kinda guy and we did a walking tour about The Troubles. Learned so very much. It's still 'just' under the surface in the culture and Brexit has re-opened some old wounds.

Best part of travel for me is learning new things. Now folks can see why I have no interest in mega ships.

Edited January 24 by jsglow

jsglow · January 24

Oh, and listening to live music drinking a pint down in the Cavern? Epic.

KKB · January 24

2 minutes ago, jsglow said:

Dun Laoghaire is the only one. You'll love the itinerary.

I particularly enjoyed Belfast. I'm a history buff kinda guy and we did a walking tour about The Troubles. Learned so very much. It's still 'just' under the surface in the culture and Brexit has re-opened some old wounds.

Best part of travel for me is learning new things. Now folks can see why I have no interest in mega ships.

I LOVED Belfast. Did the HOHO buss & saw all the murals. Fabulous

Shipcats6 · January 26

My Daughter, SIL and I did the British Isles on the Regal Princess last June/July. I think Princess had more interesting stops. That being said, we enjoyed Liverpool and did the HOHO bus. Lots of interesting stops and liked that all the museums were free admission. In Belfast we did the Antrim Coast & Glens. It was a very misty, chilly day but the views of the countryside and the sheep everywhere was amazing. If you can get an itinerary that includes Edinburgh, you won’t regret it.

We stayed two nights in London and wished we stayed longer. Did the bus out of Victoria Station on Embarkation day and it couldn’t have been easier. Handed bags to bus person and didn’t see them again until we were in our cabin.

Enjoy but be prepared for cold rainy weather.

silversneakers · January 26

On 1/23/2024 at 12:15 PM, MisterOJ2 said:

So my wife and I have a pretty big anniversary coming up (our 25th) and we're thinking about doing a cruise of the British Isles. So far we've done 16 cruises, all in the Caribbean and mostly 7(ish)-day cruises on Carnival.

The cruise we're looking at would be August of 2025 on the Miracle. Which, we love the Spirit-class ships, so that's a plus for us. It's 9 days with stops in Cobh, Holyhead, Liverpool, Douglas on the Isle of Man, an overnight in Greenock and then one last stop in Belfast.

We've never been to England before at all and are just wondering how different this cruise would be from what we're used to. Will the food and activities on board be more or less the same? Or will we notice some big differences?

Also, if anyone has any insights to offer on those ports, I'd love to hear them. I literally have no idea what to expect from this cruise in any way.

Thanks!

Caribbean cruises have a lot of "outdoor" on-ship time where British Isles can be very cold but IMO it is worth it!

Joanne G. · January 26

On 1/24/2024 at 11:39 AM, MisterOJ2 said:

The others are:

Cobh

Holyhead

Liverpool

Greenock

and Belfast

I did Carnival excursions in Cobh (Countryside & Kinsale), Holyhead (Caernarfon Castle), and Belfast (Belfast City & Hillsborough). I wrote reviews on Carnival's site as Nan S if you want to check them out.

I visited Titanic Belfast as a day trip on my Dublin vacation. It is very well done, and I recommend it for anyone with an interest in the Titanic. There are no artifacts, but there is one of its tenders at the site, the one that was used in the port of Cherbourg. It is much bigger than what we think of as a tender, with multiple decks. You can board it; I found it fascinating to walk in the steps of Titanic passengers.

There is also a small Titanic exhibit in Cobh. I went there on my own in the morning before my afternoon tour. We docked right in the village of Cobh. I could just walk off and explore the village, with the ship pretty much always in sight. I understand there is another potential location to dock in the area, which I found is common on European itineraries, make sure you know where you will be docked before making independent plans.

I hope to do another British Isles cruise, to see the Scotland ports that were missed on my cruise and because every port offers multiple things to enjoy.

kwokpot · January 26

I did some of these ports last year in July, albeit on Celebrity. I'll cut and paste my trip report entries that are relevant to your cruise. I'll also attach some photos.

Day 9 Greenock/Glasgow, Afternoon

I had a late start to get to Glasgow on my own. The Greenock Central rail station was a easy 15 minutes walk, even quicker if you walk fast to catch the train, which I did. I even had time to buy my return ticket at the ticket office which for off-peak travel was under 9 pounds. The trip was about 40 minutes and it was quite full up with families and children all going into town on a nice summer Saturday.

Glasgow Central Station was crazy busy and once I got onto the city streets I realized one reason why Glasgow was so busy, it was Pride Day! I don't mean to be presumptuous but I didn't expect the thousands of people in the Glasgow city centre celebrating Gay Pride. It made me feel very proud as an out gay married man and I had to spend a little time supporting my community and enjoyed watching everyone having a great time.

The Glasgow Cathedral was beautiful and the organ was playing which added to atmosphere and grandeur of it. Equally interesting was the adjacent Glasgow Necropolis, or cemetery. I wish I had some more time to checkout some of the headstones and monuments.

I enjoyed walking the many pedestrian only shopping streets and also checked out some of the beautiful high end shopping arcades.

I spent less than three hours in Glasgow and felt I barely scratched the surface of this city. The architecture is historic and I'm glad I got to a few different areas around the main city centre.

Day 10 Belfast, Morning and Afternoon

I leisurely got ready for an afternoon in Belfast.

The City provides a shuttle service that cost 10 dollars/pounds/euro return which is a great deal. It picks and drops off right in front of Belfast city hall by the Visit Belfast tourist office. Starts at 9:00 and last shuttle back from Belfast was 5:30. It was about a 15-20 ride.

Having never been to Belfast I wasn't quite sure what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised how o much new construction has obviously occurred among the traditional Irish architecture.

The weather was all over the place. It was around 62 but when the rain clouds moved in a cold wind comes with the rain showers. Then after awhile the rain stops and the sun is out and it becomes warm.

The St. George's market was crowded with people and it was a fun place to explore. In Philly we have one of the country's top market, The Reading Terminal Market, and this has a somewhat similar vibe, albeit a lot less grocery stalls and more individual prepared foods stalls. It was interesting to see some food stalls were wildly more popular than others with long queues of people. Lots of photos to follow.

I enjoyed just walking all around enjoying all the architecture and especially the street art (Another attraction that Philly is famous for the world over, street art/murals).

I was out about four hours and had an enjoyable afternoon. Took the shuttle bus back..

Cobh/Cork Photos