Crown Princess Review

Ten Ports In Twelve Days - Busy Cruise!

Review for the British Isles & Western Europe Cruise on Crown Princess
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karen456
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jun 2009
Traveled with children

My husband and I are in our early 50's and were traveling with our 15-year-old son. This was our ninth cruise, our third with Princess and our first cruise to Europe (although we've been to England before). Our first cruise with Princess was 19 days in 2005, Singapore to Sydney; the second was last year for 32 days, San Francisco to Sydney. We are honestly tiring a bit of Princess and plan to cruise Holland American next year for Northern Europe. Not that there's anything wrong with Princess, but 'same old same old' is happening to us. And the food on this cruise was NOT good. Some of it was good (I particularly remember a wonderful mushroom soufflE appetizer) but on the main, it was just so-so. The service on this cruise was not good, at least in the beginning, as you'll see in my review. EMBARKATION Thurs, June 25 - We landed in London about 10 a.m. UK time; my poor body with its fitful airplane sleep definitely thought it was L.A. time (2 a.m.)   After Immigration we collected our baggage and went to meet the Princess representatives to catch our shuttle to Southampton.  We found them, only to be given the news that it would be a wait of "at least 45 minutes" for the bus as the current one was full.  A red dot sticker was pressed on us and we were ushered into a waiting area, where we sat - for about an hour and a half.  When the representative finally collected us, she said that the coach had "5 seats fewer than we thought" and she needed 5 volunteers to wait longer.  Uh, not us. We were half dead and wanted to get on the ship and into our cabin beds for a nap!We got on the coach and began the long drive to Southampton.  I saw a lot of trees.  I fell asleep and awoke when we got into town.  The coach driver gave us a mini tour of the pretty town, which I would have appreciated a lot more had I not been so zonked.We all gawked at the huge ship as it came into view.  Crown Princess is a very impressive vessel. (Passenger capacity is 3,150, and we were told the ship is full.) Embarkation was a snap thanks to our newly earned platinum cruise cards; we were guided to a very short queue, issued our ID/room keycards, and passed through Security. Then we encountered a huge room packed with people gripping red cards, which listed their embarkation order.  Once again, our platinum status came in handy; we bypassed that room and walked straight on to the ship.  Rank, or in this case loyalty, has its privileges.Usually the first stop on a new cruise is to inspect the stateroom and head to the Lido for the buffet.  This time, however, we stopped first to talk to the headwaiter to try to get changed from 'anytime dining' to traditional seating.  We had wanted traditional 2nd seating but our travel agent erroneously put us down for anytime.  We love traditional, with an assigned table and the same waiters who get to know you and what you like.  (The only catch is what seatmates you get!)  We had been waitlisted for sometime, so the headwaiter told us as number 48, our chances were excellent.  We would be informed by note to our cabin the next day of our table assignment.  He said he was glad we didn't want 1st seating, which had 600 people waiting!Finally off to the cabin, D110, a mini-suite in the very front of the ship.  Contrary to our confirmed booking, our beds were together, and the egg crate mattress toppers we'd ordered were not there.  Our steward, Nimit, assured us all would be taken care of, and it was.  He had separated the beds while we were on the muster drill and found the egg crates.  DS' bed is a sleeper couch, which he likes very much. The cabin is spacious with lots of storage and closet space.  The bathroom is the biggest I've had on any of numerous cruises, complete with full-size bathtub.  DS christened the tub and discovered it had a sluggish drain.  We reported this to the purser and they sent out a plumber.Up to the Lido, had lunch, then muster drill, then back to the cabin where all 3 of us passed out.  The cabin steward awoke us at 9 p.m. Since we'd neglected to insert the 'privacy please' thingie into the door slot, Dear Husband (DH) and I got up and went to dinner at the Lido, but Dear Son (DS) was too tired to get up.  We brought him a slice of pepperoni pizza, which he ate half-asleep and went back to sleep.  DH and I wandered about around the ship and turned in for the night.Fri., June 26, Guernsey, Channel Islands - I'd set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. so we'd have enough time to shower, dress, eat breakfast, and make it to the Princess Theater by 8:15 a.m. for our tour.  DS, however, was awake since 5 a.m. due to his falling asleep at 7 p.m. and DH woke up around 6.  I staggered out of bed at 6:30, grateful for the coffee he fetched at the bar.A quick Lido breakfast and then to the tour, "German Military Occupation".  The Channel Islands was the only British territory to be occupied by the Germans during WWII.  We were taken to the Underground Hospital and Munitions Store, a German bunker complex on the island's coast.  It is huge, very cold as it's underground (about 42 degrees inside), dark, and spooky.  The maze of tunnels covers about 75,000 square feet.  It's nearly invisible from the surface, but it served 500-1,000 patients at a time, all German soldiers.Next stop was the German Occupation Museum.  It's filled to the brim with artifacts of the war.  Half of Guernsey's population was evacuated and the other half had it tough; their cars were "purchased" for pennies and their bikes as well. Three Jewish women were deported and executed at Auschwitz (there's a memorial for them near the docks).  The museum is interesting but small and got very crowded with our group and others who arrived after us.We also got a tour of the town by the guide, a native named Jeff who's lived there all his life.  He informed us he wants to relocate far away.  He was nice enough, although I heard him tell another driver before the tour, "They're nearly all Americans!" in a not very happy tone.  We tipped him 3 pounds after he let us off at the police station.Naturally we had to visit the local constable.  DH was armed with his IPA (International Police Association) card and sheriff's patches.  He smoozed his way through the women at the front desk, who summoned a sergeant who also belongs to the IPA.  He gave us a tour of the small station which is located in a formal mental hospital.  Inside their dispatch room is a wall of CCTV cameras which watches over not only the p.d. but also the main streets in town, Upstairs in the break room we got a great view of our ship in the ocean.  The crime rate is very low; people leave their homes unlocked and keys in the ignition.  The local paper today devoted half a page to a vandalism incident where a bus' windows were smashed.We did some shopping in town and then back to the tender; we had to tread water for a long time because it was so foggy near the ship and a big ferry was coming.  We finally got back to the ship, where we had lunch and got to rest.Coming up: our first dinner at our new dining room.Back from dinner!  We have a full table now, more than full because 9 of us are squeezed into a table for 8.  The dining room, called the Boticelli, is located on the far side of the ship, as far away as possible from our cabin, which is very much forward.  Our waiter is a woman, whose name escapes me, and our assistant waiter is Pablo.  They are nice enough, but don't come near to the standards we grew to expect in our previous cruises.  Drinks remained unfilled, orders got mixed up.  Hopefully it's opening night jitters since our table had just 3 people the night before.I had "Grandma's coq au vin" which didn't come close to my late Oma's version. DH said his shrimp was "okay".Our tablemates consist of Florida grandparents taking their 14-year-old grandson on a post-Bar Mitzvah cruise and a couple with a 17-year-old son.  Apparently the headwaiter carefully filled the table with couples with teenaged sons!  The grandparents, like us, originally had "anytime dining" and asked to change; the headwaiter told them he had the perfect table for them.  The grandson inspired DS to give the teen center a try.  I signed him up and he just left (11:05 pm).  It's open until 1 a.m.  DS said he spotted "a hot brunette" when we signed up. And get this, the whole table is Jewish!  (All but DH, who's Jewish enough!) DH says they're segregating us!  Next we'll be wearing yellow "Juden" stars like we saw in the Occupation Museum today, lol. The 2nd couple with the 17-year-old is from Miami; he is an Israeli named Yahir.  They have a cabin on the same floor as us, other side. We made a date to go into town together tomorrow when we reach Cobh (Cork), Ireland.  We all want to go to Blarney Castle and we didn't sign up for a tour.The news is full of Michael Jackson who dropped dead last night (such a shame, not really).I am very tired!  I've typed this whole thing on DS' new Net Book.  It sure beats paying $100s for the Internet Cafe like I did last cruise.  Now I can compose off line and then log on and send my excerpts to you all.  Plus I can do it in the comfort of our cabin since the ship has wi-fi.  Nicest of all, DH & I each have 250 free minutes due to our platinum status.DS just came back.  He lasted 5 minutes in the Teen Center.  He said, "The Teen Center is loud and rambunctious. They're doing karaoke and there's no chance to socialize."  He said he'll give it another try later. Sat., June 27, Cobh, Ireland - This morning we awoke to a pretty view outside our balcony, the town of Cobh, Ireland.  Formerly Queenstown, this ferry port north of Cork is where countless thousands of poor Irish families sailed on their emigration journeys to America.   The main attraction in this area is Blarney Castle, a rugged 15th-century tower that houses the famous Blarney Stone.  It draws scores of visitors who scale the narrow, winding steps of the tower to claim the prize: the chance to kiss the stone.  The best known of several legends is that anyone who can kiss the Blarney Stone will have the gift of eloquence magically bestowed on him.The ship offered an excursion entitled "Blarney Castle & Woolen Mill Shop" for $79 per person: "Visit the romantic ruins of Blarney Castle - the intrepid may scale the castle's narrow passages to kiss the Blarney Stone.  Enjoy free time to shop for linen, woolens and Waterford Crystal at the Woolens Mill Shop in picturesque Blarney Village".My 'rip-off meter' told me this was not a good deal.  Basically the ship offered a bus ride to the castle, admission, and a chance to spend money in a tourist trap.  So we did not buy the excursion, deciding to get there on our own.  Happily we had hooked up with the Y family from our table, who wanted to take the same trip.  They stayed out dancing until 4 a.m. the night before, so getting them up was a bit difficult, but soon enough they showed up at the breakfast buffet.  Then after a trip to the money-changing machine by the purser to buy euros, we disembarked to look for a taxi to town.While getting coffee earlier, I asked the purser how much a taxi to Blarney Castle should cost.  I was told about 50 euros but try to get 40.  The first cabbie we spoke to wanted 60 - 10 each - for the 6 of us.  Well, I was told it was by carful, not by person.  So we walked into town, found the cab station, and negotiated a ride for 40 euros one way.We piled into the small vehicle, the 2 boys in jump seats in the rear, Yahir, Sherri and I in the middle seat, and DH up front with the driver Michael.  He was an affable older fellow happy to answer our questions.  By the time we arrived, we had arranged to have him pick us up at the Woolen Mills 2 1/2 hours later.We bought our tickets (10 euros per adult, 3.50 for DS - kids were up to age 14 and this happened to be his last day as a 14-year-old!)  Then we walked the 10 minutes or so to the castle, snapping pictures all the while.  Sherri and I were happy we had gotten together, because we became each other's family photographer. DH used his new Flip video camera to take videos.There was a line to climb the stairways, but it moved fairly quickly (about 25 minutes to get up). We laughed and took photos, and I endured good-natured teasing from my boys about my propensity to stumble and fall (which I didn't).  At last we reached the top where one by one, visitors emptied their pockets (so stuff wouldn't fall out) and laid flat on their backs to lean back and kiss the stone. It's built into the outer face of a gap in the battlements.   You bend backwards and hang your head down, over a safety grill, supported by the burly custodian, to kiss the stone.  When it was my turn I nearly chickened out, but the stoic custodian held me firmly and pushed me down and I did it - my lips touched that cold granite!  An official photographer was there to snap the moment.  I was plenty noisy, to the amusement of the crowd. I left the custodian a euro tip for putting up with me.  After we all kissed the stone, we went down the tower (wayquicker than going up) and saw our photos.  I bought all 3 sets.  16 euros a set was worth it for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. As we left the tower, we noticed that the line to get in had grown.   And grown and grown.  It stretched out the entrance and snaked all the way down the walkway halfway to the beginning of the ruins.  Many people in line wore the telltale stickers of Princess passengers on a cruise tour.  Those were the people who paid $79 each to do what we had just done, and had to wait 2 1/2 hours in line to do so!  Later I heard 6 buses full of people arrived at once at the tower. One couple I ran into at the Mills gave up and never climbed the tower due to the wait.We did a little souvenir shopping, the guys had a beer, and Michael met us.  On the way back we took a couple side trips, once to see a 12th century tower for sale, and then to a very beautiful cathedral. The return trip was more costly due to the side trips, 60 euros, or 30 per couple (including tip).  All in all, we paid 50 euros to travel back and forth and 23 to get into the tower a total of 73 euros, which at the exchange rate of 1.24 euros to the dollar comes to about $96. Sure beats the $237 Princess would have charged us and we didn't have to wait in line 2 1/2 hours!Back to the ship by "all aboard" 4:30 p.m., a bite to eat, and everyone crashed for a while.  I had to get up before the boys to start getting dolled up for formal night (all that makeup, ugh).  Then I woke the boys (DS did not want to get up!) and we all dressed in our formal gear.Then down to the various photographer stations to get formal pics the trick is to hit as many as possible to get the best choice of poses and to dinner.  Dinner was only slighter better than the first night.  The wait staff is NOT on top of things.  We miss our waiters from the last 2 cruises who were always hovering nearby and had our drinks of choice waiting for us before we arrived.Entertainment, a funny black comedian.  Then exhausted, back to the room.  Tomorrow is Dublin.  We are again on our own.  I have to stop now because it's nearly 1 a.m. and DH's crabbing about my tap tap tap.  Oh, and it's now DS' 15th birthday! Sun, June 28, Dublin - DS' birthday!  He awoke to 'Happy Birthday' balloons fastened to our doorway and a couple gifts from us.  We got dressed and headed to our first sit-down breakfast in the dining room.  DH & I both ordered eggs benedict (which strangely was not on the menu).  The waiter said he had 'to ask' when we asked if we could get it.  The waiter was sooooo cranky.... when I requested another orange juice, DH said it was like I asked for his first-born; when I asked if my bagel & lox could be wrapped, he rolled his eyes and DH said it was like I asked for his 2nd born.  He returned with a fistful of paper napkins instead of plastic wrap.  I decided not to quibble since I have my own stash of plastic bags in our cabin. (I later ate the bagel & lox for lunch while in town.)After breakfast we got off the ship and caught the shuttle to town. Princess charged $5 per head, each direction, for the shuttle.  Thus we paid $30 just to get out of port.  The shuttle should have been complimentary, in our opinion; one is not even allowed to walk on the port, so one's choice is to either stay on the ship all day or pay the fee.  Maybe that's the price of not buying a ship tour, who knows.Anyway, once in town we bought tickets to the Dublin Tour bus, a hop-on, hop-off bus.  Cost was 15 euros per adult and 7.50 for kids. It was a good way to get around and see the city, albeit slow with its many, many stops.  We took it halfway around to Kilmainham Gaol, which was the main place we wanted to see.  I read about it in a guidebook and my friend Debbie went there last year and raved about it.  The old prison is a national monument, inaugurated in 1796 and closed in 1924. The original section of the prison is dark and gloomy with tiny cold stone cells that smell really dank. The second section, built in the Victorian era, looked instantly familiar to us because we watched the film "In the Name of the Father" before we left.  That film, like several others, was shot in the prison.  All manner of 'common' criminals were held here along with famine victims of the 1840s and 50s who were forced to resort to petty crime due to hunger. Some got committed on purpose just to be fed regular prison gruel.  The most famous prisoners were the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising.  We stood in the yard where they were shot to death.  We saw the prison via a guided tour (which is obligatory - you aren't allowed to wander unescorted, although that didn't stop people from surreptitiously graffiting in the cells).After spending time in the attached museum, we emerged to the street and headed to a nearby ATM as nearly all our euros were gone.  Then we consulted our guidebook and decided to head to the Guinness factory. We walked rather than take the bus due to the latter's slowness.  But the walk took more than half an hour, and by the time we arrived at Guinness, it was 2:45 pm and the last shuttle to the ship was at 4. We decided we didn't have enough time for Guinness and none of us was that interested in beer making anyway.  So we caught the Dublin Tour bus, which meandered its way through the second half of the route and gave us more sightseeing.  A bonus was the 2nd driver was actually intelligible (the first one had such a thick Irish brogue he sounded like "Mmmmm haaaaa maaaaaa Guinness factory wwwwwwaaa baaaah".)  It was 3:30 by the time we had to get off and change to another bus to take us back to the shuttle area.  We had hoped to shop a bit but that was not to be; we had time only to grab 3 postcards and then hightailit to the shuttle queue and schlep back to the ship.  Back on the ship, I decided to try to get in some laundry.  DS went with me and happily we had to wait just a short time. The nearest launderette is on the floor above us and is pretty big with 4 full-size washers and 4 dryers.  The Dawn Princess, which we took last year, had miniscule launderettes with tiny, weak stacked washer-dryers.  It's prohibitively expensive to use the ship's laundry service (unless you're Elite status,in which it's free).   DS went to the deck over the bridge to watch the local pilot hop back on his boat.  He got a great video of it.  Meanwhile as a birthday surprise, I booked a 'teen massage' for him.  It's pricey, but not as bad as grownup prices.  He got a 25-min backrub from a young Swede named Monique.  He loved it. Then it was time for dinner.  By now we were fed up with our lousy waitress. Our tablemate Yahir gave the head waiter an earful and lo and behold, our crappy waitress was replaced with Frederick, who gave us superb service, made even more so by the stark contrast.  Suddenly our food came promptly and correctly, with the little touches that makes cruise ship dining special: he spooned my salad dressing for me and handled the pepper mill; he actually brought cheese for someone's fettuccini; drinks actually arrived.  He told us he was there for tonight only.  We want him every night.  We'll see what happens.DS got a special dessert, a wonderful chocolate Princess tart, and a Happy Birthday serenade from the waiters (including crappy demoted waitress, lol).  He was too tired from the long day to go to the show so we all headed to the cabin.  He (along with DH) is complaining about my late-night typing and wants to sleep, so this is it for now. Tomorrow, Liverpool we are headed to Wales and Chester on a ship's tour. Mon., June 29, Liverpool - I'm at the Internet Cafe now, not on the Net book.   I'm not TOO worried about writing this at the Cafe.... because I won the Internet drawing!  500 free minutes!  The prize was 250 free minutes if you weren't signed up for a plan and 500 if you were; I had already signed up for my 250 free minutes due to being Platinum.  So with DH's 250 and my winnings, we have a total of 1000 free minutes, yaaaah!Today we docked in Liverpool.  We hauled our tired behinds out of bed and had to inhale our breakfasts to make our 8:15 a.m. meeting time for our all-day tour.  We took a coach to Wales, about 20 miles away, and stopped in a couple towns with strange Welsh names I can't remember right now, but they had a lot of l's in them (that's L like in Lewis).  We saw lots of sheep.  Then we went to Chester, which is right on the border of Wales and the UK.  Chester is a really picturesque town.  It has the most complete city walls in Britain dating from the Roman times.  We toured the Cathedral, a most magnificent church and I'm not all that interested in churches usually but this one dated from the 7th and 11th centuries.  It was very cool.  Then we saw the Eastgate Clock which is the 2nd most photographed clock in Britain, second only to Big Ben.  The Rows shops date back 700 years; they're stacked on top of each other.  So it was a cool place.  Not the weather however it was quite hot in the afternoon, about 80 degrees.On the way back we looked at the River Dee, which served the Romans for 1700 years.  Those Romans had such a great thing going; too bad they got wiped out.DS was morose that we weren't going to see Liverpool.  I mentioned this to the guide and he kindly tacked on a quickie tour of Liverpool's main drag at the end, which wasn't part of the tour and was really nice of him to do for us.  I tipped him 5 pounds and wrote a note of praise for him at the Tour desk.  He was REALLY knowledgeable about British history and the places we went.  DS said he sounded more like a teacher than a guide.  He could be a college professorwithout question.  He was the best guide we've had yet.We are so tired!  This is a great trip BUT there is so little down time!  For instance as soon as I send this, I am going to run back to the room, shower, and it will be dinnertime.  DH was asleep when I left to go do this.  We may or may not make it to the show tonight. We're going to very few shows cos we're so beat.Tomorrow is Belfast, another full day.  It's a bit confusing zig zagging from England to Ireland to England to Ireland, lol. Then we head to Scotland and our one-day in Paris.  Not really looking forward to that because it's a THREE-hour bus drive each way!In three days we finally get a sea day, one of only 2 on the whole 12-day trip.  I can't wait! I wonder what waiter we will get tonight...the crappy one or the new good one???I asked for an extra blanket last night for DS and me.  Finally I wasn't freezing at night.  They don't give you a lot of covers. Tues, June 30, Belfast - Today we were in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Instead of the cool weather they had been having for weeks, it was warm and sunny too warm for us who ended up in a bus with broken air conditioning!  But it was beautiful out. Our tour was entitled "Belfast: Past, Present, Future". The promo read: "Experience Belfast and discover its history on a narrated drive. The only Irish city to be transformed by the Industrial Revolution, Belfast came to world attention with the outbreak of the 'Troubles'. Conflict lasted until the 1994 cease-fire. Your tour travels through neighborhoods that once garnered international headlines". In theory it was a great tour; in practice not so much. The problem was (1) a mediocre guide, and (2) a bus with broken a.c. No. 2 wouldn't have mattered so much if it hadn't been such a warm day. But it was, and we were sweltering by the first 30 minutes. The driver kept fiddling with the controls trying to improve things without success. Later the driver told us that he called the bus owner and learned that mechanics who worked on the engine the night before had broken the a.c. Now they tell us! Then he considerately offered us water - at 50 pence apiece. Many of us talked about complaining to Princess, but I doubt it will do much good due to their disclaimer note enclosed with all tour tickets: "Air Conditioned Buses are NOT guaranteed". As for the guide an elderly fellow named John - he was knowledgeable enough, but did little to enlighten us about the area apart from a vague description of what we were seeing. He was a stark contrast to our excellent guide from the day before in Wales & Chester. Our table mates Rick & Sheila took the same tour in the afternoon from a different guide, and they raved about the tour. It's just potluck. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't. The tour got to a bad start not only from the broken a.c. but due to an unscheduled bathroom stop for a passenger with a weak bladder - John took us to Belfast Church which had one, just one, toilet for both males and females. Seemingly 3/4s of the bus decided to 'go', so that little non-stop took 30 minutes. I guess John made up for the lost time by not telling us anything much on the tour. Fortunately my guidebook filled in the blanks about the Nationalists and the Loyalists. We saw murals painted by both sides. We saw a big fence with some sort of barbed wire to separate two neighborhoods from each other. We drove to Stormont, the impressive Parliament building (but did not get to go inside). We peered at a giant empty hole where the Titanic was built and launched. We passed through City Center. That was pretty much it. The tour was supposed to take us back to City Center if we wanted, but John said we needed to get back to the Pier and we could pick up the free shuttle from there. Everyone was dying to get out of the hot bus, so we didn't quarrel. Back at the pier, we hopped into the much cooler shuttle and made our way back to City Center. First things first, we headed to the police department so DH could add Belfast to his list of British Isles p.d. contacts. We nearly ran into two officers who stopped what they were doing and answered all our questions. They also let DS use their loo. Unlike police we'd visited in Guernsey, Dublin, Llangollen (Wales) and Chester, they were armed. They told us that riots still sometimes break out between the two political factions, but things are much, much calmer now than in years past. Belfast is no longer the scary place it was during the 90's, apparently. We headed back to City Center where we bought tickets for the "Belfast Wheel", a miniature London Eye, which took us high up over the city. It was a lot of fun and the panoramic views were great. Then we just walked around until it was time to catch the shuttle back to the ship (I get a bit nervous when it's too close to 'last bus' if you don't make it back to the ship, they don't wait for you - and it's a long swim to Glasgow!) Yahir and Sherry were on the shuttle bus. They did the on-off bus all day and had a great time. Happily we're doing the on-off thing tomorrow in Glasgow and I ended up turning in my tour tickets to Edinburgh; the on-off bus is a great way to tour and it's so much cheaper. The only catch is having to get to town (both ports have a dock some 25 miles away), but even an expensive taxi is cheaper than 3 tour tickets. Comedian tonight along with a Motown show in the Princess Theater; we skipped both and will pick up the comedian's redux show tomorrow night. As always we are bushed. The boys are asleep as I type this. Thurs. July 2 ,Glasgow & Sea Day - Happy July! One sure loses track of time on a cruise. We've been cruising for 7 days already! Of course they just HAD to burst our bubble by putting a 'Disembarking Tours' order form in our door slots to remind us that paradise has an end. I skipped writing last night because today is - drum roll - our first of two SEA DAYS!!! We have been going non-stop since we set foot on this ship, and it is so good to have a kick- back, do- nothing, lie- around sea day at long last. I slept 'til 10 a.m. (DS is still in bed at nearly 11.) I did wake up earlier with a raging headache; took some Excedrin and went back to sleep. Headache's back, but DH went to the coffee bar and filled our mugs with coffee, so that will hopefully help. (Re the coffee bar: We learned last cruise that the 'coffee' in the Lido isn't coffee at all, but 'coffee liquid', some foul brown stuff masquerading as java. The coffee bars, however, serve fresh brewed. With a coffee card, one is entitled to the brewed stuff and they don't take a punch of your card. We still have cards from last cruise, which entitle us to cappuccinos, espressos, and hot chocolate.) Yesterday we visited Scotland. Add another new country to 'Countries I Have Now Visited'. Ireland was also a first for me (as well as both my men). DH is part Irish and part Scottish, so he got to go 'home', so to speak. The ship docked in Greenock, Scotland, a pretty town that we were told has never before had a cruise ship arrive. Seemingly the entire town of 70,000 turned out to bid us farewell - they lined the shoreline and waved until we were a mere dot on the sea. Greenock was the birthplace of James Watt, who helped develop the steam engine. A statue of him is in Glasgow's city center. I got a photo of him with a seagull perched on his head. Nearly every statue I've photographed has a gull or pigeon on its head! Also EVERY statue has a nice splattering of white bird dung on its head. I don't think I'd want a statue of me because I'd be shat upon every day. Not a nice way to spend eternity. Greenock is the 'gateway to Glasgow', which is about 25 mi away. We slept in and got a late start. We were just so exhausted that we didn't wake up til 9:45 a.m. We ate in the Lido and left the ship. We debated between the train and a taxi, and decided to take a taxi to town, 40 pounds. The driver was a Scot named Derrick whom we could hardly understand. My friend Kelly said the Irish speak perfect American English compared to the rocks-in-the-mouth Scots, and she is SO right! Derrick was a perfect example of "is he speaking English"? So was a girl in a shop where we bought snacks. We asked Derrick to take us to the police station in Glasgow. He acted like he knew exactly where it was. Er, no. I tipped him 2 pounds and he drove away - and we didn't see any police station. We walked to the nearby Tourist Information center and learned that police headquarters was a good 8 long, uphill blocks away! I do a lot of walking at home but not with a heavy pack on my back, and I bitched the whole way. The guys kept saying, "Come on Brandi!" , comparing me to our overweight dachshund who struggles during our daily walks. Well, glad to say the hike was worth it because we had a great time at Strathclyde Police Headquarters with a personal guided tour of their police museum (which is by appointment only, but they were kind enough to make an exception for us). After the tour we returned to City Center (a downhill walk this time, thank goodness) to catch the on-off bus. Our receipt from Dublin entitled us to a 10% discount on the tour bus, so for 21 pounds we got a thorough tour of Glasgow. We didn't get off the bus at all, as it took about 1-½ hours to go around. This bus furnished headphones to plug into a recorded soundtrack that told you what you were seeing. Glasgow is a large city steeped in history with lots of old buildings. Many city dwellers live in "tenements", but I don't think the term has a pejorative meaning like in the eastern U.S. although I suppose there are rundown tenements as well as nice ones. One museum had a Dr. Who exhibit that the guys wanted to see, but alas - we did not have time. That's the problem with most places we've visited - there's little time to do much. It's just a sampler of these countries. To really "see" them one would need a land tour. As for weather, it was warm and muggy, but not as warm as Dublin and Belfast. High was 74 degrees. It rained lightly in the afternoon but we sat in the outside portion of the tour bus anyway, because the mist felt good. My umbrella proved useless as the wind snapped it straight up. Once the bus tour finished its circle, we got off and got directions to the Central Train Station to catch a train back to Greenock. I had a paper from the port tourist center that listed timetables for the train. The 5:05 would get us back at 5:47. Tickets cost 10 pounds 90 pence, a lot less than the 40 pounds we paid for a cab. We got on the train and made friends with a couple of Scottish girls who promised to tell us when our stop came. We teased one girl that if we missed our stop, she'd be putting us up for the night since the ship was at sea the next day. I don't know if she thought that was amusing! She got us off properly and we walked the mile or so to the ship with another Princess couple. We got back with half an hour to spare, whew. The scary part about setting out on one's own is the ship will NOT wait for you if you miss the 'all abroad' time. (They will wait if you're on a Princess tour if the tour bus arrives late.) It does seem to wait an extra 10-15 minutes, however, and they page people who are missing. For some reason DH and DS failed to register even though they inserted their cruise cards upon re-embarking, and we got phone calls checking that both of them were aboard. The guys rested while I did laundry since with a sea day coming, everyone and his mother would want to do laundry the next day. Happily I found a free washing machine and crammed everything in it - forget about separating whites and colors. Then it was time for dinner. We got to dinner 20 minutes late and just Yahir was there. He said he just got there. Shortly thereafter Sherry and Adam arrived. The other family never showed up. Too bad, because they missed DH's free champagne from his participation in the comedy juggling show. DH checked whether we had to pay a corking fee (we didn't). Our dinner choice was turkey pot pie which was pretty good, thick crust, but the sauce was runny. The mushroom appetizer on a crunchy tart was REALLY good. I had two of those! After dinner we went to 'Comedy Showtime' with Duggie Brown, a Yorkshire comedian. He was pretty good, not great, but good. We sat in front and were enthusiastic, and at the end of the show he came up to me, gave me a hug, and told me "I like people in front who laugh a lot". (Bet he didn't like Yahir and Sherry who we're right in front and left in the middle of the show!) Back to the cabin and to bed - the boys were spared my 'tap tap tapping' because today is a sea day. Fri. July 3, 2009, Loch Ness - Today we arrived at Invergordon, Scotland,"the small village with the big cruise port, which acts as a gateway to the whole of Highlands of Scotland" (from the tourist alliance brochure). Invergordon is about an hour away from Inverness, the capital of the Highlands. We had a tour booked, "Loch Ness & Urquhart Castle Ruins". DH spotted the tour on the Princess web site after we signed up for the cruise. He's always wanted to go to Loch Ness, home of the fabled Loch Ness monster. The tour was 8 a.m. - 12:15 p.m. so we had to rise early (ugh). After a hasty Lido breakfast of cereal and fruit, we hightailed it to the Princess Theater. I needed to use the loo before we left, so the boys went ahead and I joined them a few moments later. However, the aisles in the Princess Theater are SO narrow (like airline seat spaces!) that it's nearly impossible not to step on people's feet, and that's what I did...accidentally trod on a lady's sandaled foot. She yelped and I apologized profusely, but she refused to look at me thereafter. Some people on this cruise are crabby and grouchy. We have encountered a few nasty people who make derogatory comments if they think you're trying to 'get' something over them, i.e. walk past them in a line to the bus or something. Somehow (and I've no idea how) I offended a guy who said to his wife at the Urguhart Castle, "That woman is unbelievable." All I had done was ask DH to grab me a sample biscuit. A pox on both his houses. Anyway, we piled onto Bus 10 (there were 12 bus loads for this sold-out tour) and began the journey to Loch Ness. We got seats near the front by a big window and I was happy.... for a few minutes. Then I realized that my window was really foggy and impossible to shoot photos through. I asked the bus driver about it later and he said, "it's always like that". So I had to try to shoot through the front window and the opposite side window between people's arms and heads. The weather was unseasonably warm (we were told we brought the summer weather) and the bus didn't have a.c. so it was quite hot, except when the windows were cranked and we drove fast. We definitely didn't need the raincoats we brought for the predicted 40 percent chance of rain, which never happened. I noticed a lot of passengers wore heavy clothing and schlepped jackets - the weather in Ireland and Scotland is usually in the 60's at this time of year, not mid 70's like we had today. The drive was quite scenic and pretty. Eventually we arrived at the ruins of Urquhart Castle, which sits next to the Loch Ness waters. The castle was destroyed during the Jacobite uprisings of 1745. Legend persists that the Loch Ness monster inhabits a cave beneath the castle. With 12 busloads of passengers arriving at roughly the same time, it did in fact look like a small army invading - especially when everyone piled into the small gift shop at the front of the castle at once! There was a brief, informative film shown, and then the curtain was drawn to reveal the imposing castle beyond. It got less crowded as we walked toward the castle ruins. The ruins are impressive and even though a lot is destroyed, one can fairly easily imagine how the castle looked in its heyday. We climbed narrow stairwells reminiscent of the Blarney Castle to the top of one tower and looked (in vain!) for the Loch Ness monster. All too soon, it was time to go (we never got to the other side of the castle). We threaded our way through the mob in the gift shop and went to the bus. DH was a happy camper after visiting the gift shop: he found lots of stuff commemorating the Fraser Clan, to whom he's related. His dad's side of the family, the McK's, is part of the Fraser Clan. We drove through Inverness on the way back to the port. Inverness stands at the northern end of Loch Ness with a series of castles overseeing the River Ness. It was always the most important city strategically for the Highlands. Nowadays it's a mix of old and new. DH noticed quite a few "Fraser" signs as we drove through. Back at the port, we dumped our stuff in our cabin and had lunch in the Lido. DS decided to stay behind as DH and I made our way out again to wander the tiny town of Invergordon. Population is about 4,000 (not a whole lot more than DS' high school, which has 3,600!) It's a pretty little town. I bought the local weekly paper at the store (I love local papers) and we wandered around looking at murals painted on various buildings, one commemorating a fire at the Royal Hotel and others showcasing sports and fishing. Then we went to the small museum, which had photographs of turn-of-the-century primary school classes on the walls and an interesting display of early 20th century hospital life, including an Iron Lung. Back to the cabin, where DS was enthusiastically watching Wimbledon, rooting for the Scottish player Andy Murray - until we lost the signal on the TV. (DS got two posters of Andy Murray in Glasgow and managed to tape one to the outside of our balcony for all of Scotland to see.) I heard an announcement for a folkloric program at 4 p.m. at the Princess Theater. Some good bag pipe playing and dancing, although the singer nearly lulled me to sleep. It was only a half hour, just long enough. All in all a nice day, not too crowded or rushed. We actually had some down time. Just 3 days of this cruise left! Tomorrow is South Queensferry (for Edinburgh), then a sea day, then Le Havre, and then they kick us off. Happily we still have 3 days in London to look forward to. Odds and Ends: The "Morning Show" featuring the cruise director Ron Goodman and guests has included a trivia contest. You put your answer in the box in the library before 4 pm and he reads the answers on the next morning's show; the winner gets dinner for two at a specialty restaurant. (Worth $50!) If more than one answer is right, he draws among the winners. Yesterday's question was "how many years is the term of the French president". Of course we asked Google and learned that since 2002, it's been 5 years with a 2-term limit. Pre-2002, it was 7 years. This a.m. he said the answer was 7. Well, that's wrong! When we got back from town DH went to the Internet Cafe and printed out a Wikipedia article saying so, found Goodman and told him the answer he read was wrong. "Oh, we get our answers from Trivial Pursuit," was the reply. DH: "But that info was incorrect and the person who answered it was incorrect, and it's been since

Cabin Review

We booked D110, a mini-suite on Deck 9, Dolphin.  It was very aft, nearly at the very front of the ship, which meant that we heard and felt the anchor being thrown when docking in the water.  But that only happened once or twice.  We also felt quite a bit of motion at the latter part of the cruise, but nothing terrible.  The location was very inconvenient for our dining room, which was at the complete other end of the ship.  But it was great for the Princess Theater, which was just two floors directly below us.  As for the cabin itself, it was quite adequate for the 3 of us.  Our son had his own area with shelves for his clothes.  When his sofa bed was put down there was hardly any room to walk around but we managed.  There was adequate storage in the room and lots of closet space.  The bathroom was nice and big.

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