We sailed from 7/19 through 7/31 on Crown Princess's British Isles cruise. This is a great itinerary and is one of those cruises you take for the itinerary, not necessarily for the cruise experience. Summer weather in the British Isles is often cool and cloudy with a chance of rain. Therefore, this is not a warm weather, sunbathing, type of cruise. One time we saw a group of people huddled in blankets watching the Outdoor Movie very different from the Caribbean. This is a shore excursion-oriented cruise and, if you try to see everything you can, you'll be ready for a break when the cruise ends. It is a great way to see alot of the UK in a very convenient way.

We prefaced our trip with a 3 day stay at the Grasmere House in Salisbury and visited Bath, Stonehenge, Stourhead Gardens, Winchester, etc. This is a great way to preface your cruise and make sure you're in the area on time so you don't miss the ship (We are amazed at people that will take a 'red eye' from the USA and try to go to straight to the ship that's not our idea of a vacation). We were very fortunate to miss the rain in every port. It was forecast many times, but somehow escaped us.

Embarkation at Southampton was great. Princess advised us if we arrived after 2 p.m.,embarkation would be the fastest and that was definitely true. We literally walked right on and didn't wait a bit (and this cruise was sold outI guess everyone got on before us!) Read more