After a series of Alaska cruises on the Silver Shadow this year my wife and I decided to try something different: a 14 day cruise around the British Isles. We were attracted by the ports (including Belfast, where I grew up; and Dublin, where we met and got married). For an added bonus the cruise started and ended at Tower Bridge in London (where the Silver Wind tied up alongside HMS Belfast).

Due to nature of the location at Tower Bridge embarkation and disembarkation was slightly more complicated than on other cruises we have taken as you have to take a water shuttle across the Thames to a pier near The Tower of London - but in both directions it all went smoothly.

For the first three destinations (Cork, Dublin and Belfast) where the ship docked was both out of the way and not exactly the prettiest (think working docks) but in each case there was a quick and easy shuttle service into the center of town. For Tobermory and Ullapool we were tendered ashore. For Lerwick, Kirkwall and Edinburgh we again docked but the locations were more scenic (we docked beside the Royal Yacht Britannia in Leith/Edinburgh). Read more