end of British Isles Cruise

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

What a surprise to wake to calm seas and sunshine this morning. We would be able to tender into St. Peter Port, Guernsey, after all. When we were picked up by our driver on shore, he admitted that he had not thought we would make it in either.

We had an excellent tour of the island in a small van. Learned a lot about the history and the living conditions. The northern part of the island was once a separate island, but one of the kings decided that would be too difficult to defend, so he had the estuary filled in and straight roads built to access it so he could move troops easily. We saw a lot of the remnants of the German fortifications. The Germans also built a lot of defensive walls from the readily available granite. The granite on one side of the island is gray and it's a pinkish color on the other side. The gray is more durable.

The English were perfectly happy to have a ton of German troops tied up on Guernsey—fewer troops to fight on the mainland. Our driver was of the opinion that if the Germans had invaded England from Guernsey, they would have succeeded because England was pretty vulnerable at the time.

Guernsey has loyalty to the monarch as a direct descendant of William the Conqueror, but they don't consider themselves to be part of Britain. Control of the island passed back and forth from France to Britain over the years, and most of the roads and place names are still in French.

The Guernsey cows are interesting. There are two methods of having them graze. One involves cutting off their horns at a young age and turning them loose in the pasture. The other involves putting a chain around their horns and staking them to a particular spot. There they graze in a circle. It is said that those cows produce richer milk because they spend less energy walking around.

We visited the small church built by a De la Salle brother who liked to spend his free time doing such things. After he built the first church, he wasn't satisfied with it and tore it down and started over. After the second church was finished, a fat bishop showed up to bless it. He couldn't fit through the door, so it was torn down yet again. The third and final version is covered in broken Wedgewood pottery pieces and shells and is a miniature version of the church at Lourdes. It was very interesting.

After we finished our tour, we walked through the town and had lunch in a nice café. We were wanting some of the famous Guernsey ice cream for desert. It was quite good.

Then came the bad part—standing in an endless tender line to return to the ship. There must have been 3-400 people in line and Celebrity was operating only one of the ship's four tenders. Another example of the lack of attention to detail on this vessel. A fellow standing in line behind us said he has another long cruise booked on Celebrity and he's cancelling as soon as he gets home. We stood in line for at least half an hour until some bright light on the ship decided to send the rest of the tenders in to collect the passengers. Needless to say, we did not sail on time.

Returning to the ship, we faced yet another horrendous line to surrender our passports. We've decided it's Celebrity cruiseline with the emphasis on lines. At the end of all that standing in line, my legs had had it. I tried to make to the front of the ship for the Cruise Critic party, but about halfway there I could see my legs wouldn't take any more standing around, so I returned to the cabin and took a nap.

It was formal night at dinner and we had another great shared table in Blu with some Texans who knew Carolyn by reputation. I must say we're meeting a lot of interesting folks in Blu. And it is WAY more pleasant dining there than in the main dining room or the buffet.

Still no internet on the ship.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Woke up about 8:00 and went to breakfast. Heidi and Carolyn were heading out into the countryside for a long tour, so they were anxious to get off the ship as soon as possible.

I, on the other hand, had planned to stay in Cobh, and just walk around. I had a long shower with all the multiple spray heads spraying my sore knees and then left to go to town. A lovely woman at the tourist information centre just down the road from the port told me about a little tourist train that goes around the village and up to the cathedral. I had asked her about the easiest way to walk up there. Clearly the train was a better option for my old legs!

So, off we went on the little train, compete with commentary. There are lots of works ongoing to rebuild their retaining walls as they have had problems with earth moving lately. It seems that lots of manufacturing jobs have left Cobh. Cobh is the second largest natural harbor in the world after Sidney, Australia. The Titanic stopped here on her fateful voyage, but did not enter the harbor. They wanted to shave an hour off their time to New York. The mail and passengers were tendered out to the ship in the mouth of the harbor. Lucky anyone who missed the tender!

Interesting commentary about several protestant churches which have closed due to lack of parishioners. Also comments about the HUGE house occupied by the bishop—all by himself. And comments about houses formerly occupied by the British military which have now been subdivided into more reasonable size. There is an interesting row of stairstep houses by the cathedral that are quite old, but I can't remember what he called them. Will have to see if I can find the answer once I'm back to reliable internet access. And we saw the crescent houses which are now the most exclusive area in town due to their fantastic view of the harbor.

Returned from the train trip and stopped in Kelly's Pub for a cup of coffee and a scone and some internet access. It had been a bit chilly on the train, so the coffee was welcome! The scone was delicious. And the internet worked. Seems Eric now has two competing job offers. Will be interesting to see how that turns out. Also got the news on my friend Mary who has just had surgery for breast cancer. It feels so strange to be almost out of touch.

Exited the pub to sunshine! Apparently a rare occurrence in Ireland. The fellow who was playing guitar and singing commented on it and had to sing a special song about it.

Came back to the ship and had lunch and took some photos from the vantage point of the upper deck. Then got a chance to reorganize the way the stewards had hung my clothes in the closet and decided to pack up my warm weather clothes to give more space. Discovered that Celebrity ruined one of my brand new shirts in the laundry. It's a light color and they apparently put it with a dark color when it was wet. Just threw out all my laundry and dry cleaning receipts last night. Oh well.

Enjoying having a bit of down time today since tomorrow will be Dublin and a very long day.

Friday, May 17, 2013

We got up, had breakfast, and took a cab into Trinity College. Stood in a fairly long line to get in to see the Book of Kells. Very interesting exhibit. Encountered a rude tour guide who felt we should all move along since she wanted to bring her group in to see the actual book. We informed her that we had paid our money and would move on when we had finished viewing the book! Some of us hadn't even had a chance to view it when she barged in like she owned the joint.

Then we headed off walking toward Dublin Castle, which happens to be closed because it's the year of something or other. Don't remember what their excuse was. We then passed by Christ Church Cathedral and headed for St. Patrick's Cathedral. Great park outside with tons of school children eating their lunches and enjoying the sunshine. Interestingly, they charge admission to the cathedral. It's a cathedral, pretty much like other cathedrals. However, it had a saving grace: free and fast wi-fi! So that was worth the price of admission.

Found a pharmacy on the way to the cathedral, so I was able to buy some ace bandages for my knees. I've been using Heidi's one, but it seems to help to have the knees wrapped, so I wanted to pick up two and be able to do both. Also picked up some ibuprofin. Cost almost 20 euros for the bunch! Certainly not Costco pricing.

We then headed back toward the Temple Bar area. Stopped to have lunch at The Bull and Castle. (Our cab driver later informed us that was a very good place to eat—they raise their own beef.) Then wandered through the Temple Bar area. That's got to be absolutely insane at night—it was very lively on a Friday afternoon. All kinds of interesting characters.

Finally decided that since it was late Friday afternoon, we should probably grab a cab back to the ship. The traffic was pretty fierce. There's some sort of soccer event this weekend, so that added to the crowd.

So, we didn't get to see as much as I would have liked to see, but we're learning the limitations of our old legs! We were pretty stiff and when we got up from the dinner table, we could hardly move. We're certainly not doing any night time partying on this leg of the cruise!

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Liverpool. Arrived to overcast skies. Forecast was for rain. I had pre-purchased a ticket on the HoHo bus for 6 pounds when I discovered it pretty much followed the route I had mapped out for myself. Probably the best money I ever spent. I was able to see everything I wanted to see and not waste the energy walking from one site to another.

Hopped on the HoHo bus and stayed on until the Catholic cathedral. Liverpool has two cathedrals, one Catholic (designed by a protestant) and one Anglican (designed by a Catholic). The Catholic one is a 60s modern one and has a ton of stained glass. On a sunny day it is supposed to be spectacular. Unfortunately, today was not a sunny day. Very beautiful and serene church.

Hopped back on the bus and went down hill to the Anglican cathedral. It's one of the largest in the world. They were getting ready for a wedding and were working on the flowers—apparently the rector's daughter was getting married that afternoon. Happened to be there in time for the noon prayer. I like that they always remind people that these are houses of prayer.

The bus was now heading back to the docks. Decided to get off at the docks and go back to the ship for a quick lunch before heading out again. Discovered that they have a little bus which drives you down to the ship—the passage up from the quay is rather steep and long. They have a special little bridge that just accommodates that bus.

After lunch, got back on the HoHo bus and headed for the Beattles are around Mathew Street and the Cavern Quarter. Got all the obligatory photos and then got back on the bus to head up to St. George's Hall. LOTS of weddings going on at the registry there. It was difficult to get around because they had a lot of things closed off for the weddings, but managed to get a look at the great hall which is pretty amazing and talked a young guy into showing me the way to get out without going down tons of steps.

Came out and it wasn't time for the HoHo bus yet, so decided to drop in the library which is just across the street to catch some free internet. Well, their internet was down (have they been hanging out with the ship???) but what a spectacular place the library is! It just reopened a few days ago after extensive remodeling and it is absolutely gorgeous! There's a rooftop terrace which offers good views of Liverpool. And a central court which goes up about 5 stories. Really loved it.

Got back on the bus and headed back toward the docks. Decided to admire the Albert Dock from the bus since there was not sufficient time to explore it. Got back and got my private ride back to the ship.

Carolyn decided to skip dinner—she and Heidi had been on a long bus trip to Wales—so Heidi and I went up to Blu for dinner. Landed in Domnic's and Ida's section for a change. We made the mistake of not following Domnic's recommendation on what to order, but no big deal since we weren't very hungry. Ida said we could each have two deserts to make up for not liking our main course. Worked for us!

We caught Ric Steel after dinner. He was great as usual and Ruth, the bar waitress from Colombia, really outdid herself dancing tonight. They have developed a legion of fans.

Internet still not up. Went to the internet center when I got back on the ship to see if they might have a signal there and perhaps the wi-fi just wasn't making it up to deck ll. No signal there either.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Very overcast. Dev picked us up at the gangway and we started off on our adventure in Paddy's black cab. Paddy's is black. Dev's is blue. We met up with Paddy later on.

We hit the motorway to get going up the coast as the coast was completely socked in by fog. When we turned off to the coast, they took us to an overlook where normally one can see the sea and the valley and the Carrick a Rede Rope Bridge. Not today. Fog was the only thing visible. The Coastal Causway Drive is supposed to be one of the great drives in the world. Probably is when it's clear.

We then went to a tiny church and house built with some salvaged remnants of ships. Some portholes used for windows, for example.

Then off to the Giant's Causeway. Amazing geological formation. Hexagonal stones. From here one should be able to see to Scotland. Not today. People are climbing all over the stones, but they were slippery from all the rain they've had lately and we didn't have any walking sticks so decided to let other younger folks risk their necks.

Then Dev whisked us off to a small café for a quick lunch. Paddy and his cab were there as well. There were actually three of his cabs out from our Cruise Critic group.

Then off to The Dark Hedges. An interesting road leading to a manor home which has been planted with trees to overlap one another. Some of the Game of Thrones was filmed here.

Then we headed back for Belfast because we had tickets to the Titanic Museum for 3:00 p.m. Dev drove us over to the pump house (from which we could see our ship) and talked about the shipyards.

The Titanic Museum is an absolutely fascinating place! Both artistically and the contents of the museum. Could have stayed much longer, but it was the end of the day and museum fatigue set in about an hour and a half and we had to get back to the ship. Dev was waiting for us outside the door. I must say that touring with your own driver is a great way to go. Not cheap, but really a good way to tour. You get to control where you stop and what you do. And he's right there when you're ready to go. We ran into our friend, Sally, searching for the Celebrity bus from the tour she was on.

Came back to the ship and decided to try to get on the internet from the computers in the iLounge. Eleven minutes later I had deleted a bunch of e-mails and tried to respond to two e-mails. One seems to have gone and the other wouldn't go. The internet service is beyond awful. Don't know if this blog will see the light of day in the near future or not. I'd have to take my laptop off the ship and find some place with fast service.

Had dinner with Domnic and Ida and then went to hear the other guitarist. The two of them are friends and do some sets together, but only after 10:00 p.m. By then we're wiped out after touring all day.

Monday, May 20, 2013

We left the ship early for our tour with Great Scot Tours. Our guide was David Frood and he was excellent and very funny. Went to Loch Lomond and the village of Luss. The Celebrity tour bus was there as well, so we saw lots of folks we knew. Interesting small village. We then headed into the Trossachs National Park. Next stop was Aberfoyle. We got to see a sheep herder demonstrate the prowess of his border collie. Except he was demonstrating hearding ducks, not sheep. Guess they didn't want to wear the sheep out.

We then proceeded through the Dukes Mountain Pass. We stopped high on a hill to sample various varieties of single malt scotch (or whiskey, as the Scots call it). We tried to get Carolyn to have several shots to dose her cold. It did stop her cough for a while! Then we stopped to see Hamish and Heather, Scottish highland bulls.

We proceeded to Callander for a nice lunch. All the other vans out from Great Scott Tours were there as well. I was pretty much out of pounds and decided to look for an ATM. Suddenly realized that my wallet containing my cash card was locked up in the safe on the ship! Instead, I found a more interesting ATM. We ran into Christine and Craig and Craig insisted on lending me ₤20 in case they wouldn't take my credit card later at Sterling Castle.

Well, of course they were more than happy to take my credit card for both the castle admission price and in the gift shop, so the ₤20 returned to the ship unspent and I was able to return it to Craig at dinner.

Sterling Castle was very interesting, and David took us around to see the highlights. One was a 4-minute film about the castle showing how the statues would have originally looked when they were painted. Must have been a very impressive sight. The Royal Palace part of the castle has been recently restored and was interesting. As part of the restoration, new tapestries were prepared. They were quite remarkable. Their were costumed period characters in each room.

I had asked David if we could see the Falkirk Wheel on the way back to the ship, so he had allowed time for that. Unfortunately, he missed the correct exit from the motorway. So he apologized and said we would get a tour through Glasgow instead. We just drove through the city and he pointed out various sites and buildings. It's quite a large city.

Then we returned to the ship. Tried to access the wi-fi in the terminal. The woman volunteer said it was a bit dodgy. I told her she hadn't seen dodgy until she saw the internet on the ship! But it proved to be as advertised. Heidi could get on; I couldn't. Finally just gave up and came back on board.

Carolyn was wiped out and skipped dinner, but Heidi and I went to dinner and then caught the remains of Ric Steele's show before calling it a night.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Finally, a sea day! After all those ports in succession, this was a welcome break. I awoke just in time to make it up to Blu for breakfast. Heidi and Carolyn slept in. When I got back to the cabin after breakfast, Heidi was still sleeping, so I went up to Café al Bacio to sit in one of the big, comfortable yellow chairs and read my Dave Barry book I picked up in the library for a while. All of my electronic library books expired while we were out doing all those tours, so I was out of reading material.

Met up with Heidi and Carolyn for lunch at 12:30. They wanted to see if we could switch to select dining on the next leg of the cruise. We've gotten used to that from dining in Blu, but we won't be able to dine in Blu on the next leg of the cruise since none of us are in either a suite or Aqua Class. Went down to Guest Relations to inquire how to go about that. He said we had to show up at the B2B meeting. I said, “The one that's at 9:00 a.m. on a sea day???” Yup, that's the one. Will see.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Today we had a tour with WOW Scotland. Our tour guide was Zane and she was very interesting. Two of the people who had signed up and paid for the tour in advance never showed up. I called their cabin. No answer. We waited half an hour and finally decided to leave without them.

We experienced the full range of highlands weather today! Sun, warmth, sudden showers, sleet, and massive temperature drops and a wind that could blow you back to England! The weather turns on a dime. Zane managed to time things well, seemingly getting us in the van just as it would start to rain, and varying the itinerary to try to take advantage of the weather changes. She got us to Cawdor Castle before the buses, so it wouldn't be crowded and we could have lunch in peace.

All the plants are behind season up here as well. The gorse is just blooming—it smells like coconut, interestingly.

We visited several small villages and then Beauly Priory (which is a ruin—hasn't had a roof for centuries but is remarkably well preserved. Some walls have been taken away to use the stone elsewhere.)

We then went to Cawdor Castle. It's interesting in that it is actually occupied. The Dowager Countess moves out of her apartments in the castle in the summer (to another house on the estate) so that tours can be run, thus providing income to keep the castle going. Apparently she has been quite smart in the business of running the estate and has managed to keep most of it together. And she's our age. Interestingly, the Thane of Cawdor did not leave the property to his son by his first wife, but instead left it to his second wife. Perhaps he knew she would be better able to manage it. We had lunch in the café and spent a bit in the gift shop.

We then went to visit the Clava tombstones, a Pict burial mound that is between three and four thousand years old. That's where we experienced the incredible temperature drop and wind. So we didn't linger too long! We did see some Pict cupholes, round indentations in the stone which apparently are their first expression of art.

Then we went to the Culloden battlefield and visitor centre. Again, there were severe winds, so we elected not to visit the battlefield itself. I toured the visitor centre because I had read about the exhibit recreating the battle itself. You stand in the middle of a room and the battle takes place on screens on all four walls of the room. You can see the British troops mowing down all the clans.

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Last day of this cruise. We had to show up at the sky lounge at 9:00 a.m. to pick up our B2B information—they basically hand us a packet of information that they could easily deliver to our cabins. Seems as though things are run for the convenience of guest relations, not the customers.

The big buffet was held today. Decided I'd had enough of big food scenes, so left and went upstairs for a pizza and peace.

Had our last dinner in Blu and said good bye to the great wait staff, although we'll see them for breakfast tomorrow.

Went to the show which was a variety show featuring all the performers who have appeared so far. There's a woman who is pretty funny—we may try to catch her next cruise. We don't have all those 8-hour shore excursions on the next cruise.

I have a few minutes left on this package and the internet seems to be actually working. I think everyone has given up and gone to bed. Will try to get this posted.