June 11, 2012 Dublin, Ireland

Today we visited Dublin under sunny skies and comfortable temperatures.It was quite a contrast from our countryside tour yesterday. We took a city tour with visits to Trinity College and St. Patrick's Cathedral. 

St. Patricks is an Anglican Church and is the National Church of Ireland. The writer

Jonathan Swift was Dean of St. Patrick's in the 1700's and is buried in the church. Although we visited Trinity College, we did not get to see the Book of Kells. The book is an 8th century text of 4 gospels written in Latin and illustrated by the Monks at the Kells Monastery. 

Samuel Becket Bridge

Statues representing the Great Famine

St. Patrick's Cathedral

                                                      

Trinity College

View of Dublin

June 10, 2012 Cork and County Kerry Ireland

 The blessed little Irish weather fairies kissed our fair cheeks with sunshine on this lovely day.(hows that for some Blarney?) We boarded our motor coach and headed to the countryside of Ireland and were not disappointed in the scenery. We visited Killarney National Park and the Killarney Lakes. We drove around a portion of The Ring of Kerry and then visited Muckross House in the Park. This estate was host to Queen Victoria on a visit to Ireland. Afterward, we visited Killarney Town for a delicious lunch and some shopping. Our tour guide was chock full of Irish jokes as well as very knowledgable about all that we saw.
Just a reminder, that all pictures can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Killarney National Park

Muckross House

Grounds of Muckross

Lunch in Killarney

June 9, 2012  St. Peter Port, Guernsey Island

This morning, we anchored in the harbor and tendered ashore in sunny, cool weather on calm seas. We toured the St. Peter Port Church and visited the shops. The shore excursions originally planned were all canceled because of the date change. 

Guernsey is only 70 miles from the coast of Britain and is a popular vacation spot for the British and the French. There are ferries that regularly commute between France and Guernsey as well as Great Britain. The water is a green hue like that of Florida and very clear. It was a lovely place to visit and we are glad we were able to keep the port on the new itinerary. 

St. Peter Port Church

A model of Coast Guard boat

A Coast Guard Boat

off the coast of Guernsey

June 7,2012

   Today we head to Southampton to board the Caribbean Princess. The forecast was for heavy rain and wind but it held up until we were on the bus and headed for the ship. It will be a very bumpy first night at sea if the forecast is accurate.

We used a Princess transfer to travel to Southampton. They loaded the luggage from each bus on to one truck. Our luggage arrived dirty and late to our cabin. We went to the buffet instead of the dining room and unpacked after dinner.

We are on the port side of the ship for the first time in our cruise experiences. Even though the ship layout is like the Crown and Emerald, we are all mixed up when leaving the elevators. We look like newbies :)

We were just told that we will delay leaving Southampton due to a technical issue.

Hopefully it will be fixed in time to make Guernsey tomorrow.

We attended the welcome aboard show and I have to say that our cruise director is a stand up comedian. He was as funny as any I've seen onboard a Princess ship.

The singers and dancers performed and were quite good.

It is 11:00 PM and we are still at the dock. Looks like we won't be in Guernsey tomorrow. I hope they can fix the problem.

Good Bye Southampton

June 8, 2012

Well, here we are in sunny Southampton with no news as to whether we are going to be cruising today or not. Each update says they are working on the problem, but it is taking longer than expected. I will finish this post when I know more.

Yay!! We are leaving the dock and the sun is shining….at 4:45 PM. We will be in Guernsey tomorrow. Princess had to eliminate one port ( Liverpool), but we will make the other ports. They also gave each person a $75 credit to use however they want on the cruise. 

Tonight was formal night and the entertainment in the Princess Theater was called "Born to be Wild".Very well done!

                                                                   

                                                                                  Hotel and London Eye

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

After breakfast in the hotel restaurant overlooking the Thames River, we purchased HOHO bus tickets and went out in front of the hotel to get the bus. This was such a convenient hotel to stay in.

We had a list of places we wanted to go and since the sun was shining in the morning and rain was forecasted for the afternoon, we decided to head for  Buckingham Palace  first, Trafalgar square next, then Harrods for lunch and window shopping :). The bus however, was going in the opposite direction first so we got a wonderful tour with an informative guide. We saw most of London today and it didn't rain on our parade!! 

We were able to take pictures of the Tower of London from the upper deck of the  HOHO bus and see more than we could have  from the ground. We had planned to go back in the afternoon, but we didn't have time.

We were disappointed however that Buckingham Palace was closed to the public today. They were cleaning up from the Jubilee and concert. I managed a picture of the statue that the concert stage was around from the upper deck of the HOHO bus

.

Harrods was all it is advertised. The food courts were enticing and expensive and we enjoyed our walk through them. We did purchase tea to bring home.

There are numerous restaurants in the store and we picked one called The Diner.

Joe had chicken quesadillas and I had a chicken melt sandwich and salad. They were delicious. The department store itself is much like Macys. 

We also rode through Regent Street, which is the shopping mecca of London. The architecture through out this area is so beautiful. Piccadilly Circus was a circus of people and shops and traffic.

We finished up at Trafalgar Square. It was also filled with people and we only stayed long enough for some pictures. 

St. Paul's Cathedral

The Tower of London

Billboard in London

Harrods

Trafalgar Square

Lions in Trafalgar Square

Big Ben and Parliament at night

Monday-Tuesday, June 4th and 5th, 2012

      We arrived in London safely after a 7and1/2 hour flight on Virgin Atlantic. It was a bumpy ride, but the pilot got us here on time. We used Gatwick airport for the convenience of a non stop flight. It was a loooong walk from the plane to customs and baggage claim, surpassing all the other airports we have been to. After clearing customs and getting our baggage, we found our driver and we arrived at the hotel about an hour later. 

We requested early arrival and were in our room by 10:30 and sleeping 5 minutes later:) We napped until 1:30, then dressed and went outside to the Westminster Bridge. We are in the Marriott Hotel right by the bridge and about  a mile from Buckingham Palace. We crossed the bridge and that is as far as we could go. The crowds were so huge, they closed off all pedestrian walks from there to the Westminster Abbey. They closed off entry to Trafalgar Square from several different side streets as well. All we could get was a glimpse of the carriage from 3 blocks away:(. We ended up taking some pictures of the area around the hotel. We are across the Thames from the Parliament buildings and Big Ben. We are next door to the London Wheel and our hotel is located inside a building formerly known as the County Hall. it is a huge building that houses an Aquarium as well as restaurants and stores. We ate at a Japanese Restaurant next door and then called it a day as the rains came. We were so tired that we were in bed by 7 PM.

Clicking on the pictures will enlarge them.

Big Ben

 Front of the Marriot

The London Eye and our Hotel is in this building.

British Isles 2012

We leave Monday, June 4 for London where we will spend 2 days before embarking the Caribbean Princess. Our cruise will circumnavigate the British Isles with stops in 10 ports. The weather will probably be typical for Great Britain as it is pouring on the Queen's Jubilee Parade today. We are looking forward to visiting Ireland and Scotland as well as England.
When we made the arrangements for this cruise, we thought the Queen's Jubilee would be over. Apparently, we were wrong. We will arrive on June 5 
and the festivities will be concluding with a Grand Finale on this day. 
Our hotel is near all the action, so we hope to see the Royals on parade.