Stonehenge, Titanic Museum, and a Whiskey Distillery Excursions

While on the Emerald Princess, Phillip and I took three excursions, all towards the end of the cruise. The Stonehenge tour, taken while we were docked the first time in Southampton, was my favorite. Visiting Stonehenge was on the bucket list that I created in 2009, right after I retired and we decided to travel. Stonehenge has always fascinated me and seeing it in person did not disappoint! I am even more impressed with the ancient people who built it. At the site, we went thru a display museum before riding a tram to the actual stones.

Archeology and modern science have answered some questions about Stonehenge. It was not built by the Druids, as some believed, but is much older. The first Stonehenge was constructed about 5000 years ago during the Neolithic Age, a temple that consisted of a circular ditch and bank with a few stones.

By about 2500 BC, more and larger stones were brought to the site, including the bluestones from 150 miles away and the huge sarsen (a type of sandstone) stones from about 50 miles away. Engineering was done by these early people to transport and raise the 25-ton sarsen stones and place the top (lintel) stone to create the trilithons.

The alignment of the stones is significant. On the summer solstice, the sun rises behind a stone called the Heel Stone and shines directly into the center of Stonehenge. The alignment also worked for the winter solstice, with the sun falling directly between the two upright stones of what is called the Great Trilithon, in line with the center of Stonehenge.

Once the huge sarsen stones were in place, they were not moved. Archeologists have determined that for about 800 to 1000 years, until about 1500 BC, the bluestones were rearranged at times. This was during the Bronze Age and evidence indicates that Stonehenge was the greatest temple in Britain. Hundreds of burial mounds from this time have been discovered on the surrounding hills.

I arranged our second excursion before we went on the cruise. I researched Cobh and found the Titanic Museum Experience there, so I ordered tickets and reserved a time for us. As I noted in my previous post, Cobh was the last stop of the Titanic before it sank during its Atlantic crossing. The museum had recreations of the cabins on the ship and lots of photographs and artifacts. Around 2,200 people were on board when the Titanic sank in 1912, but her maximum capacity was around 3,500. There were 908 crew members, 324 passengers in First Class, 284 in Second, and 709 in Third. The third class cabins had bunk beds and no private bathrooms.

The first class passengers had much nicer cabins.

Our tickets to the Experience were recreations of actual tickets so we could identify if our ticketed person survived or perished. I had the ticket of a first class passenger who, with her young son, survived. Phillip, however, was 3^rd class passenger Patrick Dooley who did not make it.

The third excursion was a ship-arranged tour in Dublin of the Jameson Bow Street Distillery. Our daughter Robin’s significant other, Tom, likes Jameson whiskey, so we visited the historic distillery for him. Bow Street is not currently distilling. It operated from 1780 to 1972.

The distillery is now a museum and educational location, providing a tasting with our tour. They had a great set-up where we had hands-on stations to smell and feel the ingredients that go into Jameson.

We were given three different Jamesons to taste. Jameson is a Scotch whiskey, not my favorite, but I was game to taste it. And to finish Phillip’s tasting! We were served a much more appealing Jameson cocktail, made with Jameson, ginger ale and lime at the conclusion of the tour. After our cocktail, we bought a bottle of a specific variety of Jameson, only available from the distillery, and had it personalized for Tom.

We enjoyed our excursions. Even though Phillip kept talking about touring a "pile of rocks" at Stonehenge, he was impressed. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and I am so glad to be able to cross it off my bucket list. 

Ports Stops during Princess Transatlantic cruise

 One of the best parts of cruising is seeing different countries, even if just a taste of the country at a port town. From Fort Lauderdale, we had seven sea days before our first port, Ponta Delgado, in the Azore Islands and a part of Portugal.

The cruise ship docked on April 23^rd at a pier which gave ready access to the town. We walked around Ponta Delgado for about an hour. 

Some of our cruise mates took an excursion to Fire Lake, a body of was set in the crater of an extinct volcano. During my cruise preparation, I read that fog and mist are the rule for Fire Lake. Sure enough, we were glad we didn’t go because the clouds lowered and the view of the lake was obscured that day. We saw instead the town with pretty houses and bricked streets. The plazas used colored brick to make patterns in the walking surface.

On April 25, we were at Lisbon. Phillip and I stopped here on a previous cruise and enjoyed the city. The cruise pier is right at the edge of the main town. We got off the ship and walked along the Malecon (wide sidewalk between the street and the water) for several kilometers. 

I had read about a market past this main square, but the market was closed except for a grocery store because of Covid. We wandered around Lisbon, knowing that we couldn’t get lost. Just walk downhill and we’d be within sight of our ship. I had a sangria and a Portuguese egg tart at a small plaza. Later, Phillip was ready for lunch. I ordered another sangria. The waiter said it was happy hour with the large sangria only one euro more than the small one. So, I ordered the large. The waiter brought a liter of sangria and laughed when I said just one glass (Phillip doesn’t drink wine).

Two days later, we were in La Coruna, Spain. Just off the ship, we found a nice park between the main road and the ship cargo area. 

La Coruna has a UNESCO World Heritage lighthouse, called the Hercules Lighthouse, which is the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world, over 2000 years old. Unfortunately, I did not research the route to walk to it. I think it was quite a distance from the pier, so we didn’t try to find it. We walked around a bit, looking at shops and statues.

The following day, the 28^th, was Bilbao, Spain. Actually, the port town is Gexto, Bilbao is 30 km away. During our previous transatlantic cruise, we spent an entire day in Gexto. This time, we just walked off the boat to the water end of the pier and watched local people fishing before heading back on the boat to enjoy a quiet day.

April 30 found the ship docked at Cherburg, France. We spent several hours walking around Cherburg. We perused a farmer’s market in a square that also had a carousel for the kids. 

We were stopped on our return at the bridge over the harbor. A few boats, too tall to go under the bridge, were lined up to get out of the harbor. This bridge was a different drawbridge than we’d seen before. The bridge did not raise, rather it pivoted and swung sideways to allow the boats to pass thru. Interesting fifteen minutes to watch this bridge spin and then spin back. 

The terminal thru which we accessed the boat was an antique. It had polished wood surfaces, looking like a place from the 1920s.

Our next port was Southampton, England. Several hundred people disembarked here as they booked a fifteen-day cruise, not a twenty-three day cruise like we did. Phillip and I took an excursion to Stonehenge that I will detail in my next blog posting. The excursion stopped at Salisbury, so here are pictures that I took in the rain from the bus and in Salisbury. Thatched roof houses are still in use. Historic preservation rules govern the replacement of the thatch. 

Our tour guide took us to the Salisbury Cathedral.  The main church was built from 1220 to 1258. The spire, built in 1320, is the tallest church spire in England. The church has one of the four surviving original copies of Magna Carta, which I would have loved to have seen. However, we visited on a Sunday and the Magna Carta area was not open because of church services. 

And I took my first picture of the English phone booths.

The following day, May 2, the ship docked in Portland, England. Portland is a navy and cargo port, so we took the free shuttle bus for the fifteen-minute ride to Weymuth, a nearby town. Weymuth was delightful spot, again with a harbor. We watched a small boy crabbing at the edge of the harbor. The crabs are catch and release, but the boy was having fun dangling his bait, in a bag, no hooks allowed, in the water trying to snag a crab. 

The harbor is in the middle of town, with shops and houses on both sides of the water. 

Weymuth also had a drawbridge over the harbor. This one raised to allow the sailboats out of the harbor.

On May 3, the ship stopped at St. Peter Port, Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It was overcast and foggy and the ship’s lifeboats were being used as water shuttles. The harbor was too shallow for the cruise ship to dock. Phillip and I stayed onboard.

We did get off at the next port, Cobh, Ireland. The town’s previous name was Queensland and it was the final port of call for the Titanic in 1912 before she set out across the Atlantic. We had some time before our Titanic museum appointment, so we sat at a café and I enjoyed a Guiness. 

Lots of statues around town of travelers as many other Irish, not just those who went on the Titanic, left for America from Queensland. It was the departure point for 2.5 million people between 1848 and 1950.

This portion of our cruise was heavy with port days. The following day, May 5, the ship docked at Dun Laoghair (pronounced “Dun Leery”) and we took an excursion to Dublin. Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, so we saw buildings with decorations from “Gulliver’s Travels” on the walls. 

May 6, the ship was in Holyhead, Wales, again at a water shuttle port. And again, the weather was nasty and the water looked rough, so again, we stayed on the ship. It would have been a long, miserable ride in the water shuttle if we'd tried to get off the ship.

The final port stop on May 7 was at Glenock, Scotland. Excursions were available to take passengers to Glasgow, 45 minutes away, but we decided to walk around Glenock. 

We walked about two hours, finding the Fire Brigade Museum with its enthusiastic volunteers who told us about the Scottish fire service and showed us antique fire engines, horse-drawn and steam powered. It was a nice little surprise during our walk. 

Although we saw kilts for sale, we decided not to buy one for our relatives!

On May 9, we returned to Southampton for our disembarkation. Next post: the excursions we took on this cruise.

Emerald Princess across the Atlantic

Phillip and I cruised across the Atlantic with 2270 other passengers on the Emerald Princess as planned from April 16 through May 9. The cruise is now over, but our adventure isn't. I had hoped to create blog posts during the cruise, so we bought the on-board wi-fi package. Unfortunately, the wi-fi did not work. Princess did refund the package costs to all the passengers as on-board credit. We used the credit for two excursions that I will describe in a future post. 

This is our ship, a ship that we will try to avoid in the future. We were on another Princess ship for a transAtlantic cruise a few years ago and it was great. This experience.... not so much. The good part first: the crew. Like most cruise ships, crew members are from countries such as the Philippines, India, and Peru. The crew members are away from their families for six to nine months, but they make more money than they could at home. A lot of the crew support their entire extended family. Customer service is paramount and those with whom we dealt regularly were wonderful. Our room steward, Kumar, always filled our ice bucket and was in and out of the room efficiently. The wait staff in the dining room remembered our names by the second day and our preferences soon after. For us, it was water to drink, wine for me, and no bread unless escargot was on the menu. John, the casino bar server, was absolutely great. He kept Phillip supplied with "Dirty Bananas," a drink with rum, Kahlua, tequilla, cream, chocolate syrup and banana and always greeted Phillip with a hearty "It's the Dirty Banana Man!"

We had an interior cabin, no balcony or window. It was big enough for us and had plenty of hanging space for our clothes. Notice an unwelcome addition to the room in the picture. See the pillow on the floor? With light next to it? Apparently, motion sensor lights were put on the bottom edge of the night stands and in the hall to the bathroom. We covered the nightstand lights with pillows but we could not cover the motion sensor on the ceiling at the hall light. Every night, if either of us went to the bathroom, the cabin lit up like a sunny day. All the other passengers grumbled about these lights. I will bring duct tape next time to cover the sensor. 

These "Journey View" portals were all around the ship, part of the Medallion system. They kept us informed of what day is was and where we were. The Medallion system was the on-ship intranet that used a medallion that passengers wore to unlock their door and to be tracked for food and drink orders (and Covid tracking, I'm sure). An app on our phones allowed us to order drinks, see deck plans, and access the list of daily events. It worked most of the time, although many passengers, including us, had to get their medallion battery replaced during the cruise. Remember, it unlocked our cabin door so it was pretty important. Having to rely on the app meant that I could not leave my phone in the room, something that I had really wanted to do. The app itself had issues. It took six steps to find the dinner menu and was not logically organized.

I wish I could include food as a good part of the cruise. As an example, the pictured dessert looks great; however, it was not chocolatey. The chocolate was just a thin coating with the inside being a fairly weak tasting mousse-like puff of goo. The Emerald Princess had the worst food we have ever had on a cruise. I had a totally inedible steak. It felt in my mouth like it had been over-treated with papain to tenderize it, making it almost mushy. I ordered the fish for dinner several times. Only one time was it not overcooked and dry. I am struggling to remember any food that tasted better than just average. Even though the ship was over 70% of capacity, only half of the buffet was ever open. During breakfast and lunch, this was routinely an issue, as not enough tables were available. 

The open decks were usually not crowded. They had an astroturf-like covering so when it rained, they were not slippery. Plenty of deck chairs. 

Our room was on the Lido deck, Deck 15, the same deck as the buffet and pools. My plan was to get up first in the morning and bring coffee to the room for Phillip from the buffet. That didn't work out because the buffet coffee was too bitter and nasty (made from a concentrate) for us to drink. We used the Medallion app and ordered coffee from the lower deck coffee shop. I only had to go one deck down to the washing machines and dryers. No problem with them and I never had to wait or go to another floor to find an empty one. (I remembered to take my own detergent from home!)

This was the water shuttle at Dun Laoghair (pronounced Dun Leery), the port for Dublin. Passengers were taken to shore in water shuttles at three of our stops because the ship could not dock at the pier. Dun Laoghair was the only time a real water shuttle was used. For the other two ports, the ship used its own lifeboats as water transfer boats. That might have been a good idea, an opportunity to raise and lower the lifeboats to ensure they weren't stuck on the boat. However, during both instances of using lifeboats as water transports, a motor quit on a lifeboat while it was ferrying passengers, requiring it to be towed back to the boat. Not a lot of confidence among the passengers about the quality of the lifesaving equipment.

This final ship picture is of the door blocking access from the stairwell to deck 12. Why is it blocked? Because it was the Covid quarantine floor. If a passenger or crew member tested positive, they were escorted by masked crew members in white hazmat suits who sprayed disinfectant in their wake. Phillip and I saw such a transfer. Over 200 Covid-positive passengers and crew were removed from the ship in Southampton on May 1, moved to specific hotels near Heathrow. Our issues with Princess's handling of Covid did not include this floor. This was actually a good idea, as was disinfecting and having a place off the ship for positive passengers. Rather, it was the lack of information from the ship staff about what was going on and the fiasco that occurred on May 1. 

We were on a 23-day cruise, which meant that we stayed on the ship when it first docked at Southampton. Hundreds of people booked only a 15-day cruise, so they were to disembark at Southampton. Most of them, Americans, were headed for Heathrow to catch a flight. Princess promised Covid testing for passengers flying after disembarkation. This testing occurred for them on disembarkation morning. British customs had to examine the passports of all passengers and did so on the ship. It was a madhouse with one line, the customs line, that mixed passengers heading for a plane with those of us staying on board, wrapping twice around the atrium and down the length of the ship on deck 7. No staff member made any effort to organize the line and people exiting the elevators just stood, confused as to where the end of the line was. We heard tales of multitudes of people who missed their flights because of the chaos of the morning.  

And remember deck 12? Apparently those rooms that had been filled with Covid-positive guests were to also be filled by new passengers getting on in Southampton for the 8-day portion of the cruise. The guest services line was terribly long and full of very upset people that afternoon. I'd be irate too if my cabin had been a Covid room and was not cleaned before I came to it or I had not been reassigned to a clean room.

My next post will be pictures from the ports we stopped at in Portugal, Spain, France, England, and Ireland.

 

A Return to Adventures, at last

Phillip and I are ready to restart our adventures! We leave tomorrow, Friday, April 15, flying to Fort Lauderdale and cruising out Saturday on a 23-night Princess transatlantic cruise. We stay on the ship when it docks in Southampton, England, finishing our 23 days with a spin around the British Isles. This is basically, minus the British Isles segment, the cruise that we were scheduled to take in April 2020 until Covid scuttled everyone's travel plans. Unlike our 2020 plan, we won't be flying into Europe to visit Berlin, Poland, and Ukraine. I think we missed our window of opportunity for Ukraine. Even if the fighting stopped there today, it will take years to rebuild the infrastructure they had before the invasion. Instead of Europe, after our cruise we fly to Newark, New Jersey, to visit Robin and Tom in South Orange.  

We are looking forward to this cruise. Because of the cancellation of the 2020 cruise, Princess refunded us in future cruise credit 150% of what we had paid for that first cruise. We used that extra 50% to add the British Isles and upgrade to the "Princess Plus" fare. The Plus fare includes prepaid gratuities, wifi for two devices, the drink package, and one evening of specialty dining. I read another blogger's post who calculated that a person only needs to drink two alcoholic drinks a day for the Plus package to save  money. The package also includes specialty coffees, which is actually where the cruise ship makes money from Phillip, as he loves his mocha frappes. I will enjoy my glass of wine, or two, with dinner! All cruise lines limit the drink package to 15 drinks a day. Of my family, I am the only one who met that cap, one day only on a Carnival cruise during an unspoken competition with my son-in-law. I haven't done it again, nor do I ever plan to as I have more sense than that these days. Phillip and I will use the specialty dining only because it is in the package. We have been very pleased with the quality and selection of food in the main dining rooms of all our past cruises.

This cruise will be our 7th one since the Covid cruising restrictions were lifted last year. In September, we flew to Miami and did back-to-back cruises, one on Carnival (Horizon) and another on Royal Caribbean (Symphony of the Sea). We were very happy with the care, concern, and adherence to the rules at the time on the Royal Caribbean ship, not so much on the Carnival ship as rules were posted but there was no enforcement by the ship's officers. We did learn from that experience that it is a $50 taxi ride each way from the cruise terminal to the nearest Minute Clinic for Covid testing!

On January 2, we did another back-to-back (same ship this time!) on the Carnival Dream out of Galveston. This ship had good enforcement of the Covid rules. Our learning lesson, however, was that Covid testing is impossible to find on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day. Fortunately, I had ordered some of the at-home, e-med verified test kits so we were able to have test results for boarding. At the end of February and into March, we did another back-to-back cruise, again out of Galveston, on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Sea. We have been quite pleased with the activities and entertainment on those past three RCL cruises, so we plan to cruise more on that line. 

Phillip and I have several reasons for all this cruising and travel planning now, independent of the (hopefully) waning of Covid concerns. We both turn 65 this year and have always had a nebulous plan that we would seriously travel beginning at 65 while we still are physically able. When our beloved Zelda died of bone cancer in October 2021, Phillip's father died in January of this year, and we had an unexpected offer from an acquaintance to buy our ranch, we decided to go forward with the next chapter of our lives. 

Zelda in her favorite spot, her "bunker" at the ranch

Phillip's dad, on a good day before he died

My 2021 garden at the ranch (over 2000 pounds
of tomatoes harvested)

Cruises are the easiest travel for us right now. Other than hiccups regarding the pre-cruise testing, once booked, I don't have to worry much about logistics with cruising. One round trip flight or drive and one or two hotel nights, and we have a plan. It would be a nightmare to worry about country-specific Covid rules and expensive to get testing arranged as we move between countries. We will return to on-the-ground travel once the world normalizes, travel via train and bus to locations that Phillip and I select and I book. 

Phillip and I have two more cruises booked with more under consideration, a half-planned driving trip to Yellowstone National Park, and the general goal of visiting all continents (we still need to see Australia, Africa, and Antartica) as well as all 50 states together (we have visited 21 together already). Some aspects of traveling have changed (Covid issues, greater reliance on my cell phone) and some have not (I still will not pack blue jeans for him). We are excited about this new chapter of our lives and eager to return to our adventures!

Cruise highlights, pictures, and wrap-up

Phillip and I did make it home last Tuesday, October 8. It's taken me a week to get to this post because one of the things we brought back from the cruise was a respiratory infection that turned into bronchitis for us. About 1/3 of our fellow passengers caught the same thing, so coughing was the most frequent sound we heard on board! We went to the doctor on Friday and are on the mend (I'm still waking up with my cough several times a night), so it's time to post!

Commercial port of Zeebruge, Belgium

Zeebruge was the first port stop, where we did not get off the boat.  Instead, we took advantage of the empty pool area. Notice in these pictures also the cloudy skies. We did have significant periods of bad weather during the 16 days.

our "private" hot tub, too chilly for the pool

Our post stop in France did give us a chance to walk to the beach and buy two bottles of French wine in the little port village (after riding the bus from the pier as one can't walk from there).

In Bilbao, Spain, we could walk along the seawall from the ship, then along the malecon to town.

City of Bilbao across the bay, accessible with a 4 km walk from the pier

Crown Princess as viewed across the bay from town 

Bilbao had the interesting cable car bridge over a river that drained water into the bay. Both people and cars were ferried across.

Lisbon, Portugal, had the most accessible cruise port, with the pier that put people right off the ship into the edge of the city. We've been in other European cities like Lisbon: a few blocks of flat sidewalks near the water, but most of the city is developed up the hill from the coastal area. At least it was uphill walking early and downhill when we headed back to the ship.

Group of young women singing on a plaza

Sangria from a street market

View of Lisbon as we departed

Someone on the ship said that this statue is just like the one in Brazil and that the two statues face each other.

Virgin Mary statue in Lisbon

The cruise was actually supposed to have another port stop at Ponta Delgado in the Azore Islands. Hurricane Lorenzo, a category 5 storm when we left Lisbon, was heading for the Azores, too. The captain made the decision to skip Ponta Delgado and head the ship south to avoid as much of the bad weather as he could. Even with his diversion, we did sail thru some noticeably rough seas. It wasn't the worst rockin' and rollin' we've felt on a cruise (Hurricane Rick ten years ago off the Pacific coast wins that award for us), but it did take second place. Since our fellow passengers were for the most part, older, more experienced cruisers, nausea was not an issue. Falls, however, did happen and we saw folks sporting bandages on their face or elbow and a more ankle, knee and elbow braces appeared.

One of the frequent storms, seen from the dining room window

Phillip and I stayed busy with arts and crafts, casino visits, movies, evening production shows (hit and miss on quality), and eating.

3-D stars, photo bombed by Matt, a crew member from Texas

Food carving demonstration

Phillip enjoyed arts and crafts

Oysters and huge shrimp on the lunch buffet one day

Looking at my travel journal, the really rough seas stayed with us from Sunday until Thursday, so we had good cruising weather for the last four days of the cruise, but by then, Phillip and I were feeling tired, with a sore throat (Phillip) and lots of coughing (Pat) keeping us awake at night. We arrived in Fort Lauderdale on time, waited at the airport for six hours, and caught our flight home where Leslie and Kacie were awaiting our return.
Overall, even with the bronchitis at the end, it was a great trip. We love visiting Becky and her family in Germany. If in Munich, I recommend a visit to Dachau. It was easily accessible and so heart-wrenching to see the evil that people can do to others. My favorite city was Salzburg,  picturesque with so much to see. The Schonnburg Palace in Vienna was spectacular. Black beer in Bratislava! Budapest took a close second for favorite with me - the thermal baths, the food, the Dreher Bak beer, Margaret Island (although this was the only city where I did see two men sporting "man buns"). Bucharest was Phillip's favorite because we visited with Mihaela and her family, seeing the real countryside with real people, not tour guides. We enjoyed our first cruise on Princess cruise lines. The boat was well-maintained, the crew/passenger ratio was noticeably better than that of Carnival, and the food and activities were pretty darn good. We enjoyed the cruise so much that while onboard, we booked another trans-Atlantic cruise, from Fort Lauderdale to Germany, for April 2020. Time to begin planning our next adventure: cruise to Europe, Berlin, Poland, maybe another country, cruise back!