Thoughts on a cruise

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So, being my first cruise, I thought I would put together a few things that I noticed or felt.

This may seem obvious, but it was something I seldom did and in hindsight, maybe I could have been better at it. Look at the daily activity sheets as there may be something that you hadn’t realized was happening that you can go to. One day, Judy and I had high tea.

One day we joined into the speed puzzle contest. We didn’t win, but we finished the 300 piece puzzle in less than 40 minutes.

Be ready to go early and wait to get into one of the venues or if there is a section of the ship that you like best, get to that spot early and stake it out – it’s good to remind yourself that the crew will wait on you – if needed – anywhere you are on the ship.

Watch what others do and eat. Combining bits from different places in the galley can really set a meal apart. Try all of the restaurants as some can surprise you in either direction. Keep an eye on the galley specials as those can be quite good too. The small bars also offer small bites that can be quite good. The restaurants can often take you as a walk up even if they show no reservations available.

If you want an ice cream cone from the ice cream bar and not just a cup of ice cream, still get the scoops in the cup and top it with the cone. The ship sometimes rolls more than you think and I saw more than one scoop fall off of a cone when people had the scoops on the cone the normal way.

Check out the bands and singers early on in the cruise as some are really worth hearing more than once. You needn’t always be in the immediate vicinity of any of the performers as some are loud and play not in one of the cruise venues, but in an open space where you can enjoy them from farther away

Let the ship do your laundry as the sinks aren’t big enough to do any piece of clothing beyond undergarments. We used the sailor loot that was part of our package so that we didn’t feel the hit of paying $55.00 for a big bag of clothes to be washed and folded.

Take some small magnetic hooks as they come in handy to use on walls and doors as extra space to hang something. The walls on ships are all steel (or some magnetic surface).

Get a cabin with a balcony. While we didn’t use ours a ton on cold or windy days, it is still nice to look out and get your bearings or just let sunshine into your room. If you don’t need to sleep together, consider having them convert the beds to singles as it opens up the room for more space.

The Diva activities and shows are some of the best options for good entertainment. We had two on our ship. We did bingo with the diva one day (using up some of that sailor loot to buy bingo cards)

Take cards and maybe your favorite game if it is a good small travel size. We played cards often on sail days and the ship didn’t have cards. I had a deck with me and then everyone bought decks along the way.

Your best chances for some quiet alone time either inside or out is going to be in the morning before activities begin to ramp up. Music is piped into every common space on the ship and increases in volume as the day progresses. People will spread out more in warmer and southern climates, but the pool areas can be some of the loudest.

Take some books to read and then leave them on the reading exchange table when you have finished. This allows the next person to pick it up for a read, and you then have the space that you packed your books in for souvenirs to take home. You might get lucky and find a fun book to read from the exchange table too.

I read this one and then Judy did too.

All in all, I can see why people like to cruise: your not schlepping your luggage around every day, you get to see some cool ports and towns. I personally would like more time to organically explore, but coming off of a cruise ship you almost always need to book an excursion so that you know you can at least see the one or two things from your list and know you can make it back onto the ship before it sails. I wouldn’t recommend a long cruise as your first time like I did as it did get to feel long, but I also wouldn’t have wanted to miss any of our stops.

You will meet people on the cruise, but if you can travel with friends, it elevates the experience to a higher level.

I was very fortunate to have such good pals on board to laugh with at all times. I will say that I got more dirty looks for my laugh than maybe ever before and the ship comedian thought I was heckling him when Shelda made me bust into a loud guffaw at a time when he wasn’t throwing out a punch line. Maybe a ship is a little too confined for my laugh. Oh well. We also got comments on how fun our group seemed to be and one bartender said that she texted her pals and said that she was going to grow up and be just like the older ladies currently at her bar. It would have been a better story if she hadn’t called us old.😜

I’m sure there will be more thoughts on cruising coming to me, but that is all I have for now.

Edinburgh

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After another two days at sea, we had made it back to Scotland in the port of Queensferry. The ship anchored in the Firth of Forth and we got our first views of the Forth Bridge. Completed in 1890, this cantilever railway bridge is considered one of the greatest feats of Victorian engineering and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Forth Bridge
Forth Bridge with view of a portion of the Forth Road Bridge behind it.

It was a forty minute bus ride into the city of Edinburgh and as timing would have it, we arrived on one of the many days of the most famous of their festivals. Edinburgh Festival Fringe: A massive open-access celebration of theatre, comedy, dance, and music. The guide, who had been on our bus that brought us into the city, warned us that it would be quite busy, but busy might be an understatement.

We headed from our drop off point to the heart of Edinburgh and its most famous street, The Royal Mile. This section of the city starts at Edinburgh Castle and ends at The Palace of Holyroodhouse.

Our guide said we could walk through Princes Street Gardens and head uphill to the site of the castle and royal mile.

St Cuthbert’s Royal Church
The Ross Fountain
A piper as we came up out of the gardens with the castle up in the distance
View of the clock tower in the Balmoral Hotel
This Spirelike Victorian memorial in honour of the writer Sir Walter Scott, with 287 steps to the top.

As we approached our destination area, we opted to head up one of the closes (narrow alley) to avoid the crowd on the Main Street. When we popped out, it was a sea of people.

This does not quite capture the full extent, but you get the idea

There were street performers all over.

This witch had the largest owl in Scotland on her arm. The Eurasian Eagle Owl.

The line to enter the castle was too long (I already knew I was opting out) and we had to be mindful of our time as we had a set time the bus was to pick us up and take us back to port, so we set out for other points of interest. We walked some of the surrounding streets where we caught other views of the castle

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The back of the castle
The iconic Victoria Street

We then made it down to one of the most famous cemeteries in the world. Greyfriars Kirk was established in 1562 on land gifted by Mary Queen of Scots and holds more than 100,000 burials in its long history.

Not sure about the story behind these headless statues in this one.
So many stories seem to speak from these tombstones, no wonder JK Rowling got some names and ideas here.

After some shopping and more wandering, we ambled toward the area our bus was to pick us up and found yet another old pub.

I kinda wanted to check out the Boozy Cow, but we were short on time and needed some lunch
Loved this sign out front

Thinking that since I was ordering a Guinness, I would not get a meal, but instead get the haggis bon bon appetizer.

Enough to feed an entire family

The haggis was excellent, but since drinking a Guinness is like eating an entire loaf of bread – when not at the factory, it really is that filling – I was stuffed in no time.

We were a few minutes early to the bus so we stopped in at The Angels Share bar. We had been in there earlier to use the facilities, so we already knew how lovely it was inside.

Needless to say, I fell asleep on the bus ride back to port.

The tenders back to the ship did not seem crowded or have lines, so we headed into the small town to see what it was like. It was quiet with ice cream shops on every corner – or so it seemed. Unlike the previous hours of our day, this one had very few people in our realm.

Quaint shops and cobblestone roads

Then we found the community garden with a unique mural that townspeople used items found from the shore or around town to complete.

Pretty cool

We then headed back to our ship. It was a full day.

Love Sally

Reykjavík

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Our last stop in Iceland was the largest and capital city of Reykjavík. We opted for the hop on hop off bus so that we could once again get the layout of where the sites were that we wished to see. For the first time, we stayed upon the bus for an entire loop plus a few stops.

First view from port
Harpa concert hall

In the lower level of the Harpa Hall we took the Volcanic Express – it had interesting exhibitions to view many interesting lava facts and sites. We then were ushered into a small staged area with three rows of seats. We were told to remove anything loose and buckle in. Our individual seats then thrusted away from the floor and we were taken on a journey both visually and through our senses out of the theater, across the landscape and in and around erupting volcanos. Besides the shaking and tilting of our seats, the hot air blowing onto each of us set for a very realistic visit to one of Mother Natures most powerful demonstrations. It was an amazing experience.

We then meandered into and out of shops seeing if we could find a few of the items that Lusi had mentioned were well worth the Icelandic price tag. EVERYTHING is expensive in Iceland. If you come, and you absolutely should come, just know that it will be more to stay, eat, travel, drink and shop. I’d estimate the average to be about 4 times what a miser like me is used to paying.

We made our way to a pub that Cutter had picked out for lunch.

This was our spot: The Icelandic Bar

We got our beers and ordered our food – lobster dog (roll), reindeer burger, fish and chips and the SIGGUBORGARI – hamburger with a pancake on top instead of the top bun.

A gal from a table a few away from us had asked if we had ordered the HAKARL & HARDFISKUR as she was willing to share since they had ordered and tried it.

The reason someone would randomly ask such a thing is because Hakarl is one of those regional foods that some travelers feel compelled to try, but will likely never be on the list to take home – or even try more than one bite for most. The HARDFISKUR is just dried fish – likely cod or like the wolf fish we had the day prior.

We let the gal know that no, we hadn’t ordered and no, we didn’t really want the rest of theirs, but as she was walking away, I said that sure, if they were willing to share in their experience, then I was willing to try. The shark came as a six piece portion and was likely served with a chaser of the Icelandic schnapps. They brought over the rest of the appetizer they had purchased and explained that you leave the small jar with the compression seal closed until ready to sample and then, with the use of a toothpick, you quickly open the container, stab your shark piece, put it into your mouth and chew for a minimum of 8 times and then swallow.

Only one piece left after three of us tried.

If you want to know what it is like, you can visit Iceland and try it, or buy me a beer and I’ll give you our impressions 🤣

More walking
More murals
More pubs
More interesting buildings
Walls that impart
Leif Erikson
Inside the church
Rainbow street
And here we are at yet another of one of the older pubs in the town we are in.

We then took a cab back to the ship as we were closing in on the time we had to return and had not seen where we could catch the free shuttle. Our cab driver was from Palestine. We commonly asked people what brought them to Iceland if they were not born here (most weren’t). Many come for the summers for more seasonal work, some for the dark months, but this gentleman brought his family for safety. It was a sobering moment. we were suddenly glad we had jumped into his taxi and in some small way, were in that moment, supporting him and his family who were just trying to be safe as their homeland is being torn apart.

We went back to the ship and it was all decorated for the Red Night celebration. Almost everyone had something of red on and the ship was full of extra activities, parties, dancing and music.

Red octopus tentacles set up in the grand staircase area
Fish balloons set up on the area were many people play games and puzzles

Everyone in our party was done for the night, but I decided a glass of port might be a nice way to end my day, so I took one to go from one of the bars that carry it. As I was heading back, they were just starting a session of Karaoke with the Diva. I was curious to see who and what would be sung, so I found a viewing spot and decided I could sip and experience the performances (or train wrecks) for just a while. The first people up were what I would guess was father and daughter and they were to sing from the phantom of the opera. Quite ambitious I thought, but they pulled it off quite nicely. I have to say that there were no stinkers and a few that belted out songs as good as the original performers. I made it through 8 or so vocals before I too called it a night. I wasn’t sorry that I stopped in.

Love Sally

Ísafjörður and Dynjandi Waterfalls

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I cannot honestly say when the day from Siglufjörður ended and Ísafjörður began as we slept with the blinds open that night and in the moments I would surface from slumber, for even a fraction of a moment, I never found ourselves in total darkness. I did get up at sometime around 4 am and caught the sun beyond the horizon. I’m guessing it was before sunrise and not the sunset, but at 66 degrees north latitude, we were just 20 miles from the arctic circle.

The sky at 4am from our deck

We docked at Ísafjörður and could see that it too was a tiny village dotted with boats and surrounded by steep steep mountains with generally flat tops (at least in this area).

We had booked a tour to a waterfall an hour and a half away, so we loaded onto a bus with our guide Lusi (sounds like Lucy). Like all of our other guides, Lusi imparted personal and general information as we made our way through a series of newer tunnels. It used to be that you went over passes to get to the closest town (or around a fjord or two which could be rough in bad weather too). The first tunnel has a total length of 5.7 miles, is a one lane road through much of it and has a 90 degree junction somewhere near the middle to allow access to another fjord town half way through. If you are wondering how could a one lane tunnel work, well, there are slight pull offs every few hundred yards on one side. So, on our way through, our bus pulled over every time we saw headlights coming our way and on our way back, it was the other side that had to give way. It would never work in any of our mountains towns, but in these town of just a few hundred to a few thousand people, the traffic isn’t a problem.

Part of one end does have two lanes
At the T in the tunnel

As we saw beautiful Mountain views and valleys dotted with a few farms and sheep everywhere, we learned that the sheep out populate the humans and are free to roam anywhere all summer long. The sheep are housed in the winter in the farmers sheds and barns and the new lambs tagged in the spring and then all sheep are set loose to meander and graze on any mountainside, roadside or shoreline. In the fall, there is a concerted effort by farmers, hands, town folk on horse and 4wheelers, and anyone else who is willing, to round up all the sheep from near and far. The ovines are then sorted and each farmer comes and gets their own flock to again house for another winter. I’m surprised that no one has labeled their wool or lamb meat “free range” for export.😆

I wondered to my travel mates how many cuttings of hay could be taken in a short season with never ending sun and Lusi answered it in one of her talks -3-4

We finally reached the widest waterfall in Iceland. From my limited experience, if you are in a fjord area, you can see a waterfall in every direction you look, but this one is special due to its cascading and breadth characteristics.

On our return trip, we took that turn in the middle of the tunnel and was given a tour of Suðureyri village. Lusi showed us some of the fish that are harvested in the local waters, let us try some of the dried wolf fish that she had told us stories about and we were also given some cod cakes with the most divine sauce.

This town had so many homes with cute painted rocks on their doorsteps.
Lusi would always say, only three things were needed to make up a town. A church, a swimming pool and a trampoline
Dried wolf fish
The cod cakes presented by Lusi
The playground

Then it was back through the rest of the tunnel to what we now just referred to as Isa – short for Ísafjörður.

We did some shopping in Isa and we’re back onto the ship.

Fun times

Sally

Siglufjörður

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The morning after the eclipse, we sailed into the striking fjord of Siglufjörður which is also the name of the town. It is the northern most town in Iceland. It was once one of the largest fishing villages in Iceland, producing more herring and its byproducts than anywhere else. They no longer produce in the way they once did, but house a number of buildings, structures and remnants of those glory days as current attractions.

Our view as we entered the fjord
A couple of spots to grab a bite, but we walked by before they opened in the morning
A sculpture to honor the herring girls that did much of the packing of the herring
Not too worried about letting kitties roam as there are almost no predators here
We hiked up to a nearby waterfall
Our ship out in the fjord
A four leaf clover along our hike
The shortest door I’ve ever encountered
If the short door had been on this house, I would have said it was a hobbit home for sure
We found the Seagull pub
It had some old anchors as decor
And a boat with my name just outside

It is hard to express or capture in photos how dramatic the landscape is here. The town did not take a full day to explore – even on foot and with hitting almost every street, so we were back on the ship with time to spare.

Next time, I would book an excursion from this port as the shoreline with the highway at its brink seemed to just call to be explored.

It was a gorgeous day.

Sally


	

	
	


							


	

		
				

			At sea and the Eclipse
		

		
		

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We set sail from Belfast with a message from the ship.










It was our first time to experience being on a ship where everyone looks like they are walking drunk from a pub – or the first time you couldn’t tell the aforementioned from the sober sailor (an oxymoron?)





You definitely notice more people when entire passengers and crew are onboard.  Not overwhelming anywhere, but finding a quiet spot outside of your cabin can be a challenge. I can see where the warmer climates spread everyone out onto the upper decks onto chaise loungers allowing for even more space.





Speaking of space, I can’t recall if I’ve communicated about our cabin. Normally, there is one big bed in each cabin, but we had ours split into two singles and honestly, comparing ours to our pals, it feels like with our configuration, we have more space.










Judy’s birthday was while we were in Belfast, and when I told our cabin crew about it, we came back to our cabin and found our door decorated.










I highly recommend taking some sort of cabin decoration as it allows for walking down the hallway and not even thinking about your room number – you just walk till your magnets are seen. It’s also fun reading what are on other doors.





We played lots of cards on our days at sea and received more than a few comments about how much fun we seemed to be having.





On our second day, the crew and occupants were all preparing for the total solar eclipse that was to happen in the afternoon. The ship had changed their original coarse to position us in an area that might find a few less clouds, but I was skeptical as we were still in pretty high seas and very low visibility throughout the morning and into the afternoon .





The captain never found us totally clear skies, but we were blessed with partially clear and we were able to catch the eclipse in portions through the peeking clouds and experience the day to night and back to day.










It was cool





See you Ashore,





Sally

	

	
	


							


	

		
				

			Belfast
		

		
		

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We didn’t book an excursion in Belfast as the ship provided transport to and from the city center. We had a few places in mind where we would like to see, but felt the hop on hop off buses we could take from our drop off spot might allow for an overview of many of the main points and we could jump off and on whenever we wished.





We sat in the open air top section of the bus, so views were good, but photo quality is likely a negative factor as we were sped through the city.








































The opera house





We had made it to the part of downtown after passing where the titanic museum is – I didn’t really want to see how another ship had sank just before we were headed out into a few days at sea to get to Iceland.





We walked past many interesting spots on our way to The Crown Saloon.















It’s one of Belfast’s older pubs and is incredibly ornate inside with glass, tiles and carved wood all about. In the bar portion, there are only a few tables out in the open and the remaining booths are in their snugs. We were lucky enough to get an open snug to enjoy our beers and a few plates of food.





The bar





Part of the inside of our snug





Lookin out of our snug toward the door to another across the room from us





Another view inside of our snug





We then headed out to find Kelly’s Cellars which is one of the oldest pubs in Belfast. It’s a bit down an alley and dates back to 1720.















Murals on one side upstairs










Tons of photos on the other walls





So many famous people have had a pint at the same place as us.





Then, we traversed a bit more of the city and took the shuttle back to the ship















Stopped at a library too, cause that is always another interesting place to go.





It was another fun day.





Sally

	

	
	


							


	

		
				

			Liverpool
		

		
		

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When your pals are super Beatles fans and the port stop is in Liverpool, there’s a good chance that you’ll end up on a Beatles tour. 





We had our own driver in an older style taxi cab drive us throughout the entire city regaling us in stories of each member, stories of how some songs came about and some of his personal tales that shared threads of moments of sites in the city. He was our age, so we all got along like peas in a pod. I learned that the opposite would be called Chalk and Cheese.





A good example he provided visually to us of two things being as different as Chalk and Cheese, were the peoples church and the big catholic cathedral.





The People’s Church 





The Catholic Church 





Back to the Beatles. We were taken to the hospital where both our cabbie and one of the Fab Four was born, many of the childhood homes and schools, the spot of a wedding, Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, and lastly the Cavern Club where they played often.




















This guy came out to greet us from one of Ringo’s old neighborhood 





Elenor Rigsby and others referenced in song could be found in this graveyard 















Then we were on our own to find our way to St George’s hall for the limited viewing of the Minton Tiles that are normally covered for preservation. 






























An amazing pipe organ at one end










Then, it was back to the ship and have a few cocktails and dinner.





We all agreed that Liverpool was a spot we could easily come back to and spend more time at.





Love,





Sally

	

	
	


							


	

		
				

			Parts of Scotland
		

		
		

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Our second day to a port, we backed right into a dock in Greenock. That these captains can spin around and back into a space so deftly, is really fun to see.





Our ship as we approached the dock





Glasgow was going to be a bus ride away from our port, so we decided to take a bus instead through the countryside to Culzean Castle and Country Park. It was a gorgeous ride and our bus guide filled every second with bits of history, storytelling and jokes (the driver Billy had most of the jokes). The land was rolling, green and filled with sheep and cattle everywhere.










The Castle was staffed with a volunteer in every room to answer as many questions as you might have as you took in the gun room, the oval staircase, the grand oil paintings, the unique round drawing room with its panoramic views over the Firth of Clyde.




















The first room you enter is the gun room. Over 700 pistols are displayed here. Archibald, the American-born 12th Earl, used Adam’s entrance hall to show off his collection of arms at a time when Britain was at war with both the USA and France.





The 12th Earl bought the arms in 1812 from the Office of Ordnance at the Tower of London. 






























The kitchen – almost every pot was a copper one





After seeing the interior, I headed down the trail to the beach to catch the view from that side.















Someday, I’ll print a coffee table book of all the trees people have taken of me hugging them.





Back onto the bus and a stop in the town of Largs for lunch. 










You almost always know what you are drinking over here because they always use the brand of beer glass that was printed for that beer.





Then we were back on the boat in time for Judy and I to try the Test Kitchen for dinner. It was good as it is smaller portions and interesting pairings.





So far, I love Scotland the best- but that is probably because I was out in the countryside. Oh, and a group of bagpipe and drum guys assembled for a send off to our ship and played till we were untethered and the captain sounded off blasts of the ships horn. So cool and fun.





Love Sally





Oh, and I forgot that we also saw the island of Ailsa Craig, a small, uninhabited volcanic island off the coast of Scotland that supplies the unique micro-granite used to curling. We saw it on the bus, but I was never in a position to get a good photo of it, but then as we were sailing away for a bit, I looked out of our balcony and there it was!











	

	
	


							


	

		
				

			At Sea and Dublin
		

		
		

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Our first full day aboard ship was a travel day. I think much of the day was spent getting to know the ship layout a bit better, what the food options were and lazing around. Honestly, it felt like camping without the tent. It was good food, good friends, games, a few adult beverages, tons of laughter, lounging in the sun. Sure, I’m not cooking, or washing up, sleeping on a cot and the campground has thousands of people in it, but my mental status is very much the same as when I’m camping.










Our first day into a port was Dublin. We had booked a tour to the Guinness factory first thing, so we hopped onto a bus and were given all sorts of tidbits of knowledge about the city and sites as we made our way into the city. The port is about a half an hour from Dublin City center.










We were dropped off at the Guinness gates – Massive – and ushered into the lowest level of its seven story structure where a self guided tour takes you through the stages of sourcing the ingredients – water, barley, hops and yeast, the fermentation, and the building of the kegs back when that was a manual job. The brilliant advertising and marketing campaigns that they have done over the years is on display.















They were smart in adding places to stop and purchase sandwiches and crisps at the points where some might loose focus and grow weary (we were holding out for a pub after, so none for us).





Someone must have tinkered with drawing on the foam on their beer one day and the idea of printing onto the foam was conceived. Now, they have a room where you can go in and have your picture taken and then said photo is transformed onto your beer.










Not needing to drink my face off of a beer, I just helped consume the two beers that were printed with Shelda and  Cutters images. We got two as the first had an air bubble or something on their foam that caused a blemish on their likeness. 





It is the top floor that everyone is anticipating getting to though. It is the highest level with windows all around showing views of the city and where everyone will tell you that you will have the best pint of Guinness in your life. They are not wrong. Yes, we just had two pints a floor or two below, but those must have been poured for the foam and the beers poured at the top had more of the millions of cascading bubbles running through each glass that gives it a creamier feel and taste. Even for those who don’t drink a dark beer, it was thoroughly enjoyed.




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