British Isles Cruise 2026 - Edinburgh (Cancelled) / Sea Day #2 (09/04/26)

 

Due to high winds, our port stop for Edinburgh / South Queensferry was cancelled.  In its place was another sea day.  Given how many ports this cruise has stopped at already, this cruise was still well worth the money spent.  Sadly, our next port stop is in Le Havre, France, a port where I have no intentions of getting off the ship.

Both RQS and I have been getting over colds.  I caught mine about a day or two before her, and I'm hoping that we've recovered enough to be comfortable on our flight home.  Over the next three days, we'll try to take advantage of venues on the ship that I would have missed due to shore excursions keeping us off the ship if we were in port.  One thing I know: We will be doing another load of laundry soon.

For the most part, we stayed inside our cabin, except when it was time to eat.  RQS wasn't feeling well, and I was restoring work I was doing on my cruise blog.  And on a sea day, rest is always the order of the day.

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Kirkwall / Orkney Islands (09/03/26)

 

 

This would be the last port day in an English speaking country, though I didn't know it at the time.  We had scheduled an excursion to see the Ring of Brodan and Skara Brae, and that wouldn't leave until 11:15. So that meant we would have room service deliver breakfast to the room, and we could enjoy it at leisure.

At 9:15, our breakfast came, and we feasted.  (It's nice to have room service for breakfast!)  Then, we were off on our shore excursion.  I didn't know much about the Orkneys, especially about its ancient settlements.  It was good to hear the tour guide talk about the Ring of Brodar and Skara Brae on the way to these sites.

 

The Orkney islands are beautiful, and the road to these heritage sites was alone worth going on the shore excursion.  Our first stop was at the Stones of Stenness.these stones are a henge similar to that at Stonehenge.  And next was the Ring of Brodar.  This ring was older than Stonehenge, and likely served a similar function.  It's hard to believe that these stones were moved to these sites without the use of modern technology. Finally came Skara Brae - a settlement site that is 5,000 years old.  This was the most the most interesting site on the tour, but not the most photogenic one.

Finally, it was back to the ship, and we were among the last to board the ship. 

 

 

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Sea Day #1 (09/02/26)

 

It was not the best of days outside, and we had nowhere to go except for lunch and dinner.  So, we took advantage of the option to have Room Service breakfast to start our day.  And we found that the quality of the food delivered to us was slightly better than would be found in the buffet, as the hot food we had was a little warmer and fresher. 

After breakfast, we had to rebook our Edinburgh excursion.  Our original shore excursion was cancelled, and we had to find (and book) one that would both fit our interests and our budget.  Luckily, we found one, and were able to book this excursion without any complications. 

We had nothing left to do until lunch.  And this would be a hearty one, as we had reservations at the Crab Shack pop-up.  This restaurant is not part of our fare, so it is the one time we're paying extra for our meal.  And it is generally worth it on all Princess Cruises' ships.

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 Around 1 pm, we sauntered down to Crab Shack, where we had a filling lunch.  Unlike the last time we ate at Crab Shack, I was unimpressed with the Clam Chowder.  But the Signature Seafood Pot made up for it, even though they had to substitute Snow Crab Legs for Dungeness Crab.  By the time 2 pm came, we were filled to the gills, and not in the mood to contemplate dinner at 7 pm.

At 7 pm, we went to the ship's casual dining restaurant to have some pizza.  It was good, and we didn't have to suffer the slow service we had in the ship's main dining room.  Additionally, it was a much shorter walk for me as well - less wear and tear on the legs.

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While editing my cruise blog, I lost the entire contents of an entry which I've been writing for the better part of 10 days.  AARGH!  Now, I have to take the time to reconstruct it from notes I made in this blog.  Wish me luck! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 British Isles Cruise 2026 - Sea Day #1 (09/02/26)

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Glasgow / Greenock (09/01/26)

 

The day started off with my usual problems with my back and with my legs.  I wasn't totally crippled.  But I was glad that I didn't have to walk far, as today's shore excursion would take us on a 1 hour cruise on Loch Lomond

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RQS and I went for a late breakfast, picking up items from the ship's coffee and light pastry shop.  It was not much, but it was what we needed to get moving.  After we got back to the room, my GI-Tract began to tell me that it wasn't in love with me anymore.  I didn't pay it much mind until Lunch time, and then it demanded my attention.

30 minutes later, we were off to our shore excursion, and I was glad to have taken care of business when I could do so.  But this would not be the end of it.  Walking to the tour bus was an effort, especially since the weather was gloomy and that the rain would be coming down at any minute.  30 minutes into the trip to Loch Lomond, the bus stopped to give people a chance for a bio-break and to do some shopping.  As for me, I stayed on the bus and tried to rest.

Eventually, we got to Loch Lomond for the 1 hour cruise.  It rained a bit, but not enough to ruin the excursion.  On our return to the ship, the tour guide asked us: "At what time does the ship leave port?" And I answered: "15 minutes after the bus drops us off."  I wasn't joking.  The bus was running late due to traffic, and we were among the last people to return to the ship.  As I expected, the ship did leave port shortly after we returned to the ship.

Once back in our room, our cabin attendant had a complaint to make.  We made his life harder for him when my GI Tract caused me trouble.  Although there was nothing I could have done differently, I won't have to worry about this happening again.  And - I know he'll be getting an extra special tip for going above and beyond when cleaning up the room. 

  

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Belfast (08/31/26)

 

Today's port stop was in Belfast, where we had a shore excursion taking us to the Giant's Causeway.  The trip was scheduled to start at 11 am, arrive at the National Historic Site, and return us to the ship by 5 pm.  

But first....

I haven't getting a full night's sleep since we started out to take this cruise, and last night was no exception.  After I woke up at 4 am for a bio-break, I couldn't get back to sleep.  Around 8:30, we had gotten dressed, and went up to the buffet.  While there, we encountered a crowded buffet area, with staff telling us that the downstairs dining area was open for breakfast.  After the last time there, we didn't want to deal with slow service when we had a shore excursion to go on.

Around 11, we left the ship and found the bus that would take us on our excursion.  The tour guide kept our minds occupied for the 2 hours it took to reach the Giant's Causeway.  We reached our destination shortly before 1, and proceeded to the welcome center, and then to the bus that would take us to the lower  part of the causeway trail path.  Both of us were very glad that we brought cool weather gear, as it was quite chilly outside.

We walked around a little bit (my legs were feeling better than the usual normal), and decided to take the shuttle bus back to the welcome center.  It was a 20 minute wait with no place to sit and wait.  (Actually, I did find a seat, while RQS held our places on line.)  Strangely enough, we were not the last people back to the bus.

On the way back to the ship, the tour guide told us more about the history of Northern Ireland and its separation from the Irish Republic. And then, when in Belfast, he told us about Belfast's RMS Titanic heritage before reaching the ship.  (We could have done without this part of the tour, as we had no opportunity to get a bite to eat.)

We were in our cabin by 6, and then having dinner by 7.  It was a good day, but a little bit too long.... 

  

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Liverpool (08/30/26)

This was the image that was on the Bridge Cam when I got up this morning.  RQS and I decided to sleep late, and not bother with the shore excursion we booked for Liverpool, as we were not sure if our legs could handle a 2 1/2 mile walk.

Around 10 am, we went to the buffet for breakfast.  I saw a message from the tour guide asking us if we were coming, and I said to go ahead without us - we were feeling sick.  In reality, we could never have kept up the pace in walking to the Mathew Street area where all the Beatles related stuff was going on.

Once done with breakfast, we decided to go outside and head for the Beatles museum.  (Later on, RQS said it wasn't worth the effort.  But that's another story.)  Both of us worked up a sweat going there, as my legs didn't want to carry me the mile I needed to walk from the ship to the museum.

We arrived at Mathew Street a little before noon, and it was mobbed.  (Did I happen to say that it was "Fab Four" weekend in Liverpool?)  We walked down the street, passing the current site of the Cavern Club and the original site of the club, and finally to the museum.  For £40 for the 2 of us, it felt a little pricey.  But it had one of the largest collections of Beatle memorabilia that one will find in a single building.  So it would be a Must Visit place for hard core Beatle fans.

Once done with the museum, it was another long walk back to the ship.  Both of us were exhausted by the time we reached the cruise terminal, and I needed a shower.  We were lucky that there was a courtesy shuttle that would take us from the terminal to the ship's gangway.  This saved us a lot of walking.

When we got back to our cabin, RQS said "It's Laundry Time" and threw a big load into the washer while I took a much needed shower.  And then it was time to rest for a while.

After our clothes came out of the dryer, RQS had to deal with a cancelled shore excursion.  She went to the shore excursions desk and got a bus tour that would be much easier for me.  By the time she returned, the tour didn't appear as having been registered to us.  So, down she went again, and returned with two tickets.  This time, they charged our onboard accounts for the tickets.  Yay!  Now, we know we're going to do something each of the remaining port days, save for Le Havre, France.

 

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Dublin / Dun Laoghaire (08/29/26)

 

This was a day we knew we had to get up before dawn. We had a shore excursion that left for Malahide Castle at 7:45 am, and that we'd be away from the ship for an entire day.

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As usual, I didn't get enough good sleep last night, and was awake since 4:30 am. Luckily, I found that laying/sleeping on a pillow sitting under the weak part of my spine made it possible to walk without intense pain the next day. So, when I got up, I found I could get around and get showered, dressed, and out the door with more than adequate time to have breakfast before the assembly for our shore excursion.

We were off the ship by 7:45 and on the tender boat to Dun Laoghaire. This was an easy process, as we met at the assembly point in the ship's theater, then took the boat to the tender boat dock. From there, it was a little bit of walking until we reached our coach.

Our tour guide regaled us with vaudeville one-liners combined with tidbits about Irish history to keep us occupied during the trip to Malahide Castle. When we didn't know was that there would be a bit of walking involved, with no place to sit and rest. If I had been able to change to a different excursion, I would have done so. But I was already in for a penny and in for a pound, so I ended up walking up and down several flights of stairs while at the castle.

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After an hour and a half, we got on the coach and went to have a traditional Irish lunch at the Abbey Tavern. We were entertained by traditional Irish music and Irish dancers. The show was interesting at first, but got monotonous after a while. We couldn't wait for the bus to come and take us back to the ship. With a brief pit stop in Phoenix Park for a bio-break, we were off to the tender boat dock and back to the ship.

 
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After a short break to rest, it was off to dinner. When we were done, we went to the photo studio area to pick up a compact cell phone battery pack. There was a minor delay in RQS getting her battery pack, as the salesman had to go to the ship's internal warehouse to replenish the supply in the public store.