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, 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 fryor 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.


After an hour and a half, we got on the coach and went to have 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.

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Cork / Cobh (08/28/26)

 

Like yesterday, we had no pre-purchased shore excursions.  However, we wanted to step off the ship and put our feet on Irish soil for the first time.  Instead of getting up at the break of dawn, we decided to sleep "late" (to 8:30 am), and have breakfast at the ship's buffet.  This is when we would make our plans for the day.

Again, I didn't sleep that well.  But I did find that I could put a small pillow under my back, and that would ease the pain I'd feel when getting up in the morning.  (It didn't eliminate the pain, it just made things easier to bear.)  We got up around 8:30 am, and were in the buffet by 10:00 am.  We figured that we'd get off the ship sometime after 11:00 am, and see "The Titanic Experience", one of the historical venues that had some meaning to me.  (Neither of us wanted to walk far today.) 

We ended up at the Cobh Heritage Center, less than 100 yards away from the ship, and spent an hour exploring the exhibition of Cobh's maritime history (Criminal Transports and Voluntary Migration to North America and Australia, as well as being a stopping point for Transatlantic Crossings).  My legs started to give out after this, so it was back to the ship for the day.

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This would be a night where we'd dress up for dinner.  (Don't look for any photographs of me in Mario Mode in this blog)  Dinner was OK, but we were both glad to get back to the cabin and get comfortable after dinner. 

 

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Falmouth / Cornwall (08/27/26)

 

Yesterday, I felt comfortable walking around much of the day.  By the time I started my morning ritual today, I could barely walk to the bathroom without the support of my cane.  And taking a shower, well, don't get me started about the pain I endured to do that.

But first....

I've been noticing that the pain in my lower body tends to ease off the later in the day it gets.  Laying down on the bed may set my spine off kilter, and cause the problems I've been having as of late.  So, when I got up, I needed to lean on things to move anywhere.  Getting dressed has been difficult for me lately, as I don't have the leg flexibility to put on a pair of trousers the way I'm accustomed to doing.  

Walking to the back of the ship for a served breakfast was a little painful.  When I sat down at the table, I accidentally pulled the table cloth and pulled my plate and flatware off the table.  And this was the least of issues.  Even though we got to the restaurant 30 minutes before closing, they should have been ready to serve us throughout the meal.  Instead, it felt like they forgot about us until I used my "New York Voice" that always commands attention (by surprise).  Then, a few minutes later, our main breakfast course arrived.

Once done with breakfast, it was off to the stern of the ship for a few pictures, and then to our cabin to rest again.  On the way back, we found the laundromat we'd be using several times during the cruise.  And this made our morning complete.

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After a long nap, we found ourselves strangely not hungry.  Although we missed the chance to explore this port, we both were grateful not to have attempted to walk far when our legs (for different reasons) were bothering us.  Yet, we made it upstairs to the buffet for a small snack before going to the steakhouse for dinner.

One thing I can say about the ship's specialty restaurants is that the food is both plentiful and good.  And tonight's steakhouse dinner was no exception.  We both ordered rib-eye steaks and were unable to finish them!  (The appetizers were just as good and just as plentiful.) 

When we were done with dinner, we went to see a comedian perform.  Although most of the audience was laughing, I found his act to be dull and predictable.  There was no magic that would make me go out of my way to see him again.  Yet, it was a serviceable 1/2 hour of entertainment. 

 

 

 

 

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Embarkation Day (08/26/26)

 

We got up at an ungodly hour for us (6 am) and prepared for the bus ride to the Southampton terminal to board the Majestic Princess (pictured above).  We knew to leave our "checked" luggage at the door, as the next time we'd see our bags would be on the ship, outside our cabin door.

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Neither of us had much sleep the night before, and started to get ready to leave the hotel around 5:45 am. For a change, I showered first, and started to repack my carry-on with too much stuff.  It was bursting at the seams!  After a quick breakfast, we made one last pass in our room, placed our checked bags outside our door, and went downstairs to await the bus that would take us to the cruise port.

Once on the bus, it took 2 1/2 hours to reach Southampton and the Cruise Terminal.  Unlike most cruise terminals, this one had me remove all metal from my person (including my belt), take my computer out for separate screening, and surrender my cane while I passed through the scanner.  TSA screening at JFK airport was much less of a hassle.  At least, we skipped much of the line due to our needs to use canes for walking and for support.

After boarding the ship, we made it to our cabin while the cabin attendant was finishing up his work.  He noted that we would need to surrender our passports, so that Irish authorities could stamp them.  In the almost 30 years I've had a passport, I've never had a stamp - this would be my first.  (And it could be my last, given the second passport that I hope will be coming soon.) 

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Both of us were tired, so we took a nap around 3:00 pm. At 5:45 pm, the cabin attendant appeared, and took our passports for processing.   A couple of hours later, we were off to the specialty seafood restaurant for the first of our dinners.  The dishes were all expertly prepared, but the service was slightly too leisurely for my taste.

Shortly after dinner, we were back in our cabin for the evening.  Our cabin attendant visited us 3 times in succession: (1) to tape down the extension cord that I had to use to keep my CPAP unit by my side of the bed, (2) to deliver a pair of bathrobes we could use on the cruise, and (3) to deliver a pair of shore excursion tickets not originally left in the room when we arrived.

It was a busy day, and I'm glad I can finally get some sleep. 

 

British Isles Cruise 2026 - London Day #2 (08/25/26)

I couldn't get much sleep the night we arrived, as my body was still trying to live on New York time.  Although I had a couple of naps after arriving, I was up early for New York, but late for London.  And that's the time zone I'd be in for the next two weeks....

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We went downstairs to have breakfast around 8 am, and the restaurant was crowded with people - many of whom were going on our cruise.  Luckily, a breakfast was included with the hotel stay, and we had a filling meal that should last us until snack time.  Once done there, we went to the Princess Cruises representative, and got ourselves front seats on the bus that would take us to the cruise terminal.  This would make things much easier for us when arriving at the terminal, as we'd not have to walk far in the bus before getting our bags and walking into the terminal.

And then, we took a nap for a little bit....

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Instead of going to the Jack the Ripper Museum (a .3 mi. walk), we decided to stay in our room and rest a bit.  Sadly, we didn't think of buying tickets at the door, but the rest was worth more than the experience of going to the museum.

Around 7:00, we started getting to meet my niece for dinner.  We told her to find a place within my walking tolerance, and she made reservations for 8:00.  We met my niece and her hubby at 8, then walked about 1/3 mi. to get to a nearby Chinese restaurant.  Conversation flowed like water, and I had more beer in one night than I usually have in a couple of months.  (Please, don't tell my doctor about this.)  We closed down the restaurant around 10:30, and walked back to the hotel, tripping on a curb along the way.  I was glad that I had the help of my niece's hubby to get up and back to the hotel.

Sadly, at 11:00, we had to break up - my niece and hubby to their home, and us to our hotel room.  It was an extended day, and one I was glad to stay off my feet when I could do so.  I dreaded the next morning a little bit, as I expected to be walking quite a bit again.  

But as Scarlett O'Hara once said: Tomorrow is another day. 

 

 

 

British Isles Cruise 2026 - London Day #1 (08/24/26)

 

This is going to be a short entry, as there's not much to say other than we ate and slept, allowing our bodies to catch up and get in sync with a reset circadian sleep cycle.

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Continuing from the entry I posted yesterday, We arrived at the hotel at 3 pm.  Everything was paid for in advance, and no one asked for our credit cards.  But I always worry - what will happen if I use a credit card and it gets rejected while overseas?

Around 8 pm, we took the lift to the ground floor and walk to the hotel's restaurant.  The food was good, although it was pricey by New York standards.  Instead of my usual Diet Cokes, I ordered a beer, as it was cheaper to slowly sip my beer than to guzzle Diet Cokes served in 6 oz. bottles. Fish and Chips was the order of my day, and I even tried the Mushy Peas served with the meal.  As much as I might try, I doubt that I'll ever like this side dish.

Once done it was back to the room, and a night where we could fall to sleep with the BBC on the telly.