British Isles Cruise 2026 - Le Havre (09/06/26)

Today, I had no plans to get off the ship.  Visiting Paris on a curated shore excursion might expose me to leg pain that I couldn't manage.  And I had to save myself for the flight home tomorrow.  Instead, it was another day on the ship, where I could eat and drink (usually diet cokes) as I please, and be able to go back to my cabin to rest.

RQS has been a doll about this, taking care of little things when my legs didn't want to cooperate with me.  I'm grateful to have her around.  But I digress....

Although I started packing last night for the return home, I still have much to do.  Somehow, even with only a teddy bear for my neighbor's child as a souvenir, I have to fit ALL the stuff I brought with me into the luggage I have with me.  And that may be an effort with compression bags and the like. 

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RQS was interested in getting off the ship and exploring the town for 30 minutes or so.  After seeing the price of the shuttle bus that would take her to town ($20), she considered it not worth the price.  (Even if my legs and back were feeling up to it, I likely would not have bothered with this port stop for reasons of my own.)   About the only thing I might have made the effort to visit here were the D-Day beaches at Normandy, and to pay my respects at the American cemetery there. 

British Isles Cruise 2026 - Sea Day #3 (09/05/26)

 

Another sea day, and it's time to do some laundry before we leave the ship.  Tomorrow, the ship may empty when it makes port at Le Havre, but we won't be taking any excursions from that port.  It's a long trip to either Paris or Normandy, and I'm not in the mood to suffer another bus ride to see any part of France right now.  Bur, if I had to make a choice, it would be the D-Day beaches at Normandy, where America last did something worthy of our ideals. But then, I am a little disgusted at the current VPOTUS who claimed that POTUS (also known as the Orange Monster in this blog) has won the war with Iran, while claiming we're not in an undeclared war.  (I'm glad I qualify for a second citizenship in a land which is both free and respectful of human rights.)

For the most part my back and my legs have been behaving.  I shudder to think what will happen if they give out before I return home.  But I'm not going to think much about that for now.  Instead, I'm going to think back on this trip, and be thankful that I was able to enjoy it as much as I did.

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RQS sent me a Facebook post about a lady who made an authorized deviation from her cruise itinerary, and got burnt because of it.  Yet, she may have an amazing adventure to talk about when she returns to the ship....

One lady made arrangements with the cruise line to depart the ship in Greenock and board again in Edinburgh. This would give her an extra few days in Scotland to be with her friends.  One problem: We couldn't make port in Edinburgh due to high winds.   So, she was stranded, even though everyone did everything according to the rules.  So now, she had to find a way to make it from Edinburgh to London, London to Paris, and Paris to Le Havre before the ship leaves for Southampton.  I hope she makes it.

This is why I'm extra careful about shore excursions.  They can and will go wrong.  Somehow, a person must be able to get back to the ship as planned. 

 

PS: I met this woman as she was at guest services while in Le Havre.  She ended up flying to Paris and then took the train to Le Havre to get back on the ship.  Hopefully, she'll post more of her story online soon. 

 

  

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....