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UK Tour on Caribbean Princess

août - septembre 2024
  • Lee Mallender
Une aventure de 15 jours par Lee En savoir plus
  • Lee Mallender

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess

    Day 1 Southampton

    29 août 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    So, a bitter sweet day today for many reasons but here we are aboard Caribbean Princess for a 14 day cruise around the British Isles. An early start this morning for the drive to Southampton, no problems and reasonable traffic conditions considering it’s a working day, but the kids are still on holiday. Strange having a Thursday departure.

    A slight blip boarding, delayed by a couple of hours due to the ship having a deep clean due to a bug outbreak - neither was that one !!

    Nevertheless, we were still aboard by 12 and it was lovely to be back, we have sailed on this ship a couple of times before. We headed straight for the open decks and grabbed ourselves some lunch. Whilst we have sailed on the ship before, it has had a refurb and it looks very nice. It’s now medallion class which means lots of things are electronic. So you can order a beer on the app, and they find you to deliver it as they know where you are because of your medallion. Pretty cool when you get the hang of it.

    Our cabin was ready pretty much straight away so we went for a look and unpacked. Great cabin with a balcony and some lovely touches as well have reached elite status, the best touch - the free mini bar !!

    We then had a wander round the ship, a bit more food and a couple of drinks before setting sail at 5pm heading for Falmouth. The sail-away party was great, loud, good music and a great atmosphere. It’s truly lovely being on the sea again.

    We have been extremely lucky with the weather, beautiful blue skies and quite warm, even as we were moving it was pleasant on deck.

    Early night for me as I appear to be battling with the dreaded sore throat, but it’s not to bad. Sharon visited the theatre to watch a tap dancing show which was very good by all accounts.    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess

    Day 2 Falmouth

    30 août 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Another fabulous morning in the weather department. A beautiful view out to see from the balcony as we lay anchored off the shore in Falmouth.

    We started the morning by fuelling up in the buffet whilst looking out to see. As always it didn’t disappoint and the holiday tradition of a bit of cake after breakfast kicked in nicely. We had a wander to the sanctuary and booked ourselves in for the afternoons in our 4 sea days. A quieter area of the ship with lovely facilities and views.

    We took the tender into Falmouth to visit the town. It was quickly apparent that we were the only ones in shorts !! All the Americans had coats on - and there’s lots of them, the staff were all in coats and hats too !! But it turned out to be a belter weather wise. 20 minutes in on the tender and the views were lovely. Had a lovely wander around Falmouth which is a lovely town, ice cream, in and out of a few shops before tendering back mid afternoon.

    Upon return we had lunch on the open decks at the back of the ship, one of our favourite places. Then we decided to go get in a hot tub, jeeesus - it was hot, but lovely. The sun was beating down and the atmosphere was great. We were talking to a couple from New York, and a couple from Milton Keynes. It was great and it’s really nice finding out where others are from. Sharon did go in the pool which was a tad on the chilly side, I watched on from the hot tub.

    As we were about to set sail heading for Cork, we went back to our room and just relaxed on the balcony. It was so relaxing, the sea is like a mill pond and the early evening sun was still strong. We just sat there watching the world go by for a couple of hours.

    We went out for food but just a quick bite in the Horizon court as we decided we’d spend the evening on the balcony. I’ll just say you can tell the sun has gone in - bloody Baltic. If we do movies under the stars it’ll be a coat and blanket job 😂😂.

    That’s it from us tonight, goodnight all !    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess
    1

    Day 3 Cork - Or is it?

    31 août 2024, Irlande ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Day 3 has seen us dock in Cork , or so we thought. Not quite true. Not an early start this morning as we were docking just 500 meters from the town centre. We weren’t late up but nice and leisurely, breakfast on the decks before disembarking the ship to go in to town.

    I saw a signpost saying Cork 24 miles - mmm, interesting. The communication on the ship was a tad misleading and it turned out to be a 25 minute train journey in to Cork, we docked in Cobh !!

    Again, we have been very lucky with the weather, beautiful blue skies and plenty is sunshine, just shorts and t- shirt weather, until the breeze kicks in. Then it was a tad cooler. But as the sun went down it was noticeably cooler.

    We took the train in to Cork, only 25 minutes away and it ran every half an hour. A lovely city but very little to see there, maybe we should have done a little bit of research first, we just didn’t realise. We had a lovely wander round before returning to the ship around mid afternoon. We had a spot of lunch then got off again to have a look around Cobh. It was a beautiful little town, very pretty and characterful. It’s great being on these cruises, they always seem to stop at the seaside 😂😂. We wandered in to a traditional Irish bar with a singer on for a little drink and that was a great atmosphere.

    We set sail around 6pm heading for Holyhead in Anglesey, the temperature had started to drop and some grey clouds started to roll in, we sat out on the balcony with a cup of tea as we set sail.

    What happened next has scarred me for life, we went out on the open decks to watch the movie under the stars, bear in mind darkness had fallen, we were full steam ahead at 15knotts so it was windy and bloody freezing, but here’s the kicker - the film was Barbie !! (Hangs head in shame). If I were to take the positives out of this embarrassing experience is that I managed to work out how to order food to be delivered to the lounger we were sat shivering at whilst being subjected to what someone called a movie 😂😂

    So, in summary a great day with great weather (we’ll not mention Barbie), now powering on to Wales !!    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess
    11

    Day 4 Hollyhead

    1 septembre 2024, Pays de Galles ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    The north west of Wales was this mornings dock. Whilst initially grey, it was very mild and a very mixed day weather wise.

    We docked close to the town today although the dock was very narrow so we were bussed in. Holyhead is very typical of a lot of the uk towns today, the town centre very run down and sadly lacking any investment. However, a Welsh choir was singing in the town hall which Sharon went on to see and said it was fantastic, I sat outside with most of the other males from the ship. The harbour and the promenade were a lot more pleasant and we had a lovely walk around.

    We lunched on the open deck before having a very lazy afternoon doing just bits and bobs but mainly nothing. The weather turned late afternoon and it started to rain, so we did what everyone else didn’t, went outside and got in the hot tub. There’s something about being in hot tub when it’s raining. Nobody else around so the staff spend lots of time talking to you.

    As we departed Welsh Wales the sun put in a brief appearance which fetched a few out to the decks. Of the 12 kids on board, about 6 of them gate crashed our hot tub - my cue to leave !!!

    We made an effort tonight and did posh for dinner. Decided to dress smart and go to the restaurant, as always a lovely meal and lovely atmosphere.

    We do have one slight challenge whilst wandering around the ship. It is fitted with the new medallion class which means there are big interactive screens everywhere and we can be located with quite accurate precision for drinks and food being delivered to us which is brilliant. The slight challenge we’ve started to face today is that whenever either of us walks past one of these huge screens , it believes it’s our birthday, both of us and the bloody thing bursts in to life, flashes bongs and wishes us a happy birthday. Extremely embarrassing and happening when we queue to get of the ship, queue for dinner, walk to the bar - blooming thing is everywhere. And it’s not even my birthday at all !!

    We’re just sat at the back of the ship with a drink, the sea is as calm as I’ve known it, I’m sure that could change when we get round the top of Scotland but all good and lovely so far.    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess
    1

    Day 5 Belfast

    2 septembre 2024, Irlande du Nord ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We were up a bit earlier this morning as we glided in to a very foggy Belfast. It was very grey and quite dull and it rained for pretty much the whole day.

    The dock was quite a way from Belfast City Centre so it was a bus ride in. Handily we were dropped off right in the city at the city hall. We had decided we were going to try and get to the Titanic museum. It was painless and just a 10 minute bus ride from the city. So off we went.

    It was quite busy and at first I was a little disappointed, it was mainly boards talking about life in Belfast in the 1910s, the linen trade, working conditions etc. but then it got in to the building of the titanic and how it became exclusive and the effect it had on the city. The detail of the building of it and how it looked was tremendous and was very interesting. Finally there were lots of artefacts which although interesting, the stories about them were very sad. You started to realise that the the deck chairs were sat on by someone who had died in the disaster and it suddenly made you think very hard and realise the bravery of so many people. A great tour, very worthwhile.

    We went back in to the city (still raining hard) and had some lunch, wandered round a few shops before returning to the ship mid afternoon. A very lazy afternoon, a nanny nap and a bit of food out on the deck and then we decided we’d give the hot tub a go as we left Belfast. We sailed away, the rain had stopped but it was still cloudy and we were the only ones out on deck, it was past 9pm !!

    We were going to go back to the room, watch a bit of TV before turning in, but that blooming food area lured us in, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding just screamed at us as we passed so we gave in !!

    We’re on our way to Greenock now, hopefully there will be some improvement in the weather tomorrow.    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess

    Day 6 Glasgow

    3 septembre 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    A grey but dry dock in to Greenock this morning. We weren’t late up but we weren’t early out as we were sorting out some Firbeck Trophies enquiries,

    We decided to take the bus in to Glasgow, it’s been a while since I’ve visited. Sort of remembered my way around, a little stop at the Rennie Mackintosh shop and cafe before a wander around the shops. Once again a lot of closed down shops, a sad sign of what’s happening at the minute.

    We took the coach back to the ship mid afternoon and preceded to get an absolute drowning from the coach to the ship. We decided to then give Greenock a miss and we dried ourselves off and went for a drink. Had a lovely video call from Tony and Susan who were with Hazel, she seemed in good spirits and was quite upbeat. She knew where we were and that we were on a cruise and generally looked very happy.

    As we left Greenock, we were sent on our way by a band in traditional Scottish dress and it was magnificent. The side of the ship was packed as they played whilst we set sail. Their efforts were rewarded with a tremendous cheer and round of applause and to long soundings of the ships horn. A brilliant send off.

    I have half redeemed my awful movie night the other evening with another evening in the hot tub under the stars. I say half redeemed, I believed it was going to be Ghostbusters, it ended up being Wonka (yes I spelled it right). Not something I would have watched but it was actually ok. We learned tonight how they get you out of the hot tub when they want - they switch the heaters off !! As the film was ending the tubs got noticeably cooler. The only problem with the tubs is getting out when it’s dark, breezy and bloody Baltic !!!

    Back at the room we received a couple of letters, mine offered us free canapés delivered to our room tomorrow, Sharons was a special offer on wrinkle treatment, skin firming and other cosmetic enhancements 😂😂😂. I didn’t realise they’d seen her 😂😂😂

    It’s that time of day again, we’re sat at the back of the ship with a drink and a bit more good and cake that we really don’t need but it grabbed us as we passed !!

    At sea tomorrow. Goodnight all !!    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess
    1

    Day 7 At Sea

    4 septembre 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌬 13 °C

    The sun has put in a much needed appearance today as we sail North West towards Stornaway. As we’ve been full steam ahead towards the Outer Hebrides, it’s fair to say we’ve left the millpond behind and traded it in for a rather choppier Northern Atlantic. We’ve had a bit of a wobble on all day, well not always just a bit, quite a wobbly wobble most of the morning. Swimming pools were emptying themselves totally unaided - all great fun. The captain made his announcement at lunchtime and the reason for the choppy seas is down to a weather depression over Iceland 500 miles away which is having a knock on effect on the sea.

    From the weather point of view it’s been glorious, very few clouds and beautiful sunshine all day, but with a Scottish bite to the breeze.

    As it’s been a day at sea, it’s been a very relaxed sort of day, breakfast out on the deck Sharon having peanut butter end jelly on toast ( strange girl) I went for the traditional bacon and egg. We spent the morning wandering around the ship, in the shops and fortunately back out of them with no damage to the wallet.

    At lunchtime we were booked in to the sanctuary for the afternoon. This is at the front of the ship and is an adult only peaceful area with panoramic views of the ocean. Now on the Caribbean it comes with a light gentle breeze, off the coast of Scotland it comes with a Baltic chill enough to freeze bits of you off. When they show you to your sun bed they provide blankets !! Saying that it was lovely, relaxing and peaceful. We were served lunch as we entered, had a bit of sunbathing under a blanket before being served afternoon tea with all the works. We followed that up with a visit to the hot tub. There are two tubs in the sanctuary, one either side of the pool, both steaming hot and lovely. We were in for about an hour or so. The swell crashing the pool around was great to watch, until it chucked a shower of Arctic pool water over us - bloody freezing it was.

    It was formal night tonight, Sharon wanted to see the performance in the theatre, we were short of time so we quickly showered and changed and headed for the theatre for 7. Except it wasn’t until 8. We saw the captains speech then headed for the theatre - it was full !! So we just got changed went to the deck and ate in there.

    Sadly a medical emergency onboard has meant we’ve had to slow right down and the helicopter has come along and the Ken the poor passenger to hospital, all the decks were closed and some cabins evacuated to assist the helicopter. We weren’t affected.

    A great day in all, very lucky with the weather despite the frostbite.    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess
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    Day 8 Stornoway

    5 septembre 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Wow, wow, wow

    After last nights helicopter rescue drama, and heavy fog, we were an hour late docking this morning. But the skies had cleared when we did and it has been as amazingly warm and beautiful day (sorry for that as we know you have not had the best of days). Back to the mill pond like sea and the glide in was lovely. Some beautiful scenery and a very pretty looking town from the balcony of the ship.

    The town was approximately three miles from the port here, there were two options, a free bus or a walk through the country and the woods and via the grounds of Lewes Castle. We opted for the walk. And are we glad we did, it was stunning. Obviously the weather helped, shorts and t-shirt and not a cloud in the sky. Lots of fantastic scenery, woodland and streams to see, with tremendous views in every direction. Although a fairly lengthy walk for a port arrival it was reasonably well signposted and we were given a map. We had one slight junction which was not clear. There were a couple of Americans and Japanese in a similar position so I studiously studied our map and led the way - fortuitously is was the correct way. Our American fellow explorer who was from Philadelphia likened my instruction to what they called a SWAG - Scientific Wild Ass Guess - a fair point probably but I would like to have thought there was a bit of skill involved 😂😂

    Once we arrived at the castle it was an impressive building and the grounds were equally beautiful. It was very close to the town. One thing did catch my eye, the number plate on a motorbike parked up had Sutton Auto Spares on the bottom !! All this way and a number plate mate in Sutton in Ashfield !!

    We moved on to the town and made our first stop a tea and cake stop - a lovely cuppa and a nice home made cake. Stornoway was not a big town but was very pretty and had lots of little Harris Tweed shops and shops with home made things in. There were also lots of old cars flying about, we saw a Mk1 Mexico and a Mk2 RS200, my Mk3 RS would have been at home here, although its owner couldn’t cope with the winters 😂😂. We got the bus back to the ship mid afternoon and lunched on the deck before spending a couple of hours on the balcony in the direct sun. A FaceTime call from Tony & Susan & Hazel which was nice. Hazel has been very well looked after by them this week.

    We went on to the open decks for the sail away before commanding the hot tub to watch the sun go down and then watch the movie under the starts. The movie was called Argyle - a bit strange. A wannabe James Bond film with a bit more comedy in it. It kept us interested and was reasonable to watch - there’s just something nice about being outside in the dark when it’s a bit cold sat in a nice warm tub watching the telly. The temperate has fallen since the sun disappeared but it’s still not too bad.

    We’re back in our cabin now, couldn’t decide where to eat so ordered room service and sat on the balcony for a little while.

    The Outer Hebrides were phenomenal, helped by the tremendous weather but stunningly beautiful.

    At Sea tomorrow, en route to Invergordon. Good night all.    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess
    11

    Day 9 At Sea

    6 septembre 2024, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    This is Sharon blogging as Lee has fell asleep!
    We had a lie in this morning after trying to watch for the Northern Lights last night but sadly it was too foggy. We know it was foggy because the captain kept sounding the ships horn every 2 minutes during the night to warn other ships just in case they couldn’t see us.
    Lee had the usual 2 cakes for breakfast! After breakfast we went down to the atrium and we watched some of the officers & some of the guests playing a game. They had to get ping pong balls in cups! It was quite funny and they were all competitive and there was some cheating going on! All harmless fun!
    At 12 noon each day the captain announces where we are, stating it in latitudes & longitudes & speed in knots & nautical miles! Basically we were in the North Sea and we had Shetland to our port side & The Orkney Isles to our right ( I think that was the right way round!)
    After a spot of lunch we came back to our room & it was so lovely on our balcony as the sun was shining all afternoon that we sat out on it for about 3 hours!
    As we are now elite members on Princess Cruises (that means we have a few cruises with them!) we now get one free bar so at first it was mainly Vodka so I got them to change it for gin! So we decided to have some drinks. I had gin & Lee had beer. All was good until we found that we hadn’t got any glasses or a bottle opener so we had to very quickly improvise! I had my gin in a mug & Lee opened his beer & my tonic with a spoon! So panic over!
    For dinner we fancied burgers so we went up on deck and Lee used the App on his phone to order our dinner & it got delivered to us. It’s very clever & technical as the app works out where you are & brings your dinner straight to you without you having to tell it where you are!
    After that we quickly got changed for our usual hot tub experience whilst watching a movie outside under the stars. The movie was called “IF” and was about a girl who could see imaginary friends in the form of old toys that children had grown out of so she tried to match them up with their grown up people. It was quite a lovely film.
    We also watched the sun going down as well from the hot tub and it was a lovely sunset x
    Well that’s it for today as I’m now tired!
    Take care folks x    En savoir plus

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  • Lee MallenderVoyageurUK Tour on Caribbean Princess
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    Day 10 Invergordon

    7 septembre 2024, Écosse ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    The weather didn’t want to play ball much today, as we docked in to Invergordon it was thick fog and impossible to see anything from the balcony. Fortunately, we didn’t have to get out of bed to find this information out as the captain was blasting his horn every minute for most of the night, a maritime law requirement when in fog. Although it can be heard from the cabin, it didn’t keep either of us awake as it’s quite low sounding from where we are. Scares the shit out of you if you’re on deck but we don’t sleep there 😂

    The mandatory breakfast with cake in the cafe upstairs saw us realise you couldn’t see the town either from the ship. We disembarked mid morning and had a wander around the town. The local RNLI had put on a fair for us arriving which was lovely and also quite informative, these guys risk their own lives every time they answer a call. It was quickly apparent how friendly everyone was and it was a lovely atmosphere despite hardly being able to see who you were talking to (slight exaggeration but not much the fog was very thick).

    We moved on to the high street and wandered up and down, not big, not modern but friendly and welcoming. Sharon bought a few rookie things and bits and bobs - don’t ask what, I don’t really know !!Stoped for coffee and cake (just because it had been an hour or so since the last intake) and got chatting to a few different people in the cafe. At the bottom of the high street was the train station. We sort of thought we’d just jump on a train to Inverness after walking around the town without too much real research, turns out there’s only two a day and we’d missed the first one !! So, that was that. Iweve been h many times do it was no real upset, The train station itself was very interesting though, many murals on the wall which told the story of rail travel over the years.

    This afternoon we got back on the ship and decided to go out on the deck in to the hot tub. Still quite foggy but cleared enough to be able to see the town from the ship. Only one hot tub would do, the others are cooler and the jets don’t work. Sadly the ship does need a lot of repair and the attention to detail isn’t there, lots of things broken that don’t get fixed. She is old and she is tired but that isn’t detracting from our fun. She is due in dry dock next month for a refurb for a couple of months.

    We went to the restaurant for dinner tonight, faultless as ever and a nice change. The evening was all about the 80s. Quiz’s, bands, DJs all around the ship. It was a great atmosphere and the live band in the Atrium were fantastic. The keyboard player stood out for me, he was brilliant and made it look so easy. Ladies got some free jewellery and everyone was bopping about.

    It’s still thick fog, the horn is still being sounded every minute and we’re just having a drink at the back of the ship. Can just about see from one side to the other, but only just.

    Another great day, despite the fog !!    En savoir plus

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